Forget this "gun to the head" stuff. Let's try some positive reinforcement.
You're stopped on the street one day with an offer: sing the most complex song you can, on the spot. If you mess up once, you have to pay $100. If you succeed, you win some amount of money. You can also choose to walk away and not risk anything.
The amount you can win increases with the complexity of the song you choose. Complexity is determined by things like how sophisticated the lyrics are, how long the song is, how difficult the melody is to sing, how quickly the song is sung, etc. Something like a perfect rendition of "Rap God" would net you $100,000 USD.
If you pick a song that's too easy (such as "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star"), you get nothing even if you succeed. You will not be told how complex a song needs to be before it can earn money; you just need to go for the gusto. (The point is to try your best, and not just go for the minimum required to get money.) If your song is sufficiently complex, the minimum payout is $500 USD.
Some rules:
- You need to get all of the lyrics correct. If you start singing an incorrect lyric, then quickly shift into the correct one, that still counts as a loss.
- The one exception to the above rule is if the original song has something like a preposition in it that's barely even voiced, where the exact word is hard to determine. If you use a similar-sounding but incorrect word, you won't be penalized.
- You do not have to sing in the original key, but once you choose a key, you must stick to it.
- You may move notes into a higher or lower octave if it's necessary for your vocal range, so long as they hit the right pitch.
- You don't need to perfectly nail scoops and other minor bits of flair from the original song.
- You don't need to nail pitches that are difficult to discern in the original song.
- If there are long stretches of no singing in the original song, you may shorten them and resume singing earlier. You don't have to wait them out.
- You must match the tempo of the original song.
- You can pause for breath if you are running out of air.
- If your pitch wavers a little due to nerves, this won't count as a loss.
Do you take the challenge, and if so, what song are you singing?