Snapchat Karaoke

I love to sing and dance, especially if I'm in a good mood or my inhibitions are lowered (i.e. under the influence). If I can sing out loud in front of you that means I'm probably comfortable with you and if you can join in with me well then you're a keeper in my opinion.

I love to karaoke along to music I already like, making up my own lyrics to existing songs and making up entirely new songs in the spot. A friend of mine and I even held an entire argument through song once or twice. I also love to imagine film clips for songs and usually specific songs remind me of specific things - people, events, parts of my history. Some songs I actually can't listen to, and some I've only just become able to listen to again because they reminded me too strongly of painful things. 

These days one of my favourite outlets is a little thing I like to call 'Snapchat Karaoke'. 

If you remember the post I wrote about taking Selfies last September, I mentioned that took Selfies as part of a coping mechanism in dealing with my self esteem. It comes across conceited - sure. But the reason I take them in the first place is usually to make myself feel better and remind myself you know what, you aren't as ugly as you feel which is important because I grew up feeling pretty ugly, pretty second best. I lacked a lot of self worth and this is one method I've found that helps. A little vanity after all never hurt anyone, though a lot can kill you. Call me vain, if you will, but I'd rather this than the old Sam who'd avoid mirrors when out and about, or cry at night that I'm just not pretty enough for someone to want to be with me someday. Just like Charlotte Lucas. I remedy through selfies and a little makeup to make me feel lot more comfortable in my own skin, and you know I'm really ok with that. 

Snapchat Karaoke is kind of similar, but it's more about my having fun and having a laugh at myself rather than anything too serious. Like I said, I love to sing and mess around with music especially after exercise or when I'm in a good mood generally. If I have excess energy and I'm feeling good about myself I like to fool around to the music I'm listening to - like I'm in a musical (which has always been a fantasy of mine). I'll sing all the time albeit mostly off camera because though I love to do it, I don't think my voice is all that great. Hence why in most Snapchat Karaoke videos that I make I'm lip syncing along to with the actual artist. I post them because they make me laugh and I know that they make other people laugh too, plus it's nice to go back and watch them when maybe I'm feeling down later on. Singing and dancing always seems to improve my mood whether I'm doing so in the moment or reliving it through a video I've made previously. When I lived in Perth I would drive most places and always cranked the music up loud to sing along; one time I got caught on the freeway by some tradies because I was singing and dancing along to Harry Belafonte's 'Jump in the Line' - which is a really fun song, by the way, and one I should do a snap to in the future.

Of all the snaps I film, I especially love the goofier ones; either to a goofy song, like a show tune (i.e. Shrek the Musical), or an ordinary song with a face/voice morph filter in play. Another personal favourite is to be standing in front of the fan and let it blow my hair back - those are the ones that feel like a real music video and make me giggle the hardest. There's also something kind of thrilling and freeing about singing your little heart out in front of a fan - don't ask me what, but it's there. Try it!

Just like with selfies that I take, Snapchat Karaoke is really more for me than for anyone else though I post them for friends and family to see. In a not so unsimilar way to how I cope with fear, I have over the years forced myself to confront my issues with my body image by using tools like selfies and videos as a coping mechanism. I used to be much worse than I am now though still I don't usually like it when other people take photos of me - I feel like I always look horrible in them and that hacks away at the sometime precarious self esteem I've worked so hard to build. If they take it as a selfie and I can see it then I find it's not so bad, but if, for example, I'm travelling alone (as I often do) and someone offers to take a photo of me somewhere perhaps 8/10 times I'll decline and stick to the selfies. You see, sometimes having myself in my own holiday photos will ruin them for me - do you understand? 

If you think that's bad I actually used to have a bit of a complex about my voice. In a nutshell: I hated it. I don't mind it so much now, but a lot of people have commented on my accent and how it sounds because they want to pick where I'm from. I'm from Tasmania originally, grew up in Perth and now live in Sydney. My family is English, Australian and Indian (as in from Calcutta). Why in the hell people sometimes ask if I'm from Canada or the US I have no idea except that I can pick up accents quite quickly as seen when I spend more than a week in the UK (I'm instantly a Londoner). The only real likelihood is that maybe I'd been watching too much US TV at the time and have picked up on inflections of the accent. I don't know other than that because I've never lived in North America. 

I don't mind how my voice sounds so much now because I play back recordings that I've made all the time, though there was a period when I would cringe to hear it. My voice when I speak aloud actually sounds very different to my ears in real time then it does on a recording. If I didn't already know that it was me I doubt that I would even be able to tell. 

At the end of the day Snapchat Karaoke is just for fun; I get a laugh out of it, I feel better about myself, and I enjoy doing it. I love to take song requests and to film them even if they look silly - actually, I love them especially if they look silly. I do it all the time anyway - why not share it and potentially make someone else laugh or smile as well? My tomfoolery might improve someone else's day, you never know, and it may encourage people to try my methods. In fact I would love it if people sent Snapchat Karaoke videos to me as well - it would make my day! 

Sam xox