Music's Top 5 Lip-Sync Scandals

No one ever said it would be easy, Yeezy.

Kanye West performs in this file photo./Madonna performs in this file photo./Ashlee Simpson performs in this file photo.

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Kanye West added himself to the roster of music's most infamous on-stage mishaps Saturday when he failed to nail his performance of "Love Lockdown" on "Saturday Night Live."

To be fair, West's greatest strengths lie in rapping and producing.

"Love Lockdown" and the album from which it hails, "808's and Heartbreak," is West's first foray into singing. But whether by fault of his own or because of his audio equipment, his attempt to serenade "SNL's" audience came off as feeble at best, fueling rumors that he requires a little help in the vocals department.

Ashlee Simpson, Britney Spears, Madonna and Milli Vanilli -- to greater and lesser degrees, they've all been accused of the same thing.

Check out the performances that stirred scandal, and the verdict on whether or not each artist committed what many fans regard as the greatest on-stage sin of all: lip-syncing.

Kanye West

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From the moment West got on the mic at "SNL," it was clear something wasn't right. Rob Levine, executive editor of Billboard magazine, speculated West's weak voice had to do with a glitch in the autotune feature many artists use to stay on pitch while recording in the studio and rocking out live.

"Autotune allows you to hit every note perfectly. You're not going to be sharp or flat," Levine said. "I think the effect wasn't fully realized, [the autotune] might have been set up wrong. But it's foolish to suggest he was lip-syncing. If he were lip-syncing, it would've sounded exactly the way he wanted it to."

But even if West didn't lip-sync, Tyler Gray, Blender magazine's senior editor, isn't letting him off the hook.

"He was cheating. At the end of the day, did he make up for that lackluster element of his performance with something that balanced it out? I don't really think so. It was neat visuals, but the music wasn't quite up to par," said Gray.

"In the beginning, he got an A for effort because he was trying to break the mold," Gray said, referring to West's branching out from typical hip-hop techniques. "But the effort grade only goes so far. Now he actually has to sound good. And he didn't. He sounded like a bad talent show."

Britney Spears

With pop stars like Britney Spears, it's all but expected that lip-syncing will go hand in hand with a live performance. Levine called it an open secret in the music industry, the product of audiences expecting artists to sound the same on albums and on stage.