Here’s What It Sounds Like When You Remove The Music From ‘We Are The Champions’

These days, auto-tuning songs from less-than-spectacular artists is nothing new. In fact, it’s pretty much expected most of the time.

(Seriously—we’re auto-tuning everything, even the news.)

So what happens when you take it a few steps backward and actually remove everything except the vocals (non auto-tuned, of course)? We’re reluctant to listen to most new artists that way, but lucky for us, Playback.fm’s YouTube channel chose to do just that with Freddie Mercury.

Amazing Voice Commands Attention

Mercury, of the band Queen, passed away in 1991, but his amazing voice, songs and style continue to capture people’s attention around the world.

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Playback.fm edited four concert films, including a rare recording session of “We Are The Champions,” and synced them to isolated vocals. It simply doesn’t get more a capella than that.

Mercury, whose real name is Farrokh Bulsara, was born in Tanzania in 1946 and studied piano in boarding school in India. He moved to London in the 1960s and befriended multiple musicians, including two of his future bandmates, drummer Roger Taylor and guitarist Brian May.

RELATED: Randy Travis’ Performance Of ‘Amazing Grace’ Brings Audience To Tears

The Birth Of Queen

After being in two different bands, the Hectics and Ibex, Mercury reunited with Taylor and May and, along with bassist John Deacon, they formed Queen. Some of the band’s most notable songs include “We Will Rock You,” “Bohemian Rhapsody” and “We Are The Champions.”

The band went on to win numerous awards and was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2001.

RELATED: You have got to see this adorable (and hilarious) video of a little girl singing “Bohemian Rhapsody”!

Scientists Study Mercury’s Wide Vocal Range

Since Mercury’s death, scientists have gone on to study his incredible vocal range. According to The Daily Mail, the 2016 study of his voice in the Logopedics Phoniatrics Vocology used archive recordings and a singer to imitate Mercury’s voice.

Many people believed Mercury’s vocal range to be over four octaves, but the the lead author of the study, Austrian voice scientist Christian Herbst, says his vocal range was ‘normal for a healthy adult—not more, not less.’

Researchers say Mercury was probably a baritone, but sang as a tenor and had incredible control over his vocal production technique.

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One thing’s for sure, Freddie Mercury will continue to be known as one of the greatest singers in Rock and Roll history.

RELATED: Why Bassists Are The Most Important Member Of A Band—According To Science

So Many Epic Works In Queen’s Music Catalogue

Here are the other Queen songs we mentioned, for your listening pleasure: