What should dd sing at school talent show?

[helplessnesshopelessness]

9 year old dd preforming at school talent show, what song will go down best?

Her choices:
-Oh Darling -the Beatles
-Killer Queen -Queen (is this appropriate?)
-When he sees me - Waitress musical
-Space Oddity -David Bowie
-You'll be back - Hamilton

Something age appropriate- so not the one from waitress or killer queen. What about a Disney solo like how far I’ll go from moana? Or something from Matilda?

That's an eclectic mix of songs! I can't get an impression of her voice from those. They mostly sound too old for a nine year old.

Might be worth checking out the syllabus for the Lamda MT exams etc?

But she has to sing something she loves so it's up to her really.

I have been to a lot of school concerts over the years and my DD did a lot of MT/recitals/choir/school concerts and taught MT to children - I'll ask her!

Whichever one she can sing best? If she's using a backing tape and can't therefore change the key, it seems best to me to choose whichever is best placed within her range. She might also pull off some singing styles better than others e.g. does the song need belting or pure high sounds or lots of mellow chest voice? The fit with her voice seems far more important than which song might be popular with the audience. Get her to sing a few to you. Nothing worse for a 9yr old than trying to do something publicly that they aren't great at. Better to play to her strengths.

Definitely space oddity. We used to listen to that every day while warming down from PE in primary school!

Yes - lots of Disney would be great. One Disney song my DD sang was Reflections from Mulan - that's a lovely song.

Why is the song from Waitress not appropriate?
I think she'd feel something Disney or at least moana is a bit babyish

From my DD:
Waitress would be fine I think. you’ll be back would be funny but you’d have to check which one there’s like 3 versions of the lyrics and some are them aren’t appropriate if I remember rightly. If they’re out there and love acting they’d be good

Quiet from Matilda is a good one

Reflections is about a young girl not feeling seen and it's not over done like some disney. Christina Aguilera even sang it:
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=RNprQYHenNI

There's loads of suitable Disney songs which aren't babyish like reflection, touch the sky, almost there, the climb or even something from high school musical maybe?

Something that the other kids will know and enjoy

How good a singer is she?

Castle on a cloud - Les Mis
Maybe - Annie

"You'll be back" is meant to be sung by a mentally unwell middle aged man and concludes with the lines "I will kill all your friends and family..." which I wouldn't say is very 9 year old appropriate!

Killer Queen is very hard to sing and not really in the right range. Avoid songs by male singers - she’ll growl or likely be flat as she tries to find the right octave. The themes in Waitress suggest 13 up - she won’t have the maturity to sing songs from there yet. She’s singing about things that she really doesn’t understand same with Hamilton, and that’s a male song anyway.

I’ve seen a lot of school talent shows and the best kids sing something simple, age appropriate and do it well - more tween pop songs if you go down that route or things like Matilda, Disney, Greatest Showman. Hairspray.

I think any if the Matilda songs would be good or A Million Dreams by Pink

Depends whether it's just for fun (do one she enjoys) teacher judged (do one she can sing well, probably an age appropriate musical song from Matilda or similar) or peer judged (in which case send her with sweets to bribe the judges at lunch time, and a pop song everyone likes and play it too loud for her voice to be heard)

Naughty from Mathilda if she can pull it off.

‘When he sees me’ is about dating/setting up an online dating profile. I’d go for something that should be performed by a child. So, something from Annie, Mary Poppins, Matilda etc.

Thinking about Disney. Frozen, Tangled, Little Mermaid all have great songs.

Not one of the Matilda songs, I absolutely love that musical but I must have heard them performed by half the ten year olds in the country by now! (DD does musical theatre)

’oh so quiet’ Bjork

She sounds great! I wouldn’t force her down the Disney route like others suggest, it sounds like it’s not who she is.

the only song I know from the list is space oddity which is a brilliant song, but I’d imagine quite hard to sing and perform. Maybe encourage her to come up with more options from songs she likes, and then go through each one together from start to finish, with her singing along and thinking about what would look and feel best on stage?

Another one my DD sang at a school concert when she was ~12 was Nina Simone's I wish I knew how it would feel to be free. That worked well and she's a sop

Is it judged by adults or kids ? Children may prefer listening to something they know like Taylor Swift (guessing from your list that this isn’t her style) so if audience reaction is important then it might work in her favour.

My dd had a couple of years of being anti-Disney around your DD’s age too but if it’s something like LILO and Stitch then many of the songs were Elvis covers iirc (I’ve seen a lot of Stitch merchandise recently)

How far I'll go - moana
Can you feel the love tonight - lion king
Feed the birds - Mary Poppins
For Good - Wicked
Where is love - oliver

Why the insistence she has to do something Disney?

There are so many lovely non- Disney songs too (and I am a big Disney fan). I think it's a bit patronising to imply children only like Disney.