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Many of today’s singers that I actually like share an odd trait. I often cannot discern what they’re singing until after many, many listenings. It’s not Ebonics. It’s not even Spanglish. It’s almost as though I’m hearing someone sing in a language that is not English.
I guess many are not taught to value annunciation while singing. Not all of them, but quite a few.

Johnny Mathis, Nat King Cole and Ella Fitzgerald were well known for their clear articulation of the syllables and vowels in a word when appropriate. It could be overdone too, as with Little Anthony & the Imperials.
For years I heard a song on radio, here and there, loved it, but could never make out what the lyrics were. Suddenly I caught a few key sounds in repetition.

Now I know that song to be ‘Because of You’, by Kelly Clarkson. I enjoyed the performance, but never understood what the heck she was singing till now, 12 years after the song came out. I don’t listen to a lot of ‘new’ music on the radio. So I’m still playing catch-up.
I used to listen to a lot of talk radio until Cumulus took away most of my local favorites! Left me high and dry on Terrestrial Radio.