SAI delivered singing valentines on Tuesday.
Courtesy | Wikimedia Commons
The Sigma Alpha Iota women’s music fraternity brought back its singing valentines this year, giving students the opportunity to fill campus with romance, friendship, and practical jokes.
“For the price of $3, you can essentially hire the SAI girls to sing over the phone to somebody that you send a singing valentine to,” said sophomore Phoebe VanHeynigen, a member of SAI.
Students could choose one of six songs: “Can’t Help Falling in Love,” “Never Gonna Give You Up,” “My Heart Will Go On,” “You Are My Sunshine,” “Lean on Me,” and “Thank You for Being a Friend.”
Sophomore Emily Griffith, a member of SAI, said Valentine’s Day is a good opportunity for busy college students to slow down and show those around them how much they care.
“We actually have a married couple on campus where the wife bought the husband a singing valentine,” she said, “and then the husband came over and was like, ‘Oh my gosh, I’m going to buy her a singing valentine,’ and he has no idea that she’s already bought one for him.”
SAI sold 79 valentines altogether, according to VanHeynigen, with “Never Gonna Give You Up” topping the list at 34. Griffith said the fraternity raised more than $100 off of that song alone. Many students often chose to send it as a joke to people who weren’t expecting it, an internet meme known as “Rickrolling” after the singer Rick Astley.
“We also have people who have gone in together to Rickroll a single person, so there are a few people that are going to be getting three or four Rickrolls, and we have people who have bought a ton,” Griffith said. “Someone bought 11 songs, most of them being ‘Never Gonna Give You Up.’”
Sophomore Nathan Malawey said he Rickrolled Music Professor James Holleman and sent ‘My Heart Will Go On’ to a friend in his fraternity as a joke.
“The singing valentines are cool because it gives people an opportunity to show someone that you care about them on Valentine’s Day without that sort of romantic context,” Malawey said. “It’s just a lighthearted, fun thing that you can send someone to put a smile on their face, and it’s in the spirit of the holiday without having too many heavy implications behind it.”
Griffith said singing valentines mean a lot to people who share SAI’s passion for music.
“We are devoted to cultivating a love of music,” she said, “This is just another way to do that for us and to do it for the rest of campus.”
