Amy Lu's View

“Everybody needs a go-to karaoke song
The one that makes you sing along
So take a sip of courage and just get up on that stage
Forget about your worries and just let the music play
Everybody needs a go-to karaoke song”–Sister Hazel, “Go To Karaoke Song”

In my last blog post, I wrote about how brave I was when I went ziplining on vacation in Costa Rica. Now time to turn my attention to another brave accomplishment: karaoke.

I will digress a bit to set the stage. I’ve never been on a cruise, but I hypothesize that our experience of staying at a resort was a lot like being on a cruise on land. So like a cruise, every night there was entertainment: a live band played from 8:30-9:00, then there was a dance show from 9:00-10:00 on a different stage across the courtyard, and and then the band did another set from 10:00-11:00.

Our first night we were confused and annoyed by this entertainment. Was it a dance drag show? What was up with Latino Beatles cover band? And most importantly, how f#$%!n late was the band going to play because we were old, and tired from traveling, and there was no way we could NOT hear the band from our room. And yes, it was all so cheesy and we were smuggly superior to it all.

Luckily, it didn’t take us too long to get over our old, “we’re too sophisticated for this” selves. (Knowing that the band stopped playing at 11:00 and that we could comfortably sleep/pass out at a respectable hour helped). By night #3 we were eagerly looking forward to the resort’s entertainment. As amateur musicians, we especially appreciated the talent, musicianship, and heart of the band members who gave their all to entertain distracted and frequently drunk resorters. We tried to figure out the rhythms of latin and Caribbean-flavored music over rum and guarro (NOT mixed together).

We also developed a deep an unexpected appreciation for “La Bamba” and “Hotel California.” We heard “La Bamba” every night at the resort, except for the “I promise I will eventually get to it Night of Karaoke.” Okay, one night the band didn’t actually play it but it was a part of the dance set. Our band Pigeons from Hell actually played “La Bamba” last summer at our one–and rightfully only–Quinceanera gig, and Chad sang lead, so he was able to expertly sing along in Spanish.

We also frequently heard “Hotel California, ” although not every night. No, I don’t know why this particular song was so popular at a Costa Rican resort…for some reason were the musicians mocking the conservative Christians of my childhood who proclaimed the song Satanic?

But Sunday must be the night the professional musicians and and dancers at the resort have off, because Sunday was KARAOKE NIGHT.

My first reaction when I learned this was, “I’m so out of there, let’s go watch TV in our room and see if I can figure out an action movie in Spanish.” But I must have been too lazy to immediately bolt, because soon we were watching karaoke.

Post-karaoke selfie in my new dress I bought at the resort.

My inner monologue soon turned into a loop of “I would never do this…could I do this?… I probably wouldn’t be too much worse than anyone else who’s on stage, not that I’m judging them/being a bitch, God bless them for having a good time (oh snap, yes, I’m totally judging them…I could do this…it’s too late to do this…I’m not drunk enough to do this…being on that stage would probably feel amazing…I should do this!”

I finally realized that if I was thinking/obsessing about it THAT much, I should just do the damn karaoke. Unfortunately/fortunately, by the time my alcohol consumption and the logistics of the evening were in the proper mix, I was the very last person to perform. So I had the honor of closing down the show and sing “Girls Just Wanna to Have Fun” to Chad and about 10 staff people.

Luckily, they had my go-to Karaoke song, “Girls Just Wanna Have Fun.” And if you’re wondering if I do karaoke enough to have a go-to song, Chad had the same question. While I definitely had a, shall we say, rather intense karaoke phase, it was more than a decade ago, And while usually weird and embarrassing, my forays into karaoke usually occurred safely at home or at private parties (sometimes regrettably at library/work settings), courtesy of my own karaoke machine.

I think it’s been four years since I’ve done karaoke at all, and that was a sweet but rather misguided duet of Chad and I singing “Embraceable You” (it was TOTALLY in the wrong key). And while I feel like I’ve performed “Girls Just Wanna Have Fun” at karaoke at least a couple of time, I can really only remember doing it once at a Snyder family wedding. 

Okay, maybe it’s more a symbolic than actual go-to karaoke song, but I felt I could pull it off. It’s a good choice for me it requires a limited range and I can just stay up high in my head voice, and more importantly, I feel Cyndi’s longing to “be the one who walks in the sun.” So I was brave and faced down my self-doubt and good judgement, and did that karaoke thing. I even danced a bit. And I was right, being on that stage DID feel amazing.

Sadly, there’s no video of it, but perhaps that’s for the best…I can just choose to  believe I wasn’t too bad and that I remember how much fun this girl had.