Karaoke is a classic past-time that brings out the stardom in people (and the laughter). Some places, however, take it a little more seriously, as they turn it into competitions.
In the video that we’re sharing today, a man named Andy Streich joins in on a karaoke competition while on the Royal Caribbean Freedom of the Seas cruise. The event is called the Karaoke Superstars Competition. When Andy is welcomed on stage, he shares that he’s from the state of Washington. However, when he’s asked, “Good sir, please tell me why you think you deserve the title of Karaoke Superstar?” that’s when he makes the audience laugh.
His response is, “It’s not that I feel I deserve it, it’s just that Mama always told me that karaoke was like a box of chocolates.” He does a spot-on impersonation of Forrest Gump and the iconic quote that earns him a laugh from the crowd. Then Andy gets another round of applause when he announces that he’s going to sing “Any Way You Want It” by Journey.
Finally, he starts to sing, and the crowd cheers right away. As he sings the high notes that I feel will put a strain on his throat (though they don’t) the people in the crowd clap along to the beat of the song. Notice that as he’s singing the chorus, “Any way, you want it, that’s the way you need it. Any way, you want it!” the crowd sings along with him. A real performer is the one that can engage the audience.
He doesn’t just sing, though. To make the video even more entertaining, while there’s a break in the song, he picks up the microphone stand and holds it up in the way you hold a guitar. Andy pretends to play the stand like an instrument, and it earns him more yelling from his audience, and numerous claps.
He sings a high note, and holds it perfectly, even ending it with some pretty vibrato. Then the man does a little dance before he starts to sing again. Before hitting the chorus again, he says “Everybody sing,” encouraging the audience to join him.
When the person recording him turns the camera around, only then do you see the huge crowd he was singing for. Some people even offer him a standing ovation for his great performance.
People in the comments are raving about the performance, too. One person said, “Wish we had more covers.”
Oh, and by the way, he ended up winning the competition!
If you want to hear Andy cover this song, click the video down below.
