- If you have listened to
Miley Cyrus's recent work, you may have noticed that she
sounds completely different. Her voice is lower, much more gravelly, and very different than
her "Hanna Montana" days. Now, there are varying
opinions on her new voice and lots of theories bandying
about as to why this might be, but what actually caused this change? (roar, roar, roar, roar, roar, roar) - Rawr! - First of all, let's listen to the change
in Miley Cyrus's voice. I've put together a few clips so you can really hear that evolution. Now, early on, her voice is fairly light. It does gain maturity
throughout the years, but a real change happens between 2013 and 2014, and again, there is a big change in 2020. Let's have a listen. ♪ Watching us fade ♪ ♪ Knowing it's all my fault ♪ ♪ Shooting in the dark too long ♪ ♪ When something's not right, it's wrong ♪ ♪ You're gonna make me
lonesome when you go ♪ ♪ Don't you ever say I just walked away ♪ ♪ I will always want you ♪ ♪ She said why don't we both
just sleep on it tonight ♪ ♪ I believe in ♪ ♪ I don't wanna wonder
what it's like, oh-oh ♪ ♪ To not have you around ♪ ♪ Fire in my lungs can't
bite the devil on my tongue ♪ ♪ You know ♪ ♪ I don't need to be loved ♪ The change is really stark if
you listen to the first clip and the last clip side-by-side. ♪ Watching us fade ♪ ♪ Knowing it's all my fault ♪ ♪ Fire in my lungs can't
bite the devil on my tongue ♪ - And you can hear it even
more in her speaking voice. This clip is from her
promoting "Hanna Montana" on "The Jonathan Ross Show." - I spilled a Dr Pepper on me,
and a bird pooped on my head, and apparently that's good
news because I got the part. - And here is a recent clip of Miley in an interview with Joe Rogan. - It's definitely changed. I actually, I kind of
learned a lot about the voice and how our experiences affect our voice. I had a surgery in November on my voice. I had something called Reinke's edema. - Ah, so she addressed it,
but what is Reinke's edema? And is she correct in her analysis of it? Our vocal cords are tiny bands of tissue located in the larynx. Now, you can find your larynx by touching your chin and
drawing a line down the center, and you'll come to a small bump. To some people, this is quite distinctive, and they refer to it as the Adam's apple. For other people, it's
a little bit smaller, but for everyone, it is the larynx, and inside there is our vocal cords. Now, sound is created when air from our lungs passes
through closed vocal cords, causing them to vibrate,
and this makes sound. If you touch your larynx really gently while humming or speaking or singing you'll be able to feel that vibration. Now, the vocal cords
are really, really tiny. They're from between 1.25
centimeters in length to 2.5 centimeters,
dependent on the person, but although they are so small, they're actually made
up of multiple layers. Here you can see a cross
section of the vocal cords. The inner layer is muscle. Then there is two layers of ligaments, a gelatinous layer called
the Reinke's space, and a thin outer skin
called the epithelium. The fluidity of that gelatinous layer is what allows the vocal cords to vibrate. This layer was discovered
by German anatomist Friedrich B. Reinke in 1895, hence the name Reinke's space, but it also has a more official name: the superficial lamina propria. Miley refers to having Reinke's edema. This is where fluid builds
up in the Reinke's space. It swells. Let's have a look at
some healthy vocal cords. Now, if you're a bit squeamish, and you don't like the idea of looking inside someone's throat, you might want to look away for a second. You can see those white bands of tissue. Those are the vocal cords, the bits that we saw in orange
in the previous animation. Now, these are the vocal
cords with Reinke's edema. You can see how the cords
are much bigger, translucent, and bowed in shape, but there is more going on here. Accumulation of fluid
within the Reinke's space reduces stiffness and makes
it even more gelatinous, and this change of size and
elasticity in the vocal cords makes them vibrate more slowly and causes the voice to lower, but why does it make the
voice sound gravelly? When vocal cords are healthy, they can come together
fully and vibrates evenly. We hear even vibrations as a clean sound, and we hear irregular vibrations
as distortion or noise, so there are a few features of the edema that cause this
characteristically gravelly sound. Number one, the inability to
close the vocal cords fully allows air to leak through,
