Do professional musicians even do karaoke? Apparently, yes. And their song choices are as eclectic as you’d expect. NME sat down with a vast bunch of singers and songwriters, from Marky Ramone to Angel Haze, over the span of a few months and asked them which songs they love to belt after a margarita or five.
Modern pop songs appeal to Tame Impala‘s Kevin Parker and Angel Haze, respectively. Kevin Parker chooses …Baby One More Time by Britney Spears because it is “the shittest, most disposable pop ever”.
While Haze opts for Bleeding Love by Leona Lewis. “I suck at it, all those high notes, but it’s fun to try and sing and I love that song,” she says. “I actually did karaoke in London once – with Leona. She was such a douche though – she sang her own song!”
Among the retro classic choices were those favoured by Mac DeMarco, St Vincent and Yannis Philipakkis of Foals. DeMarco said, “I love doing What A Fool Believes [by The Doobie Brothers] at sketchy karaoke bars. Around Canada you do karaoke where all the hardened alcoholic people hang out. I’m usually so totally wasted when I’m doing it, it’s not very triumphant.”
Meanwhile, St Vincent chooses the appropriately weird Wuthering Heights by Kate Bush: “It’s such a hard song to sing, there are key-changes and bars that drop beats and stuff, so if you can nail it, it’s awesome,” she says.
Philippakis makes a decidedly more Aussie-centric decision in John Farnham’s You’re The Voice: “It’s a fucking massive ballad from the 80s, and there’s a key change in it that just makes me wanna flex.”
Ice T goes with a classic track from rap duo Mobb Deep, Shook Ones: “I’ve never done karaoke, but every time Shook Ones by Mobb Deep comes on I need to sing every word. I’m obsessed with lyrics, and songwriting is the base of everything I do.”
Rock heavyweight Slash prefers to be serious about things, singing nothing. “I hate karaoke with a passion. My wife likes it and some of my friends do, so I often get dragged to these things. I last about five minutes, and then I dial a cab. I’m sorry but I don’t have that sort of jazz-hands thing in me, I just can’t do it,” he says.
See the rest of the muso karaoke picks and pics at NME.com.
In the meantime, let’s dream of a Tame Impala Britney cover.
Watch: Britney Spears – Baby One More Time
