Nearly a decade out from its series finale, society is still grappling with the ramifications of the hit Fox show Glee—whether it’s the current surplus of AI covers on TikTok, the Lea Michele Funny Girl fiasco, or showrunner Ryan Murphy’s current chokehold on television. There are also numerous clips from the show of star Matthew Morrison (a chaos agent in his own right) and other white Glee actors rapping terribly to some of the most legendary hip-hop songs, which will seemingly never leave my Twitter feed.
On that note, I’d be lying if I said Glee didn’t spur some genuinely great renditions of classic pop, R&B, rock, and Broadway hits—most of them sung by Amber Riley, Kevin McHale, Naya Rivera, Darren Criss, and, (sigh) Lea Michele. I would argue that Glee: Volumes 1-5 are packed with genuine bops, as well as The Power of Madonna EP. But most of these covers, watching them back, will either make you shudder or burst out laughing at the audacity of Glee’s music supervisors.
It isn’t just that many of these songs are poorly arranged or certain actors just weren’t capable of performing them. The actual on-screen performances were often incredibly cringey, even if the show’s writers were occasionally in on the joke.