which gives it a breathy tone. Number two, the uneven shape and size of the vocal cords can cause irregular vibrations,
making it sound distorted. Number three, sufferers' bodies will often use the false
or vestibular vocal folds instead of just the true vocal
cords for voice production, so these are tissue above the vocal cords that are often used to protect them, or in extreme vocal
techniques like death growl. (singer screaming) As you heard, Miley's voice changed gradually throughout the years, and symptoms of Reinke's edema are generally a gradual build. Let's recap some of those symptoms. Gravelly sounding voice, breathy voice, low-pitched voice, reduced pitch range, difficulty with increasing
loudness effectively, effortful voicing, vocal
fatigue, loss of vocal control, the sensation of airway disturbance, and in extreme cases, the swelling can be large
enough to impair breathing, so let's talk about Miley. Many people love her
newfound gravelly texture and dramatic low notes, but this has come with its consequences, including vocal surgery. Let's have a look at her
experiences and possible causes. This is what Miley has to say. - When my doctor told me about it, he said, "No one shy ever has this." This is for abuse of the voice. This is for people that
talk way too fucking much, and usually, this happens when you're like in your 60s or 70s (drowned out) old singers.
- How do I not have that? - She's right. One of the leading causes is vocal abuse, which means pushing your
voice past its limits, which obviously includes
singing with poor technique, but can also include speaking or shouting. It's also unusual for
someone so young to have it. It normally develops with
consistent vocal abuse over a really long period of time, so why does Miley have it? - Really, I started touring
at probably 12 or 13, and not only was I... The adrenaline that you have after a show, it's not really the singing
that affects your voice as much. It's afterwards, you're totally on, and then it's really
hard to get that sleep. You stay up talking all night. Later, the talking all night
turned into smoking all night, and now, this is kind of where we're at. - She might be right
that her singing style wasn't as much of a factor
as her speaking voice. She does seem to sing in
a reasonably healthy way. However, she is quite forceful. However, this is just part of her style. She always puts emotion first
and puts everything into it, and I couldn't really imagine her singing without that attitude. This way of singing can be sustainable for some people, not everyone. It's important to remember
that singing is a physical act, and you have to think like an athlete. Now, if Miley was an athlete, her singing style would be boxing. She's not playing golf, but if boxers can box,
Miley can sing like that, but you have to condition
yourself like a boxer. Lack of sleep isn't cited as a specific risk factor
for Reinke's edema. However, it does affect
your overall health and can make you less able to tell when you need to take a
rest or take a step back. Smoking was almost certainly a factor. 97% of people with Reinke's
edema were habitual smokers. - The voice can be like a face. It collects wrinkles,
and it tells a story. - Miley's lifestyle would
have almost certainly been a factor. Drugs and alcohol mean we can't tell whether our voice is healthy
or whether it's hurting. It means we push our voice
past where we normally would. Anything that makes our
mind and our body unhealthy also makes our voice unhealthy. - How do you have longevity? You are in here with
athletes all the time, and recovery days are
the most important days. I didn't get recovery days. That was not important for someone that was making so much capital for such a big corporation, you know? - Again, this is very true. It's not just how you
sing; it's when you sing. Much like the rest of our body, our vocal anatomy is muscle and ligament and nervous system, and it needs days off. It's vital to avoid vocalizing if you have a hoarse or tired voice, whether it's from illness,
tiredness, or a night out, and this isn't often a luxury
that top-level singers have. In fact, I find it a shame that young singers often
get backed into a corner. They have heavy schedules
booked in for them in front of as many people as possible, and often don't get the
chance to take days off or feel like they're gonna
let people down if they do. - And I definitely probably
didn't get the training that I needed to say, "Hey, you know what? "I don't wanna do this till I'm 15. "I wanna do this till I'm 80," and that wasn't always considered. - Ensuring that your
