Have you ever wondered why your bathroom turns into Madison Square Shower Garden every time you pick up the shampoo bottle microphone?

There’s something magical about singing out tunes in the shower where no autotune is required.

As Josh Groban said,

So why do we feel so good in these single-person auditoriums?

A mix of psychology and physics

There’s no other place like the safe space of our bathrooms.

We get that long-needed privacy where we can sing without feeling self-conscious. We allow ourselves to let loose and sing freely without worrying about others hearing us.

The noise from the water not only dampens the sound getting out to other parts of the house but it also masks any imperfections in our voice. Psychologically, it’s one of the best places to be ourselves.

Then you have some unique physical properties in our throne room.

We hear our voice more clearly because of a special combination of acoustics. The key to the success of our personal auditorium lies in the smaller dimensions covered in hard and even surfaces like tiles and polished stone.

The two sets of sounds come together, the emitted and reflected one, in a way that makes the overall sound stronger and more intense. Thus, when you sing along with your favorite tune it feels louder and more powerful.

Additionally, thanks to the way sound bounces around, it stays in the air for a bit longer. So, even when we sing one note, we can still catch echoes of the previous ones. This lingering sound helps the different notes flow together smoothly and lets us enjoy the sound for a longer time.

We enjoy being surrounded by sound, especially when it bounces back to us quickly, creating a cozy cocoon of our own voice. It’s as if we’re giving ourselves a gentle hug with waves of sound.

It’s not just the bathroom

Karaoke rooms are like our shower’s cool cousin.

Many brave amateur singers have felt this echo chamber of awesomeness thanks to their unique design using reverb. This added reverb makes our singing sound richer and more enjoyable to our ears.

It’s like a vocal rocket booster, that mixed with a dash of liquid courage (aka alcohol), it becomes like a second home to many.

So, if the shower is where you discover your inner superstar, the karaoke room is where you unleash the full-on rock concert version of yourself.

A different approach to singing on stage

In the movie “To Rome with Love,” there’s a funny and unusual scene that perfectly portrays what singing in the shower means.

A guy named Giancarlo loves to sing while he takes his showers. His voice is beautiful and sounds amazing. One day, some people hear Giancarlo singing fantastically in the shower. But he can only sing that well in the shower. He’s too shy to do it outside. So they come up with a clever loop whole: why not put him on stage to sing, but keep him in the shower while he sings?

So, they set up a whole shower on stage, Giancarlo gets in and starts dazzling people with his voice just like he does in the shower. Everyone is puzzled by it but the quality of his singing rapidly melts their hearts away. Giancarlo continues to sing in the shower on the stage, making everyone laugh and clap.

End of scene.

The joy of sound showering

We’ve seen many movie scenes portraying singing in the shower over the years, but it all started in a movie from 1929 called The Show of Shows.

This song is considered one of the earliest references to the idea of singing in the bath or shower in popular culture. But one of my favorite performances is by the actor and singer Mandy Patinkin. Enjoy!