A singer without self-confidence is a lot like a singer without any stage presence. They have no affect on their audience which results in having no fans and if they do have fans, 99% of the times they have very few fans...
And nothing is more worse than having fake self-confidence... A singer that ignites action through their ego, are doing their careers a lot of harm.
As a singer, you are really an entertainer... And in order for an entertainer to be successful they must not only perform entertainment which they themselves believe to be entertaining but they MUST also perform entertainment which others can relate too and enjoy...
Fake self-confidence comes from an ego: And an ego is always one-sided, which is bad business for the entertainment industry and basically means no business!
Now, it is important to understand that I'm not trying to say an ego is a bad thing, the problem is that when you only have an ego, you leave out what your audience wants as entertainment from your singing, music and performance...
The result? Your singing, music and performance is geared towards entertaining only yourself. If that's the case you will have very little connection with your audience (if any) and you will virtually have close to no fans.
I hope by now you've understood the problem with fake self-confidence and why it is fatal towards all singers.
So how do you develop genuine self-confidence?
Let's first discuss exactly what is "genuine self-confidence"? Genuine self-confidence is being internally driven with a belief that you are capable based upon real talent, skills or knowledge. After genuine self-confidence has been established, usually egotistical confidence follows through.
So what does this definition mean in more easy terms? Basically, genuine confidence is having a belief of high worthiness based upon the knowledge, skills and talents that you REALLY possess not just WISHING you have them.
Simply having a belief that you are highly worthy and capable based upon arrogance & narcissism is egotistical self-confidence. Egotistical self-confidence is good if it is balanced and if you also have actual genuine self-confidence!
Egotistical self-confidence becomes fake self-confidence when their is no genuine self-confidence mixed in together.
So how does all this relate to singers?
Singers must be careful to make sure that they are actually building up genuine self-confidence based upon real singing/musical talent, skills and knowledge.
Which means they must be constantly improving their singing/musical talents, skills and knowledge. Not simply pretending or wishing they had musical assets.
After that point, they are free to let out their egotistical self-confidence... Because if their audience or fans ever question it, they will be able to back it up based on real tangible results they that singer, entertainer, musician and performer can do.
So the point of this lesson is simple:
Start improving your singing abilities, straighten the parts of your voice that is lacking in anyway, build upon your choreography skills, brush up your dance skills, get a makeover to change the perception of your character, or get in good physical shape to change way your entertainment makes your audience feel - whether it's about them or whether it's about you.
But... How do you know exactly what areas to touch upon?
Feedback! And not just simply feedback... You want specified feedback from your fans, audience, your mentors, close-friends & sometimes family.
But you need to be very careful on the motive of your feedback. Seek feedback only from those who have no intention to flatter you and are complete honest with their feedback.
If you receive negative feedback, do not react defensively. Instead the key is to ask why they feel that way? What is the exact reason?
Remember you want Specified feedback, you never want generic feedback- even if it's positive.
In addition, you need to be critical of positive feedback as well and try to pull in as to why they feel that way.
So you've now learned about the basis of acquiring genuine self-confidence. But without having any belief in yourself or your abilities deep inside your heart, soul and mind- you will never acquire any sort of self-confidence, whether genuine or fake.
The best way to acquire self-confidence is to meditate regularly and especially before a show or on stage. Mediation is something that all famous pro-athletes do before a game and after a game.
There is absolutely no reason why this rule exempt from singers. In fact, every single career and activity will be greatly benefited from meditation.
If the best famous professional athletes meditate and the most successful people meditate, to enhance their performance and you refuse to do it, I personally believe that is very foolish and also a very big disservice to yourself.
So why meditation?
Meditation defuses the ego and gets rid of all the negative thoughts in your head automatically. There is no need to force the process of removing negativity, insecurity or low confidence. When you meditate, you mind is cleared of all thoughts which destroy your self-confidence.
Your stress levels decrease, anxiety goes way down and you become a lot more laid back, calm, relaxed and happy.
This results in genuine self-confidence which is calm, tranquil, peaceful and relaxed. Forcing self-confidence is NOT possible and almost always results in yourself looking tacky.
Ultimately your thinking changes as well as the way feel.
So what does this stuff have anything to do with singing?
Once you build real self-confidence - you will start to influence your audience which will result in yourself having much greater control over how they perceive you, feel about you and ultimately how great of a singer they believe you to be.
I hope this article has really helped any singer out there.