Earlier this morning, current Glee guest star Jonathan Groff sat down for an interview with Good Day New York.
They discuss his role of Jesse St. James Glee, whether or not he knows if he’s returning for season three, and about his recent trip home to Lancaster, PA!
Watch the interview below!
The latest tracks from Glee’s most recent episode “Prom Queen” are quite the eclectic mix. They are also some of the best produced tracks of the season.
Last week’s tracks included the return of Jonathan Groff (Jesse St. James), who alongside Lea Michele (Rachel Berry) sang Adele’s “Rolling in the Deep” as a duet. After the second listen, I realized that Glee had chosen the John Legend arrangement of the song, which in context of the episode works. And it goes without saying that both Groff and Michele sound phenomenal singing together.
For me, this track was kind of a letdown. I had imagined Glee playing up the drama in the song by adding more of a rock vibe to the arrangement. I was really taken aback when I first heard the track, because it’s nothing like I imagined. I never thought that Glee would do such a blatant cover of a cover, because that just shows a lack of creativity on their end.
Kevin McHale (Artie) brings the soft and subtle vibe with Stevie Wonder’s “Isn’t She Lovely.” I love how the song starts out a capella. From the first note, the song makes you take notice of it, because there’s nothing else to distract from McHale’s voice.
When some light acoustic guitar strumming and drumming kick in during the second verse, it’s just the perfect accent to the song. McHale’s voice isn’t overpowered at all. I definitely think Glee showed some creativity with the arrangement on this one.
You know, prior to listening to this week’s Glee tracks, I had never bothered to listen to Rebecca Black’s “Friday,” because I had read the lyrics, and that was enough for me. So having no clue about what the original song sounds like, I think the Glee version isn’t half bad. Actually, I woke up last Friday morning with it stuck in my head. Fun, fun, fun!
Mark Salling (Puck), McHale, and Chord Overstreet (Sam) voices blend quite nicely together. They could be the Glee version of the 90’s boyband LFO. (Not to be totally off-topic, but how fun would a boyband-themed Glee episode be?)
Check out a preview of the return of Jesse St. James (Jonathan Groff) and his duet with Rachel Berry (Lea Michele) from tonight’s Glee.
I definitely like this duet in context of the show, and it’s definitely quite the entrance for Jonathan Groff’s return.
Glee’s “Prom Queen” airs tonight at 8 p.m. on FOX.
Late this past Thursday night, the tracks for next week’s Glee episode “Prom Queen” leaked onto the interwebz. Included in next week’s batch of tracks is Adele’s “Rolling in the Deep,” which is sung by Lea Michele and Jonathan Groff as a duet.
This Glee cover is the latest in a string of “Rolling in the Deep” covers that have hit the web, since the song was released last fall. One of the issues I have with all the covers of this song is that most of them pale in comparison to the original.
As someone that loves music, I feel like “Rolling in the Deep” could possibly be on it’s way to being played out. The fact that Glee is has now covered it says a lot. And I’m not gonna front, I was excited at first to hear that Glee was taking on the song. I love Lea and Jonathan’s voices together, and I thought the result was going to be this intensely passionate, angsty vocal performance from the two of them. The Glee version actually sounds like a take of the John Legend cover of the song. To be honest, I was expecting more of a rock vibe from them, instead of a gospel vibe.
Continue reading Dulling The Magic of “Rolling in the Deep” One Cover at a Time
Last week Glee returned with four new tracks to try and make us forget that the show had been on hiatus for a month. The new tracks also marked the return of guest star, Charice.
Charice (Sunshine Corazon) took on the Eric Carmen power balled, “All By Myself.” At the beginning of the season I was wasn’t initially blown away by any means by Charice’s voice, but after listening to the full studio track of “All By Myself,” I now understand why this girl is kind of big deal.
Charice’s vocals on this track are absolutely flawless. Her voice really embraces that feeling loneliness and desperation of the lyrics. Seriously, the girl’s voice gave me chills. If there’s one song from “A Night of Neglect” that is a must-download, it is definitely “All By Myself.”
Gwyneth Paltrow (Holly Holiday) also lent her voice to the music from Glee last week, and took on Adele’s “Turning Tables.” I think we can all agree that this wasn’t an ideal song choice for Paltrow. Adele’s latest album 21 is probably the best thing to come out of the music world so far this year. Having said that, I knew at some point Glee would try to tackle one of her songs.
I think Paltrow gave the song a good old fashioned try, but came up short because she simply doesn’t have the chops to pull this song off. I thought her voice sounded really good in the verses and as it slowly builds up into the chorus. It was her singing in the chorus itself that made the song kind of unbearable to listen to. Paltrow’s falsetto is not one of her strongest vocal features, and I wish that the Glee music producers had adjusted the key in the song that would have been more complimentary to Paltrow’s voice and not as grating on my ears.
