Those who seem to be sneering at the idea of breath control don't know what they are talking about. Phrasing, yes. That's an important part of it, and that tells one where to breath, but without good breath control, you could wind up having to do "catch breaths" that screw up good phrasing, or having to gasp between lines, which really messes up phrasing.

And poor breath control is one of a couple of reasons that some folks have trouble consistently singing on pitch.

"Standardization" has nothing to do with it. Some people seem to have good breath control naturally and don't have to worry about it. Others don't, and those are the folks the advice is for.

Don Firth