Excitement filled Susie’s as students lined up for Karaoke on Saturday, watching as groups of students belted out their favorite songs, accompanied by a drummer and two guitarists. As the night progressed, the crowd grew in size and buzz, as more students joined in on the fun, as described by Vivien Valckx ’28.
“I would say that the energy in the room kind of started off a little mellow, but over time as the clock ticked and it became later, the audience got more hype and people started dancing and really getting into it. Especially with the football game and everything going on. I think the energy just kept going up and up and up until it was over, and it was a great event overall,” said Valckx.
Audience members sat around a large U-shaped couch with snacks readily available. For Tom Campbell ’28, going on stage with friends brought passion and spirit into his night.
“We sang ‘Fireworks’ [by Katy Perry]. I just got here, and I heard that all of them are gonna go up and sing it. So I joined because I feel like it’s really fun to do it with friends. So that was a really big factor, but it was still really fun to do. I feel like when you [sing] with friends, you put a lot of spirit into how you sing it and I felt kind of obligated to do it with my friends,” said Campbell.
According to Sophie Lu ’28, a notable performance was a group singing “You Belong With Me” by Taylor Swift. With a classic and familiar song, Lu was able to sing along, enjoying the boisterous atmosphere.
“I thought the ‘You Belong With Me’ performance was fun. I mean, it wasn’t perfect, but I had fun singing it. It’s one of the few songs I know the lyrics to. I think that was just really entertaining to watch and really fun for me to see volunteers, especially since that was after my performance, so I loosened up a bit,” said Lu
Though many students performed, a lot of other students attended the event to see the live music that accompanied the singers. Chloé Kasule-Wallace ’26 mentioned her positive experience at the “dueling pianos” event the week prior. She spoke about how it inspired her to attend this event and encourage her friends to join her.
“I just saw that they were having a live band and I like to listen to live music so I thought it would be a lot of fun, and last weekend they had a similar event, the dueling pianos, which was also live music, and that was a lot of fun. So I convinced my friends to come today to listen to this one,” said Kasule-Wallace.
Unfortunately, Kasule-Wallace believed that this event was not as engaging as the “dueling pianos” performances. She also noted that Susie’s seating arrangement and event attendance affected the overall energy of the night.
“Besides the set up… I think it’s less encouraging because there [were] more people at [dueling pianos] and then also the whole audience was also involved so that’s I think the biggest difference. The energy has definitely been lower today. It’s okay because people on the stage seem like they’re having fun,” said Kasule-Wallace.
Other students who attended shared Kasule-Wallace’s enjoyment of the band. Performer Valckx agreed that the live music was a big hit, helping to raise the energy of the volunteer performers.
“I decided to go up on stage because I think it’s super fun and I believe in YOLO, you only live once, and honestly, I just wanted to have a fun Saturday night. I think the band really helped the singers with the performances overall too,” said Valckx.
Valckx also believed the event could have benefited from an earlier starting time, as most students did not show up until later. Regardless, Valckx enjoyed the event overall.
“The only thing I would change about the event is making it start earlier because I was sitting there since around seven or eight o’clock because I didn’t have much planned and me and Eliana [Mercado ’28] were sitting there… and we really wanted to get the karaoke started because in the past it has been very fun and this time I think it was too,” said Valckx.
