James Blake has offered Lil Yachty an explanation for music not sounding as good as it used to back in the day.
During their June 2024 cover story with Complex, Blake played "(Sittin' On) The Dock of the Bay" and Yachty was enamored by Otis Redding's tone in the song. Yachty felt that artists these days are missing that tone and asked Blake why that's happening so frequently. According to Blake, modern music has been "microwaved" with so many factors affecting a singer's voice, such as pitch correction and compression.
"I think the way producers package those vocals means that we're not really exposed to their real true tone and voice," said Blake. "We have dynamics. Sometimes we're soft, sometimes loud. In ["(Sittin' On) the Dock of the Bay"], when [Redding is] loud, you really hear it. When he's soft, you really feel it."
He added, "Then it's like pitch correction, compression, and then sometimes EQ, which basically means taking some of the frequencies out. And we've just kind of done this to the human voice to the point where it just sounds microwaved."
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Blake actually told Yachty that one of his favorite songs that he regularly listens to is the Atlanta native's viral hit "Poland." The song was a big record for Yachty as it peaked at No. 18 and No. 40 on Billboard's Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs and Hot 100 charts. The official music video also brought in 31 million views.
"I love it. It's a great song. It's pure avant-garde," Blake said. "I think that song's fucking amazing. I listen to it quite regularly. And I think it is a really fucking weird song. And somehow it still ended up being one of your most popular songs, which is crazy because most people's weirdest song doesn't become their most popular song."
