Hear them sing! Songs and voices on Glee

[dizzyizzy01]

Jacob was a great dancer, but his singing voice does remind me of Kermit the frog.  Becca can carry a tune and kind of has an interesting tone, but she's a far weaker singer than most of the original girls, except Heather and Diana.

 

Alex and Melissa were pretty good though.  Of the current glee club, I like the new boy cheerio (Mason?) and Jane the most so far.

[jaytee1812]

Jacob was a great dancer, but his singing voice does remind me of Kermit the frog.  Becca can carry a tune and kind of has an interesting tone, but she's a far weaker singer than most of the original girls, except Heather and Diana.

Don't know what version of The Muppets you watched. The one I watched could do great versions of Stevie Wonder or Janet Jackson.

I'd listen to a dentists drill rather than listen to Heather. Becca and Dianna may not be the greatest singers but they understand how to convey emotion. Something none of the new newbies have and something often Lea and occasionally Naya can't bring.

[fakeempress]

I don't hear anything special in Becca, and don't think she's the best singer in the current Glee Club crop by a long shot. The Jane girl is miles better, and the twin cheerio girl, actually both of the twins are also more interesting vocally. Becca has a pretty voice but that's it for me. 

Edited January 27, 2015 by fakeempress

[SadieT]

Jacob was a great dancer, but his singing voice does remind me of Kermit the frog.  Becca can carry a tune and kind of has an interesting tone, but she's a far weaker singer than most of the original girls, except Heather and Diana.

 

Alex and Melissa were pretty good though.  Of the current glee club, I like the new boy cheerio (Mason?) and Jane the most so far.

 

I liked Jacob’s tone most of the time but I agree that he does have a definite froggy sound to his voice. Becca has an odd quality to her voice too but I much prefer her to Melissa who has like no character at all.

 

For the most part though, the season 4 and 5 McKinley performances were all kind of a blur to me with nothing in particular jumping out. I remember liking Jake and Kitty’s "Everybody Talks" but can’t think of much else the newbies did that stood out to me.

 

I really like Mason's and Jane's voices out of the new crop, too. But the kid who plays Spencer is pretty weak, I think I would have liked "It Must Have Been Love" from this week's coming episode more if it was Kitty and Mason, instead of Kitty and Spencer. 

[fakeempress]

I anticipated the Spencer guy to be a better version of Chord, but still can't tell if he's weak or just standard blah. He and Becca don't mesh well at all on Must Have Been Love, and in general the song is a bit of a boring mess. 

Edited January 27, 2015 by fakeempress

[jaytee1812]

Really? You missed Chasing Pavements, New York State of Mind (which is great if you ignore Lea's part), Dress You Up/The Bitch Is Back, I Wish, My Prerogative, Wide Awake, Sign Sealed Delivered, Crazy/You Drive Me Crazy, Anything Could Happen, Blow Me One Last Kiss, Roar, If I Were A Boy, My Life, An Innocent Man, Nasty/Rhythm Nation. 

 

And I left out most of the group numbers where they outsung the seniors, with the exception of Tina. 

I anticipated the Spencer guy to be a better version of Chord, but still can't tell if he's weak or just standard blah. He and Becca don't mesh well at all on Must Have Been Love, and in general the song is a bit of a boring mess. 

 

I'm taking it since Tina's gone Kitty now has her role and they must hide all sign of her talent behind a less talented white boy. 

[dizzyizzy01]

The one I watched could do great versions of Stevie Wonder or Janet Jackson

 

 

Well it's not like covering Janet is some sort of vocal feat.  His dancing was fun though.  I didn't really like the Stevie Wonder covers on the show.

[jaytee1812]

Well it's not like covering Janet is some sort of vocal feat. 

Seemed to be for Kevin and Darren in season 3. 

[dizzyizzy01]

Really? You missed Chasing Pavements, New York State of Mind (which is great if you ignore Lea's part), Dress You Up/The Bitch Is Back, I Wish, My Prerogative, Wide Awake, Sign Sealed Delivered, Crazy/You Drive Me Crazy, Anything Could Happen, Blow Me One Last Kiss, Roar, If I Were A Boy, My Life, An Innocent Man, Nasty/Rhythm Nation. 

 

And I left out most of the group numbers where they outsung the seniors, with the exception of Tina. 

 

I'm taking it since Tina's gone Kitty now has her role and they must hide all sign of her talent behind a less talented white boy. 

