![]() ![]() My ex-roommate Ilana’s pick is “Wind of Change” by Scorpions, which is a song about the Soviet Union in the aftermath of the Cold War (!), and it destroys me every time I hear her sing it. One of my favorite aspects of downer karaoke is being surprised by friends’ selections. Brightside” by the Killers, though both are certainly welcome in the queue. Extra points, too, if a song is in a minor key or features stringed instruments-I prefer more “Yellow” by Coldplay and less “Mr. The qualifiers of a downer song are purely subjective, but the general sweet spot: a low-tempo tune with stripped-down vocals and vulnerable lyrics-of unrequited love, loneliness, self-doubt, a tragic incident, painful memories, et cetera. A few options: the other “Stay,” by Lisa Loeb “Complicated” by Avril Lavigne “Brick” by Ben Folds Five “On My Own” from the Les Miz Broadway soundtrack “Unbreak My Heart” by Toni Braxton “Leader of the Pack” by the Shangri-Las, “Adia” by Sarah McLachlan “Sign of the Times” by Harry Styles “Foolish Games” by Jewel “Oh Father” by Madonna. The karaoke universe is full of beautiful downer songs, and many do overlap with Top 40, which makes some downer karaoke sessions more accessible to novices. ![]() Maura, who was vibing, followed with “Stay” by Rihanna, immediately appreciating the power in belting a piano-driven downer about heartache. The song was a fitting reflection on the corporate malaise of my weekdays, and it’s since turned into my favorite sadcore karaoke jam. It was over in four minutes, but “Yesterday Once More” made me feel better at the end of it. Maura hadn’t heard the song before, so I was on my own, solo on the hot mic, filling the room with the stone-cold sober rawness of my voice. Coincidentally, the song is also about nostalgia (which, by the way, was once considered a medical disease): “Lookin' back on how it was in years gone by / And the good times that I had / Makes today seem rather sad, so much has changed.” I likely flipped to the C-name artists randomly and chose that song out of nostalgia: “Yesterday Once More” reminds me of my gentle dad, whose favorite singer is Karen Carpenter. I don’t know what compelled me to play it at the top. Since it was usually just the two of us, karaoke was a non-judgmental safe space to test out material or select songs that we’d be too self-conscious to attempt in front of a larger group.ĭowner karaoke unexpectedly kicked off one night after I entered “Yesterday Once More” by The Carpenters, a melancholic, downbeat song that I’d never sang out loud before. The only saving grace: Koreatown, a haven of ridiculously cheap karaoke rates during happy hour, was a few avenues away, so after work I’d meet my friend Maura at what became our go-to spot, Duets 35. ![]() ![]() (Some say it’s technically Hell’s Kitchen-to me, it was simply hell.) The office was located in a horrid area of town that I call “the butthole of Manhattan,” which is the wasteland by the Lincoln Tunnel. In 2016, I had a numbing job where I blogged about chirpy influencers. The first time I experienced downer karaoke was an accident. Downer karaoke is best with very close friends because things can get moody quickly-but that’s all part of the “fun,” sort of like how it can be “fun” to rewatch The Notebook or Coco so you can cry with others. I’m a proponent of downer karaoke,and my version of it looks like this: a private karaoke room with two or three friends max, during after-work hours, with a playlist consisting of sad ballads that, in a different setting, might bum people out. The kind of karaoke I prefer doesn’t take place at the massive birthday party or the drunken bachelorette where everyone sing-screams radio hits from the TRL era. I never intended for karaoke to be a method of self-care or whatever, but when I think back to my peak karaoke-going days in 2016, when I went almost every week-yeah, I suppose something was up. Like therapy (I imagine), karaoke helps me work through my shit, but unlike therapy, it’s a fun social activity that occurs in a dark room with laser party lights, which is my ideal form of a panic room. ![]()
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