The highly anticipated Britney Spears episode of Glee aired this past week. The cast took on five of the singer's popular hits, as well as a current hit from the band Paramore.
For the first time on Glee, we got to hear Heather Morris (Brittany) sing. She's actually pretty good. Who knew?
Morris's vocals were featured on three of the five Britney songs in this past week's episode: "I'm A Slave 4 U," "Me Against The Music," and "Toxic."
On "I'm A Slave 4 U," Morris injected sultriness into her vocal, which gave it the just the right tone and attitude for the song. Her version is just as sexy-sounding as Britney's original recording.
One of the highlights from this week's recorded tracks was "Me Against The Music," a duet between Morris and Naya Rivera (Santana). The ladies have terrific vocal chemistry, making this one of the most enjoyable tracks of the week to listen to.
"Toxic" was definitely one of the strongest tracks from this week's episode. The song featured Morris, Lea Michele (Rachel) and Matthew Morrison (Will Schuester) on lead vocals.
I like the subtle changes to the song, especially how in the first verse the vocals build up to this absolute stunning chorus. Vocally, I believe this was the best track of the week. Morris and Michele sound fantastic singing together, and it's nice to hear Morrison on a track with the Glee Club kids. His vocal really added a smooth quality to the track.
Elsewhere, Kevin McHale (Artie) tackled the Britney track "Stronger" with no problem. McHale's voice is a great fit for the song due to Britney's original recording of it in her mid to lower register. The song also ties in well with McHale's character's current storyline.
"Baby One More Time," which was performed by Michele, is the weakest of the tracks out this week. The song is an awkward listen because her voice really isn't suited for this type of pop song. I would sooner listen to the original Britney track.
Michele really redeems herself with her second solo track (and the only non-Britney track) in this week's recordings with Paramore's "The Only Exception."
Her voice sounds fantastic on this ballad. She shows vocal vulnerability, which allows the audience to connect emotionally with the song, as well as her character.
Even though this song went along well with Michele's character's storyline in the episode, I do think another Britney track could have been used in its place to round out the tribute episode.
That said, I think the cast of Glee did a great job with their musical tribute to Britney Spears. They really captured the essence of each song and gave some of her hits a second life to be enjoyed all over again.
Glee airs Tuesday nights at 8 p.m. on FOX.
Glee: 'Britney/Brittany': good songs but weak plot
It was a Britney Spears-themed episode of Glee and while the songs were great, "Britney/Brittany" didn't live up to my expectations.
The challenge of having any episode center around one music artist is that there must be creative ways to incorporate all the songs. In last season's Madonna episode, the writers found different ways to go about including the songs.
This episode felt more forced. Three of the four Britney Spears songs were incorporated in dreams by the glee club members when they are under an anesthetic at the dentist office.
First off, I did say that viewers must often suspend belief to watch this show, but that doesn't mean the producers should be completely unrealistic. Having Artie, a handicapped kid who uses a wheelchair, play football is a bit ridiculous. But to have a licensed dentist giving out anesthetic to anyone who wants it is not even close to reality.
But that is what happens. Emma, the guidance counselor who Will fell in love with last year, has a new boyfriend, Carl. When he comes to the school to visit her, Will invites him to the glee club rehearsal. Will is jealous of Emma's new boyfriend and gets angry when Emma tells him to "loosen up."
Will has three things going against him. For one, his ex-wife Terri continues to return to cause drama in his life (but that is fine for me because I think Jessalyn Gilsig is an extremely funny actress).
Secondly, Will mopes about how his plain, ordinary self "wasn't good enough for Emma." But that's not what happened. He was with her last season when she became angry about his lingering feelings for his ex-wife as well as hookups and overnight sleepovers with at least two other women.
But the biggest thing Will has going against him is that Carl is played by John Stamos.
Stamos returns to the comedy world after he starred for eight seasons on the hit TV show "Full House," from 1987-1995. Hopefully he'll get a chance to sing in Glee.
