Emma Robinson, an 18-year-old student from St. Petersburg, Florida, first went viral in 2013 when she posted her cover of Rihanna's "Stay." Her voice sounded almost electronic, prompting many to say she'd auto-tuned herself. She and her (insane!) voice are back, this time with a cover of Tori Kelly's "Paper Hearts."
Robinson told Cosmopolitan.com via email that her singing voice has always had this electronic quality (she compared it to that of a Celtic singer). "It's not something I try to do, it just happens naturally and I genuinely can't sing without the breaks," she wrote. "I definitely think they have become more and more pronounced over time but it's always been an integral part of my voice. " She's never taken vocal lessons, but her choir teachers have always told her they've never heard a voice quite like hers.
She doesn't care so much that people accuse her of altering her voice, in fact, she's "become better about accepting that not everyone will believe or appreciate my style of singing, because it's quite different, and you can't please everyone."
Robinson "would joke about [dueting with] T-Pain," but is actually obsessed with John Legend and would love to duet with him some day. She plans to join a cappella groups when she gets to college in the fall and will continue posting videos to YouTube. She's not signed with a record label but hopes to pursue music professionally.
She hopes to have time to work on an original song soon, but in the meantime, I'll be listening to the rest of her covers on repeat while sitting, waiting, wishing that my crazy unique singing voice kicks in one of these days.
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Tess Koman covers breaking (food) news, opinion pieces, and features on larger happenings in the food world. She oversees editorial content on Delish. Her work has appeared on Cosmopolitan.com, Elle.com, and Esquire.com.
