What Was That? Singers & Rappers We Can Never Understand In Songs

Janet Jackson

Janet Jackson doesn’t sing, she whispers. It’s a nice whisper, but it’s still a whisper. $5 to the first person who knows what comes after “In the thunder and rain…” on “Anytime Anyplace.”

Mariah Carey

Mariah Carey’s voice is flawless, especially with her 8 octave pitch. Too bad, we never know all of the words she’s saying once she gets in that range. Most times we assume she’s just making general ad lib sounds then all of a sudden we see the lyrics and are like, wait a minute, she was singing words?!

Ciara

Ciara and Janet Jackson’s voices are very similar and that’s why Ci Ci is on this list too. I know Cici can sing but we really wouldn’t know because she uses the same tone for every song.  We’d like to have a body party too, we just don’t know what exactly happens in one because the lyrics aren’t the easiest to decipher.

Michael Jackson

The King Of Pop had the moves but some of the words of his songs are questionable. What was Mike saying in his songs, especially in, “Human Nature”? He says some words so clearly and the others leave you wondering. And then he had the nerve to just make stuff up! Remember “Wanna Be Starting Something?”

Help Me Sing It, Ma Ma Se,
Ma Ma Sa, Ma Ma Coo Sa
Ma Ma Se, Ma Ma Sa,
Ma Ma Coo Sa

We’d like to help you sing, Michael, but we can’t.

Twista

Twista is just a fast talking rapper. You may be lucky if you catch a word or two in his songs. Thank God someone is always singing on the hook, that’s the part where we join in.

Toni Braxton

Toni Braxton’s deep voice made her famous. However, she mumbles her words. Matter of fact, we’re giving her too much credit. She’s not even saying the words, she’s making the sounds of the words to make the song just flow. It was hilarious when Tamar reenacted Toni on an episode of “The Braxtons,” when she started,”And I can’t stop thinking about…” Don’t even get us started on “I love me some him.”

Bone Thugs N’ Harmony

Bone Thugs has always been known to be a fast rapping group. We don’t even try to figure out what they’re saying. As long as we understand the chorus, they will always have a fan base.

Robin Thicke

Robin Thicke has the Maxwell syndrome. You understand some of his words. However, when he’s singing in a high pitch voice mixed with some whisper, we can hardly understand him. Who knows any line other than “You the hottest b**** in this place” on “Blurred Lines.”

Erykah Badu

The soulful Erykah Badu has been a favorite from the beginning of time. Her voice has a very squeaky pitch that sometimes we have a hard time understanding. Thank God for the soothing beat that gets us grooving because most days we have no clue what she’s saying.

Maxwell

As much as we love us some Maxwell, we can hardly understand what this man is talking about. Maybe it’s his looks that are distracting us but that high pitch on “This Woman’s Work”? We don’t know what’s happening there, but we like the sound of it.

D’Angelo

This smooth singing brother is probably one of the best artist when it comes to just making noise. In his song, “How does It Feel,” no one had a clue what he said besides, that one line. We’re going to need you to enunciate your words D’angelo. Not that we’re complaining (too much) though.

Anita Baker

“What have you done to me? I can’t eat. I cannot sleep. And -”  Yeah that’s as far as we’ve ever gotten through “Body and Soul.”

Busta Rymes

Despite being a highly respected lyricist, not many know Busta’s actual lyrics And we’re not even talking about his Jamaican accident in “Twerk,” ever since the “Woo Ha” days we’ve been confused. “Yawww, yawww, yawww, yawwww, yawww.”

Juvenile

To this very day, we have no idea what Juvenile said in his song “Ha,” let alone, “Back That A** Up”.  The only thing we knew was the beat was hot and it had us dropping like it’s hot.