Nicki Nicole found herself at the center of an unexpected discussion on social media due to her way of speaking. The singer, who currently is part of the jury for Popstars, received criticism from a user on X for the way she pronounces the name of the Telefe reality show and decided to respond directly.
The exchange began over a detail that some viewers noticed during the program's broadcasts: the artist tends to pronounce “Popstar” instead of marking the final “s” in “Popstars”. A user decided to publicly express her annoyance, and the comment quickly reached Nicki herself.
“It bothers me that Nicki Nicole calls Popstars POPSTAR,” the young woman wrote on X.
The singer was the center of criticism on social media
Far from letting the questioning slide, the singer responded from her official account and explained, with irony, the reason behind her pronunciation: “I'm from Rosario, can you forgive me?”.
Her response quickly sparked reactions and opened a discussion between those who questioned her way of pronouncing the show's name and those who came to her defense, pointing out that the aspiration or loss of the “s” in certain contexts is part of different varieties of Spanish spoken in Argentina.
The response from Rosarians after the criticism of Nicki Nicole
Among the numerous replies, a user also identified with the artist's way of speaking and explained: “It happens that she is from Rosario, unfortunately 90% of us don't pronounce the 's'.”
The phrase reached Nicki Nicole again, who quoted it and simply responded: “Exactly”.
In this way, the performer reaffirmed her initial explanation and made it clear that she does not consider her pronunciation to be a mistake that she needs to change to participate in the program.
Nicki Nicole's reaction
The exchange generated comments about the different accents and linguistic varieties that exist within Argentina. Although Spanish shares the same structure, pronunciation can vary considerably depending on the region, age, and social context of each speaker.
One of those phenomena occurs with the “s” at the end of a syllable or word, which in different varieties of Spanish can be pronounced more weakly, aspirated, or even not clearly perceived. Therefore, the way of speaking that sparked the discussion does not necessarily imply a lack of knowledge about how to write the name of the program.