Chaka Khan Says Singers Who Use Auto-Tune 'Need to Get a Job at the Post Office'

Mar. 15, 2025

Photo: Roy Rochlin/Getty

Chaka Khanmay walk “Through the Fire,” but you’ll never see her walk into a studio where auto-tune is being used.

The legendary vocalist, 69, is opening up about her frustrations with singers who use autotune to alter the pitch of their voices in recordings. In aconversation with theNew York Post’s Page Six, Khan acknowledged that the music industry has some “very fine young artists” in it, although she’s not a fan of those using the pitch corrector.

“There is some great stuff out there and there are some great artists,” she said at the Angel Ball in New York City last week. “There’s some very fine young artists out there doing great, great work that I am impressed with. But the others, they just need to get them a job at the Post Office — they are always hiring! People are using Auto-Tune. They need to get to the Post Office quick.”

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The effect took on a new life artistically whenChertapped it for her 1998 single “Believe,” and reached new heights in the mid-’00s whenT-Painbegan to use it as his signature sound on a variety of hit records.

Other artists saw success with the effect around that time, likeKanye West, whose 2008 album808s & Heartbreakfeatured him primarily singing with Auto-Tune. A more recent generation of hitmakers inTravis Scottand Playboi Carti have since followed suit.

But the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame inductee, who attended the fundraiser forGabrielle’s Angel Foundation for Cancer Research, isn’t co-signing autotune anytime soon. She also told Page Six that she feels there are a number of women vocalists who are insecure in themselves. “I feel very sad. It saddens me deeply that so much… insecurity is present in these girls. They really need to know that they are the gold and that they really are precious.”

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Khan has been hesitant to accept sampling in the past, too, when it comes to altering voices — more specifically her own. Back in August, she spoke about West’s 2003 debut single “Through the Wire,” which sampled her classic “Through the Fire,” and expressed that she was “upset about sounding like a chipmunk.” The song, written about West’s near-fatal car accident that left his mouth wired shut, used a sped-up sample of Khan’s hit. But while she gave him clearance to sample the song, Khan toldGood Day D.C.earlier this year that she didn’t expect West to tinker with her voice the way he did.

“I’ve not heard from him, and I’m not looking to hear from him. That’s what he did with his music,” she said. “I was upset about sounding like a chipmunk, ‘cause he didn’t put that when he asked [if he could] sample my song. He didn’t mention he was going to speed it up three times its normal speed. Had he, I would’ve had something to say. But since I didn’t think of that, believe me, I think of it now. [When someone asks to sample my music] I ask, ‘How are we gonna do this?'”

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“Private conversations for me have always been intended to uplift. But when or if people get pieces of it, they can always have some other interpretation,” Usher said. “But we’ve spoken since and we’re good.”

source: people.com