The 2018 Winter Olympics marks the first time that music with lyrics is allowed in figure skating programs. Many of the athletes took full advantage of the new rule.
With music with lyrics allowed at the Olympics thanks to a 2015 rule change, it was only a matter of time before Elvis showed up. Ironically, though, it was a Russian skater who skated to the King’s music.
The 2018 men’s figure skating competition featured a wide variety of musical selections, from Star Wars to Game of Thrones. Soundtracks have always been a go-to choice because they’re popular and recognizable enough that the audience can get fired up. But with the rule change, the 2018 Games featured the Beatles, Pink Floyd and even Snow Patrol. Israel’s Alexei Bychenko skated to famous Jewish folk song “Hava Nagila” in the free skate, and the crowd went wild. Germany’s Paul Fentz skated to the Paul Anka version of “Wonderwall” in his short program.
One of the challenges in music selection, however, is that the music needs to fit the skater. The programs are judged on interpretation of the music. If you’re skating to “Hava Nagila,” then you need to have some energy because it’s a song that gets progressively faster as time goes on while skaters’ legs start to fatigue.
If you can’t keep up the energy, then the song might not be a great idea. (Israel’s Bychenko, incidentally, had no trouble keeping up with “Hava Nagila.”) Australia’s Brendan Kerry skated to Lorde’s “Everybody Wants to Rule the World” and it received significantly lower marks than Bychenko’s score in the same category because the overall routine was low energy and didn’t match the elements he was attempting. There’s a fine balance, then, between the right elements and the right music.
There’s also the challenge that comes with trying to figure out what the judges want. While the judges shouldn’t be partial to music selections, is it “safer” to skate to more traditional classical music by Pucchini or Bach?
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The addition of music with lyrics has made for fun figure skating programs this year, and now that the training wheels are off we can expect to see more skaters setting their programs to popular music that gives their routines a whole new energy. Does that mean we could see some Lady Gaga, Kanye and Taylor Swift in 2022?
Absolutely.
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