vocal technique is healthy is so important in ensuring that you don't
get any vocal damage, and Miley Cyrus is now taking her training routine really seriously. Warming up and training like an athlete is essential for your vocal
health over the long term and will ensure that you have longevity. There are some other factors that could contribute to Reinke's edema. For example, chronic
acid reflux, sinusitis, and an underactive thyroid. Anything that can chronically
irritate the vocal cords can be a cause, so what does this mean for Miley? And can it be treated? Well, first of all, she stopped smoking. It's really important for
anyone suffering with this to work out what's causing
that chronic irritation and cut it out, so smoking has to be
the first thing to go. Early or mild edema may improve
with stopping smoking alone, but Miley's case was severe, and she ended up getting surgery. Now, she hasn't talked about
the specifics of her surgery, and there are differences
for different cases. However, generally, the aim of a surgery is to reduce the edema material and bring the vocal cords
back to their natural size. The most common type of surgery is a surgical microlaryngoscopy, which is when an incision
is made into the vocal cords by either micro scissors or a laser, and the edema material is then removed. This is a big decision. The surgery can cause
scarring on the vocal cords, which means that they have less movement, which in turn affects vocalizations. In short, it's a risk for your voice. If acid reflux or the thyroid
is the root of the problem, you may have to look into those illnesses and seek treatment for them, and whether or not you have surgery, you will most likely have
to go to voice therapy to learn how to use your voice healthily. If you are experiencing
symptoms in the UK, you can ask your GP to refer you to an ear, nose, and throat
specialist, or an ENT, and if you're somewhere else in the world, you may have to go directly to them, but they will be able to
diagnose what's going on and treat it. Miley's voice has changed a lot, and it's picked up a distinctive tone, and one of my favorite quotes is this: - The voice can be like like a face. It collects wrinkles,
and it tells a story. If you look at yourself, and you go, "Oh, I didn't
have this until this trip. "I sat out in the sun, or I
partied too much, or whatever. Your voice does the same
thing; it collects dirt. - Whether due to vocal damage or not, our voices react to our experiences. They change whether we
are stressed or tired or full of joy, and if we damage our body and mind, we also damage our voices. Now, there's going to be
a contingent of people who think, "Wow, Miley's
voice sounds cool. "I want to sound like her, and she does sound cool, but that comes with a price. She will have to deal
with that vocal damage for the rest of her life, and she will have to
be all the more careful and all the more diligent now, or her voice could give
up on her completely. However, the damage is already done, and it's also wonderful to see her make the most of this new voice and its heaviness and its raspiness and see her learn how to use
this new voice healthily. You can't deny she has lived
the things she sings about because it's literally
scarred into her voice, but she wouldn't be still using that voice if she hadn't come out
the other side of this and started treating
herself and her voice well. People often wonder how to get a voice that sounds like you've lived, and obviously, I would
never suggest vocal damage to get you there. The consequences are massive. However, I ask you to remember
that you're already living. Whether you like it or not, your experiences and
your personality quirks are leaving an imprint on your
voice and the way you use it. Maybe your voice won't sound like hers, but it will sound like you and the unique and extraordinary
life that you are living. Thank you for watching.
I hope you enjoyed. If you did, please do like and subscribe. Once again, big thanks to my patrons. If it wasn't for you guys, these videos would not be happening. If you would like to check out my Patreon, please do head over to
patreon.com/bethroars to join the community, and I'll see you in the next one. Bye. ♪ Doo-doot dut dah-dee-ya ♪
♪ Dum dum dum-dum ♪ ♪ Doo-doot dut-dow ♪
♪ Dum dum dum dum ♪ ♪ Doo-doot dut dah-dee-ya ♪
♪ Dum dum dum dum-dum ♪ ♪ Doo-doot dut duh-dut-dut-duh ♪
♪ Dum dum dum dum ♪ ♪ Dow ♪
♪ Dum ♪ - Rar!
