page_title: Lip sync
section_title: Examples
hierarchical_section_title: Lip sync / In music / Examples
caption_attribution_description: Ashlee Simpson-Wentz at the CW Upfront Presentation: Green Carpet Arrivals, Madison Square Garden, New York City - May 21, 2009
context_page_description: Lip sync or lip synch is a technical term for matching a speaking or singing person's lip movements with sung or spoken vocals.
  Audio for lip syncing is generated through the sound reinforcement system in a live performance or via television, computer, cinema speakers, or other forms of audio output. The term can refer to any of a number of different techniques and processes, in the context of live performances and audiovisual recordings.
  In film production, lip-synching is often part of the postproduction phase. Dubbing foreign-language films and making animated characters appear to speak both require elaborate lip-synching. Many video games make extensive use of lip-synched sound files to create an immersive environment in which on-screen characters appear to be speaking. In the music industry, lip-synching is used by singers for music videos, television and film appearances and some types of live performances. Lip-synching by singers can be controversial to fans attending concert performances who expect to view a live performance.
context_section_description: While Michael Jackson's performance on the television special Motown 25: Yesterday, Today, Forever (1983) changed the scope of live stage show, as he mixed singing and complex dance moves, Ian Inglis, author of Performance and Popular Music: History, Place and Time (2006) states that "Jackson lip-synced 'Billie Jean'" during this TV show. In 1989, a New York Times article claimed that "Bananarama's recent concert at the Palladium", the "first song had a big beat, layered vocal harmonies and a dance move for every line of lyrics", but "the drum kit was untouched until five songs into the set, or that the backup vocals (and, it seemed, some of the lead vocals as well-a hybrid lead performance) were on tape along with the beat". The article also claims that "British band Depeche Mode, ...adds vocals and a few keyboard lines to [a] taped backup [track when they perform] onstage".
  In 1989, during a Milli Vanilli performance recorded by MTV at the Lake Compounce theme park in Bristol, Connecticut, what sounded to be a pre-recorded track of the group's song "Girl You Know It's True" jammed and began to skip, repeating the partial line "Girl, you know it's..." over and over. Due to rising public questions regarding the source of singing talent in the group, owner Frank Farian confessed to reporters on November 12, 1990, that Morvan and Pilatus did not actually sing on the records. As a result of American media pressure, Milli Vanilli's Grammy was withdrawn four days later, and Arista Records dropped the act from its roster and deleted their album and its masters from their catalog, taking the album Girl You Know It's True out of print. After these details emerged, at least 26 different lawsuits were filed under various U.S. consumer fraud protection laws. On August 28, a settlement was approved that refunded those who attended concerts along with those who bought Milli Vanilli recordings. An estimated 10 million buyers were eligible to claim a refund.
  Chris Nelson of The New York Times reported that by the 1990s, "[a]rtists like Madonna and Janet Jackson set new standards for showmanship, with concerts that included not only elaborate costumes and precision-timed pyrotechnics but also highly athletic dancing. These effects came at the expense of live singing." Edna Gundersen of USA Today reported: "The most obvious example is Madonna's Blond Ambition World Tour, a visually preoccupied and heavily choreographed spectacle. Madonna lip-syncs the duet "Now I'm Following You", while a Dick Tracy character mouths Warren Beatty's recorded vocals. On other songs, background singers plump up her voice, strained by the exertion of non-stop dancing."
  Similarly, in reviewing Janet Jackson's Rhythm Nation World Tour, Michael MacCambridge of the Austin American-Statesman commented "[i]t seemed unlikely that anyone—even a prized member of the First Family of Soul Music—could dance like she did for 90 minutes and still provide the sort of powerful vocals that the '90s super concerts are expected to achieve."
  The music video for Electrasy's 1998 single "Morning Afterglow" featured lead singer Alisdair McKinnell lip-syncing the entire song backwards. This allowed the video to create the effect of an apartment being tidied by 'un-knocking over' bookcases, while the music plays forwards.
  On October 23–24, 2004, US pop singer Ashlee Simpson appeared as a musical guest of episode 568 of the live comedy TV show Saturday Night Live. During her performance, "she was revealed to apparently be lip-synching". According to "her manager-father[,]...his daughter needed the help because acid reflux disease had made her voice hoarse." Her manager stated that "Just like any artist in America, she has a backing track that she pushes so you don't have to hear her croak through a song on national television." During the incident, vocal parts from a previously performed song began to sound while the singer was "holding her microphone at her waist"; she made "some exaggerated hopping dance moves, then walked off the stage".
  In 2009, US pop singer Britney Spears was "
caption: Pop singer Ashlee Simpson lip-synched a song on the variety TV show Saturday Night Live in 2004
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