What made me decide to sing in front of a crowd of 50 people?

Written and Performed by: Haasini Arivazhagan

Blurb: For our 2026 Alsion Homecoming performance I sang So Easy, a jazz pop song by Olivia Dean. It is the first jazz song I have ever repeatedly listened to and was very surprised when I learned that I could sing it. I mainly chose to perform because I wanted to build up my confidence and the appreciation I got from the audience made my nervousness disappear.

When the Hoco committee first announced that there would be performances at homecoming I thought to myself that there’s a chance for me to perform again and face my stagefright and learn to overcome it. I performed in front of people my age for the first time last year at a coffeehouse and I felt so relieved and euphoric after that performance and I wanted to feel that again.

I chose the song “So Easy” by Olivia Dean because I realized after singing it for the first time that I was capable of executing the performance smoothly. It seemed as though her voice was very similar to mine as it was lower and powerful. I felt comfortable singing it and wanted to channel the calm captivating energy in the original song and pass that feeling onto the audience when I sang it.

When I got onto the stage however, my knees were shaking. I was very nervous and although I tried to act confident my body and voice gave me away. In the beginning of the song my voice was very shaky and as I kept singing I only tried to do one thing, act confident. I’m used to performances, I have been dancing my whole life but singing for me is another matter. My ears get hot, my hands shake and I get so nervous my voice starts to crack. The only reason I chose to perform in the first place was because my passion for singing was greater than all my fears. As I watched the video of my performance back I could pinpoint the exact moment I let go of everything and just fell into the song. My only goal from now on is to achieve that moment before the song even starts.