Oops, I Messed Up the Lyrics Again

Wouldn’t it be funny if Britney Spears was performing the song, “Oops I Did It Again” and she messed up the words?  No, actually, it wouldn’t be.  Ironic, sure, but it wouldn’t be a moment to just be laughed off.

Britney, of course, is a pro, and has a successful show in Las Vegas.  She has sung that song hundreds of times and probably couldn’t get the words wrong if she tried.  (You’re welcome, Britney.  And sure, I’d love free tickets to come see the show and meet you and write even more nice things about you.)

The fact is that up-and-comers face the challenge of memorizing song lyrics for shows that they are doing on (hopefully) a very regular basis too.  I would say that since Britney is doing the same show night after night, the up-and-comers who are performing longer shows and likely are drawing from a bigger catalog have a likely more daunting task in the lyric memorization department.

But still, that’s no excuse for getting them wrong – especially when you are (ugh) getting some assistance from a tablet.

I saw this happen last week.  A local singer made a mistake in a song she was singing.  Heck, it wasn’t even a case of, “That’s not what the lyrics are there.”  She flat out got lost – even though she was using a tablet.

I’ve publicly stated before that I am no fan of having an assistive device on stage to look at for lyrics (tablet, phone, three-ring binder, etc.).  But to have one of those with you and then still not know where you are is inexcusable.

As you’ll hear on the episode of “Now Hear This Entertainment” that will come out on June 15th, you just need to push through it when you make a mistake.  The aforementioned performer, however, went the opposite way.  When the song ended she laughingly spoke into the microphone words to the effect of, ‘We always get that wrong.’  Whoa.  Red flags all over here.

When you do make a mistake, you know it, you hope that others didn’t catch it, and you move on.  You don’t draw attention to it by laughing.  (Sadly, audience members were laughing – possibly at this singer, not with.)  You also should not announce that you made a mistake.  By all means, you should practice more.  (If you ‘always get that wrong,’ then spend more time rehearsing it and memorizing the lyrics so that it’s always right.)

But remember one other thing.  By saying, “we” always get that wrong, you’re implying that your accompanist screwed up too.  No.  YOU got the lyrics wrong.  The accompanist was still playing the song properly.  Don’t pull him or her into the crosshairs.  Now you’ve made things worse instead of better because he or she is going to want to have a word with you afterwards about, essentially, labeling them as unprepared too.

Spend the time necessary to do the best show possible every time out, as though you are the one on-stage in Vegas.