Speaker 1Shut up and sit down. Welcome to Being On Stage, the only podcast that gives you motivation, inspiration, and confidence to be better on stage. No matter how you entertain, sing, dance, band, comedian, public speaking, MC, drag, burlesque, performance art, or street performer, this is the show for you. Hey Rockstars, it's Reggie Dawson, your host, and again this is the Being On Stage podcast. So, what makes you an original? Or I should ask, what helps you stay original? What helps you with originality? And truthfully, it comes from unpredictability, it comes from being into your show, genuinely being into what you're doing and what you're presenting the audience. For me, it was heavy on the unpredictability. One of the things that I kind of pride myself on, not to slap a little ego into this episode or anything, but one of the things that I pride myself on is being unpredictable. And people not really knowing what to expect when they know that I'm coming to perform. I've been told numerous times, you know, when you perform, I never know what to expect. I've had people come up and ask me, hey, what are you doing tonight? You know, I never know what you're going to do. Every night I tell them, it's the same answer, it's a surprise. You'll have to wait and see. I enjoy that unpredictability. I enjoy making people guess what they thought I was going to come out and do. Sometimes I'd come out and I would do a dance number. Sometimes I would come out and I would do, you know, a rock song. Sometimes I'd come out and do country or comedy. And, you know, occasionally I'd come out and do a ballad. But that's what was told to me numerous times is, I never know what to expect when you perform. Rock, country, pop, comedy, it's always different. Keeping them guessing, keeping your audience guessing and keeping them not really sure about what you're going to present them that night helps you stay original. It also helps you stay creative. Staying creative is another thing with originality. Don't be afraid to push limits and push boundaries. If someone says, hey, you can't do that on stage, go out and do it on stage. Like, be creative. Think outside the box. We talked about outfits. You know, we've talked about. We've talked about your appearance. We've talked about, you know, haircuts and hygiene and stuff. Be creative. You know, if you want to come out with like a sideways mohawk, come out with a sideways mohawk. If you want to come out with, you know, some off-the-wall outfit, come out with some off-the-wall outfit. You know, one of my favorite shows, one of my favorite shows that I did was when I had a haircut and a triple mohawk. I've never seen a triple mohawk. I've seen a double mohawk. I went to my barber and I said, hey, I want a triple mohawk. And they said. What's that? And in my mind, I'm like, are you serious? Like, three mohawks. Triple mohawk. So I had, you know, three mohawks. I knew a performer eight years ago. He came out and performed in a very eccentric outfit that almost looked like something that Lady Gaga would have worn on like the red carpet or in a video or something like that in one of her performances. But no, he came out and he rocked it. And, you know, confidence has a lot to do with the ability. The ability to be creative. You have to be confident in your creativity in order to expose your originality. Keep them guessing. You know, change your style once in a while. You know, whether it be outfits, whether it be music, whether it be dance. Change your style once in a while. Add something to it. If you find yourself, if you're doing shows over and over and over and over and over and over and over again, it's going to get repetitive. It's going to get boring. Repetitive means boring. When the audience starts to feel like your shows are repetitive, they're going to get bored. They're going to stop coming. You have to keep them guessing. Do something huge once in a while. Like once in a while, just make your performance seem like it should be featured on the Super Bowl halftime. You know, make your performance huge once in a while. Add people. Add props. Remember, similar is not the same as exact. So you can have your shows. Be similar because, you know, maybe you are a rock band. So all of your shows are going to be somewhat similar. Maybe you're a comedian. A lot of your shows are going to be somewhat similar. Maybe you're a dancer. A lot of your shows are going to be somewhat similar, but you can change aspects of your show to make it different, to keep it original, to keep them guessing and keep it unpredictable. You know, maybe you're a dancer and you're experimenting with a different genre. Throw that into one of your routines that you've done a thousand times. Change up like one. Eight count and throw in some new moves. If you're a comedian, throw in some new jokes. Maybe something happened at one venue that you want to joke about at another. Connecting those two together makes them feel connected to the other people that have heard you, to your other fans and your other audience members. But it also means that you're coming with original jokes because that just happened last week. That shows them that you're always on the lookout for something new, something funny, something fresh that you can put into your routine. Singers, songwriters, bands. Musicians, same thing. Throw in a new style. Change your genre. Cross genres, by the way, no matter what art form you have. If there's any type of music to anything in your performance, crossing genres goes over huge. If you're a metal band, perform Hound Dog by Elvis. If you're a punk band or a pop band, you know, throw in some country. Throw in some, you know, throw in some sweet dreams in there, you know. Change it up once in a while. Change your style, you know. I went to a concert. My favorite. My favorite band, Three Doors Down. I went to a concert last year. And, you know, I've loved them for years. It was the first time I got to see them. I was very grateful that I finally got to see them. But one of their songs, like their biggest song, Kryptonite, they went into like a reggae type of vibe in the middle of it. And it just, like, it throws you off. It makes you see something different, something new. And it keeps you guessing, like, whoa, that was reggae in the middle of Kryptonite. That was unexpected. Again, unpredictability. Look at some of the great artists. And, guys, like, I know most of my examples have to do with, like, singers and bands. And that's because that is the most mainstream live performance that I can use as examples. I can get down and I can cite dancers. And I can cite belly dancers and street dancers and aerial artists. And I can cite, you