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"Do It Yourself" Theme Tune

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"Yep, that's me!"
Raven, That's So Raven

Essentially, this is when the theme tune of a particular show is written, sung or both by a member of the cast or someone else involved in the show in an otherwise non-musical context. Distinct from Diegetic Soundtrack Usage in that the theme may or may not actually appear in the show in an "in-universe" context, but in the real world it is written/sung by the real person.

In the Idol Genre, that are all about showcasing Idol Singers, it's expected that the voice actors will be performing the theme tune.

See also Image Song.


Examples:

    open/close all folders 

    Asian Animation 
  • Mostly played straight in Simple Samosa, whose theme song is split into four verses, each describing one of the four main characters. Each verse is sung by the respective character it describes, with the sole exception of Samosa in all versions of the theme song save for the Tamil-dubbed version.

    Films — Animation 
  • In Ice Age: Continental Drift, Keke Palmer's song "We Are" is played over the credits, with the main cast singing along (Keke Palmer voices Peaches, by the way).
  • Home (2015) approaches a Do It Yourself album with its soundtrack. Rihanna, who voices Tip in the film, also worked with director Tim Johnson to create a concept album for the film. Three of the eight songs there are by her, and one is by co-star Jennifer Lopez. Which in a way means that some of the songs are tied more to Tip, and that one is tied to Lucy (as they're voiced by Rihanna and Jennifer, respectively).
  • The end credits song of Monsters, Inc., "If I Didn't Have You", is sung by John Goodman and Billy Crystal, who voice Sully and Mike respectively, further emphasizing their Heterosexual Life-Partners relationship.

    Films — Live-Action 

    Pinballs 
  • "Every Little Thing", the song that plays during multiball in Red & Ted's Road Show, is sung by Red's voice actress, Carlene Carter.

