Song Selection: Discovering the Art of Heart To Heart SInging

If you recently watched Kelly Clarkson’s appearance on American Idol, or Lady Gaga at the 2016 Oscars, you witnessed something very similar.  Both of these performers were singing their truth.  They were singing real personal stories, which they authored or co-authored, in both cases.  Their feelings were palpable.  Watching them, you knew that they had lived through this painful experience. By expressing their feelings about their experience, these performers made themselves completely vulnerable.

However, recreating the power of this type of storytelling, when you are not the actual author, presents a challenge for any singer.  If you are not the author, How do you emotionally recreate your experience through someone else's song? Is it your charge to find songs that tell stories similar to your own?  If so, how and where do you find these songs? Do you start with the song or start with the memory?  And what experiences, painful or memorable, do you share with your audience?  Should you even bother with a song if it does not elicit a visceral reaction when first presented to you? What tools do you employ to actually make the song your own?  These are the type of questions, a singer of cover songs might ask themselves.

Your personal experiences make you who you are.  But making a strong connection to your audience members is not necessarily due the content itself -it can be the simple act of sharing.  Whether sharing awkward uncomfortable experiences, or joyful moments, as with most authentic stories, there is usually some common ground.  People love to be reminded of the human experience in all its gloom and all its glory. 

A singer may ask-what are some of the most unique, important, life changing, bizarre, glorious, horrible, gleeful memories that make you the person you are today? What songs could bring out your story or even a portion of your story? What are the songs that trigger memories for you? Perhaps start a list and unpack those memories.  The memories could be big or as small as a fleeting moment in time. 

If you have trouble recollecting, peruse old photos, take a trip down memory lane, talk to family or friends, visit some old stomping grounds, listen to some old albums/songs/soundtracks…then, put the list of memories in a column and then go through each one and in a new column select the song.

What you decide to share could be as small as a single reaction, or as big as the road not taken. But in the end, you will have a great chance of truly connecting to your audience, heart to heart, if you dig deep to connect and choose the song and share your truth.