In my review of last night's Glee, I praised Amber Riley's voice, noting that it sounded like a combo of Jennifer Hudson and Rihanna when her character Mercedes sang about busting the windows out of Kurt's car. Commenter "czaravm" noted that after about 30 seconds, the computerized music kicked in, giving it a canned sound. I was pretty mesmerized by Riley's voice and the way she was workin' that body, so I didn't really notice it. Does this sort of canned music bother you? Is it enough to make you stop watching Glee? Based on the comments on my review post, it sounds like some of you are disappointed with how the show is going.
I'm still loving it, but musical shows don't often fare well -- think Cop Rock and Viva Laughlin -- so I'm a little scared that Glee won't make it. Maybe it just needs a little time to find its footing. What say you, TV Squad readers?
Watch the video of Amber Riley's solo number, and let me know your thoughts in the comments below.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
9-17-2009 @ 6:20PM
bruce said...
I caught one episode of this show. You're telling me they're not ALL blatantly lip-syncing to canned music? It looks painfully obvious to me. The notion that the actors were actually singing never even occurred to me, and it worries my sense of communal cynicism that people wouldn't presume lip-syncing.
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9-17-2009 @ 6:22PM
Brian said...
The computerized music has bothered me all three episodes so far, but I have a bigger problem with the "Bust Your Windows" scene posted. It's a musical number that takes place outside of a performance. If people in the show's universe break into song and dance *outside* of planned performances, than the glee club premise gets very strange.
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9-17-2009 @ 6:56PM
Nikhil said...
the bust your windows sequence was a dream sequence
9-17-2009 @ 7:00PM
MCW said...
They can't do it all in Glee club HQ, or in the auditorium... I would be very bored if they did. I like sequences like that that take songs literally.
9-17-2009 @ 6:51PM
Kemperboyd said...
I like the fact there are musical numbers but the suprise is ruined by the obvious canned music that breaks out right before them. I actually found the performaces worse in this episode because they didn't sound live, I can get behiind 'dream-sequence' type songs sounding overly produced but the acafellas performances bugged me because they sounded so recorded.
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9-17-2009 @ 7:02PM
King Skylark said...
Just a quick note: czaravm was not referring to the canned music in the piece, but the use of autotune on Amber's voice.
While the program was not overused to the extent that the voice was "T-Pain-ed," there was still some blatant autotuning that overshadowed what was otherwise some excellent singing.
Do not confuse Autotune with music; autotune, and other programs like melodyne, serve to fix pitch and note issues with singing typically. Many artists use it in a way that is unobtrusive and well-hidden; artists like t-pain and Kanye go in the opposite direction and use the program itself as a "flavor" for the voice, giving us that distinctive sound we call call "autotune." Amber herself gave some great singing, but the producers apparently felt the need to autotune sections of her vocals, and for me, it definitely took away from the performance as a whole.
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9-17-2009 @ 7:05PM
MCW said...
I liked it for that song. It worked for me... I didn't really want to hear her do runs, and auto-tune was a great substitute to that.
9-17-2009 @ 7:11PM
czaravm said...
i wrote out a long response to some flamers, but unfortunately it was deleted and i am too lazy to write it up again. but this is exactly what i meant... i was not referring to the pre-recorded sound, but rather the subtle affect that the auto-tuning had, making her voice sound unnaturally "jumpy" when she hit high notes.
9-17-2009 @ 7:03PM
MCW said...
Why would I let non-live music bother me in a show this funny? I was laughing so often during the latest episode of Glee, I didn't notice much of the canned music. I've watched most modern musicals... It doesn't take away from how amazing Enchanted is that the music was pre-recorded. Because all you're amazed by is how great Amy Adams' singing is.
Just stop thinking about it and enjoy the show. I'm just glad that the cast sings, and that's all that matters to me. I'm ready for debating about Glee to stop... this is Dollhouse all over again.
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9-17-2009 @ 7:20PM
King Skylark said...
I never really got the debate against pre-recorded music in tv and film. The fact of the matter is, if you want something to sound good, ESPECIALLY when people are dancing and moving, pre-recorded music and vocals is the only way to go.
With the amount of shots, the variety of equipment and people on set for any given shot, and the rooms and locations these musical sections are shot in, clean sound is an impossiblity. If it's not canned and lip-sync'd, it's going to sound like crap, period.
9-17-2009 @ 7:40PM
horsenbuggy said...
I'm lost. Do people think the actors are actually going to sing these songs during the real takes? Do they realize that when filming "party" scenes where there's music, dancing and dialog, the actors are usually dancing to nothing - the music is almost always inserted after the fact. This is just how film and tv is made.
Musicals (on film) have ALWAYS been made this way. Do they expect to see a band in the background of every scene? Go watch the inexplicable 14 minute long Cyd Charisse ballet scene in "Singin' in the Rain" and try to tell me with a straight face that "Glee" is taking things too far.
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9-17-2009 @ 7:44PM
Barkin said...
The super-canned overly-produced computerized music is going to be the thing that ruins this show. And its shocking that the producers don't see it.
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9-17-2009 @ 8:07PM
Amelia said...
I didn't mind as much last night as I did with Showmance. That whole rap number kinda threw me off.
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9-17-2009 @ 8:29PM
Gordy said...
It's.just.too.damed.campy!
I mean, middle-aged guys singing Poison? I get it...older suburbanites singing hip hop should be funny, but it wasn't. That being said, Amber Riley's song was this episode's only watchable moment.
OMG, she sounds nothing like Jennifer Hudson. Cute & entertaining but not JHud. Why can't she just be Amber?
I think I'll be bailing soon.
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9-17-2009 @ 9:52PM
litehousebeacon said...
The canned music certainly takes away from it.
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9-17-2009 @ 9:57PM
Ace said...
It doesn't bug me so much, but it certainly doesn't fit. These are supposed to be a bunch of social misfits... yet they all have Broadway quality voices???? They could have at least pulled a Whoopie Goldberg (Sister Act) and had a few voice lessons.
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9-17-2009 @ 10:40PM
jacki said...
Why would the fact that they are suppose to be social misfits have anything to do with whether or not they can sing? Plus, they are not necessary social misfits, they are just not part of the popular crowd.
9-17-2009 @ 10:42PM
Jen said...
I enjoyed the song and dance routine and thought Amber Riley did a great job with it. My problem was that the lip syncing was particularly bad. Her lips started singing before the lyrics even came in. I don't expect them to sing live, but when it's so obvious it's lip syncing it's distracting.
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9-18-2009 @ 12:26AM
Ace said...
You're right, jacki, the fact that they are social misfits has nothing to do with their ability to sing.
misfit... 2 : a person who is poorly adapted to a situation or environment
They are poorly adapted to the social hierarchy at their high-school. social misfits.
It is statistically unlikely an entire high-school, let alone a glee club, would have that many Broadway quality voices.
9-18-2009 @ 2:16PM
horsenbuggy said...
Oy vey. It is a TV show by RYAN MURPHY!!! It is not grounded in any semblance of reality. It is supposed to be over the top for comedic purposes. If you don't think it's funny, that's something you should complain about. But stop whining about it not be realistic. It won't EVER be realistic.
Watch the first season of Popular, particularly any scene with the character Mary Cherry, and you'll see how ridiculous (and hysterical) this show is probably going to get.
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