The music of “Glee”: Vitamin D

One episode + four songs = two performances. That can mean only one thing — mash-ups! Thanks to New Directions’ complacency while rehearsing for sectionals, Mr. Schuester devises a competition between the boys and the girls in the club to see who can create the best mash-up. The result is probably the most satisfying set of performances since the series’ first episode.

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The guys are up first, with Finn (Cory Monteith) and Artie (Kevin McHale) trading lead vocals on a mash-up of Bon Jovi’s “It’s My Life” and Usher’s “Confessions Part II.” McHale’s boy-band background serves him well, and his surprisingly soulful voice is a good fit for the Usher portion of the song. Bon Jovi is right in Monteith’s wheelhouse, too. His strongest performances seem to come whenever an arena rock song comes into play (e.g. “Don’t Stop Believin’,” “Can’t Fight This Feeling”), and it’s nice to see that someone behind the scenes has taken note of that. The only knock is that the choreography was a little ridiculous, but given the context of the performance and the fact that the guys were all amped up on performance enhancers, they certainly deserve a pass for that.

The girls are up next, mashing up Beyonce’s “Halo” and Katrina and the Waves’ “Walking on Sunshine,” and unlike the boys’ performance there will be no sharing of the spotlight. As usual, this is Rachel’s (Lea Michele) show, and she’ll be singing lead on both halves of the song. The theme of the performance, as Rachel notes, is what the world needs now — sunshine, optimism and angels — and the girls nail it. Michele’s voice is better suited for ballads, but it’s fun to see her have some fun every once in a while, and this absolutely qualifies. As much as we liked the guys’ song, this one tops it. And since the girls are better dancers, their frenetic dancing comes up cute as opposed to chaotic, like the guys’. We never actually do find out the winner of the competition due to the disqualification of both teams, but if we had to choose, we’d give the edge to the girls.

As always, both new songs are available to download at the iTunes store.

Photo credit: ©2009 Fox Broadcasting Co. CR: Michael Yarish/FOX

1 Comment

  1. Actually Mercedes had some good stuff in Halo.

    But I am all for Lea Michele singing what ever they give her.

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