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Singer-songwriter T-Pain gave a series of intimate performances in March 2023 with a setlist made up almost exclusively of covers. While the artist managed to make every song his own, his soulful rendition of the country classic Tennessee Whisky was a standout moment.
On December 22, T-Pain dropped a new live album, On Top of the Covers (Live From Sun Rose). This comes nine months after his cover album, On Top of the Covers. While the rapper covered 22 tracks, netizens were awestruck by his performance of Tennessee Whisky. It led them to agree that he never needed autotune to sound good. One fan tweeted that Autotune needed the artist more.
"TPain never needed Autotune. Autotune needed TPain."
The reason why fans were left shocked by T-Pain's real voice was due to his frequent use of autotune, the audio processing software, in his discography. Often credited as a pioneer for the widespread use of the voice modulation tool throughout the music industry during the 2000s, It digitally corrects any off-key notes that are sung, giving the voice a distinct, almost robotic sound.
T-Pain has even been criticized by some, including contemporaries like Usher, for ruining music for real singers by making the industry reliant on the software. These live performances might help change that narrative. Proving that the singer's use of autotune was simply an artistic choice and not a crutch he had to rely on.
Fans react to T-Pain's cover of Tennessee Whisky without autotune
Originally recorded by country musician David Allan Coe, the song has received mainstream attention due to covers by George Glen Jones and, more recently, Chris Stapleton, whose version has around 750 million views on Youtube. What made TPain's rendition stand out was his soulful, almost gospel-influenced take on it. It left some fans baffled at his use of autotune with a voice this good.
When the 39-year-old Grammy winner, whose real name is Faheem Rasheed Najm, shared his cover of Tennessee Whisky on TikTok, the clip went viral. Garnering over 12 million views. Longtime fans who knew about his impressive vocal skills were glad to see him finally get the recognition he deserves.
More about T-Pain's music and career
While he has previously performed without autotune on shows like Tiny Desk and Masked Singer, this marks the first time that the artist has sung an hour's worth of material in his natural voice. The entire sold-out performance has since been uploaded to YouTube. Other highlights include his covers of Stay with Me, Don’t Stop Believin', and A Change is Gonna Come.
His On Top Of The Covers performances have been released as an album and available on streaming servies too. It marks his first full-length release since 2019's 1UP. Having taken a step back from the music industry to focus on other business ventures like Nappy Boy Entertainment and streaming on Twitch.
More recently, the rapper announced his first Las Vegas residency at the Zouk Nightclub, with the following dates confirmed so far:
- February 8: Zouk Nightclub
- April 20: Zouk Nightclub
- May 26: Ayu Dayclub
- July 11: Zouk Nightclub
T-Pain first gained fame with albums like Rappa Ternt Sanga, Epiphany, and Three Ringz, which produced hit singles like I'm Sprung, Buy U a Drank, and Bartender. T-Pain's innovative use of autotune in his vocals became his signature style, earning him Grammy Awards for collaborations with Kanye West and Jamie Foxx.
He even worked with the brand Smule in 2009 to create a new iPhone app called 'I Am T-Pain'. It allowed people to sing karaoke using his style of autotune.
