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Do you have a favorite singer or singers? What do you love about their voice and how they sing? Do they move you emotionally? Or are you mesmerized by their vocal riffs and runs? There could be a myriad of reasons for why you love their voice and the way they delivery a song. And maybe you’re not quite sure what it is about their voice that you love? 

This week I’m asking you to identify who your favorite singers are and what you love about their performances. 

https://youtu.be/VGZ54ybeg0o

Why it’s important to have singers you look up to

I think it’s really important to have heroes in whatever you’re learning. Looking up to someone in your industry whose footsteps you would like to follow in. Your hero doesn’t have to be a successful and famous singer, they could be any singer you look up to and who moves you every time you hear them.

It used to be that when we loved a singer and their songs, we had to actively seek out their music. Maybe we heard a song on the radio and we decided we wanted to hear the entire album that the song was on. 

We had to go to a store and buy the CD. We had to make the effort. Which we could argue that this gave the music more value. We paid 15$ for the CD. We didn’t know if we would like the entire album, but we loved that singer or band and knew we wanted more of them. 

So we consumed music at a slower rate and again, I feel that it gave the music more value. We waited in anticipation for the next album to be released. We had a collection of CD’s. 

What is the point of me telling you or reminding you of how we consumed music? It’s because I’m not sure younger people just learning to sing today, they don’t consume music in that slower fashion. The way we all listen to music today doesn’t lend itself to having favorites? To having heroes. The playlist just keeps playing and we’re on to the next song. 

What Can You Learn from Your Favorite Singers?

Next time you’re listening to one of your favorite singers, actively listen. Turn on that more analytical part of your brain. Try to identify what a traits draw you in. Maybe they’re not doing impressive riffs and runs, it’s something else. 

It’s the way they tell their story. The way they mean the words they’re saying. They might not have much technique or flashy riffs on display, but that doesn’t matter one bit. Because you want to hear every word and you are drawn in on an emotional level. 

And if a singer is using nothing but technique and riffs and runs, they might be your technical hero. Learn from them. Learn why you love what they’re doing and how you can borrow and apply some of these things in your own singing. 

You’ll probably find a happy medium between technical singing and fervent, honest singing. What can you claim and incorporate into the way you interpret your songs?

Slow Down and Find Your Favorites

If you replied “I don’t have a favorite” to any of my previous questions, I challenge you to find one or two singers who draw you in and try to identify why you like their singing. 

The way that we consume music now is fast. We blow through a playlist and might not even find a song that we love, but it’s just background music. We don’t necessarily find a song we love and put it on repeat. And we don’t always listen to albums. 

I encourage you to make a playlist on your favorite streaming service with all of your favorite singers and songs and listen to it a lot. Let it become part of you. Let it sink in. Even if you don’t know why you like something, it doesn’t matter. All that matters if that you like it. Let it sink in. It will automatically start to influence your own music.

Influence

Ultimately your favorite singers will influence you whether you know it or not. It just happens. Yes, I’m asking you to actively listen, but even if you listen passively it will happen. This is why what we listen to early in life has a big influence on us. 

But having heroes gives us singers to look up to and aspire to be as good as them. They inspire us and give us hope that we can someday sing as good as they do in our own way.  

Keep listening to your favorite singers and get inspired!

Keep singing,

Amy

To book a guitar lesson or vocal lesson:

amyhailstone.com/services