For those of you lucky enough to hear my lovely, soothing, and calming voice, you would be shocked to learn that I am in fact not a good singer.
My second night in Portland saw my friend Cora and I go to a karaoke bar, something that is normally a bit out of my element. I hit the karaoke stage last summer while studying abroad, but it was always in a group, and we were all very well-served before that point.
For the most part, I share my entire life on the internet, but singing solo karaoke is where I cannot seem to feel comfortable. Being a good singer would probably change that a bit, but alas I don’t see that changing anytime soon.
Honestly one of the best things that has ever happened to me to start to feel comfortable in uncomfortable situations was the first time I did karaoke. Naturally, it was with Cora, and we were at some random karaoke bar in Myrtle Beach, and I was beyond petrified.
After some bad singing on my end, I began to realize that I actually enjoy pushing my limits, and I think that is a massive reason I can do dumb stuff on the internet.
Now, our plan for Portland karaoke was to each do at least one solo song. Cora is an incredible singer who did theatre (won some awards) growing up and was in an acapella group in college. Since I don’t have that gift, I needed to find a song that would do most of the heavy lifting.
With the pressure of trying to find a suitable song for me to perform ramping up, I began to panic internally. Do I go old school? Do I try something that’s popular now? Do I go to my roots and go for One Direction (not only do I struggle singing one person’s part, but I also thought it was a great idea to do five at once)?
I went back to the drawing board and decided to think about this rationally.
I scavenged playlist after playlist to try and find a song that was in my wheelhouse, but also one that the crowd would know too. My eyes were bouncing around between the ’70s, ’80s, and early 2000s when I realized I needed to look around me, not at my phone.
What I learned rather quickly about Portland, is that there are a ton of millennials. If there is anything I know about that generation it’s that they love their early 2000s music.
It was as if Rick Jeanneret and Celery from the Bisons’ games looked down at me from the heavens as the Goo Goo Dolls iconic song Iris appeared.
At that moment, I wanted the bar to see me, and I knew that they would understand.
I knew this was a great song, but I did not expect the support I received from the bar. The pressure was relieved the bar was singing along, then disaster struck; a like minute break with no singing…
When I was playing the song in my head, I just looked past this point, but alas the guitar solo is very, very long. Seconds turned into hours, and I could only repeat the same 3 dance moves so much. But after what felt like an eternity we got back on track and wrapped the song up.
Long story short, when in Portland, play a song millennials love, and they will do all the singing for you.
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