Rebecca Black Gets Gleeked

“Partying, partying (yeah!)...” Is Rebecca Black’s “Friday” already stuck in your head too? That catchy little tune has been the source of both amusement and annoyance for weeks, and now “Glee” puts its spin on the song, covering it in this week’s episode. Our resident Gleek and Youth Advisory Board member, Caroline Marques, gives us her review of the song and the episode…

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Rebecca Black Gets Gleeked

Everyone is still talking about Rebecca Black, weeks after her song debuted. “Friday” has been called the “worst song ever,” but it’s still one of the top songs on iTunes. Now the cast of “Glee” has done it’s own version of the song, which has already shot up to #5 on iTunes at the time of writing. I appreciate that by covering the song, “Glee” showed support for its original singer.

“Glee” chose to cover the song in this week’s episode “Prom Queen,” and reviews have been mixed. Some viewers thought the show managed to turn the song into an acceptable, catchy tune, while others thought the song was still terrible, despite being sung by the cute and very talented cast.

I have been a huge Gleek since “Glee”’s first episode and really enjoy most of the episodes and songs. “Prom Queen” wasn’t an exception. There isn’t a prom without drama — particularly a TV prom! — and this episode exposed covered all the typical issues: winning the crown, asking someone to the dance, spiking the punch… But it also included some classic “Glee” dilemmas, like Finn’s love triangle and the school’s acceptance of Kurt’s coming out.

I was quite happy to see Jesse (played by the charming Jonathan Groff) come back to stir things up. I particularly enjoyed witnessing the whole prom ritual: asking someone to the dance (and getting rejected), choosing a dress, dancing, and, of course, watching characters deal with the consequences of surprising actions and events.

The “Glee” cast, as entertainment for prom, covered Adele’s “Rolling In The Deep” and ABBA’s “Dancing Queen,” and I thought both were Gleeful. And Puck, Sam, and Artie jumped on stage to sing “Friday.” I knew it was coming having read about it earlier. Surprisingly, the boys covered it with about as much enthusiasm and smiling as Rebecca Black has when she sings it.

Did they make the song amazing? No. Did they get me to buy the song? No. Was I impressed with their dancing? Yes. The boys are handsome and extremely talented, and I usually love their covers. I found this cover to be better and catchier than the original version, but by “Glee” standards, it just didn’t cut it. I wasn’t expecting them to transform it into “Song of the Year,” but I found that it was a shame to include a song that couldn’t compare to the hits of ABBA and Adele. They made it better, but not exceptional. I think I could have never heard of the original version, and I still would have thought the song was just okay.

So I must ask, out of all the phenomenal songs that they could’ve used for a monumental prom, why choose “Friday?” Maybe they hoped to show how the song could actually be good and catchy, but more likely “Glee” was just keeping up with the media and popular hits. I will never fully understand their choice, but the song clearly resonated with the show’s audience since the song is rising on the charts.

The song certainly didn’t ruin the episode for me — I just feel indifferent to that segment of the episode. “Friday” is a bubbly and catchy song that put some energy into the “Glee” prom, and I liked that. But it was slightly disappointing because I’m used to Glee making amazing covers of songs that I listen to 24/7. “Friday” will be one of the few songs not to make my iTunes list, original or “Glee” cover.

About Caroline

Caroline is an American student in eleventh grade in Geneva, Switzerland and enjoys it a lot. This year will be her second year serving on the Youth Advisory Board, which she loves because she’s currently an international student and she likes keeping up with the numerous U.S. trends in various departments. Between YAB, sports, school (as well as traveling, trying to master several languages, spending a lot of time on the computer, writing long papers, music and watching American TV), she doesn’t have a lot of time on her hands, but always finds time for the two passions she’s always had: reading and writing.