You’ve been working on your voice. Practicing, experimenting, trying out new techniques. And instead of feeling like a radiant, confident version of yourself… you just feel fake.

Maybe it sounds weird to you. Maybe it feels like you’re putting on an act. Maybe you’re wondering, Is this even my real voice?

If that sounds familiar, you’re not alone.

This is one of the most common struggles I hear from people in my voice training courses, in my YouTube comments, and in messages from folks trying to shape a voice that feels like them. The good news? This feeling won’t last forever—and there’s a reason it happens in the first place.

Watch the Video

I made a whole video about this feeling—why it happens, why your voice isn’t actually “fake,” and how to move through the discomfort. Watch it here:

If you prefer to read, keep going! Let’s break it down.

Why Does Your New Voice Feel Fake?

Your voice is one of the most personal things about you. It’s how you express yourself, how people recognize you, how you communicate with the world. So when you start changing it, your brain naturally resists.

This happens for a few reasons:

• Your brain is used to your old voice. If you’ve spoken a certain way for years (or decades!), it’s going to feel wrong at first when that changes.
• It’s like hearing yourself on a recording. You know that weird, cringey feeling when you hear a voicemail of yourself? That’s because your brain has a different internal idea of how you sound. Voice training creates a similar effect.
• You learned your voice through imitation. As kids, we naturally pick up vocal habits from the people around us. If you had been encouraged to speak differently from childhood, your voice would have developed differently too. That means changing your voice now isn’t "fake"—it’s just learning a new skill.

Dr. Dolly Jenkins, a student in my Mindful Voice Feminization course, described this feeling beautifully in one of her videos. She talked about how her internal voice didn't match her external voice at first, but she knew that these two voices would align eventually.

Watch Dolly’s Instagram reel here.

Your Voice Is Not Fake—It’s a Work in Progress

A lot of people worry that changing their voice is somehow inauthentic. As if there’s a single “real” version of your voice and anything else is an act.

But here’s the thing: your voice is always changing. It has changed throughout your life based on who you were around, what habits you developed, and even how you felt in different situations.

We don’t say someone’s being fake if they:

• Work out to change their body
• Dye their hair a radically different colour
• Adjust how they dress

So why do we get so hung up on voices?

Your voice is just as flexible as any other part of you. And choosing to shape it in a way that makes you feel more you? That’s not fake. That’s agency.

Do Strangers Think You Sound Fake?

This is another big fear—what will other people think?

Here’s some reassurance: to strangers, your voice is just your voice.

They don’t have an old version of you in their head. They aren’t comparing. They’re just hearing the way you sound now.

Of course, some people do make assumptions based on voice—especially around gender. That’s frustrating, and it’s part of why voice training can be so affirming. But beyond those snap judgments, most people are not analyzing your voice the way you are.

They’re too busy thinking about their own lives, their grocery lists, whether they left the stove on. You are not under a microscope.

What About People Who Already Know You?

Now, people who do know you? They might notice the change. And that can feel scary.

But noticing doesn’t mean judging. It just means their brain is seeing something different.

Think about it like wearing lipstick for the first time.

If you’ve never worn lipstick to work before and suddenly show up with bright red lips, people might say, “Oh! You’re wearing lipstick!” Not because they hate it. Not because they think it looks bad. Just because it’s new.

Fast forward two weeks. You wear lipstick every day. Suddenly, no one notices anymore. Because their brain has adjusted.

Same thing with your voice. At first, people will notice. That doesn’t mean they think it’s bad or wrong. It just means their brain is registering the change.

And if you want to help them understand what’s happening, you can send them my video: Someone You Love Is Voice Training. It gives them a simple, supportive way to adjust alongside you.

Give Yourself Time

Here’s the most important thing:

Feeling fake doesn’t mean you’re doing it wrong. It just means you’re doing something new.

Dolly said it best in the caption of her video:

"Miles and miles (or kilometers, depending on where we are) to go. But I’m staying curious and building habits."

That’s the key. Stay curious. Keep building habits. Keep exploring.

And I promise—one day, this voice you’re creating won’t feel like an act. It’ll just feel like you.

Final Thoughts

If this post resonated with you, let me know in the comments of the video above! Have you ever struggled with feeling like your voice wasn’t “you”? How did you work through it?

And if you want more support, check out my free webinar, Change the Gender of Your Voice (No Hormones or Surgeries Required), where students like Dolly are finding their voices in a way that actually feels authentic.

Wherever you are in your voice journey, you’re not alone. You’ve got this.