Carl discovers that the glee club members have bad teeth, especially cheerleader Brittany Pierce, who told Carl she rinsed her mouth out with soda because she "thought Dr. Pepper was a dentist."
Earlier in the episode, Kurt had requested that the glee club perform Britney Spears at the homecoming pep rally. But Will rejected the request, instead wanting to go the route of Christopher Cross' "Sailing."
Brittany, who usually has just a few extremely odd but funny lines in each episode, told the glee club that her name is Brittany S. Pierce, which sounds like "Britney Spears" when said aloud.
"I have lived my entire life in Britney Spears' shadow. I'll never be as talented or famous," she somberly tells her colleagues. "I hope you'll respect that I want glee club to be a place I can escape the torment of Britney Spears."
All that changes when she is under anesthesia at the dentist and has a fantasy of herself singing and dancing to "I'm A Slave 4 U." It was actress Heather Morris' first song on "Glee" but she is no newcomer to the spotlight. Morris has been a back-up dancer for Beyoncé during several major performances.
Brittany sang and danced great in this song, but her back-up dancers were young kids dressed in costumes, which was slightly awkward.
Brittany returns to the dentist to get her other cavities taken care of and brings back Santana, a fellow cheerleader who has perfect teeth but wants to have a Britney fantasy as well. The two of them sing and dance in "Me Against the Music."
The fantasies are explained by Artie in a long technical answer that may or may not be scientifically accurate. But seemingly, the dreams occur if a Britney Spears song is played on the radio or on an iPod when the glee club members were given anesthesia.
Rachel (Lea Michele) and Artie have them too. Rachel's "Hit Me Baby One More Time" was good, but Artie's version of "Stronger" was probably the best song of the episode, even if it included another sequence of the football team dancing.
Britney Spears herself appeared in a few of the fantasies for a few short lines of dialogue.
Then, the glee club performs "Toxic" at the homecoming pep rally, which leads the crowd to begin singing and dancing along. Some of the crowd's participants, such as the perverted nerdy journalist Jacob Ben Israel, get a little too into the performance which leads Sue Sylvester to cry out "It's a Britney Spears sex riot!" She ends up pulling the fire alarm as the song ends, leading everyone to run out of the gym doors, injuring Sue in the process.
Meanwhile, there is a sub-plot about Rachel not wanting Finn to play on the football team because she is afraid he will fall for a cheerleader. Quinn, Finn's ex-girlfriend goes up to him and tells him that she thinks they should be together, an offer Finn rejects. It doesn't feel legitimate, and that's because it isn't - Rachel asked Quinn to do it to test Finn's love for her. In the end, Rachel sings Paramore's "The Only Exception" and dedicates it to Finn.
Will meanwhile learns that Emma wanted him to relax, not change who he was. He walks away from her in sadness and embarrassment.
The singing throughout the episode was good, but the manner in which the songs were presented seemed forced, in order to have enough content for the Britney-themed episode. Are the producers going for songs that fit the action of the episode (as they once did) or are they simply trying to drive up high ratings?
After seeing the fantasy of herself dancing to Britney Spears, Brittany says, "I demand to have every solo in glee club. I am more talented than all of you, I see that now."
Morris isn't as talented a singer as Michele, but I don't see any problem with them sharing the leads. The idea of trying to fit in one or two Rachel songs every episode has gotten boring, especially because now she no longer draws sympathy for her actions or attitudes.
That's part of the reason I was excited to have new stars on the show, but neither of the two new characters from last week made an appearance this week.
It's going to be tough to find an episode that matches the ones toward the end of last season for Glee. But the show did succeed in the past year of finding the right mix of singing, comedy and sharing dialogue and songs between the characters. I'm hoping next week will be overall a better mix than the first two episodes of this season has been.
1 commenti:
Except they have never tired to give Rachel one or two songs an episode. Why do people always lie when it come to how much Rachel gets??? Also she is the lead character therefore more storyline equals more songs.
And understatement of the century. : Morris isn't as talented a singer as Michele,
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