    Pro Wrestling 
  • Wrestlers in The '80s often sung their own songs such as The Fabulous Rougeau Brothers (Jacques and Raymond), Hillbilly Jim, and the Honky Tonk Man.
  • Manager Jimmy Hart was once the Trope Namer for Suspiciously Similar Song due to all the songs he's written when employed by various promotions.
  • Michael Hayes wrote and sang The Freebirds' "Badstreet U.S.A."
  • Shawn Michaels sang his own theme song after he broke off with the previous singer and his then-manager, Sensational Sherri. He used the same song for over a decade despite having dropped the "sexy boy" gimmick it was originally written for, and kept it right until retirement.
  • Borderline examples but there's a whole host of wrestlers whose catchphrases make it into their themes, usually at the beginning. Notable examples include The Rock, New Age Outlaws, Carlito, Finlay, The Miz, Zack Ryder, Ryback, Braun Strowman, Woken Matt Hardy, EC3 and Matt Riddle.
  • R-Truth not only raps his own theme but puts on a live performance of the theme as part of his entrance. He's done this pretty much ever since he started wrestling, having done so in TNA as Ron Killings and in his first WWF stint as K-Kwik.
  • JD dojo graduate and Pro Wrestling Wave ace Yumi Ohka has The Gimmick of an idol who not only sings her own entrance themes but will interrupt shows to put on performances.
  • John Cena, due to the rapper gimmick he used to have, made his last two themes, one of which is still being used (over a decade later!) despite, as with Michaels, having long since dropped the gimmick. The current one, "My Time Is Now", he performs with his cousin Marc 'The Trademarc' Predka.
  • The WWE produced an album called WWE Originals released January 13, 2004 which were songs all sung by the wrestlers or divas on the roster. Some were used briefly as actual themes for the respective wrestlers; briefly because, despite the valiant efforts of Jim Johnston, the world learned that professional wrestlers do not make for great singers (except Chris Jericho, who was already a singer and Lillian Garcia, who's not a wrestler but a ring announcer) Well, despite "Put A Little Ass On It" being laughably terrible, Rikishi happened to be a surprisingly good singer, and John Cena's "Basic Thuganomics" did have some longevity (but that's rapping, not singing.)
  • Jeff Hardy's theme songs in TNA are written & performed by him. They were performed with his band Peroxwhy?gen.
  • Jimmy Jacobs recorded several songs in Ring of Honor, particularly during his contributions to the Lacey's Angel's angle where he was expressing his love to the not so Lovely Lacey.
  • Shannon Moore's final WWE theme song was an instrumental of a song he'd written & recorded.
  • Jillian Hall sings her theme music "Sliced Bread," which adds to her gimmick of being an absolutely AWFUL singer.
  • Mickie James did her own theme song after leaving WWE, and since she's at worst decent, it heightened her rivalry with the similarly released Jillian Hall.
  • Chris Jericho's band, Fozzy, has had their songs as themes for a few of WWE's pay-per-view events, most recently "Martyr No More" for the 2010 Royal Rumble. He never used a Fozzy song as his own theme in WWE, but has used "Judas" in All Elite Wrestling.
  • Montel Vontavious Porter went out and recorded his second WWE entrance theme without input from the company. They, accordingly, played nothing but the chorus of it, though New Japan Pro-Wrestling not only played the whole thing but remixed the beat and even added Godzilla's roar to the track. He then used one of his already released themes for his Youtube sessions, did another for his New Japan run with Shelton Benjamin and did a another two themes for his TNA run: one for himself, and one for his Beat Down Clan Power Stable.
  • Jazz's SHINE Wrestling debut was also the debut of a theme she made for herself.
  • Rocky Romero did the RPG Vice theme in New Japan in tribute to Alex Koslov.(Beretta helped)
  • Caprice Coleman lent his voice for his own individual theme in Ring of Honor, though his C&C Tag Team theme is done by King Kelezy.
  • Maria Kanellis performs her own theme song on the independent circuits, the titular track of her album Sevin Sins which she released through Zombie Entertainment.
  • Mark Andrews of TNA & Progress Wrestling co-wrote his own theme song, as it is a track by his band Junior (he is the bassist and co-lead vocalist). The band themselves recently fully acknowledged Mark's wrestling background by creating a music video which was entirely wrestling themed, including a cameo appearance from Broken Matt Hardy!
  • Cameron not only recorded "Girl Bye", her entrance theme, she recorded a music video of it!
  • The Usos, Starting August 1, 2017, The Usos rapped their own theme song using a variety of catchphrases during their post-split heel run, this would later be known as the Day One remix of "Done With That".
    • After The Usos split Jimmy rapped his own theme song "Born A King" and Jey rapped his own theme song "Main Event Ish".
  • Tyler Breeze "Sings" the lyrics to "#Mmmgorgeous", which basically amounts to Tyler talking about how really really really ridiculously good looking he is.
  • As for The Shield, the words "Sierra Hotel India Echo Lima Delta. Shield." from their opening theme? Recorded by the guys themselves.
  • Keith Lee rapped his own NXT theme song "Limitless" and his WWE main roster theme song "Born to Bring It".
  • Bray Wyatt, Parts of his new theme, Let Me In, were done by Wyatt himself — specifically, the "Yowie wowie!" and "Let me in!" spoken portions in the beginning. But the outro phrase, "I'm really sorry what I did. (Let Me In)", were done by both Wyatt and Code Orange.
  • Scarlett Bordeaux sings "Dead Silent", the theme she and Karrion Kross share.
  • Elias sings and plays guitar on his theme song "Amen (I'm Going In)".
  • Hit Row's entrance music is rapping by themselves.
  • Swerve Strickland does the rapping on his All Elite Wrestling theme "Big Pressure".
  • Nikkita Lyons sings her theme song "The Lyoness".

    Puppet Shows 
  • Jim Henson seemed to loved this trope, as it also happens in The Muppet Show, The Ghost of Fafner Hall, and othersnote .
  • Two other Crowd Song examples are both the opening and ending themes to Lamb Chop's Play-Along which are sung by Shari Lewis (both as herself, and as her three characters Lamb Chop, Hush Puppy and Charlie Horse), and by various kids.
  • The Elmo's World theme song is sung by Elmo himself.
  • The Noddy Shop opens with a song sung by the toys that live in the shop. This is actually justified, considering that their songs are a major part of the show, as they usually get the moral across.
  • While a woman sings most of the song, the final part of the Donkey Hodie theme song is sung by the entire cast.