 

I have to say most of the numbers you listed were pretty boring to me.  Pleasant but very forgettable.  I thought pitting Melissa vs. Lea in her first duet for the show was the wrong choice cause to me Melissa wasn't nearly as good as Lea.  But that's all subjective of course.

[jaytee1812]

I have to say most of the numbers you listed were pretty boring to me.  Pleasant but very forgettable.  I thought pitting Melissa vs. Lea in her first duet for the show was the wrong choice cause to me Melissa wasn't nearly as good as Lea.  But that's all subjective of course.

 

Melissa sings, she doesn't shout. 

[dizzyizzy01]

Seemed to be for Kevin and Darren in season 3. 

I'm not sure I'd use Darren as a barometer for vocal talent though.  Janet's numbers are more about the overall performance.  She's not some extraordinary vocalist.

[shoregirl]

I hated Melissas voice it's so generic . Especially on New York State of Mind. If I was ranking my least favorite singers she Would be there with Dianna and Heather.

I actually like all the new singers better then the original newbies none of them really ever stood out for me except maybe Alex.

Edited January 27, 2015 by shoregirl

[Myrna123]

Really? You missed Chasing Pavements, New York State of Mind (which is great if you ignore Lea's part), Dress You Up/The Bitch Is Back, I Wish, My Prerogative, Wide Awake, Sign Sealed Delivered, Crazy/You Drive Me Crazy, Anything Could Happen, Blow Me One Last Kiss, Roar, If I Were A Boy, My Life, An Innocent Man, Nasty/Rhythm Nation. 

 

And I left out most of the group numbers where they outsung the seniors, with the exception of Tina. 

I don't think I bothered to listed to the entire track of any of the newbie songs.  Bland arrangements, serviceable to completely forgettable voices.  I feel like Becca comes from the Duck Lip School of Acting where any and every emotion in conveyed by pursing the lips in a duck-like manner.  I pretty much wrote her off as unwatchable before she sang anything.  The only song I listened to that I remember she sang on was Away in a Manger and her vocals ruined that song for me.  I slide past her intro whenever it comes on my iPhone.

 

Then again, I don't like Tina's voice either.  All I hear is all of the extra air in her voice whenever she sings a note, except for the latest duet with Dianna, which I thought she sounded beautiful on. 

[Sara2009]

I think that technically Melissa actually IS a stronger singer than Lea, but she's never excited me for some reason.

[tom87]

I remember in season 4  long discussions over who was singing what part in group songs because the group  was so generic sounding it was  hard to tell one person from the next

 

People have already figured out this group easier.

Edited January 27, 2015 by tom87

[SadieT]

Really? You missed Chasing Pavements, New York State of Mind (which is great if you ignore Lea's part), Dress You Up/The Bitch Is Back, I Wish, My Prerogative, Wide Awake, Sign Sealed Delivered, Crazy/You Drive Me Crazy, Anything Could Happen, Blow Me One Last Kiss, Roar, If I Were A Boy, My Life, An Innocent Man, Nasty/Rhythm Nation. 

 

I didn't miss them, I just forgot about most of them. Except for New York State of Mind, which I still listen to for Lea. She's great on that but Melissa blands it up and ruins it for me. Sign, Sealed, Delivered was a fun performance but not something I'd really listen to again and Wide Awake was very pretty, but a bit boring.  

[dizzyizzy01]

I think that technically Melissa actually IS a stronger singer than Lea, but she's never excited me for some reason.

Melissa is good, but she was very boring.  At least on the show she was.  I saw some video of her doing some stage thing where she actually demonstrated some personality; it was much more enjoyable.

[Sara2009]

Melissa is good, but she was very boring. At least on the show she was. I saw some video of her doing some stage thing where she actually demonstrated some personality; it was much

more enjoyable.

That kind of reminds me. IMO, it's hard to accurately rank all of the singers since we haven't heard them all live.

[caracas1914]

how someone is "live" is irrelevant to their Glee performances. it only matters in those few (frankly terrible )Darren as Blaine numbers.

Lea and Melissa could be far better or worse live, but we wont see that on Glee.

Edited January 27, 2015 by caracas1914

[jaytee1812]

I remember in season 4  long discussions over who was singing what part in group songs because the group  was so generic sounding it was  hard to tell one person from the next.

