Dina
- Jul 2, 2018
- 2 min read

Karaoke is Great, Part I: How Karaoke Can Teach You All the Essential 21st Century Skills

by Meilin Obinata

Did you know that every time you visit a karaoke room with your friends that you are honing your skills as a 21st Century person, according to science? Yes, you actually are.

Dragging your friends up to the stage to sing “Blank Space” counts as collaboration. With every song, you are communicating the story embedded in the lyrics, the content. Mocking your buddy’s overly-serious rendition of “Fake Love” is an exercise of your critical thinking skills. When you grab the mic and start singing that song back to your friend, impersonating Psy, you demonstrating that there are “alternative narratives” possible, and creatively innovating.

And having the guts to stand up and act a fool forces you to handle yourself with confidence. (If you don’t believe these cute animals, you can always listen to Nobel laureate and Professor of Economics at University of Chicago, James Heckman.)

Now, it’s debatable which karaoke places are the top in the Tri Valley or even the Bay Area as a whole, (like Amador Karaoke or The Mint) but now you know that you can karaoke your heart out in good conscience, with the full force of science behind you.