Tonight I had to sing in a Karaoke Competition, the one I was volunteered for about a month ago. I had decided to sing YMCA at the suggestion of one of my friends. At first I was dubious but the more I thought about it the more appropriate the song became. It has english that even non-english speakers can understand and I can get the audience involved too, so YMCA was what I decided on. A few nights after I made my song decision I went to a karaoke bar with a few of my co-workers after an event and they got me to sing YMCA in English and then afterwards in Japanese. Apparently I did such a good job that they said I should sing the Japanese version for the competition! I agreed since the competition was a month away and I had toonnns of time to practice.

Fast-forward three weeks: I still hadn't started practicing and the competition was in a week! I'd been so busy I didn't have time (truthfully, I forgot about it...) to practice. Last Tuesday my co-workers, some other new employees who also got "volunteered" to sing in the competition, asked me if I was busy the following night and if I wanted to go to a karaoke bar and practice. It was the first time being reminded of the competition so I said I would definitely go with them. That day I printed off the Japanese lyrics and started my attempt at remembering them, like cramming before a test. I still hadn't remembered them the following night so I was reading off the paper while practicing. We were in the karaoke bar for two hours, alternating our songs back and forth and by the end of that I was pretty damn sick of YMCA! We finished at 11:00pm, I was tired, I didn't want to say "young man" anymore and just wanted to go home and sleep. I reassured myself that I'd memorize the lyrics over the next following days.

This weekend I got distracted after spending some time in Abashiri and Kitami with some other JETs so my piece of paper of lyrics was left, forgotten... until today. I woke up this morning almost in a panic about tonight. I still hadn't remembered the words! I went all day today at my highschool reading the piece of paper and repeating the lyrics in my head over and over again. There was a rehearsal from 2:30-4:00pm so I left the school right after my last class to go and rehearse. They had the stage and everything set up already and it looked to be a bigger event than I had originally thought. They had a guy on scaffolding with a spotlight, a mock windmill on the stage with an actual turning propeller, a backdrop, flashing lights in tune with the music, a judges booth.. this was the real deal! When it came time for my turn I got up onto the stage, trying to maintain my grasp of the lyrics that seemed to slide right out of my head. I placed the sheet of lyrics on the pedestal in front of me and gave it my best!

I remembered maybe half the words, was constantly looking at the sheet, sang off pitch (although.. I don't exactly have the best singing voice in the first place), got my "C" in YMCA backwards (which I realized as I was thinking about it later), and probably looked like I was having a seizure due to my rendition of Seiji Hideko (the singer of the Japanese version of YMCA). I needed some practice.

I went home right after that with two hours to go until I had to return. I got on my computer, found the YouTube video of the Japanese YMCA and listened to it religiously for almost two hours straight. Other than deepening my dislike of YMCA, it actually helped me remember quite a bit. I was able to sing the lyrics without using the sheet! I felt I was ready which, of course, I had to be because there wasn't any more time to practice.

When I returned to the competition there were a lot more people than before. It seemed like the entire town had showed up. I was the 10th person on the list to perform, the follow-up act after the competition's professional guest singer! As he was singing I was waiting backstage, furiously reviewing the lyrics in my head. I realized at that point that I would never be able to memorize the song on my own (all the lights onstage were messing with my memory) so I asked to use a music stand so I could put my lyric sheet on. I would lose points for not remembering the lyrics, but its better than the alternative of not having the lyrics and drawing a blank onstage (*cough* speech contest *cough*). Once the guest singer finished and they called my name, I got onstage all pumped up and ready to go.

My second time singing on the stage went much, much better. I didn't use the sheet all that much and I got the audience pretty involved too. A lot of my students there were pretty excited to see me singing onstage. I finished the song successfully and even received flowers at the end from some people. The MC interviewed me afterwards and told the audience I was from Canada. Then she asked me my age and then said stuff in Japanese which I'm pretty sure was directed to the female members of the audience. After that they called up the next person and I was done! All the hard work of the past few days (more like stressing about remembering the lyrics) had paid off.

I had to wait until everyone else finished singing before they invited us back onstage for the award presentation. Unfortunately I didn't win anything but that's because I got beat out by one of my JTE's - who dressed up as half-man, half-women and sang a duet by himself - and everyone else who were all natural singers. I think maybe I didn't win because they had remembered their lyrics.. yeah, that's it ;) They gave out trophies to each of the winners and then surprisingly, gave out 3000 yen to each of the participants. I wasn't expecting it but it was a nice "Thank you for participating" prize.

It was a really fun experience. I'm wasn't nervous about performing in front of a ton of people (teaching hundreds of kids a day kind of eliminates that) but I was nervous about forgetting the lyrics onstage. I think in retrospect, next time I'll choose a song that's easier to remember.. in a language that's easier to remember.. but I'm also glad I chose YMCA because now I never have to listen to it again!