LAST SUNDAY EVENING, hundreds of people, all displaying the effects of the previous night’s excesses, gathered in a Westmeath woodland to sing their hearts out to cheesy pop songs.

The scene was Body & Soul and the event was Sing Along Social, which bills itself as “a space to sing alongside friends and strangers”.

Aoife McElwain, the brains behind the event and the de facto conductor for the hour, stood on stage and led the sweaty masses in singalong after singalong.

People punched the air to Oops! I Did It Again. They jumped out of their skin when the beat dropped in We Found Love. And they screamed along to Home and Away’s theme song like their lives depended on it. (“Hold me in your arms, don’t let me go…”)

Nobody looked cool and nobody cared. That’s because the success of Sing Along Social hinges on people being as earnest and passionate as possible. It’s about feeling the music, man. Even if that music happens to be the Neighbours theme song.

Sing Along Social came into being in September 2015. As McElwain explains it, she was chatting with a friend at Electric Picnic about how utterly obsessed she was with Alanis Morrissette’s Jagged Little Pill as a teenager.

I joked that she should come over to my house for brunch and we would just press play and sing along to the whole thing.

A few weeks later, McElwain was still stuck on the idea of hosting a Jagged Little Pill party and realised she knew others who would be interested in attending such an event.

Soon my guestlist had expanded past the limitations of my kitchen so I got in touch with MVP, a great little boozer around the corner from my house in Dublin 8, to see if they’d be cool with me hosting a Jagged Little Pill Sing Along for 30 people. They thought it was gas so when I got the date set I thought, sure feck it, I’ll put up a Facebook event to see if anyone else wants to come. Within a couple of days nearly 1,000 people wanted to come.

And, lo, Sing Along Social was born.

Since that fateful night, Sing Along Social has invited music fans to sing their hearts out to iconic albums like Nevermind, Rumours, The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill and Madonna’s The Immaculate Collection.

There have been events devoted to the music of Abba, Prince and David Bowie, as well as nights celebrating guilty pleasures and 90s R&B.

It now regularly attracts sellout crowds and McElwain has taken the concept to Cork, Galway and Kilkenny. It’s also fast becoming a mainstay of the Irish festival scene with McElwain hosting events at Body & Soul, Electric Picnic, The Beatyard and Ballymaloe Litfest.

Nathalie Marquez Courtney Nathalie Marquez Courtney

The success of Sing Along Social has been completely organic and accidental. McElwain says she had “literally no idea” it would catch on, but she cites the “silliness” of the event as one of the main reasons why it has resonated with people.

“The Sing Along Social gives people permission to tap into the fun of singing without any of the pressure of performance,” she says. “It doesn’t matter if you don’t even know the words or can’t sing, you can still sing along.”

It’s a super special feeling to sing along with a bunch of pals and strangers to music that makes us feel good. For me, what’s important is that the Sing Along Social is zero pressure. Its success is anchored in the concept of safety in numbers. No one is put on the spot. No one is made to sing in front of anyone else.

It’s about caterwauling at the top of your lungs because collectively our voices are gorgeous. 

If you can’t see the video, click here 

For McElwain, there are too many highlights to count. There was the time hundreds of people came over the hill at Body & Soul to sing along to Man! I Feel Like A Woman. Or the time the crowd fashioned an impromptu magic carpet out of a pub rug for A Whole New World. As well as…

…the time in Cork’s Quarter Block Party at a Boyband Special when the crowd in unison crouched on the ground and then jumped up together at Backstreet Boys Everybody!. I was so happy I thought I was going to physically fall over from the sheer joy of it.

And isn’t that what Sing Along Social is all about? Shedding your cynicism and allowing yourself to experience the exhilaration of belting out, say, The Chain by Fleetwood Mac until you feel dizzy with delight. (McElwain cites that number as being “particularly useful when bringing strangers together”.)

Following on from their stint at last week’s Body & Soul last week, Sing Along Social is preparing to go on the road again and will appear at The Clonmel Junction Festival on 9th of July and the Galway Arts Festival on 19th of July.

There are also plans afoot for an appearance at Electric Picnic and an All-Ireland Tour in October.

In other words, it’s showing no signs of slowing down.

It has been the most fun project I’ve ever created or been involved in, and I shall continue to do it until it stops being fun. It shows no sign of waning in craic value so I’m going to keep the ship sailing

Amen.

To keep up with Sing Along Social, you can like them on Facebook here or follow them on Instagram here.

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