Rebecca Black’s cover of Addison Rae’s “Fame is a Gun” is a complete masterclass in vocal versatility. Across just a few minutes, Rebecca moves through breathy falsetto, bright mixed voice, low hooty tones, and playful articulation choices, all while navigating a dance track.
In this breakdown, we’ll walk through the main vocal techniques Rebecca uses so you can understand what’s happening and start practising some of these ideas yourself.
Working with a Looping Station
The opening of “Fame is a Gun” is built layer by layer on a looping station, which is no small feat. Rebecca sings each harmony line in live, and that kind of stacked vocal layering takes a lot of practice and pitch accuracy.
If you’ve ever tried it, you’ll know that every line has to sit perfectly in tune with the ones recorded before it. It’s a great reminder that intro sections like this one aren’t just filler, they’re a vocal exercise on their own.
Falsetto and Larynx Position
One of the standout choices throughout Rebecca Black’s cover is the use of falsetto across a wide pitch range. In falsetto, the arytenoids rock back and the vocal folds become stiff, which creates that light, hooty quality we hear. It might sound like more air is being pushed out, but that’s actually just a result of the folds being open and stiff, not a case of forcing breath through.
What makes the intro particularly useful as a technique study is how Rebecca takes falsetto from the lower range all the way up to the top. To do that cleanly, the larynx has to move with the pitch. You’ll notice a few things as she travels through the range:
- A lowered larynx position for the very low notes
- A mid larynx position through the middle of the range
- A slightly raised larynx and closed lip position for the highest notes
That slight lip closure on the high notes helps create a little extra back pressure, which supports the sound without needing more volume. The goal on these notes is hooty and light, not loud.
Breathing Technique for Short Phrases
During the verses of “Fame is a Gun,” the phrases are short and punchy, so Rebecca Black takes quick, high breaths between them. You can actually see her shoulders rise, and you can hear an audible intake of breath because the tongue is engaged and the larynx is high.
This is a good example of matching your breath to the phrase. When lines are short, you don’t need to load up on a huge amount of air, a small, quick breath is exactly right.
Glottal Onsets and Chest Voice
On the lyric “I always wanted more,” you can hear a glottal onset, a clean start to the note with the vocal folds coming together before sound is made. That glottal onset helps push the sound into a thicker, more chest-dominant quality, and you can hear it get a little louder as a result. It’s a simple but powerful tool for moving out of a breathy or falsetto setup and into something fuller.
Tongue Engagement for Higher Notes
There’s a common myth that your tongue should always be relaxed when you sing. In reality, the tongue often needs to engage more, not less, especially as you climb higher in the range. In Rebecca Black’s performance, you can see the tongue widen and lift as she moves up, which helps stabilise the sound.
A few important notes on tongue work:
- Tongue position should be tailored to each singer, since length, width, and range all matter.
- Sometimes a tongue needs to come forward to stop it pulling back into the throat.
- Other times, engagement and lift are exactly what’s needed to access higher pitches.
This is one of those areas that really benefits from one-on-one coaching, because what works for one voice may not work for another.
Mixed Voice and Vocal Colors
As Rebecca transitions out of pure falsetto, you hear a mixed voice quality appear, with thicker vocal folds carried higher in the range. The larynx stays a little raised, which keeps the tone bright, and there’s a hint of tongue engagement that adds brightness and cut to the sound. On “Fame is a Gun,” this is what gives the hook that punchy, fun vibe.
Throughout the cover, Rebecca moves through what feels like the full rainbow of vocal colors:
- Breathy falsetto in the intro and verses
- A bright, slightly edgy mixed voice on the hooks
- A lowered falsetto on descending lines, kept light rather than pushed
- A crunchier, more sung quality on the higher emotional moments
That variety is the sign of a very experienced singer. If you’re newer to singing, it’s more realistic to pick one color, such as a breathy quality, and commit to it across the song while you build up skill in the others.
Tongue Position and Articulation
On lines like “Fame is a gun,” Rebecca brings her tongue forward in the mouth, which gives the lyrics a relaxed, almost lazy articulation. That forward position softens the consonants and adds to the laid-back feeling of the phrasing. Again, this isn’t a must-do for everyone, tongue size and shape vary, but it’s a great example of how articulation choices shape the character of a performance.
Thyroid Tilt for a More Sung Quality
On the higher emotional lines, such as “I got a taste of the glamorous life,” you can see Rebecca lean into the effort a little, which helps engage thyroid tilt. The thyroid is part of the larynx, where the vocal folds live, and tilting it forward makes the sound more “sung” and less “spoken.” It’s a key piece of what turns a shouty high note into a musical, expressive one.
Keeping the Setup Consistent
One smart artistic choice throughout “Fame is a Gun” is how Rebecca Black keeps the larynx fairly bright and stable rather than letting it drop with the pitch.
On a line like “love is blind,” she doesn’t lower the larynx the way a more classical approach might. Instead she keeps the setup consistent, which helps the song sit in one sonic world even as the pitch moves around. It’s a stylistic decision, but a really effective one for a contemporary, dance-leaning track.
Final Thoughts
Rebecca Black’s cover of “Fame is a Gun” is a genuine workout of vocal techniques: falsetto across the range, glottal onsets, tongue engagement, mixed voice, thyroid tilt, and clever articulation choices.
Please don’t expect to reproduce all of that on day one. Rebecca is an accomplished, well-trained singer, and these coordinations take time. Start with one element, such as the breathy quality or the falsetto descent, and build from there.
If you want to learn more about how you can learn to implement these singing techniques into your own voice, let’s sit down for a chat and discuss if the vocal academy is the right fit for you. You can join us here.