We should all sing like Muppets.
‘Tis the season for The Muppet Christmas Carol, and that means getting to hear many Muppets sing carols and songs. It’s one of the (many) things I love about the Muppets. They sing like non-singers who know how to sing. They sing like people who were in choir in school.
In the modern world, we’re more and more often only hearing singers who have trained their voices like Olympians, or singers who have produced their voices like Photoshop experts. In both cases, there’s no room for anything less than virtuosity.
And to be clear – I love the virtuosic singer. I love listening to Ella, or Renee Fleming, or Audra McDonald, or Taylor Swift, or New York Voices. Singers who have put in the work to get as good as it is possible to get.
But I also love the idea of everyone singing. And our society needs more models of singing that feel attainable. And the Muppets – with their simple and improvised-sounding harmony, with their enthusiastic tone, with their inconsistent approach to diphthongs – the Muppets are the perfect model.
We should all sing! And sing like the Muppets!