What to Sing for Your SongRise Recording (It Matters Less Than You Think)

"But what do I sing?"

This is the number one question people ask before their first SongRise recording. And the answer is going to disappoint anyone looking for a complicated answer.

Anything. Sing anything.

Happy Birthday. The chorus of your favorite song. A nursery rhyme you sang to your kids. Something you heard on the radio this morning. A melody you just made up. Humming counts.

Why the song choice doesn't matter

Your recording is about your voice, not your song choice. SongRise uses 60 seconds of you singing to capture the qualities that make your voice yours: your tone, your pitch range, your natural vibrato (or lack of it), the way you breathe between phrases, the texture that makes you sound like you.

It doesn't need a good song. It doesn't need a good performance. It needs 60 seconds of your voice doing what it does naturally.

Some of the best SongRise recordings are from people who sang "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star" because they panicked and it was the only song they could remember. The resulting affirmation songs sound incredible. Because the songs aren't about the input. They're about the voice.

If you're still stuck, pick from this list

Any of these work. Pick the one that feels most comfortable.

1. Happy Birthday (everyone knows it, no pressure)
2. The chorus of "Let It Be" by The Beatles
3. "You Are My Sunshine" (especially if you're a parent)
4. Any worship or gospel song you know by heart
5. The theme song from a show you watched as a kid
6. "Lean on Me" by Bill Withers
7. Just hum a melody. Any melody. Humming works.
8. Make something up. Seriously. La la la for 60 seconds.

Tips for a good recording

A quiet room helps, but it doesn't have to be silent. Closets work great. Parked cars work even better.

Hold the phone about 6 inches from your mouth. Not right against your lips (too close, too much bass). Not arm's length (too far, too much room noise).

Sing at a comfortable volume. Not whispering. Not belting. The volume you'd use if someone was sleeping in the next room and you didn't want to wake them but also weren't trying that hard.

Don't stop if you mess up. Mess-ups are fine. Stops and restarts actually give SongRise more variation to work with.

The hardest part is pressing record

Once you press record and start singing, the self-consciousness fades in about ten seconds. By the time you hit 30 seconds, you've forgotten you're being recorded. By 60 seconds, you're done. That's it.

The hardest part is the moment before the moment. After that, it's easy.