For over a decade, Hamline students have been dazzled by the annual homecoming Lip Sync Competition. When audience members filed in to watch the show at 7:30 p.m. on friday sept 27 this year, they were met with no exception.
Over ten solo and duo groups took the stage that night, lip-syncing their hearts out as the audience screamed excitedly and showered them with applause.
Performers battled for campus acclaim and cash prizes; with 3rd, 2nd, and 1st place receiving $100, $200 and $300, respectively.
This was sophomore Kasimir Austin’s second year performing for the Lip Sync competition, and this time, he wanted to try something new.
“I did the lip sync competition last year, and I did a fully self-choreographed piece. But ‘Chk Chk Boom’ has its own choreography because it’s a K-Pop song, and I’ve heard of other people performing K-Pop songs before, and I really enjoy learning K-Pop dances, so I thought, well, if I could perform one, that’d be super sick,” Austin said.
Austin also said he joined the competition again this year because of his love of performing.
“I’m a theater major, and so I just really love performing in general. I really enjoyed doing it last year, it was really simple, the crowd was absolutely amazing, and it’s just really fun to perform whenever I can,” Austin said.
Austin wasn’t the only returning performer: junior Raine Lentz returned this year to the competition for the third year in a row, performing “If I Loved You’ from Nerdy Prudes Must Die, the musical, with their duo group they named, The Summoning.
“It’s just a thing I would not have done in high school, but it was really fun the first year doing it, and I wasn’t gonna do it until our other friend suggested it. And then, we did it, and I was like ‘I wanna do that more,’” Lentz said.
Several first-year performers joined the competition this year as well, including Liam Schrom, performing “Man or Muppet” as Zestina the Drag Queen. He wanted to perform for his love of drag and out of hope of performing in drag as a career.
“Well, I would like to do drag as my part time job. That is the dream, the side hustle. But, I could foresee it being a career. But also cause it’s Hamline, and I like to show people what I can do,” Schrom said.
Other performances included a dance to “AY AY AY” by Preston Pablo fit with a shower of dollar bills performed by junior Sydney Lavelle, a comedic skit with live guitar performed by the duo Too Hot to Handle to “Lazy Song” by Bruno Mars, and a “Sweet Victory” tribute to Spongebob including his recognizable spatula performed by 8-0.
The audience created a drumroll before the winners were announced, and they were not to be disappointed. Both Lola Estra for the performance of “I’m Just Ken” from the Barbie movie and Maxwell Lakso performing “Sweet Transvestite” from Rocky Horror Picture Show tied for 3rd place and took home prizes.
Additionally, King Noir bagged 2nd for their performance of “Disturbia” by Rhianna. And Liam Schrom as Zestina the Drag Queen took home 1st place for their performance of “Man or Muppet.” Rightfully so, as the judges and audience agreed that the sock puppet hand fit with googly eyes and the show-stopping split to end the number could not be beat.
“I thought it was really cool. I thought it was really nice to see all those people and all that talent. Especially with all the confidence, from the first years especially. First years were winners.” first-year Harley Kopek said.
The spectacular ending to the competition left audience members awed and asking for more, along with others convinced they should sign up to perform next year.
“I think I can definitely do it next year, ’cause I think that would be really fun. It was inspiring,” Kopek said.
As another successful Hamline Lip Sync Competition comes to an end, it leaves students counting down the days till the next one and dreaming up their new show-stopping performances.