Linguists say Madonna's voice does not match patterns expected for her age

Researchers from Aarhus University and the University of Copenhagen analyzed changes in Madonna's voice using acoustic measurements of pitch and vowel pronunciation, according to a study published in the Nordic Journal of English Studies. The analysis is based on interviews spanning four decades, from her breakthrough in the 1980s to 2021. Phys.org reported the study.

Anna Bothe Jespersen, a linguist at the University of Copenhagen, said the study shows Madonna's voice appears younger than her age. She said Madonna's pitch does not follow the patterns normally expected from a woman in her 60s, and that the way she pronounces a number of vowels does not match speech patterns typically associated with either her generation or the places where she has lived. Jespersen said the researchers argue this is a deliberate strategy supporting an image of a youthful, globally oriented performer not constrained by chronological age.

According to the researchers, the development of Madonna's voice is consistent with the visual identity she has maintained throughout her career. Each album release and concert tour has been accompanied by a new image, and the findings suggest she may have managed her voice just as deliberately.

Jespersen said women's voices generally become lower after menopause. The researchers reported a drop in Madonna's pitch around 2013, when she was 55 years old, which roughly corresponds with the timing of menopause. According to the researchers, her voice became higher again in the years immediately following 2013, which could indicate a conscious effort to alter her voice. They said hormone therapy could also have played a role by helping counteract declining estrogen levels during menopause, but that neither explanation fully accounts for the overall pattern.

Jespersen said it was remarkably difficult to estimate Madonna's age based on her voice alone throughout the 40-year period, with multiple rises and falls in pitch. She said some of the lowest pitch values occurred during the 1980s, when Madonna was young, while her voice has generally become higher since the late 1990s. The researchers conclude that Madonna has likely worked actively to modify aspects of her voice and maintain a youthful vocal image as she has grown older.

The researchers examined Madonna's pronunciation of vowels in words such as trap, dress, kit, lot and thought. Jespersen said Madonna's vowels do not follow the pronunciation changes typical of either her own generation or the regions where she has lived, such as Michigan, where she grew up, or New York, where she spent much of her youth. She said it is almost impossible to identify a geographical origin from her pronunciation.