You'll Be Back

 

Character History

When Hamilton argues with Samuel Seabury, King George III sings about how he will win the war and keep America as a colony in "You'll Be Back". You can feel his power when he doesn't move from his spot and gets everyone to rush around for him which is a total contrast from the other songs before this since they have a rap theme to them, it's almost like America is making King George III a joke including the feminine touches and bratty attitude. After America won the war, King George III became sad and angry, singing about how they cheated with the French and Spain by their side, and asking "What Comes Next". After George Washington steps down as president he questions who comes after him after one of his servants tells him it is John Adams he sings how their government is doomed and wishes them luck. When Burr, Jefferson and Madison distribute copies of the Renolds Pamphlet, completely ruining Hamilton's reputation, King George can be seen mocking him.

Why I have chosen this song

I chose this song because it will challenge me in trying to sing in a different accent since King George III is a part of the royal family which means I need to try and bring a strong British accent and I have to try and roll my R's in certain words to have the regal feel to it. Since this is usually sung by a male I wanted to challenge my vocals by making it 3 semitones higher so it can bring the same power he uses to command people and to bring that insane energy to it. Sometimes when I sing I go for the slow and sad songs but I wanted to choose this one since it still has that feel but it has some comedic sections where I can make it as sarcastic or as possessive as possible to show how controlling he can be.

Process

When I first sang this song I struggled to do the British accent and trying to get the correct vowels which is shown in the video I would constantly try to push more into it and it needed to be fixed. As I got the score I would watch how Jonathan Groft sang it and try to adapt some of his parts which are how I come in sharply with the word "you" and then flip straight after when I sing the word "say" which i needed to add the powerful but playful energy that King George III would bring out especially since he starts to show his insane side as the song goes on.

As I started to move into the second section of the score which is also presented in the video above I started to add more character to it and make it my own. It was hard to project at times and then when I started to slip into the accent I would then project louder shown at the end of the song and when I also sang "oceans rise, empires fall" since it needed to have that emphasis on the words. I struggled trying to flip from chest to head voice which led to having a few vocal problems at first and when I started to breathe at the right times it started to come through more correctly, I had a problem with trying to change the way I sounded from going to quiet then loud and trying to make it consistent and trying to support my vocals. As I rehearsed more and more I could start to see the performance quality coming through which helped my character and kept the accent going and stronger than before. On the other hand, I still couldn't get the correct volume for example I needed to push my vocals more forward instead of holding them back which just needed more attack which could help me at Live Lounge so people wouldn't be able to hear me. When I performed at Live Lounge I was confident in singing with power and it helped to have Tyler dancing to show the comedic side of the performance since King George III doesn't really move until his final song where it starts to show his insanity as the performance goes on I started to feel the right energy to push into it which made myself more confident for musical theatre showcase.

Final Performance

When I did the musical theatre showcase I wanted people to laugh since it was a comedic song but to still keep the King George III energy which helped that we added people into the correct parts which flowed into the performance better instead of one person because the audience weren't expecting it. As I was singing I started to use my face more which added more sarcasm and made the character stronger since I always had my head up and had props then I had to think about hand placements and how to use a cape and I also had to use a clip on mic which meant it stopped me from moving anywhere which helped me from moving to much otherwise the mic would come off and my performance wouldn't have been heard. I think the performance could have been stronger if I had only looked with my eyes and didn't use my head to look since it adds more comedic energy and also has more smiling moments.