Performance Critique: Pokémon Theme feat. Otaku

OK, there's a certain old topic that I have to get out of the way fast, or otherwise it'll keep nagging. That would be more on the most recent collaboration I made, and perhaps the best one yet; it is of course me with one of the most well-known bands in the scene of local theme events and conventions. That is revolutionary to be sure, but it's also revolutionary because of the song we performed. Yes, as unbelievable as it is, I sang "Pokémon Theme" with the band, an English song for a Japanese-origin fandom, at a Japanese theme event. What was a dream with only a remote possibility turned into reality at the drop of a hat, and we fulfilled the previously-mentioned collaboration scenario accordingly. It is beyond amazing.

With that, I also want to critique it. Admittedly, this post will be half a story and half a critique because there's so much that went into it, but they're all interrelated, so I have to discuss them as much as I can. As noted, the band - or rather, its leader/manager/guitarist (Instagram: @sunnyshvr) - asked me if I wanted to collaborate with them the week before the day of the performance, and I accepted, knowing that this would be especially rare, perhaps "once in a blue moon" or even rarer. Since its members are all over the place, there wasn't any practice for this collaboration, as the leader notes after the performance and in a post on Instagram. That said, I was given a "draft" guitar and bass track, so actually there was a bit of an "indirect practice" for it. Still, with minimal practice, it was amazingly successful.

The momentous occasion of the prank.

At the time of the band's performance, they called me onto the stage to sing the song, which became third in their setlist. Before it happened, though, they also played a prank or trick by playing the first part of a song for a "different kind of monster", and this caught me off-guard as well. To some extent, it was slightly amusing as it was confusing. The audience didn't seem to mind, and all was forgotten when I and the band performed... or almost, if a recording happened to exist. I got a recording off of a special source; I was actually waiting and hoping for a different recording that I knew existed before writing up this critique, but even now this still hasn't surfaced. The special recording thus becomes the basis for these images and this critique post.

"You teach me and I'll teach you - Pokémon..."

I've stated that I have the lyrics memorized, and I did perform it well, except maybe for really one part: the line in the chorus that goes "...and I'll teach you". In the rechecking of lyrics and minimal practice for singing the song, I seem to have elided the "I'll" part into "I", which then also occurred during the performance at some points and lends a slightly different meaning. What seems to have happened is a case of "jamais vu", which is the inverse of deja vu, where I'm not recognizing something familiar as such. It's like if one keeps saying "door" a few dozen times and then starts to doubt that "door" is a word - that's jamais vu. And it was like that for this.

Saluting the leader, after I saluted the band. 

For this performance, though the band stated that they followed the arrangement of the original song, the live performance is actually a bit faster because the performance is a few seconds shorter compared to the original song; I actually measured this. It's nothing bad, but it's definitely a unique take. Also, at least based on the special recording, I'm able to hear myself sing through most of the performance, which I'm sure is an improvement. And if the band played a trick at the beginning, then I can consider myself to have played a trick at the end with my salute to the band - though I'm not sure if they already knew about it based on my earlier blog posts. That is of course adjusted to the name of the band, and goes like this:

"GIVE IT UP FOR OTAKU BAND!!!"

Legends on stage.

As I've noted a few times, I have choir as my musical and vocal background. This background shaped my musical and vocal ability, which helps in realizing things like this. Yet I think of myself as a versatile singer, which is one reason I dived into J-Song or karaoke competitions. Another reason is to realize collaborations like these, and certainly the first one that happened prior. It has been said that it takes only one "yes" to be successful, and now I've had success twice over with the bands I know. And while I wasn't brought up singing in a band, I'm also slowly learning how to work and sing my heart out with them. Even for an upstart, I seem to have done a really great job.

So great, in fact, that I fulfilled the objective that I outlined in the critique for my previous collaboration. I sang better, the performance was a hoot, and I achieved the ultimate goal of working together with a highly-admired local band known in events and conventions around the same area. Now I have no qualms of collaborating with a band, and I might think the same applies conversely. I can only think that this could get better with time for me and whichever band may decide to collaborate next time. And behind it all, there is the spirit of Pokémon that drives everyone to do and become the very best - words to live by from this exact song that we performed.

One year ago: Trainer Battles Are Go!!!
Two years ago: Will You Be There?