T-Pain reveals onset of depression-Usher telling him he messed up music by using Auto-Tune
During an episode of the new Netflix show, “This is Pop", rapper/singer/songwriter/producer, T-Pain explains how he was in a 4-year depression during his career as an artist.
The surprising part was what he explains as the onset of this depression. He says it was the very moment that his trusted friend, Usher-singer/songwriter/producer, told him that he “f--ked up music.”
On Monday, Entertainment Weekly released a clip of the show with T-Pain stating:
"Usher was my friend. I really respect Usher. And he said, 'I'm gonna tell you something, man. You kinda f‑‑ked up music.”
At that moment, T-Pain explains how he laughed it off because he thought it was a joke. But Usher went on to emphasize to him how serious he was. T-Pain explains that Usher stated again: “Yeah man you really f‑‑‑ed up music for real singers," T-Pain said. "I was like, 'What did I do? I came out and I used Auto-Tune.' He was like, 'Yeah, you f‑‑‑ed it up.' I'm like, 'But I used it, I didn't tell everybody else to start using it.'"
After a ahort pause, T-Pain continues to explain, "That is the very moment, and I don't even think I realized this for a long time, but that's the very moment that started a four-year depression for me."
Auto-Tune is an audio processor that was originally released in 1997. It is a trademarked technology by the company Antares Audio Technologies. It is used to alter pitch in vocals and instruments, according to the company's website. T-Pain used this device to provide a unique sound that brought to life many hit records like, “Buy U a Drank". He also contributed to other hit songs with artists like Flo-Rida, “Low", and Kanye “Yeezy" West, “Good Life", along with another of his own hits “I'm N Luv (Wit A Stripper)".
Usher was not the only artist who expressed their dislike of the Auto-Tune tactics, Jay-Z released a diss track in 2009 called “D.O.A. (Death of Auto-Tune).”
In 2014, T-Pain also spoke about how the criticism of others around his music really impacted him in an article released by the The New Yorker.
In 2019, the rapper mostly singer, released a non-autotune album called “1Up” which brought fans back to a different time in pop and R&B. He also won “The Mask Singer" in 2019. People did not kmow it was him and that he could actually sing. “I figured I’d get voted off super-quick,” T-Pain said of his winning stint on Fox’s surprise hit “The Masked Singer”, but it was the opposite. “The soul that you put down on this show, man, I am just amazed,” Robin Thicke, one of the “Masked Singer” judges, told him on the finale.
But T-Pain knew he could sing without Auto-Tune, which for him (and many of the artists he’s inspired).
The newly released Netflix show, "This Is Pop," launched on Tuesday. It is an eight-part series highlighting untold stories from different artists like Shania Twain, Chuck D, Babyface, Boys II Men, Backstreet Boys, Blur, and more.