To me, the song with the most important message is “Voilà” by Barbara Pravi. “Voilà” is about Pravi’s own insecurities and is essentially a plea for the listener to accept her as she is. The lyrics include “listen to me, the wannabe singer,“ “here I am, in the noise and in the fury,” and “look at me, or at least what’s left.” They tell the story of her struggle to see herself as beautiful, and believe that she could be a singer. In the song, she asks that the listener sees and hears her so she doesn’t feel so isolated. “Voilà” a sad song, but it makes me feel less alone. I struggle a lot with imposter syndrome because I’m adopted and don’t feel fully Asian or white, and I’m attempting a career in music, where I have to constantly tell myself it’s possible to succeed. I love this song because the story it tells and the message it sends are so important, and told in the most beautiful way.

My twin sister and I were adopted from China when we were nineteen months old. When I was a few years old, we discovered that I had CP. It’s mild, I can perform daily activities without assistance. It mainly affects my balance, flexibility, and coordination. Because I saw a neurologist from a young age, I wanted to be one when I grew up. I’ve always wanted to help people, and a career in neurology would be a great way to do that. I stuck with that dream all the way through middle school. I started questioning my sexuality in middle school. It was an overwhelmingly confusing time. I had no outlet to let out my frustrations. I played piano and soccer, but neither activity was of much help. I barely had the vocabulary to describe to myself what I was feeling. My middle school experience was filled with confusion, internalized homophobia, and imposter syndrome brought on by being an Asian woman raised and surrounded by white people. I experienced racism, but I didn’t know how to react to it because, while I knew I was Asian, I didn’t think of myself as any different than my white classmates. This was when I actually tried to fulfill many Asian stereotypes, just because I wanted to feel more Asian. I came out to myself in seventh grade, but nothing changed for me because I wasn’t out to anyone else. I became incredibly introverted and insecure during middle school because, as cliché as it sounds, I didn’t feel like I belonged anywhere. My freshman year of high school, my parents took my sister and I to New York for a family trip. We went sightseeing and saw Wicked, and The School of Rock on Broadway. I fell in love with Wicked, and Broadway as a whole. At that point, I still wanted to be a neurologist, but my world opened up a little. I’d always loved music and art, but no art form had ever moved me in the way that show did. I loved how the actors on stage told the story through song and dance, and how the orchestra supported the entire show. My junior year, the band director asked me and a friend to play in the orchestra for the school musical, Les Miserables. We agreed, and it was a fantastic experience. That was when it actually clicked that it was possible to play music like that for a living. I knew that I wanted to be a part of the story being told live on stage. My dream changed from neurology to music. I got into the music program at UW-Stevens Point and began to seriously study percussion. I was happy that I was actually taking steps to reach my goal of becoming a professional musician. My dream is to play in a Broadway pit orchestra. I’m still battling imposter syndrome and insecurity, because musical theatre is a tough industry, but I’m going to do everything possible to get there, so I can be one of the storytellers.