highlights from my karaoke spreadsheet
I believe in preparing for things, which manifests in ways like making a 150-row spreadsheet of songs I have done or might like to do at karaoke, each notated with their highest note, subjective difficulty, and availability in common karaoke systems. This does not appear to be common practice, but I've gotten a lot of mileage out of it.
A few of the commonly available songs on the Pareto frontier between "comfy song everybody can sing along to" to "exciting performance to questionably show off my preparedness":
- How Far I'll Go - Auli'i Cravalho (Moana). Might be a "signature song" of mine. I know I sang it in 2019 at an event at the coworking space from which I worked that summer, before I ever actually watched the movie. Quite safe (peaks at D4, in my register) and inviting for a sing-along, while having some fun held notes, including the last one.
- Another Day of Sun - La La Land cast. Another one of my "signature songs" for when I want something more theatrical, and also a song I learned before watching the movie it's from. Only goes up to a C4 or something, but some of the leaps and low notes are trickier.
- Kryptonite - 3 Doors Down. Balances all my desiderata; still pretty safe, while boasting one satisfying held F4. The funny story about this song is that I first learned it from this FFXIV parody of it (Shadowbringers spoilers...). I'm not sure why I learn so many songs through cursed pathways.
- Human - The Killers. This part of the frontier is crowded, as I have a bunch of songs that ask for a G4. This one wins the tie-breaker by having a G4 you can accentuate by following the lyrics by dropping to your knees.
- Grace Kelly - MIKA. A bit hard to compare to the other songs nearby because this one goes up to a falsetto E5. I am confident I can technically produce that sound, but it's still a coin flip whether I can stay on the note, not to mention sound good. It's fun though, and sometimes that's all I'm looking for.
- This Is Gospel - Panic! at the Disco. Far into the danger zone, this song's chorus hits an A4 over and over; but it's such that I would rather go for it in chest voice and break than flip to falsetto over and over. Also for whatever reason this song has a "Piano Version" and a normal version on some systems. I usually do the "Piano Version" because its karaoke is easier to follow; the normal version's accompaniment gets pretty sparse at places, including the start.
- Teenagers - My Chemical Romance. Brand new addition at the top of the curve because I only recently started believing that, if the stars align, I might be able to belt a C♯5, or scream so as to fool the listener. (There's only one C♯5, fortunately (?), in the first verse; the rest of the song peaks at B4.) I imagine I'll be working on this for a while.
Some of the comedic options, though it's not always the right vibe for one and I'll usually only do one after at least one serious song:
- The Chicken - Bo Burnham. Not too hard, peaks at E4, but requires a karaoke vibe compatible with hamming up an apparently sad, wistful song for a few minutes. Has the most "punchline" nature.
- Roll out the Fallout! - The Chalkeaters. Has the theatrical nature, has a G4 where falsetto is pretty reasonable. I am not sure if the dark humor will become too dark at some point.
- Let's Save the Earth - Ninja Sex Party. It's so stupid (complimentary) that Dan Avidan can belt a B♭4 and this is what he does with it.
A few fun obscure songs for which YouTube karaoke videos exist (with 3–4 digits of views):
- The Ringleader (Fizzarolli's Show) - PARANOiD DJ. To me this song is mostly about hamming up the musical theater evil voice and persona as much as possible, but it's also plenty catchy. This is... also a fan song of a work (Helluva Boss) I haven't watched...
- Row - Sail North. Similar to This Is Gospel, has a chorus that repeatedly hits an A4 over and over, and I enjoy getting to show people what it's like at the frontiers of reinterpreting children's nursery rhymes.
Important duet that I can't put anywhere else:
- Loser, Baby - Keith David, Blake Roman (Hazbin Hotel). I usually take Angel Dust's part. He goes up to a B4, which I would like to believe I have a shot at belting these days, but flipping into falsetto and taking the high parts down an octave are both entirely defensible options. Much to my chagrin, I'm still pretty bad at harmonizing the actual duet parts without drifting. But the song is popular enough in my circles that it's usually more sing-along than performance anyway.