Even the biggest pop stars of the 1980s can agree: Karaoke bars are great. I had this idea to have an artist invite a bunch of her friends into a private karaoke room and perform one of her own songs, to see what it would sound and feel like to perform it with a weird MIDI track and botched lyrics. I can’t think of a song I’ve heard performed at karaoke more than “Eternal Flame” by the Bangles, so I asked the Bangles’ own Susanna Hoffs (whom I met on the video I directed for Aimee Mann and Ted Leo’s band the Both) to give it a try. She was game, delivering an incredible performance of the song, answering a bunch of karaoke-related questions I asked her, and totally nailing the high note at the end!
(Fun/evil fact: There were members of the metal band Deafheaven and ghoul punks Samhain in the room when we recorded this.)
