I stumbled across SingShot the other day. Singshot is an online karaoke site, where members can record vocal tracks over popular songs, then make them available for other members to listen to, rate, and comment on.
And I thought to myself, who on earth would want to expose themselves to that kind of ridicule? What could possibly motivate someone to record themselves singing bad karaoke, then publish it for the entire Internet to mock? What compulsion could possibly be strong enough?
They have a wide selection of musical options, albeit not a deep one. I mean, I’m sure that anyone could find a song they knew well enough to sing. In my case, I flipped to the ’80s and looked for some pop tune that I knew well. There were plenty of them.
I decided I wanted to hear an example of a member recording. So, I punched up ‘Karma Chameleon’, by Culture Club, and selected the highest-rated user recording, and hit ‘Play’. For a 5-star recording, I was surprised it wasn’t better. I mean, it was kind of pitchy. I’m no great singer, but I’m pretty sure that I could do a better job of–
Oh crap. So THAT’S how they do it. How Evil.
I have not yet succumbed to the temptation of screeching lead vocals into my internet headset. Everytime I think about doing so, my children stick their fingers in their ears and tell me in no uncertain terms that I can’t sing. But if YOU want to show the world how awesome you sound, by all means check it out.