    Theatre 
  • The Tsukiuta stage play series, which generally are not musicals, usually have a theme song titled after the play, sung by the cast.
    • The Tsukihana Kagura and Zanshin settings have theme songs released originally with the AGF events that they were first created for, sung by Yuki of Fluna and Haruto of Rock Down, respectively. Every play set in these words has the cast record a version of the same theme song.
    • Similarly, though it is not an Alternate Universe setting, every series that does a "School Revolution" episode has the cast record a version of the original theme song from Six Gravity and Procellarum's 2017 productions.
    • The SQS series did not have the cast sing theme songs until episode 4, Tsukino Empire 2: Beginning of the World. Since then, they have recorded a theme song for every episode. This includes episode 6, Machine Elements, which was a sequel to the previous Machine Elements stage play, one of the few Tsukipro plays to feature a theme song not performed by the cast (it was performed by infinit0, who did not appear).

    Video Games 

    Web Animation 
  • Bravoman:
    • While the show doesn't have Bravoman himself sing the theme tune, one episode features him firing the show's sound department in order to defeat a cyborg ninja (long story). Since there's nobody to play the ending theme, Bravoman sings it himself.
    • The final episode of the web series also features a Hostile Show Takeover from Anti-Bravoman, who sings about himself to the tune of the lyrics.
  • Most of Camp Camp's soundtrack is sung by Rooster Teeth employees, including the rather...difficult opening theme, which is sung in-character by creator Miles Luna, who voices the character David. To his despair, the song is often requested at his panels.
  • hololive: "Excuse My Rudeness, But Could You Please RIP?" is definitively Mori Calliope's most known work as a musical artist, and a theme tune to an extent considering remixes of it appear at the beginning and end of her streams.
    • To a lesser extent, "HINOTORI" is Kiara's, performed by the phoenix herself.

    Web Original 
  • 3DBotMaker: King of the Mountain videos often end with 2D (who is voiced by channel creator/host Adriel Johnson using a ring modulator) rapping or even singing about the series, sometimes in relation to what just occurred.
  • The theme song for Critical Role and its animated series The Legend of Vox Machina, "Your Turn to Roll", was composed by Sam Riegel, and sung by Riegel, Laura Bailey, Ashley Johnson, and Travis Willingham. All four are members of the principal cast.
  • "Do You Wanna Date My Avatar," the single for the hit Web Original The Guild, was both written and performed by Felicia Day, the creator (and star) of the show. Well, co-written. She wrote the lyrics, and Jed Whedon wrote the music. The music video is peopled with the main cast of the show.
  • Stop Skelatons From Fighting: During Derek's time as The Happy Video Game Nerd he covered the AVGN theme himself, playing the guitar and singing modified lyrics. Later, his band Starship Amazing remixed the song, and eventually they composed and performed an original instrumental piece.
  • Kamen Rider Ex-Aid: The Abridged Series has one for Nico Saiba, NICO NICO ★ RIDE FEVER, a Song Parody written and performed by Nico's voice actress.
  • Lindsay Ellis sings "Goodbye Internet's Rose" when Nella meets her fate at the hands of a ladder.
  • Noob has a few original songs, two of which are the opening and ending theme starting Season 2, all sung by a band called Mokotz. The lead singer of Mokotz is also the actor playing Master Zen.
  • The creator of Pretty Dudes, Chance Calloway, also co-wrote and sings on the "Pretty Dudes Anthem" that kicks off each episode.
  • All the music in Reynaldo The Assassin (theme tune and otherwise) is done by director/actor Oneclipleft.
  • Star Wars Uncut: Several of the action scene clips feature people humming the portion of the soundtrack that occurs in that particular scene, even though the producer told them that the original soundtrack background music would be added.
  • The theme for Try Hards was composed and sung by Elliot Gough, one of the Try Hards.

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K-On has its main cast members singing and performing the opening.

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