Fashioning the Body: Versions of the Citizen, the Self, and the Subject

I think my project will either be partially or entirely about digitalized voices in pop music. Britney Spears’ new album, Blackout, came out today (though I downloaded it weeks ago). The whole thing is full of digital effects on Britney’s voice, and the song “Freakshow” is no exception. There’s one part of the song I think is really cool. It’s near the end of the song, in the second bridge. Britney sings (with digital effects), “Me and my girls bout to get it on, grab us a couple boys to go” twice. Then, the lines are repeated but with the voice digitally lowered to the point where it sounds like a male voice. The lyrics don’t change though. So, through digital effects, Britney has suddenly switched genders. Also, the lyrics “grab us a couple boys to go” sung in a male voice become pretty darn gay. This is what I want my paper to be about – how digitalized voices (and other technologies) can be used to play with conventions of gender and sexuality (and other things too).