My mom is not supportive of my singing.

I love singing. It’s more than just a hobby. I have been singing in my bathroom almost every night since I was about 15. My voice is not good—I just don’t fit into any vocal standard. I don’t have what people would called a cute voice or a cool voice. It couldn’t be described as unique either. Overall, it just doesn’t fall within the spectrum of "good voices."

I have learned to acknowledge the fact that even if you can sing, you will still lose to people who naturally have good voices when compared. I sing in the bathroom because I am generally shy and afraid of my neighbors or even my family hearing me. I usually open karaoke instrumentals from YouTube and record my singing with another phone. I’ve realized that my voice sounds decent when I listen back to my recordings with earphones, but that’s not the case when I listen through my phone’s speaker. It sounds awful, and all my imperfections become glaringly obvious.

My singing has improved throughout the years, but my voice just doesn’t sound nice to others—or at least, not to my mom. Maybe she’s just not a fan of music, or maybe my singing simply isn’t her taste. Still, I let her listen to my recordings every few days. She never seems interested. When I ask for her opinion, she just says, "I don’t know. It’s not my taste," or something similar. She even compares my raw, unprocessed vocals to professionally mixed voices from the internet.

Although I admit my voice isn’t great, I still want to believe that I have developed at least some decent singing technique. But not having support from my own mom is really disheartening. It makes me doubt whether I can really pursue a career in this area. I’ve seen people in my genre who don’t have what I would consider a "good voice" yet are still well-respected and praised. I want to keep believing that there are at least a few people out there who will appreciate my singing.

Should I keep trying?