I hate to admit it, but I happened to see a few minutes of Madonna’s Truth or Dare movie, video – whatever it was – the other day. During part of the song she was singing, she began to speak. Someone told me she was tying to affect a British accent now, but I was unprepared for the horrible sounds that were coming out of her mouth. I couldn’t get to the mute button fast enough.
British accents are not something on which I am an expert (or even remotely and expert), but I have watched a lot of British comedies over the years, and many other TV programs and movies made in Britain, and I’m fairly familiar with many of the British accents represented in such media, such as the Queen’s English, rural accents, Cockney rhyming slang, Northern, Southern, etc. Madonna’s affectation, however, seemed to me to smack entirely too much of effort. Her over dramatization of the diphthongs, especially, did not sound like a true accent, but lacked the subtleties, and overemphasized the obvious: an accent that when compared with a true accent, would sound harsh and tawdry. (Tawdry? Madonna? That’s so unlike her.)
Also, when she sang, her accent disappeared. Granted, it’s harder to hear an accent when a person is singing, but one can hear it if one listens closely. Her singing voice/accent sounded like it always has in the past.
I got the feeling that her “accent” was not really the result of spending time surrounded by people who spoke with an accent, but, once again, just something to try to draw attention to herself.
