Jacob Waring – Reporter
NOTEorious, Southern’s a cappella club, held their first Kostume Karaoke last Tuesday in which students were invited to sing their favorite songs, dress in spooky costumes and watch the group perform.
Upon entering Earl Hall, students followed bloody footsteps to room 114 where they were treated to Halloween refreshments, and available seating to watch members of NOTEorious, and each other, sing a variety of songs. At one point the entire room
sang in unison to Queen’s “Bohemian Rhapsody,” and listened to NOTEorious member Benjamin Yamboa’s rendition of Oogie Boogie’s song from the film “Nightmare Before Christmas,” and “Calling All The Monsters,” by China Anne McClain, performed by Chibuihe Dike, dressed as a Slytherin witch kickstarted the karaoke festivities.
“It’s a running joke between me and my friends, it was really popular when we were younger on Disney Channel,” said Dike. “It was one of the music videos from one of the Disney stars which they would make outside of their shows.”
Dike was also the lead soloist for the first song that NOTEorious performed at the event, 21 Pilots’ “Heathens.” She said she really liked the song, so she was thrilled to be the soloist and hoped to have done the song justice.
“Lyrics first, really getting down the lyrics and then, personally what I do, is sing to myself in the mirror. I record it, and I watch my facial expressions, I watch how I sing, watch the vibe I’m giving off and I work off that. I guess on the day, I just go for it, and see how it comes out of my mouth,” Dike said.
President of NOTEorious, Emily Velidow, dressed as Dorothy from, “The Wizard of Oz,” said the a cappella group came up with this idea at the beginning of the semester. She said the group had been working on the music ever since, knowing they were going to do something in for Halloween, but were not sure how exactly to go about that. She then said she decided to do it herself, and make a new tradition.
Velidow went into, as she said, of the decision- making process of which songs the group would sing.
“One of the songs we had from the previous semester, we thought it fit well with the Halloween theme. The others, we sort of felt would fit, but were also Halloween themed,” she said. “The first song we sang was ‘Heathens’ by 21 Pilots, I believe. The second song was ‘Thriller’ by Michael Jackson, and the third song was ‘I Put a Spell on You’ from the movie ‘Hocus Pocus.’”
Velidow said NOTEorious has karaoke nights every semester they have been running, but been has been doing so through Residence Life. Kostume Karaoke was the first time they have done it on their own. She also said that she hopes this becomes a tradition that gets carried on for the next few years. She also said that people would audition for the soloist part, and the group as a whole vote on who gets the part.
Vice president of NOTEorious, Danae Sawchyn, dressed as Shaggy from “Scooby-Doo,” is the said she was surprised at the number of people who attended Kostume Karaoke.
“It was amazing,” she said. “We honestly didn’t expect this many people, and I’m thrilled with how many people came and sang karaoke. It was a really, really good turnout.”
Kimberly Sullivan, a music major in attendance she said that she learned about the event by always being in Earl Hall and being friends with a few of the members of NOTEorious. She also said that she was surprised by the turnout.
“It was more popular than I expected because the music department is a pretty small department,” Sullivan said, “but it was a great turnout and there’s good sense of community, everyone was singing together and it was really nice.”
Photo Credit: Jacob Waring
