A singer can be admired by millions and still dislike hearing their own voice. Cher has said she does not like hers, while opera singer Irene Dalis objected to hearing a decades-old performance. Their comments describe different reactions—not a general rule about singers—and both come with important context.
Which singers don’t like their own voice?
The documented examples here are Cher and Irene Dalis. Cher has spoken about disliking her voice broadly, including the sound of her speaking voice, and has also described recordings and later work she likes. Dalis’s remark came while listening to a recording of her singing Azucena in Verdi’s Il Trovatore at the Metropolitan Opera on February 4, 1961. She criticized what she heard but also praised its musical execution.
These are individual accounts, not a complete roster or evidence that singers generally dislike recordings of themselves.
Why does Cher say she dislikes her voice?
In a 2023 interview with Entertainment Tonight’s Kevin Frazier, Cher put her reaction plainly: “I don’t like my voice. I just don’t like it. It’s like, have you ever heard yourself talking?” She described its quality as “weird,” adding, “It doesn’t sound like a man, it doesn’t sound like a woman.” Comparing it with her mother’s softer voice, she said hers was “edgier” and that she did not think she would have picked it. Entertainment Tonight’s 2023 interview captures her comments.
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That answer is not an unchanging verdict on every recording. In an extended CBS News interview, Cher said, “I’m not a huge Cher fan,” and, when asked about hearing her earlier work, “No. I don’t like my voice then.” But she also named “Song for the Lonely” and “You Haven’t Seen the Last of Me” among the handful of songs she liked. She explained that she began to sing in a way she liked after working with her teacher, before the 1987 album Cher. Her account describes a view that shifted with her work, not a contradiction: disliking her voice in general or at one point did not mean disliking every song or performance. The CBS News transcript includes those remarks.
What did Irene Dalis dislike about the old recording?
Dalis was listening to a recording of her Azucena from the Metropolitan Opera performance on February 4, 1961. In an interview reprint, she said: “I don’t like my voice, OK? I’m telling you, Nicole’s much better than that.” She immediately separated her reaction to the sound from her assessment of the performance: “What I like about it is, it’s musically correct, with the dotted notes, which makes it sound more urgent.”
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She emphasized that the recording was fifty years old and said she felt she was hearing somebody else. The context matters: this was her response to an old recording, not a blanket claim that she lacked vocal ability or that she disliked every performance of her voice. The interview reprint hosted by Opera San José preserves the exchange.
How are Cher’s and Dalis’s reactions different?
| Question | Cher | Irene Dalis |
|---|---|---|
| What was she reacting to? | Her voice generally, including the sound of her speaking voice, as well as earlier recordings. | A recording of a 1961 performance she heard roughly fifty years later. |
| What did she dislike? | She described her voice as a sound she did not like; she also said she disliked her voice on earlier work. | She said she did not like the sound of her voice on that recording. |
| Did she identify anything she liked? | Yes. She named “Song for the Lonely” and “You Haven’t Seen the Last of Me,” and said working with a teacher helped her sing in a way she liked. | Yes. She praised the performance’s musical correctness and its dotted notes. |
| What qualification matters most? | Her views varied by song and period in her career. | She stressed the recording’s age and said it felt like listening to somebody else. |
Does Adele belong on this list?
Not on the available evidence. In the 2015 Adele at the BBC transcript, she discusses self-criticism about returning to music and a vocal injury and recovery. Those subjects do not establish that she disliked hearing her own voice, so they are not enough to make her a confirmed example. The transcript supports that distinction.
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