What Are Good Questions To Ask A Singer?

Everyone loves a good interview, but not enough people ask good questions when it comes time to start the interview. So many interviewers ask the same, dull, boring, uninspired questions that a singer will likely not be excited to answer since they've heard it a million times before.

Related Post: What's The Difference Between A Vocalist And A Singer?

Want to spice up your next interview? Here are 50 questions that will pull out some deep thoughts from the singer so that the audience can really get engaged and learn good details on their background.

1. What is your main goal in your music career?
2. How did you come up with your band name?
3. Which skills have you gained that help you perform effectively as a musician?
4. What separates you from other artists?
5. What are you most proud of to date?
6. What is your dream venue to perform at?
7. Describe your creative process when you write new music.
8. What’s an average day like for you?
9. Please discuss how you interact with and respond to fans.
10. When performing and the crowd is singing along how does that energy make you feel?
11. What’s the biggest highlight of your career thus far?
12. What made you want to become a musician?
13. What's your process for dealing with performance anxiety?
14. Is there a hidden meaning in any of your music?
15. What is your favorite part about this line of work? Your least favorite? Why?
16. Which famous musicians have you learned from?
17. What makes a performance/song good? How do you judge a performance/song?
18. Describe your worst performance. What did you learn from this experience?
19. What’s your motto or some good advice that you live by?
20. Do you collaborate with others? What is that process?
21. How often and for how long do you practice?
22. How do you balance your music with other obligations - mate, children, job?
23. Describe your favorite and least favorite part about being a musician.
24. Do you have any advice for anyone wanting to sing as a career?
25. Who helped you most in your journey?
26. Have you ever participated in any music competitions? Did you win any prizes?
27. Why do people NOT listen to your music?
28. If you were to completely start over again from day one, what would you do differently?
29. What social issues are you most passionate about?
30. If you could change anything about the industry, what would it be?

Interview Tips

• Get your singer to choose about 10 questions from a large list if you are allowing them to think about their answer beforehand.
• Don't forget to proofread, but don't proofread too harshly! A lot of singers and musicians will bring their own style to the interview, and you want to keep it authentic. 
• Encourage them to give you long, well-thought-out answers, especially if the interview is text only. A lot of singers are very chatty but it's not the same when it comes to written content. 
• Don't give the same questions to all the singers. Try to formulate these questions in a way that's unique to their overall brand for a more unique interview. 
• Include contact information where a reader can find the singer easily. I've seen written interviews that don't even include a link to the singers' website. Are you even interviewing a real person?!
• Get a good amount of info on the singer before you even interview them. This encourages the singer to really put a lot of effort into the interview process if they are interacting with someone they know has heard their music before.