know, baton twirlers and comedians and sword swallowers. And I can cite all these other people. But I'm trying to keep it mainstream so that everybody can kind of relate to what I'm saying. But you take any mainstream artist, when they come up with a show or, you know, a concert or a performance, you don't exactly know what's going to happen until you get there. Yes, you've read reviews. Yes, you've seen it on the news. Maybe you've watched a video on YouTube so you kind of have an idea of what it's going to look like. But every single show is different. Why is that? It's because every single audience is different. Part of staying original and part of staying creative is taking in what you have in front of you. Your audience, using your audience, using your stage, using the space that you have to add to your show. Yes, what you do on stage is going to be phenomenal. But if you can take in the things that are around you and use them, that's going to take you to the next level. So let me break it down for you. People like different. People are going to come see you for the first time because you're new, you're different, or they just happen to be there. Like if you're performing at a restaurant and you happen to be the guy. With guitar that they've hired for the evening. Fine, great. But do something memorable so that these people may go, let's go out to dinner. Hey, John Jones is at that bar. Let's go there to eat. He was really good when we saw him at Joe's Tavern. Now let's go eat at Ken's bar and he'll be great because we just saw him. So they're going to see you the first time because either you're new and different or you just happen to be there. Maybe you were an opening act. Maybe you were a guy with guitar. Maybe you were a guy with a guitar. They saw you at a festival that they went to one time. Second time they come to see you, they're going to come because you caught their attention the first time. But if your second show is exactly the same as the first time that they saw you, they will not come back for a third. The first time they see you, they're an audience member. The second time they see you, they're trying to become a fan. And your unpredictability, originality, and creativeness is what's going to hook them and what's going to keep them as a fan. And then you're going to find out that they're going to come back. They're going to like you on social media. And they're going to start popping up at different shows that you do. You may not realize this is happening. As an artist, you may not realize that you have repeat people until they come up and identify themselves. Hey, I saw you at Joe's Tavern and Kim's Bar. Now I'm here at John's Pub. You're awesome. You may not realize this is happening until they identify. But it's happening. People are coming to see you one time, two times, three times. And if it's always the same, they're not going to make it to three times. You have to keep it unpredictable. One of the last things I want to bring up here before I close this out is forgiveness and experimentation. If you're experimenting, it is okay to let your audience know, hey, I'm trying something a little new. Let me know what you think. If they don't like it, you'll know. If they like it, you'll know. Either way, an audience will forgive you if you're experimenting. They will not forgive you if you're experimenting. You're doing the same thing over and over and over again. People will attend again if they know that you're in your experimentation. phase. People will continue to come watch you experiment because they want to see you get it right. They want to see it click. They want it to happen for you. Keep experimenting. Keep pushing the limits. Keep pushing the boundaries. Keep yourself unpredictable. If they can predict your shows, they're not going to come. You're not going to have an audience. If you have something that you know that you're doing that's already gaining traction and getting attention, put a spin on it. Put a fresh spin on it because it's going to get more. Think about radio play. Think about the song, that freaking Call Me Maybe song. And Carly Rae Jepsen, if she ever hears this, I apologize. But that freaking song, that song was in everybody's head whether they liked it or not for an entire year because it kept playing over and over and over and over and over again. You do not want to be Call Me Maybe. You don't want to be that performer that everyone's like, here we go. Again, that's not the reaction you want. You want the reaction of, oh my God, I wonder what he's going to do this time. That's what you want. You don't want people to roll their eyes and go, I got to sit through this again. Really? I just did this. You don't want that reaction when you step on stage. Keep it unpredictable. Push limits. Experiment. Push boundaries. The reaction that you would hope for when you're experimenting is, that was odd, but I like it. That was different. But I like it. That was new and I like it. That was something I've never seen before. I kind of like it. Those are the reactions that are going to build your fan base. Those are the reactions that are going to keep pushing you forward in your career. And you create those actions through experimentation and creativity. Get creative. Get creative with everything. Get creative with your genre. Get creative with your outfit. Get creative with your style. Get creative with the space that you're given. If you're given a space and there's not a designated stage, create one. Jump on top of a table. Who cares? Get creative. Push your boundaries. Originality does not come easy. You have to work at keeping yourself original and keeping yourself fresh. Don't forget, hop online. Take a look at my website, beingonstage.com. You will find a free copy of my book, Confidence on a Stage, Navigating the Three Levels of Stage Fright. Even if you don't think of stage fright, you need this book. It has three levels of stage fright. It also has some information in there that I have not and will not ever discuss on this podcast. Only available in my book. Second, follow me on social media, Instagram and Twitter. We are going nuts with all this motivational performer stuff that I'm putting out there. It is going crazy. Send me a message. I don't care. Shoot me an email, reggie at beingonstage.com. I'm happy to go back and forth. I'm happy to help you any way I can. Watch out. I'm here for you. Let me know what you need. Let me know what you want. Let me know where you're stuck. Where are you stuck? Let me help you unstuck. And lastly, keep on shining, rock stars, because that's exactly what you are. You're an original rock star.
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