 

See for me that something I would aim at the originals (and Chord and Darren), especially the men. I mean I love Man In The Mirror but I've no idea who's singing at any given time, they all sound the same. The only distinctive male voice among the originals is Chris. 

 

For the women when the UHT sing together i find I can't tell their voices apart, but I assume that's autotune to stop Heather sounding like my cats fighting. 

 

Could pick out the new newbies voices if my life depended on it. Actually I lie, I can tell the guy that suppose to sound like Otis Redding (wtf) most because I wanted to know who was making that awful noise and how could I make it stop. 

[Sara2009]

how someone is "live" is irrelevant to their Glee performances. it only matters in those few (frankly terrible )Darren as Blaine numbers.

Lea and Melissa could be far better or worse live, but we wont see that on Glee.

I know. I was talking about ranking them just in general.

[jaytee1812]

Were the Glee tours all sung live? I always assumed most of it was miming.

[Ceeg]

I like Becca as an actress and a dancer, but I can't deal with her singing voice. It's so whiny/nasally. I listened to about a minute of her song from 605 and had to turn it off.

 

As for Jacob, I looooved when he sang in his head voice, but in his lower register he clenches his throat too much and produces that froggy sound.

[KatWay]

I actually liked Melissa's voice better than Lea's on New York State Of Mind. Different strokes and all. They did give her an awful lot of bland ballads etc. but I thought she had a very good voice.

 

I could never tell Jacob, Blake's and Chord's voices apart, sometimes had the same problem with Darren and before that, Mark.

 

Cory's voice was fairly distinctive I thought, I could usually tell when it was him singing.

 

Chris definitely has the most distinctive male voice, though I only enjoy it in a very specific register (not too low and certainly not too high).

[camussie]

I liked Melissa better on "New York state of mind" because I thought Lea's belting was the wrong approach. As usual I blame the producers, though, because I feel like they are the ones who push Lea to (and often Amber) to belt a song when that isn't the best way to do the song. They seem so stuck on this idea that Lea is the voice of a generation that they try to showcase her power no matter the song or context.

As I said on the first page of this thread never was this more obvious to me than with "The Scientist." I felt like Lea sang a different version than everyone else, which made her part stand out unpleasantly, and for that I blame the producers.

Edited January 27, 2015 by camussie

[tom87]

Just listened to NYSOM i and don't  hear how  either one was so much better or worse than the other.  I also didn't  hear a much more belting from Lea than Melissa either.

[camussie]

Each their own because I listened to it too before I commented and I felt Lea was "belty" on her part which was not the right approach for the song. I have no doubts she would have been great doing a softer version but unfortunately that isn't what the producers had her do.

[jaytee1812]

To me Lea sounds like she's on a stage giving it everything, Melissa sounds like she's sitting on a bench just singing about what she feels. I know that sounds weird but it was the only way I could think to describe it.

[dizzyizzy01]

Were the Glee tours all sung live? I always assumed most of it was miming.

They were live for the most part.  The first tour was almost all live, there was more of a mix on the second.  However, Lea, Amber, Chris were all live for their big numbers.  I'm pretty sure Mark was live also.  I think a couple of the group numbers might have been lip synced though.

[jaytee1812]

They were live for the most part. The first tour was almost all live, there was more of a mix on the second. However, Lea, Amber, Chris were all live for their big numbers. I'm pretty sure Mark was live also. I think a couple of the group numbers might have been lip synced though.

I've only ever seen the second tour but I could tell Chris was live. I always fast forward amber's solo because I hate that song but I was assumed she was live.

I also assumed Heather, Kevin and Naya's were mimed given the dancing involved. And y'know Heather didn't sound like cats being strangled.

[fakeempress]

I haven't seen either tour, but if Chris and Lea were live on the Happy Days/Get Happy duet (which I watched on UT), I'm impressed, they sounded great.  I really, really want to see Chris live on BW someday, be it musical or play; Lea too. I'm not sure how long Matt's contract is for FN, so that I can try to swing it somehow.

Edited January 28, 2015 by fakeempress

[SNeaker]

Mark was definitely live on the first tour. I was there, and you could tell. Pretty sure he lipsynced the second tour -- it was exactly the same every time, and it would have been very hard for him to sing live with the whole walking from one stage to the other bit.

[fakeempress]

I can imagine they lipsynched the dancing and group numbers. 