I was thrilled to see a track sung by Jenna Ushkowitz (Tina) in last week’s bundle of Glee music. Ushkowitz took on Lykke Li’s “I Follow Rivers.” It is seriously such a shame that Ushkowitz’s voice is not utilized more on this show. She has a fantastic tone to her voice that really is the balance between Lea Michele’s (Rachel) stellar vocals and Dianna Agron’s (Quinn) somewhat lackluster vocals.
I really thought that “I Follow Rivers” really fit Ushkowitz’s voice nicely. I am not familiar with Lykke Li’s catalogue of music, so I can’t really make any kind of comparison, but my ears were in favor of what they heard while I was listening to the track.
The last track to come out of last week’s episode of Glee was Aretha Franklin’s “Ain’t No Way,” which was sung by Amber Riley (Mercedes). This was my other favorite track of the week. I really thought Riley sounds just fabulous on this song. It’s a little dialed back at parts, which I liked. We all know that Riley is capable of hitting some big notes, but it’s nice to hear her have a really nice vocal without as many embellishments upstaging her talent.
The songs from Glee’s “A Night of Neglect” were an interesting mix of songs. After being on hiatus for so long, I guess I expected a song that would really stand out of the pack, and the closest they came to delivering that was with Charice’s “All By Myself.”
Glee airs Tuesday nights at 8 p.m. on FOX.
Originally posted on Blogcritics.
Tim Halperin returned to Kidd Kraddick’s radio show this morning to perform his rendition of Adele’s “Rolling In The Deep” as apart of “Idol Got It Wrong.”
Each week for “Idol Got It Wrong,” Tim is choosing a song to perform that one of the Idol contestants performed during that week’s show for your votes. If Tim gets more votes than the contestant that performed during the show, he performs again the following week. If the Idol contestant gets more votes, then he’s out. So basically vote for Tim, so we get these radtastic covers each week! Sounds good, right?
This week Tim is taking on Haley Reinhart who performed Adele’s “Rolling In The Deep” last night on Idol.
Check out Tim’s rendition of “Rolling In The Deep” below!
I think this is my favorite cover that Tim has done for “Idol Got It Wrong,” so far! In particular, I really liked when he hit the larger notes in the chorus and went up into his falsetto range towards the end of the song. Good stuff!
Obviously I’m a fan, but what did y’all think of Tim’s performance of “Rolling In The Deep”?
If you want this song on your iPod, and I know you do, click here to get a free download of Tim’s rendition of “Rolling In The Deep.”
Also if you haven’t downloaded Tim’s single, “The Last Song,” get your free download here.
Make sure to check out Tim’s Kickstarter page and get involved with the making of the music video for “The Last Song” and to support the fight against breast cancer!
Annnnnnd don’t forget to check out my interview with Tim from last month! Part one // Part two
David Cook performed at a radio show in Las Vegas yesterday afternoon and covered Adele’s hit song, “Rolling In The Deep.”
It’s a pretty fantastic cover! Check out the video below!
After listening to Adele’s latest album 21, my first instinct was to stand up and give the album a standing ovation. I don’t think I’ve ever had an album resonate so deeply with me after a first listen.
Adele had quite the hit song on her hands with “Chasing Pavements.” The song was a part of her acclaimed debut album, 19, which led Adele to winning two Grammys, including Best New Artist in 2009.
Adele began working on her new album, 21, while she was on tour in the United States promoting 19. Her tour-bus driver turned her on to “amazing country and blues and rockabilly and bluegrass and gospel” music while on the road. After being introduced to the music of Wanda Jackson, Adele said in a press release that it had a “massive effect, couldn’t help it, it rubbed off on me.”
21, which addresses love, heartbreak and everything in between was inspired from the singer-songwriter’s own love life. Adele said, “I had the most poignant relationship in between these two records. I met him and he was brilliant; it was a really great relationship and it went sour obviously, because I made a bitchy record about him.”
Adele worked with some amazing collaborators on the album, including One Republic’s Ryan Tedder, Paul Epworth, Dan Wilson, Fraser T. Smith, Greg Wells, and Francis “Eg” White. The album was produced by Rick Rubin and Paul Epworth.
It opens with lead single, “Rolling In The Deep.” Described by Adele as “a dark bluesy gospel disco tune,” the song talks about looking back on love and what could have been. I remember the first time I heard it, and I couldn’t believe it was Adele. I knew it was her voice, but the tempo and the melody were so different than anything I had heard her sing before. This song really shows some personality, which was a goal of hers.
“I think I come across moody and serious with my music,” she said, “but, in real life, I’m sarcastic and very cheeky. I really wanted at least one song on this album that was representative of me as a girl, as a person. I don’t think the playful me came across on the first album. It’s important to show growth and development.”
I really think she his this effort on the head with “Rumor Has It.” It has attitude and has a cheekiness to it, which makes it a fun listen. Other standout tracks include “Turning Tables,” “He Won’t Go,” and “Someone Like You.”
Continue reading Music Review >> Adele – ’21’
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