Congratulations, my Hesitant Singer! You have overcome the MAJOR hurdle of deciding that you ARE going to sing for someone, to share your story with the world. But what do you sing? How do you pick a song?

The inside negative voice, The Resistance*, can be cruel and relentless. Even when you overcome one fear, The Resistance puts another fearful obstacle in your path. Let me spell it out for you….

• Aren’t people are going to judge what I pick?

• What if it is too cliche’? Too overplayed?

• Isn’t that song HER song? You know…. Whitney’s “I Will Always Love You” or Judy’s “Over the Rainbow”

• Can’t you just pick something for me to sing?

Yes, of COURSE the answer is YES to all of those (and many other negative) questions! But remember that you have already DECIDED, declared to yourself and your negative inner voice, that you are going to do this, so embrace it and let the world know you are here. One of my favorite photos of my middle child is one with my parents at the photo op at the Empire State Building. My wife give EXPLICIT directions on what shirts go with which shorts, most importantly that the orange shirt does NOT go with the red shorts. “The world can kiss my a$$” look he gives the camera in his orange shirt and red shorts makes me tear with pride just thinking about it. I want you to have that same approach to choosing your song.

#1 - MOST IMPORTANT rule that I suggest is that you must LOVE the song. Only the best of the best professionals can sell a song they hate, so don’t even bother trying. It isn’t fun and and isn’t worth it. If you love MMMM Bop, by all means, I will learn an accompaniment so you can sing MMMBop

#2 - Lyrics Matter so choose a song with lyrics that speak to you so that you can speak to your audience. Maybe the lyrics to MMMBop make absolutely no sense, so despite the awesome vibe, it is okay to put that aside (for now). Think about the Who and the Why in the lyrics so you can channel that to your audience.

#3 - Be open to advice. Obviously, if a friend or another musician says that a song would be great for you, particularly if you ask, that is great advice. Sometimes, your friends see you in a much more positive way then you do, so they can see the story ready to be shouted out to the world.

Then GO FOR IT! Don’t worry about the key, the gender identity of the song, the “popularity” of the song, or anything like that. Just pick something you love and that speaks to you so you can speak to your audience.

The rest will take care of itself! Have fun and let me know what song this makes you want to sing. Maybe we can get together and make a GREAT video for Mike’s Open Mic YouTube Channel!!

* “The Resistance” is the description of the inner voice that holds us all back from being our best self as described in Steven Pressfield’s book “the WAR of ART”