[dizzyizzy01]

Mark was definitely live on the first tour. I was there, and you could tell. Pretty sure he lipsynced the second tour -- it was exactly the same every time, and it would have been very hard for him to sing live with the whole walking from one stage to the other bit.

 

Yea he was.  I think almost everything was live on the first tour.  I thought Mark was live on Fat Bottomed Girls with a backing track, but it was hard to tell on that one.

 

I haven't seen either tour, but if Chris and Lea were live on the Happy Days/Get Happy duet (which I watched on UT), I'm impressed, they sounded great.  I really, really want to see Chris live on BW someday, be it musical or play; Lea too. I'm not sure how long Matt's contract is for FN, so that I can try to swing it somehow.

 

They were definitely live in LA anyway.  

[Lovecat]

I liked Melissa better on "New York state of mind" because I thought Lea's belting was the wrong approach. As usual I blame the producers, though, because I feel like they are the ones who push Lea to (and often Amber) to belt a song when that isn't the best way to do the song. They seem so stuck on this idea that Lea is the voice of a generation that they try to showcase her power no matter the song or context.

As I said on the first page of this thread never was this more obvious to me than with "The Scientist." I felt like Lea sang a different version than everyone else, which made her part stand out unpleasantly, and for that I blame the producers.

To resurrect an old chestnut from the American Idol boards:  Loud Is The New Good.

[camussie]

Regarding the songs for this week

• What the World Needs Now - like that it is a group number  although there is something weird with Lea's breathing in it.  Awesome to finally hear Matt  this season
• Wishing & Hoping - Darren is not good on this.  Chris should have been lead on it
• Close to You - Just not a good fit with Chord's lower register
• I'll Never Fall I Love Again - not as horribly over-produced as "A thousand Miles" but the harmonies sounded better in that.  The contrast between Chord's lower register and Lea's higher is not good
• Baby It's You - Amber sounds divine but it is oversung some
• Promises, Promises - I think Lea sounds really good in this

 

Edited to add

 

I think Chord sounds great, and his duets with Lea definitely show vocal chemistry.

 

 

Definitely would mean it is fact and it isn't.  It is an opinion Chord/Lea have great vocal chemistry, one that I disagree with, but certainly not fact.  Much like it is my opinion that they can sound pleasant together but their have the vocal chemistry of a wet rag.  

Edited February 3, 2015 by camussie

[jaytee1812]

My opinion on listening to this week's songs was 'meh'. How do you manage to get 'meh' from Burt Bacharach? That takes effort, I mean they might've gotten rid of a lot of their better singers but they still have Naya, Amber, Chris and Matt. Naya's solo is nice, I like Amber's but I think I might hate the context. The rest are bleurgh, I mean who let Darren and Chord near Burt Bacharach when the have Chris and Matt??? 

[caracas1914]

Anders isnt such an idiot that he doesn't know Chris Colfer's vocal strengths which means that Ryan has his nose so up Darren and Chord's ass that he made the final song selections.

It's fucking Burt Bacharach week with 8 songs and Chris gets shut out and yet even now the apologists rationalize its just "hate" that some think Chris is better off Glee ending and he go off to other projects. Oh well two more weeks and this madness is over.

Edited February 5, 2015 by caracas1914

[Sara2009]

Chris has been very underused this season, but compared to Matt he's been making out like a bandit. JMO of course.

[jaytee1812]

Has Matt had a solo and or duet?

[Myrna123]

I think a lot of people are ambivalent about a lot of the voices on Glee, but Colfer's voice seems to invite more of the love it or hate it reactions. I think it may be as simple as Murphy and company just don't care for Chris' voice so they don't have him sing very often. Murphy no doubt appreciated the shock novelty of Chris' higher register but maybe never planned for him to sing much.

Nothing but gross speculation makes me think it's a more petulant and personal thing that keeps Matt from singing more. His voice is much more conventional and even if he's not everyone's favorite singer, I don't think he engenders a lot of negative reactions either.

[tom87]

Has Matt had a solo and or duet?

 The first song we hear him on is in

episode 6, what the world needs now, and just a few lines.

 

I do not see where Matt and Ryan have bad blood (now) Matt seemingly was about out of glee but did Ryan a  solid to help out.     I think Ryan paid for Max George for some odd reason and now is giving him way too much and anything alloted VA is going to him.

 

Really why Max George?  They haven't even promoted him as a stunt cast . A 1000 actors could have done that part and been paid probably less then him. Plus I would not have had to  turn on my closed caption to understand what they said.

