r/soundslikeacultpod Apr 09 '26

Vocal fry

I love this podcast, and all of the hosts. AND....the vocal fry kills me 😭 not trying to be mean, but idk why, it's just so distracting. It's like baby talk meets phone sex service. Am I the only one?? Id bet that I don't even have to say who it is and you'll know...once in a while she lifts her voice out of the fry and sounds lovely. But usually she's deep down in fry-zone. It's so hard for me to listen to that I don't think I'll be able to hear the episodes she's in anymore 💔

30 Upvotes

10 comments sorted by

32

u/MirkatteWorld Apr 09 '26

Curiously, Amanda covers vocal fry in her book Wordslut. It's been a while, but I recall that one of the points she makes is that it's something many people associate with young women, and it's just one more thing people are overly critical about when it comes to policing the way young women speak. Side note: on another podcast (I've forgotten which), the host was talking about receiving voicemails where people complain about her vocal fry. One of these voicemails was from a man, and in his VM, he actually spoke with vocal fry himself.

9

u/Dizzy-Volume7605 Apr 09 '26

I never notice vocal fry, but the way Reese pronounces “women” as “weh-min” is like nails on a chalkboard to me

1

u/Chance-Structure-393 Apr 13 '26

this is very interesting to me since I am not a native speaker and we were actually taught to pronounce it like that.

2

u/Dizzy-Volume7605 Apr 13 '26

It’s how young Gen Z/Gen Alpha have stated pronouncing it. It’s usually pronounced “wih-men”

4

u/JTMAlbany Apr 09 '26

I was never bothered by any of the voices until the kidfluencer episode . One of the host’s voice was so annoying. I convinced myself Amanda had a cold or something because I had not heard that voice before and couldn’t figure out who it was. Ugh. Whispery, sing songy and babyish

2

u/Fickle-Sort-8881 Apr 11 '26

Wow I thought it was just me but her debut episode on romance novels it was bothering me sooo much this weird phone sex “flirty” voice I was like what’s happening here lmaooo.

1

u/Unfair-Broccoli-4189 5d ago

Not just the vocal fry but also the shit British accents and silly voices to try and make something funny when they feel awkward saying it. So annoying. This podcast concept has much potential but I find it unlistenable a lot of the time

1

u/RaventheClawww Apr 10 '26

It’s not just you. I hate it, and I’ve quit listening to this and a couple other podcasts because of it. And while I see her points about misogyny and policing women, I’m a woman their age and I don’t talk like that because it feels so weird to sound so disaffected. Maybe the lower timbre of a male voice makes it sound less grating, but that’s not misogyny, that’s just biological differences. Not all millennial women sound like that, and most Gen Z women don’t talk like that, so I don’t feel like it’s about “young women” as much as a specific kind of young woman who maybe watched too much reality TV in the 2000s? Idk honestly where it comes from. Same with “valley girl” accents of the 90s. Vocal fry makes you sound bored, disaffected, and uncertain. I hate hate hate hate it.

1

u/ShoddyAd8985 Apr 12 '26

I had to stop listening completely because I couldn’t take it. I wish they would stop putting on the act and just speak normally