Revocal › How to sing backwards
How to sing a song backwards
Singing backwards is talking backwards with a tune on top. The sounds reverse, and so does the melody. Here is how to handle both, which lines to pick, and a worked example.
The melody flips too
When a sung line plays backwards, everything about it reverses, not just the sounds. A phrase that climbs and then falls comes back falling and then climbing. A note that fades out comes back swelling in from nothing. Held notes stay held, but they arrive in the opposite order.
So there are two things to learn: the backwards sounds and the backwards tune. Learn the tune first. Hum the reversed recording until you can match its shape, then put the sounds on top.
Choosing a line to sing backwards
- Short. Three to five words from a chorus is plenty.
- Slow, with long vowels. Held vowels are the easiest part to reverse, and a slow line gives you time to land each sound.
- Few hard consonants. P, t, k and s flip into sounds you have to learn by ear. Lines built on vowels, m, n and l reverse more cleanly.
- Instantly recognisable. The reveal only works if people know the line.
How to sing backwards, step by step
- Sing the real line and record it, in the key you will perform in.
- Reverse the recording. This is your target, sounds and tune together.
- Hum the reversed tune until you can follow it without the recording.
- Add the sounds a chunk at a time, slowed down if you can.
- Record your attempt and reverse it. Listen for the words first and the tune second.
- Repeat the chunk that broke. Most attempts fail in one place, not everywhere.
Example: Happy Birthday backwards
"Happy birthday to you" is the line people try most. Reversed, it sounds roughly like ooy-oot ee-ed-THURB ee-PAH, ending on a breath for the h of "happy". The tune reverses too, so the phrase ends on the note it usually starts on. Sing that, reverse it, and the birthday line comes back.
Singing the alphabet backwards
This one has two meanings. Most people mean Z to A: the letters in reverse order, sung to the usual tune, which is a memory exercise best learned four letters at a time. The other meaning is the reverse singing kind, where you sing the reversed sounds of A to Z so that the recording plays back as the normal alphabet song. That is much harder, and it is done exactly like any other line: record it, reverse it, and learn it in chunks.
Questions
Why does singing backwards sound so strange?
Because reversed singing contains sounds no singer makes forwards: notes that swell in instead of fading out, and consonants whose puff of air comes before the stop.
Do I need to be a good singer?
No. Following the reversed tune roughly is enough. People listen for the words in the reveal, so get the sounds right first.
Try it with Revocal
Revocal flips any line, plays it back slowed down until you can copy it, then films one take and plays you back forwards. Free on iPhone.
