Talent Shows

If a singer wants to place as high as possible in a talent contest, what type of song should he or she sing? An original? A standard that everyone knows? One of the latest pop tunes? One that best fits his/her talent/voice, regardless of how well known it is or isn't?

I'm not sure if I've mentioned this here before, but I once took second place in a talent show, the only one I've ever entered, for singing Billy Joel's "Piano Man." I was pretty happy with second for a number of reasons, not the least of which was the fact that I didn't even play the piano to it - I needed an accompaniment. (Hey, at least I didn't do it karaoke-style.)

I was reminded of this night from some 24+ years ago this past weekend when my cousin's 11-year-old daughter entered the Minnesota State Fair amateur talent shows. She entered the first one by qualifying at her County Fair, taking first place there. The other one is open to anyone. They both have semifinals each night over several nights at the Fair, with the top two in each division each night qualifying for the finals.

In the first show, she didn't get past the semifinals, despite out-singing, in my opinion, all of the singers in her division. The song she performed was one I had not previously heard of, Ingrid Michaelson's "Everybody." The winning act was a duet, two girls younger than her who sang a Justin Bieber song the world will have forgotten within three years. They were talented, cute, and harmonized well. But not quite up to my first cousin once removed's level. Still, cute won out, and perhaps Biebermania didn't hurt.

In her second contest, the open one, she won in the semifinals with an inspirational song she wrote, "Be Yourself." Lest you think an 11-year-old's song called "Be Yourself" would be some corny, hokey, sappy number, let me tell you...listening to the song a couple times on Facebook actually got me a little choked up. No, it's not Cats in the Cradle (or whatever your own personal automatic tear-jerker is), but its simple message can hit home with kids young and old.

With her original song, she took third in her class in the finals in front of about 10,000 people at the Grandstand Saturday night. I wasn't there to witness her opposition, but I'd be surprised if I would have been as impressed with them as I was with her performance.

Anyway, back to the original question(s). Did doing an original song help her, by showing the judges she's not just another trained young singer? Or did it hurt her, because it wasn't a familiar song to subconsciously be favored by the judges?

The song she did at the earlier contest matched her voice, and she played and sang terrificly. Did she lose to Biebermania because her song wasn't as familiar? Or how about the hula hoop girl who took second? Not sure about that one, as the girl was very good and had a well-planned routine, but for me, there wasn't enough versatility in the performance to put her ahead of the good singers in the competition.

When I took second in my show, the woman who hands-down should have won sang a relatively obscure Broadway tune. She finished fourth or fifth as I recall. One guy sang two short original songs to the backing of his guitar. He was talented, but his songs perhaps not catchy enough in a talent show, and he took sixth, again as I recall. Original songs can help or hurt your cause, depending of course on the song choice. It had better be catchy, and it better showcase your talents well. Otherwise, you leave the judges wondering why you even bothered writing one, when there's plenty of great songs out there already.

The winner was a woman who sang a milquetoast version of "The Rose." So while I was thrilled with second, as that was the best I figured I could possibly hope to finish out of the 20+ competitors, it kind of tainted it that she won. I mean, if the judges (one of whom was then-Minnesota Viking rookie Tim Newton) bungled that, perhaps I was more deserving of something much lower.

I seriously doubt my cousin's daughter would feel she might have deserved lower than third overall. She took a risk doing an original song, so win, place, or show, she showed something the others did not. There's no accounting for taste, but she showed everyone what an artist she already is, regardless of where the judges would score her.

See for yourself. Self-driven and improving every time I see a new song from her, she's a potential star in the making, if she still wants it when she's older:

http://www.facebook.com/#!/video/video.php?v=1557881557814&ref=mf