Americanisms in British Pop Music

There once was a band from Liverpool, whose fans started a new wave of obsession: The Beatles were known for being proud, home grown Liverpudlian group of lads. However, this pride became overshadowed by their want to be accepted by American audiences, thus changing the way in which they sang. This project aims to delve into the topic of how pop artists become popular, specifically questioning how an increase in the use of the North American style consonant /r/ amplifies the success of an artist: comparing the use of the consonant (phonetically transcribed from music clips) to sales figures, with heavy reference to and supply modern examples for Trudgill’s work on ‘Acts of Conflicting Identity’ (1983). The importance of this study is that the use of the American /r/ could possibly boost an artists esteem within the public: questioning whether accommodating to the styles of North American pop stars can make an artist more popularly perceived by worldwide (specifically American) audiences. By referring to Accommodation Theory (Giles 1979) as the framework for this project, modern British artists will be analysed, chosen by their popularity in recent years including artists such as Ellie Goulding, Little Mix and One Direction, with comparisons to less modern, pure Brit Pop bands that have been successful by embracing their Britishness, such as Oasis, Blur and Pulp. Coupland, N & Jaworski, A. Sociolinguistics: a Reader and Coursebook. 1997. Ch. 20. Pg. 232, 251. London: Macmillan Press Ltd.