Music and Traditions!
Growing up, I have some of the best memories centered around cookouts or just random celebrations. Even if there was a bit of family drama in the mix, the night always ended with karaoke. Whether it be the best singer or the worst (not me though😛). I always used to look forward to seeing my family, eating amazing food (my mom's baked beans and potato salad), and just vibing to music. We would stay up until past 12 doing choreography to Micheal Jackson or whoever we were singing to and just have the best time, carefree 😭. When I moved 2 hours away, all I could do was reminisce about the good times and pray that another cookout would come soon. I would always try to convince my mom to have another get-together so I could see my family, but sometimes it didn't work. Now, in the process of all these songs being sung at karaoke, we always circled back to these 2 main ones that I remember distinctly!
1. Best Part by Daniel Caesar, H.E.R
This song was always, and I mean ALWAYS!! sung by my cousin and me. I remember the first day we ever sang this song, and I regret it to this day LOL😂. Now, no matter what, my mom always asks us to sing it. We deny it every time but somehow end up doing it anyway, unfortunately.😒 This song even followed us all the way to the Bahamas on my Birthday cruise. In a way, you could say this song helped us find our voice and showed our progress throughout the years. One thing I can say is that even though my cousin and I were tired of this song, our family NEVER got tired of it!
2. P.Y.T. by Micheal Jackson
Along with Best Part, this song, or really any Michael Jackson song, was sung AND performed! The main one was this song, and everybody would sing/yell it together and watch my brother and cousin try to "moonwalk" 🥲. This song would always bring us together at the end of the night and would basically be the send off song for people to go home. Around this time, as we would sing and dance we would pack up plates of food or whatever we brought and start putting it in the car. On nights like this, I would always go home in the best mood and couldn't wait for the next family gathering to do it all over again.
Hey Kalea, I love how you and your family would have a little karaoke time at the end of the family nights! I feel like "Best Part" is so overplayed now, I can't stand the song unless I am truly in a jolly mood and decide that it's bearable. It has a background with you and your family so totally understand that and it is a beautifully vocalized song. MIchael Jackson, def the king of pop foreverrrr, dont careeeee. P.Y.T. is a really good song and will play it at a gathering ANY day with no shameee
ReplyDeleteHello Kalea! Before I get into the music I have to say 2 things- 1 I love your name and the spelling so much and 2 I also love baked beans lol !! Now onto the music- I love the song Best Part and every time I hear it I can’t help but sing along. Now when it comes to Micheal Jackson…. he’s an absolute classic!! I can also say me, my sister, and my best friends used to love moon walking… even though we couldn’t. I love your choices and stories that tie the music back into your family and memories!
ReplyDeleteI loved reading about how you and your family would do Karaoke when you were all together. I remember my mom would sing "I Will Always Love You" by Whitney Houston when our family did karaoke. "Best Part" is such a good song and y'all must be good singers if you're singing that! How sweet it is to have memories like those!
ReplyDeleteHello Kalea, I enjoyed reading about the experiences that you have had with listening to Micheal Jackson. I also have memories of staying up late with my cousins and making dances to show to our family the next day. It's crazy how it seems like those days just happened, time flies!
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