What songs does Austin Butler sing in Elvis

Audiences have been blown away by the likeness between Austin Butler and Elvis Presley in Baz Luhrmann's Elvis, but does Butler actually sing the songs in the movie? Elvis sees Butler—who also portrays sadistic murderer Charles Denton (a.k.a. "Tex" Watson) in Quentin Tarantino's Once Upon a Time in Hollywood—utterly transform, with Butler talking, walking, dancing, and singing just like The King. And, while Butler did sing every line to every song heard in the film, what audiences hear when watching Elvis is a little more complicated.

Elvis endeavors to draw audiences into the full breadth and scope of Presley's life, and, as such, the film covers a lot of ground. Luhrmann depicts Presley's childhood, spent living in Memphis' impoverished Black communities in the late 1930s and early 1940s, where Presley discovered gospel music. It is not until 1954 when Presley's first single, "That's Alright," was released and Colonel Tom Parker entered Elvis' life, that Presley's first song is heard in the film. As such, Presley's singing in the movie is from the years 1954 until Presley's death in 1977, spanning just 23 years.

However, Butler's singing is only showcased for about half of those years. According to Elvis composer Elliott Wheeler (via Variety), Butler "performs everything up until 1968 where he is in black leather. Everything after that was Elvis…" The recording process involved still included much of Butler in Elvis' post-1968 performances but weaved together Butler and Presley's vocals using what Wheeler calls "stems."

Stems are a recording tool used to isolate tracks in the stereo recording process. This allows composers like Wheeler to separate each individual instrument in a stereo recording and, in this case, allowed Wheeler to isolate Presley's original vocal tracks and lay them into Elvis. Interestingly, this same process was used in the recent Queen Biopic, Bohemian Rhapsody. "If we did end up using Elvis takes, we ended up slicing [parts of] Austin's performance," Wheeler says (via Variety). "We used a lot of the breaths, grunts, and body movements that are Austin, and we'd switch back to Elvis."

While stereo sound (and thus, stereo stems) became the standard of audio production from the late 1960s onward, having access to Presley's original audio does not necessarily explain why Presley's voice was used over Butler's when filming the icon's late years in Elvis. Butler's performances throughout the first half of the film certainly assuage any doubt about his vocal abilities: his range and lilting Presley drawl when singing is flawless. However, the songs that 30-year-old Butler sings solo in Elvis end in 1968, when Elvis would have been 33 years old. In this way, it is likely that Presley's heavy drug use and age led to changes in his voice that were impossible for Butler to convey.

Furthermore, while some may be disappointed by the audio assist in the film, using the stems to achieve vocal authenticity for the later years of Presley's life does not detract from the point of the biopic or Butler's work. Butler's performance in Elvis was in an effort to bring Presley's life story to the screen, which he does impeccably. His job was not to be Presley because, as the film shows, there has only ever been one Elvis Presley.

Next: Elvis Ending Explained (In Detail)