Sing your song: The Karaoke phenomenon
Hidden on the dark Lafayette street in New York City is a little spot beaming with a red light that pulls crowds into the overflowing bar where the only rule is to sing a song and tip your bartender. Squished like sardines, two people spark up a conversation about what song they put in the cue while rogue arms are reaching over them to grab a drink or be the next one to get their own request in. As time goes by, the drinks are flowing, the singing is incredible, and the pair have created a new bond, a new friendship out of the shared love for chest karaoke bars.
Starting in the 1970s in Japan, these establishments were meant to be places where people could go and just let go of all the seriousness they experienced during their day. Karaoke bars made their debut in the United States in the 1980s, and ever since, have been a staple in the nightlife plans of people from all over.
New York City has a plethora of Karaoke bars, but the one with a strong following that brings in a consistent crowd of regulars while also attracting visitors from out of town is 161 Lafayette. The unsettlingly small atmosphere creates the perfect environment to get your seat, get cozy, and be there all night. Olivia, a Brooklyn native, is a regular face at 161, she says, “This is the only place where I can be praised for making a fool of myself, and the only bartenders I would pay to let me embarrass myself.” Olivia noted how something that makes 161 so special is the consistent rotation of some of NYC’s top bartenders who will make anyone want to keep going back.
The songs range from heavy metal to High School Musical, and you can sing whatever you want while being surrounded by images covering the walls from the ceiling to the floor of faces that have passed through, and the person sitting next to you may also be the one on the wall next to where your coat is hanging. Olivia bragged, “hey I even got my jock boyfriend to become a regular here, doesn’t that tell you everything you need to know,” and it did. Another factor in the equation of getting him there every week is also the variety of chips hanging from the wall where you can sing and snack on anything from funions to flaming hot cheetos, perfect for an up close and personal singing debut.
Moving forward, 161 will be hosting many private events where people can book the entire space and fill it with only their closest friends and family and experience the magic with all their favorite people. The consistency of bartenders and the amazing crowd is what continues to keep 161 at the center of the lower manhattan karaoke game, with competitors like Sing Sing in the East Village, but as Olivia says, “No where has the same charm, I would never scream sing Complicated by Avril Lavigne anywhere but here, and that is everything to me.”
