The Glee Project 2: First Impressions

The Glee Project is airing this year on Tuesdays. And once again, I’ll be recapping it.
Like last year, they’ve released a music video staring all the contestants (with cameo appearances by Zach and Robert). The 14 contestants sang Lady Gaga’s “Edge of Glory” which was sung by the TroubleTones (plus Quinn and Tina) at Nationals. I’m not entirely certain who is who, but thanks to the Oxygen website and YouTube, I’ll figure it out.


In order of appearance:


Blake: Generic appearance, generic voice. 


Charlie: I’m a bit torn. On one hand, I’ve seen his look before. But on the other hand, it seems to be the look that’s in. His voice is good as well so I will be surprised if he isn’t a male frontrunner.


Maxfield: Looks like a relic from the 90s. Long shaggy blonde hair, wardrobe similar to Joey from Blossom. Not much of memorable voice.


Mario: A blind contestant? Consider my interest piqued. He also has a good voice to match.
Abraham: Is currently battling with Charlie to be my frontrunner male contestant. He is a different sounding voice and a unique look.


Nellie: Holy crow, this is the girl to watch out for! Her voice isn’t on Glee. The other girls have high voices, not Nellie sending voices.


Aylin: Eh. She starts the chorus and her voice is too small for the part. I don’t know if she was instructed to hold back or if that’s as big as she gets.


Lily Mae: Now that’s how you sing the chorus! She reminds me of Adele, looks-wise, a beautiful curvy blonde. 


Shanna: Nellie’s closest competition. She’s this cycle’s Lindsay, I suspect. Her voice is great and she has this bright-eyed look that might serve well for a freshman.


Ali: I’m not entirely sure. Her voice isn’t my favorite, but I do like how she handles herself in her wheelchair.


Michael: I’ll be honest, I keep forgetting about him until I watch the video again. Unless he wows in the first episode, I predict he’s one of the first to go.


Tyler: At first go, I thought there was an error in the track. Clearly a guy in the shot, clearly a female voice singing. But when I went to the Oxygen page for The Glee Project, I found out Tyler was transgender. Other than that, his facial expressions don’t match what he’s singing. It’s “Edge of Glory” and he looks like “Waiting for the bus.”


Taryn: Looks adorable and like she’ll be the fun one. She also has an amazing voice.


Dani: Holy Bieber alert! Hopefully we can get past her (yes, she’s a girl) resemblance to the “Baby” singer because she does have a great voice. Though she’s only a few years younger than me, she looks like a freshman.


It may seem like I’m gushing over the girls more than the guys and I am. They appear to be a strong group of contenders. Now there wasn’t much dancing this video but we’ll see once the series starts. I just hope we don’t see the same startling pattern of misogyny we saw last season. Glee needs fresh female blood. New Directions only has Tina, Brittany and Sugar as opposed to Artie, Sam, Blaine, Rory and Joe. So I hope they give the girls a chance this time around.


Let me hijack my own post to talk about the end of Season 3 and what I’ve heard about Season 4.
The last few episodes were good, I must admit. “Props” was one I was looking forward to once I heard the premise. It promised us a Tina-centric episode. And on the surface, it appeared to be one. But it was just a Rachel episode. Tina starts out speaking about how Rachel always gets the solos while she’s begging for songs. Everyone acts as if Tina’s saying something blasphemous—even though both Santana and Mercedes have made comments about Rachel getting things for the mere fact that she’s Rachel—and that she should apologize before Rachel’s fragile little ego breaks. Then she hits her head, gets to sing a solo and suddenly is Rachel’s biggest supporter.


No, show, no.


I think “Props” had a promising premise. But it’s positioning made it suffer. At the end of the season, there was so much that needed to be shoehorned in—getting Rachel in NYADA, Puck’s storyline, Beiste’s storyline, etc. (Though I think Beiste’s storyline could’ve been resolved next season). The episode should’ve been in the midseason so that the swap could’ve lasted longer. That Tina should’ve spent a day as Rachel to realize everything the girl was going through—especially as it would be moved to before Rachel blew the NYADA audition. When returned to her right body, Tina could go offer Rachel help with her audition. Rachel could have then said that she felt Tina was her heir apparent and would love to work with her.


Nationals was the glitzy song and dance affair we want from Glee’s competition episodes. And Lindsay Lohan wasn’t half bad. Neither was Perez Hilton. The two had fun interacting with each other, I could tell. And whether or not you believe the rumors that LiLo was late and held up the Glee set, you can only hope that this means an upturn in her career.


I’ll admit, the finale made me tear up a bit. From Mr. Shue serenading the seniors with Forever Young, I knew it was going to be an emotional journey. Poor Gloria Estefan was relegated to one episode but she played Santana’s supportive mother. We learned that Brittany won’t be graduating, though it isn’t so surprising. And in the end, Rachel’s stalker tactics get her accepted into NYADA. The message from this episode is a bit startling given the target demographic. Let’s look at the graduates and their afterschool plans, shall we? Rachel: Going to NYADA. Finn: Going into the army. Kurt: Not accepted in NYADA, doesn’t have a backup. Santana: Decides to forego college to go to New York to be famous. Mercedes: Gets a job as a backup singer. Quinn: Going to Yale. Mike: Going to a dance school. Puck: Going to California to be in entertainment.


Three out of 8 characters are attending a school of some sort after graduation. THREE. So, what does that say? If you want to be in entertainment, don’t go to college. Go to New York or California and be famous. Let’s not mention that not every dream of fame comes true. And there are teenagers (and tweens) who look up to these characters as role models. What is this saying—You don’t need college?
I did like that Finn forced Rachel to go to New York, to pursue her dreams. The ending was perfect—everyone going to see her off and then Rachel standing outside Grand Central (because no one outside New York knows Amtrak doesn’t go there) with her future—and Season 4—ahead of her.


Ah yes, season 4. I’m nervous for it as we’re going to be switching between New Directions and the graduated seniors, namely Rachel. And if there’s one thing that Glee has proven time and time again, it’s that they can’t balance a story for anything. So I’m worried we’ll see less and less of New Directions next season and more and more of Rachel. Hopefully, this might just be Fox testing the waters to see if a Rachel spin-off will be viable and we’ll be able to have two separate shows quickly so that the Glee formula isn’t too damaged.