Emma: Karaoke Night with the Chums

Hey everyone! It’s Emma here, telling you a recent story that involved my chums and me. If you know me, you know I’m a super fan of K-pop. Bands like BTS and Black Pink are my favorite to listen to. However, I’m not the most vocal person in our group, and I like to be a little reserved. When I get put into situations I’m unsure about, I often experience nervousness and anxiety. That happened when my friends and I recently visited Tokki Karoke. Before I get into it, let me explain the backstory.

On a Friday night, all of us were bored as we had no plans. Itching for action, Henri suggested that we all go to Tokki Karaoke. That place has any song you can think of, including great food and drinks, and the atmosphere is lively. We all thought that was a good idea and decided to give it a try. I’ve never tried karaoke since the appeal of singing to others didn’t feel comfortable to me. But listening to my chums try and sing their favorite tunes, for good or worse, would be fun to see. On the way there, we all ran by ideas of what songs we would try and sing. Stefan wanted to try his hand at “Livin’ on a Prayer” by Bon Jovi, a true 80’s rock classic. Henri thought “Mambo No. 5” by Lou Bega would be fun to sing along with. Ken was intrigued to try “Take Me Home, Country Roads” by John Denver since he enjoys listening to country songs. I didn’t have a song in mind since I didn’t think I would find a song there. If there were any song I would sing, it would be my favorite K-Pop song, “Dynamite” by BTS.

We arrived at Tokki Karaoke later, and it was packed. I didn’t think karaoke was as popular as I thought! We sat at a table and got some food and drinks. We ate dinner earlier, so we ate snacky foods like pretzels, popcorn, and chips. I ordered a brown sugar boba there because that’s one of my favorites! All the karaoke setups were taken, so we waited for one to be available. While we waited, we talked about our upcoming tennis matches and the best way to win. We all have different styles, so we shared advice to help each other. After waiting awhile, a karaoke set up was available, so we went over to find some songs. I stood back while my chums looked for their songs. I was ready to cheer for them and tell them how good they were singing.

Stefan found his song and started it off with a big bang. He hit all the high notes and did an outstanding job! All of us cheered as Stefan sang all the lyrics. After he finished, Henri took a shot with his song. Henri performed well, although he wasn't as enthusiastic as Stefan. After the song, Henri admitted that he didn't enjoy the track as much as anticipated. We told him to try another song, but he wanted to wait until everybody went first. He didn’t mean that I was going to perform too, right?! Ken went after Henri and did a super job with his song. He messed up a few of the lyrics, but he had a lot of fun laughing as he finished all the lyrics. After Ken, everyone thought I could go next. I suggested returning to the table, but they thought I would do a great job. Me? Singing? I could try, but I wasn’t sure if I could find a song I liked. After scrolling through the many songs, I thought there wasn’t anything good for me. Until I found my favorite song, “Dynamite”!

I stepped up to the mic, nervous as all my chums watched me. I wasn’t sure if I could sing as well as they did. What if I messed up? What if they thought I had a bad voice? I had a lot of uneasy thoughts in my head. I struggled to get comfortable to start singing, but it wasn’t for long that Stefan, Henri, and Ken all came up with the other mics in their hand and started singing the song with me. At that moment, I felt much more comfortable, knowing that my chums had my back to sing my favorite song. As I took the lead, they sang the backup vocals. I got really into it! Dancing and singing, laughing as Ken and Stefan competed for louder backup vocals, and belting out at the top of my voice. I didn’t want the song to end! But it did, and we all had a great time singing together. We finished up our snacks and left to go back home. We were all exhausted after a fun night. I’m so happy to have a great group of friends like Stefan, Henri, and Ken. They helped me feel comfortable with my singing by giving me a hand with the vocals. It was a great night we’ll all remember for a long time!

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