Showtunes from Grease, Wicked, and Rent are old standbys. This summer, “Before He Cheats”-sung as “Before She Cheats”-became my staple. I love to bring the mood down in a karaoke room with a rendition of “Goodbye To You” or “Not Ready To Make Nice.” I literally sang “Potential Breakup Song” mere days after breaking up with my ex. My go-to karaoke artists are the Dixie Chicks, Kelly Clarkson, ABBA, Alanis Morissette, and Michelle Branch.
Meanwhile, no one would sing “Take Me Or Leave Me” with me, so I attempted to sing both Maureen and Joanne’s parts, but halfway through the song, the Karaoke Grinch JOINED IN and broke her five-year hiatus?! A magical moment.
Sometimes, you really do just have to sing it out. My love of karaoke is deeply entwined with the way I process emotions during difficult times.
#Yellowcard only one karaoke series#
In the past year, I started going to karaoke every week, a great life choice that I wrote about right here* on Autostraddle dot com as part of For Your Consideration, my series that is about a lot of things but really about my breakup and the affair that incited it. I usually stuck to “Aaron’s Party (Come Get It)” by Aaron Carter, “Independent Women Part 2” by Destiny’s Child, or “Oops!…I Did It Again” by Britney Spears - all incredibly good karaoke songs. There weren’t many songs you could choose from, which came on pre-loaded cartridges you inserted into the mic. My journey with karaoke began when I was maybe 8 or 9 years old and Santa brought me an E-Kara, which was a microphone you could plug into your television to transform it into a very early-2000s, low-tech, at-home karaoke system.