Giving a graduation speech can be intimidating, but what about singing it? To one of the most vocally challenging songs?
North Dakota student Sydney Helgeson was up for the challenge.
A star was truly born when she decided to give a speech set to the tune of “Shallow” by Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper at her high school graduation.
At Bismarck High School, Helgeson began with a normal-sounding speech, until she soon explained to the class that some things are just best shared through the power of music.
“On this special day in our lives, graduation speeches are a tradition.” Helgeson said. “But when words fail music speaks. So, I’d like to dedicate my song ‘Tomorrow,'” to the tune of Lady Gaga’s ‘Shallow,’ to the class of 2019.”
Then, she performed the song to her 270-person graduating class. The lyrics seemed to be meticulously written, as they perfectly described all the good times she had with her class, the Bismarck High School demons (the name of their mascot).
“When writing the lyrics, I thought about all the things that made me proud to be a demon,” Helgeson continued to share with her class. “Things like winning the state football championship and marble staircases in our halls. I tried to reminisce on all the moments that our class has shared together. The good, the bad, the funny — all the memories.”
“Tell me something, class. Are you happy that today’s the last?,” are the lyrics that start the song.
Everyone knows the chorus of the song is a doozy, and pretty hard to sing. But when the student breaks into it, she effortlessly nails it with the lyrics: “No more ACT tests, we’ve all done our very best. Not much our teachers can do now.”
Changing the word “shallow” to “tomorrow” she finishes the chorus with, “We’re not far from tomorrow, now.”
Apparently, this was not part of Helgeson’s plan.
She had no intentions of being a speaker at graduation. What made her decide to audition though, was seeing a video of Alicia Keys and James Corden doing a parody of “Shallow” to announce Keys as the host of the Grammys. That is when Helgeson’s idea began to brew.
“I thought that’s a cool idea,” Helgeson said. “Maybe I could something like that for a graduation speech.”
The high school graduate has also been singing since she was four years old, so it wasn’t completely unknown territory for her. She had also been a member of the chorus since middle school.
Additionally, she was in her high school’s production of The Sound of Music as well as several choruses.
She clearly has a love for music, and that is what inspired her to sing her speech.
“Our school dates back to the 1800s and is very traditional, so I was really glad they picked my speech and let me stay a little bit from the norm,” Helgeson said, explaining how excited she was when she found out that she was chosen among all of the students who auditioned for the task.
She also added that her classmates were “very supportive.”
“A lot of people came up to me after the ceremony and I was even more amazed by all the people who shared it on social media,” Helgeson said. “I was so grateful for the positive reaction and that people wanted to share it with their friends.”
“Our class was super close all through high school,” Helgeson said. “It was special to celebrate our last moments all together. Some of us have been together for 13 years.”
The music-loving teen is set to attend the University of Alabama in the fall and will major in business with a minor in music!
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