Edited February 5, 2015 by tom87

[SevenStars]

Maybe it's Chris who requested not to be used so much for singing, so he can have more time to do outside projects, like write his books. Because being in the studio is extra time the actors have to spend on Glee, when they could be doing something else.

 

Also, I'm surprise at how good Amber sound  for "Baby It's You"  considering she was sick when she went into the studio for that song. 

[Sara2009]

Matt sang a lot last season, so I doubt the lack of him this season is anything personal. Maybe Matt even asked for fewer songs this season, though it's frustrating as a fan.

[camussie]

I think Matt sang a lot last season because Will basically sang both what he would have sung and what Finn would have sung as coach.  Not that they had song distributions or songs planned out for the first 13 episodes, before Cory passed, but they were planning to split that coach role and I would assume with that split would have been a split in songs, probably with Finn singing a bit more than Will.  IOW, had Cory not passed,  neither Finn nor Will would have sung that much compared to Blaine, Marley, and probably Sam, but with him gone what was a split role was rolled back into one role.  Despite that happening Will still sang less than Blaine in those first 13 episodes.

 

That said I don't think it is personal.  I think it is simply that, despite all of their lip service to the arts and education, they don't see the teacher/coach role as anything other than  a supporting role for the kids, at least not since S1.  That is unless it is Blaine or Rachel who is the teacher/coach and then in those cases the kids are supporting to their stories so the coaches sing and the kids don't.

Edited February 6, 2015 by camussie

[tom87]

I think Matt sang a lot last season because Will basically sang both what he would have sung and what Finn would have sung as coach.  Not that they had song distributions or even  songs planned out for the first 13 episodes but they were planning to split that coach role and I would assume with that split would have been a split in songs, probably with Finn singing a bit more than Will.  IOW if Cory had not passed neither Finn nor Will would have sung that much comparatively to Blaine, Marley, and probably Sam but with him gone what was split was rolled back into 1 and even with that Will sang less than Blaine in those first 13 episodes.

 

That said I don't think it is personal.  I think it is simply that, despite all of their lip service to the arts and education, they don't see the teacher/coach role as anything other than  a supporting role for the kids, at least not since S1.  That is unless it is Blaine or Rachel who is the teacher/coach and then in those cases the kids are supporting to their stories so the coaches sing and the kids don't.

Blaine really has not had much up until this point.  He has had  3 songs, Clint, Roderick, Mason, Quinn maybe more have had that much.

[caracas1914]

There has never been anything to indicate that Chris ever has requested to sing less for personal reasons.

He is committed to Glee while he is under contract. Plain and simple.

Again, absolute zero evidence Chris has asked to sing less.

Yet this argument/speculation always comes up. Chris songs in Seasons 1 and 2 sold as well as anyones (for example his "Blackbird" charted higher than Darren's " Misery" in Season 2 's " Original Songs".

Chord's songs consistently charted low so it boils down to that Ryan simply doesnt want to use Chris, so the piece of shit people responsible for the under use of his voice lies squarely with Ryan/Brad.

Edited February 5, 2015 by caracas1914

[fakeempress]

 

Maybe it's Chris who requested not to be used so much for singing, so he can have more time to do outside projects, like write his books. Because being in the studio is extra time the actors have to spend on Glee, when they could be doing something else.

Well, Darren's also singing less than he was before, comparatively, so how come people don't speculate that he requested not to be used as much, but this is always speculated about Chris?

 

The thing is: Chris has always been busy with outside projects. The first season, he was working on the SBL script (he has mentioned that), wrote the witch pilot and who knows what else that may not have panned out, and so on throughout the seasons. His outside projects are very unlikely to be a reason for less singing. Second, he had great fun last year shooting some musical numbers with Adam Lambert - evidenced on his twitter and him talking about it to the press. He even choreographed his moves in his solo I'm Still Here (granted, not the best moves). And the best indicator is that he gave himself a couple of duets and a part in a third song in the episode he wrote. He was as busy with his books and projects then, as he is now. 

Edited February 5, 2015 by fakeempress

[jaytee1812]

Isn't 'Something' one of the worst selling songs ever on Glee? They give Chord, to quote Sinatra 'one of the greatest love songs ever written' and it sinks, so they give him Bacharach.

He should stick to Barry Manilow.

[tom87]

Unless there are some vocal problems I think they would be like you sing if we want you to sing.