Why do famous women keep faking their voices?

Someone should invest in Helium stock quickly because everyone is changing their minds at the moment.

Earlier this month, a video from Ariana Grande’s podcast showed her very obviously making her singer’s transition from her normal speaking voice to the breathy, sexy baby voice we’ve come to associate with her over the years.

Then yesterday, queen of the nasal accent, Paris Hilton, revealed her real voice while giving a speech to Congress about child abuse. The reality star could be heard speaking in a noticeably deeper tone.

In the past, pitch change was usually associated with women constantly deepening their voices rather than choosing between pitches, and certainly not the other way around.

Remember Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes, the multimillion-dollar fraudster who faked a deeper voice to appear less effeminate and more like a “serious businesswoman” in the male-dominated science technology industry.

But these celebrities spend most of their public lives in full gear, only to be caught on camera changing gears, so is it all intentional?

“After listening to the clips of Ariana Grande and Paris Hilton, I think of Margaret Thatcher and the coaching she supposedly received to deepen her speaking voice,” says singing teacher Roz McLeod. “She was advised that in a male-dominated world – as Parliament was at the time – she should lose the ‘shrill-sounding’ higher notes in her voice and lower the register to add dignity and be more like the men around her.”

So why has Paris Hilton gone from a high pitch to a suddenly lower pitch her whole life, and has she been faking the baby voice all this time? Maybe not, says McLeod.

“As we get older, our voice sinks into a lower register and all sorts of things affect our voice, particularly hormones, which we all know cause a change in the voice in boys during puberty; in girls it happens too, but less obviously. Pregnancy also affects our voice and that may be the case with Paris Hilton,” explains McLeod. “But I think it’s more of a personal metamorphosis that comes from a little more maturity and responsibility.”

But her voice isn’t deep throughout the clip. Like Grande, she visibly shifts from one line to the next. According to BACP-accredited psychotherapist Stefan Walters, this is more about personality and comfort level than conscious vocal direction. “Sometimes people develop a unique voice that suits certain parts; almost like they’re getting into a role or character before they go on stage,” says Walters. “I think that’s what we see in these videos of Paris and Ariana. Paris starts in her relaxed personality and then shifts back into her professional personality as she looks at her notes and changes her voice.”

Grande, meanwhile, admitted that her vocal change was very deliberate. After her interview clip went viral, the star posted: “I often change my vocal pitch (high/low) intentionally depending on how much I’m singing. I’ve always done it that way.”

McLeod confirms that this is a sensible decision on Grande’s part and likely has more to do with her singing than any kind of public image she wants to maintain. “(Grande) may know the vocal mechanism,” she says, “it’s not a bad idea to speak in a higher pitch at times, as the vocal cords have to go from a neutral position to a longer and thinner pitch. It’s a great way to warm up the upper part of her register when she sings later in the day.”

And if we were being cynical, we might note that these women’s higher vocal ranges also contribute to their personal branding. Grande has always maintained a breezy, easygoing public persona that matches her musical style, and Hilton’s persona as a dim-witted heiress is still useful as a personal brand today, even if no one has believed it for ages.

So maybe it’s not so much that these women are faking their voices, but using them to their advantage. But that’s not to say I should tell anyone else to give it a try – I don’t think I could stand a world full of reverse Elizabeth Holmeses.