Picture you spent hundreds, if not thousands, of dollars to see your favorite artist perform. You took time off from work, got all dressed up, and even bought some merchandise to support your favorite artist. And now that you’re finally in your seat, the lights begin to dim as that said artist finally appears on stage, ready to sing their heart out and give you a performance of a lifetime.
Only they are lip-syncing.
To express disappointment and even anger would not be uncalled for if you ask me. Especially with the rising cost of attending concerts, most people pay an arm and a leg just to catch a glimpse of a concert from the nosebleed seats. With the rising cost, it is not unreasonable to expect that an artist will, I don’t know, perhaps actually sing? The thing you’re paying to see?
To insert my own opinion, I do not believe it is okay for an artist to lip-sync during a concert. While I know that some may raise the concern that performers need to sound their best when giving a live performance, I do not believe this opinion is held by many people. Rather, I believe that audience members would really want to see authenticity and enthusiasm when an artist is performing. They want to share in the joy, happiness, excitement, and yes, even pain with a performer as they are singing. And that authenticity is lost when a performer decides to lip sync during a performance.
I can even go as far as to say the crowd would even like it more if the performer showed how genuine and authentic they are during a performance. A few summers ago, my sister and I actually attended a Megan Thee Stallion concert while she was touring. And when she took a break after her song to take a sip of water on stage, the crowd, including me, went wild.
She basically got a standing ovation just for taking a water break on stage because, one, that’s iconic, and two, it demonstrated she was actually putting effort and care into singing her songs. And at the end of the day, that is what people will remember the most after a performance. Not the perfection of lip synching, but the beauty and care of actually performing.
