Is this phrase "wow you sound black" offensive?

I remember Maroon 5 front man Adam Levine CONSTANTLY saying this on the previous series of the voice. He even went on to say that had he known the singer was white but had a "black voice" he would have turned his seat.

When I was thinking about this I couldn't help but realize how many successful "white singers with big strong voices" have taken control of the market. Black artist are being cast as having a "typical black voice" but when a white person has the same type of tone they are praised to the clouds and back.

Is this because we expect little in terms of vocal range and power form white singers or is this just another way of trying to eliminate colored presence in the media and replace them?

Discuss below and plz keep this clean.

thank you.

Did someone say George Michael... The king of black music?

Yeah, kinda. Especially that example w/Adam Levine. People are just insensitive and borderline annoying about it.

The first time I heard Sam Smith and Jessie J I swore they were black.

I guess its the soul or heaviness in their voices that do they. British artists often confuse me with that.

I remember being shocked by this comment. I'm not black but I noticed how unfair that comment was. and Iwas surprised by the reaction of the judges and the crowd. the media couldnt care less either..it was just strange to me that the same voice would be discredited had it been on a black man but praised when on awhite man. it was strange.

I thought Kesha was black when Right Round was popular

I figured it was a black female in Right Round, like what some person said above

I thought kesha was black at first cause of her name too

I think it's always used as a compliment, as black people generally are more talented at singing. It can be kind of insensitive, though.

I definitely thought Adele was black the first time I heard her. Its kind of subconcious because black singers usually do soul & R&B, so you hear a soulful singer you might automatically think they're black.

But what you said is true, white singers with black voices are preferred by the GP. There was some study about it how people just prefer to look at white faces but like black voices.

I think it's offensive when it's said about speaking voices, but not offensive about singing voices. Black people often have the ability to be powerhouse vocalists, just look at Whitney Houston, Jennifer Hudson, Beyonce, Aretha Franklin, etc. They can belt. So I think that's what people mean when they say a singer "sounds black." I don't see how it's offensive if it's meant as a compliment. It's not like "ew, you sounded so black." It's "oh my god, you have such an incredible voice that I thought you were black!" It's pretty much admitting that black people are superior singers.

I thought Anastasia was black the first time I heard 'I'm Outta Love' on the radio as a kid.

It's extremely offensive.

Did Adam actually say that? He basically admitted that a "black voice" is more desirable if it's coming from a white person. Mess.

Is "You sound so white!!!" offensive then?

I thought Sia was black when I heard Whistle...


In my defence, they did have a black chick lipsync her voice in their music vid.

I don't know, but I reckon if you got unknown vocalists, most people would be able to guess from their singing voice whether they were black or white. There'd be exceptions, like Adele or SoMo, where most people would probably assume wrong, but I think most of the time people would get it right.

Maybe it's a genetic thing and people of recent African descent have a slightly different voice box or something.

YES yes it is

when pink first came into the scene, i thought she was a black singer, too. she has that soulfulness to her voice, so i think it's more of a compliment if someone assumes you have the voice of a black singer.

now, if someone told me "you sound white" that's a whole different story haha

I thought Meghan Trainor was black when I first heard AATB 💀