TRANSCRIPT
You know what time it is? It’s story time a I said it’s story time. I’ve been longing to sing that song. I didn’t sing it last week because my voice was bothering me and my throat was bothering me, but this week. Story time. Yes. Alright, so today I actually have a story for you about music.
So this happened when I was in South Korea. Now in South Korea they have Nore Bong, right? Nore means song, bong means room in Korean. So a Nore Bong was basically just a karaoke room for those that know karaoke room. And my fellow teachers actually got me into going to karaoke rooms or ONGs with them. So we would go maybe once, once or twice a month, like on a Saturday night.
And at that time I was studying, um, for my Korean exams. So I was really busy, but they would pull me out and get me to go to the Norde bongs with them. So one night, it was myself, my roommate, and one of our other close friends, so it was, there were three of us and we were, you know, in the Nor Bong, and they said, Hey, TIFF, two of our other friends are gonna come and join us.
I said, okay, great. Now it was myself, my roommate, and again one of our other friends. And you know, I like to sing, but, and my roommate and my other friend, they like to sing too. But one of the other girls was an amazing singer. She can blow. Oh, here’s an expression for you. If someone can blow it means they can really sing.
Like Aretha Franklin, Whitney Houston, they had powerful voices, right? And the other friend, so one of them could blow. And there was another friend and she was a real small. Her name was April. April. If you’re watching this, welcome and I hope you enjoy the story. April was kind of short. Small frame, super sweet.
I mean, everybody loved April Super sweet girl. So I, I knew that when the other girl, um, oh my goodness, her name is failing me. Um, okay. Anyways, the other girl, when we knew when she arrived, she was gonna blow. So we were looking forward to her songs. So she came, and of course she sang, I mean, she could sing like.
Um, Aretha Franklin, she had a very powerful voice. And then my other friends, my roommate and my other friend said, TIFF, you have to hear April Sing. And I was like, oh, okay. Again, small frame, just real nice, real kind. Sweet. Did not expect anything, but I was like, yes, hey, this is a time for all of us to have a good time.
So they said, April, please sing. She was like, no, guys, I’m okay. Like really sweet. Literally, I’m okay guys, not tonight. And they were like, please, please. And. I saw by the way they were begging her that maybe this girl could really sing. So she said, okay. So she picked, uh, maybe it’s you. I think that’s Beyonce.
I think. Anyways, she picked that song. Now I know Beyonce’s songs are, Jennifer Hudson’s songs are very difficult because they have very high, high voices, very strong voices. So I was like, wow, this, this girl’s gonna sing this song. I said, Hey. We’re all here to have a good time. It’s not about who can sing, who can’t sing.
We had a ball. I would sing songs that were too high for me and I’d just have a ball and we’d all be singing. So the song starts and you know, again, she didn’t real like, kind of like, okay guys. Like that was kind of how her voice sounded. So she started the song and I was like, oh, okay. She, you know, she could sing, right?
But she was real low. And so it got to the part where you had to kind of add a little bit more. Now I’ll sing a little bit of it Again, my voice is kind of a little still struggling a little bit. ’cause I was sick, but she got to the part, she said, baby, it’s you. Yo, the one I want. Right? So she was kind of building up.
I said, okay. And she got to the part that required a lot of power. She stood up and said, baby, it’s you. You’re the one I want. And she was blowing again. When she started singing, she sounded exactly like the original song, and I sat there with my mouth open. This little girl was blowing us all away. Now, of course, we were in there having a ball dancing around saying, get it girl.
You can do it. And what it taught me is sometimes the outside package may not look like what’s going on inside. She was a sweet girl. You would’ve never known that, that powerful voice. Again, like Aretha, like Beyonce, like Jennifer Hudson could come out of that small frame. So we had a great time and we always wanted her to join us.
We said, you can sing, we’ll be your background dancers, background singers. We had a great time. So, uh, the point of this story honestly, is sometimes you may be underestimated. Sometimes people may think, ah, you are not that good at speaking English, or, ah, you can’t achieve your goal. Never forget that you can do whatever you put your mind to.
And just like she shocked me, I want you to go out there and shock somebody with your English speaking abilities.