It turns out “the voice of a generation” isn’t just a metaphor. Different generations have different ways of speaking, and nowhere is it more obvious than in our television, commercials, and other pop culture.
Even more interestingly, the way people talk in these cultural artifacts sometimes says more about culture in general than the way real people actually speak. For example, the classic “old-timey” accent you hear in films and radio from the early 1900s—called Good American Speech or the Transatlantic accent—wasn’t exactly a reflection of how real people talked. It was adopted by actors to sound more refined and elite, but it’s how many of us often remember the period sounding.
So, too, do modern Millennials have their own distinct voice. And one voice artist says it’s all Jim Halpert’s fault.
The origins of “Millennial speak”
Voice artist Tawny Platis has lent her vocal talents to Hulu, Warner Brothers, Disney+, and many more. She also creates content on YouTube and recently took to the platform to share a fascinating bit of history from her unique industry.
“Jim from The Office is responsible for the Millennial voice,” she proclaims.
In order to explain why actor John Krasinski is the reason “Millennials talk like that,” she takes us back to the popular TV commercials of our youth. Brands like Macy’s and Revlon would feature voiceover actors with a bright, cheery, in-your-face “commercial” voice.
Platis performs them perfectly in her video because, she says, she actually starred in many commercials just like these.
But before Krasinski made it big with his role on The Office, he was a prominent voice actor for brands like Verizon and Blackberry. In those commercials, many of which aired in the early 2000s (when Millennials were coming of age), he was famous for his extraordinarily casual, conversational tone. Think his laid-back Jim Halpert vibe. It’s a stark contrast to the way commercials were performed in the ’90s.
“It was basically just like, ‘Hey, I’m just a guy. I’m not really an actor. … You can trust me. It’s like you’re talking to a friend,” Platis says.
Platis says that for years, until very recently, almost every audition and job she went out for was seeking a “conversational read” exactly like Krasinski’s performances. They became genre-defining.
Hallmarks of Millennial Voice explained
Platis isn’t the first person to identify this distinct way of speaking. For years, “Millennial speak” has been examined (and sometimes maligned) in popular media.
In 2016, NPR wrote about Millennials love of tacking on “I feel like,” to their thoughts as a way of making a point casually and avoiding confrontation. Millennials are also famous for vocal fry, which the University of Melbourne describes as “the creaky voice they often do at the end of sentences that makes them sound eternally bored, cool and relaxed, depending on the listener.”
The style of speaking reflected a powerful move away from anything that felt cheesy, artificial, or overly formal.
For example, remember the “movie trailer voice” guy? Movie trailers don’t use those big, over-the-top narrators with deep gravitas anymore, preferring to let the footage and music speak for itself. This is partly due to the death of legendary voiceover man Don LaFontaine, but the movie trailer voiceover was also becoming too cliche and predictable for the Millennial audience.
Krasinski, who’s naturally likable and “cool,” was the perfect person to bring all of this to life in his super chill but still-friendly way of speaking. It was only furthered cemented by the huge popularity of his character on The Office.
Something changed in the last four years
Platis goes on to say that the Golden Age of Millennial Voice has come and gone, and Gen Zers are taking center stage in the voiceover world.
She describes Gen Z voice as detached and apathetic, “like you’re talking to someone without looking up from your phone.”
And it’s what all the brands want now.
Interestingly, Platis says that the Gen Z voice more closely resembles the sarcasm and unbothered-ness of Gen X—or, their parents.
In other words, it all comes back around. No matter what generation you come from, it’s all but certain that the next one will want to do things their own way. It can hurt to feel like pop culture is leaving you behind, but it’s a necessary process for young people to form their own identities as they take a leading role in the world.
As far as Millennials go, though, that trademarked Jim Halpert voice will never go out of style.
