Marcel Thee
The cast of "Glee" celebrates a recent win at the Golden Globes. (Reuters Photo)
'Glee'-fully Gleeky Fandom Spreads to Indonesia
Like “Beverly Hills 90210” or “Friends” before it, the new TV series “Glee” has a universal appeal that crosses all boundaries. Maybe it is the mix of humor, drama and just the right types of characters that has made these serials such rousing successes globally. Whatever it is, the spotlight is currently shining on “Glee,” and the hype surrounding it is certainly not limited to the US.
“Gleeks,” as the show’s fans are often called, exist worldwide, from Europe to Indonesia. There is even an Indonesian Glee community (gleeksindonesia.blogspot.com), which is growing at a rapid rate, even though the first season only began airing in the US late last year.
Tsana, 17, runs the community with some of her friends. She was taken with the show, which follows a high school choir in the US, after viewing it on a pirated DVD. She says that she created the Web site because she felt that series was “unique and fresh, especially in its characters.”
“Their mix of drama, comedy and musical is why I like the show,” says Alderina Gracia, 24, another fan, who created the Indonesian Gleeks Facebook fanpage.
“With music you can express things that words or simply acting are just not able to convey,” she says.
“Glee” is famous for its musical numbers, where the ensemble cast performs hit songs both from the past and present. Everything from classic artists such as The Supremes and Neil Diamond to modern artists like R&B singers Kanye West and Rihanna gets a musical makeover.
Patrick, 25, another keen fan says, “The success of ‘Glee’ is due to the brilliant idea of the producers to use a lot of popular teen songs, instead of relying solely on show tunes. This attracts teenagers because they get to watch these fresh characters while listening to a familiar soundtrack.”
The main cast features the regular high school outcasts which include a paraplegic and a homosexual, as well as the compulsory popular snobby ones — a blond cheerleader and a mohawked rebel. In this case “Glee” is as predictable as TV series characters can get, but they manage, somehow, to maintain high appeal.
“The characters are really strong,” says Vania Winona, a 25-year-old Glee fanatic. “The tough ones are super tough, the mellow ones are incredibly mellow, and the geeky ones are as geeky as can be.”
And the “geeky” main characters are clearly a strong selling point of the show.
Desy Khoirunnisa Rahman, 27, an avid “Glee” viewer says, “Them being the uncool loser-types makes me love the cast more. I always root for the underdog.”
According to Patrick, the show’s themes are also “dark” in comparison to other teen TV shows.
“They discuss issues such as teen pregnancy, back-stabbing, homosexuality among teens, and other matters which you would rarely see in a TV series or musical,” Patrick says.
Not that the show doesn’t have its detractors. Astari Dewi, 24, says that she finds the story line “boring and predictable” as it relies on formulaic story lines instead of offering anything fresh.
“I really just find the musical part interesting, but I just can’t get through the dramatic parts of the series to listen to them,” she says.
Rindi Agusandiani, 24, concurs and says that the first time she watched the show it bored her “in the first five minutes.”
Being only in its first season, the show’s lasting appeal is yet to be tested. And like many other TV shows, it will depend on how much the characters continue to engage the increasingly demanding young audience members.
From the looks of it, however, people are already falling for specific characters.
Desy says, “My fave character is Kurt because he’s bitchy and always in style.”
Patrick picks Rachel as his favorite, due to her being “obnoxious, bossy, but incredibly talented.”
Tsana hopes that her Web site will introduce “Glee” to more people, and eventually increase the number of Gleeks in Indonesia.
She says, “It feels amazing when you are able to have your own community who are all focused on loving one thing.”
Desy summarizes the show’s appeal: “Everybody loves it when the underdog wins, especially when the jocks and the cheerleaders eventually join them. Plus, everybody loves good music.”
The Music
By now, the lead single from the series, “Don’t Stop Believin’ ” has already ingrained itself into the subconscious of every teen in the modern world.
What used to be the signature song of 1970s rock band Journey has now been transformed into an anthem for disenfranchised adolescents everywhere. And it isn’t hard to see why. Harmonizing its rocking nature with its identifiably uplifting lyrics, the song’s immediacy is twofold — it relates to both the rebellious and melodramatic streak of most teens.
“Don’t Stop Believin’ ” is indisputably the best song that has come out of the “Glee” universe. And on the album “Glee: The Music Vol.1 & Vol. 2,” you’d be hard-pressed to find another song equally fitting with the series’ theme.
Not that the rest the cast’s repertoire lacks any punches. The 17 songs that make up the first volume of the album are as likable as “Don’t Stop Believin’,” but the songs’ production gets increasingly sugar-sweet as the album progresses.
Your enjoyment of the album rests solely on your age group and artistic preferences.
Certainly, this cutesy nature is in line with the album’s target audience who are used to the easy-listening tunes of Disney artists like the Jonas Brothers or Miley Cyrus. But a little more roughness around the edges would have been welcome.
If you are going to introduce the kids to older artists such as Journey, REO Speedwagon, The Supremes, Neil Diamond, Paul Anka and the Rolling Stones, why not go all the way and bring along the livelier recording techniques of artists from those era? Granted, some of those “classic” musicians were teen idols themselves in their time, but surely none used such amount of studio tinkering as the songs on the “Glee” soundtrack.
A cover of REO Speedwagon’s “Can’t Fight This Feeling” — sung by Cory Monteith who plays the hunky Finn Hudson on the series — is a pleasant power ballad that thrives on its archetypal 1980s melody. Monteith’s voice is pleasant but not strong enough to carry the song, ironically lacking the theatrically sentimental power of the original vocals.
Elsewhere, The Supremes’ “You Keep me Hanging On” retains the original’s soulful character, but Dianna Agron, who plays the high-school’s queen bee is no Diana Ross, barely keeping up with the song’s upbeat rhythm.
In Volume 1, the covers of the more modern songs work better, mostly due to the similar excess of electronic tinkering that appears in modern recordings.
For example, a cover of Avril Lavigne’s “Keep Holding On” sung by the whole cast sounds better in its grandiosity, especially due to the comparatively weak vocals of its original singer.
Similarly, Rihanna’s “Take a Bow” is on equal footing with the original, lacking only Rihanna’s attitude-heavy nasal vocals.
The most enjoyable covers in Volume 1 are the gimmicky songs such as Kanye West’s “Gold Digger” and Young MC’s silly-but-fun “Bust a Move.” Here, the joyfulness of the high school musical comes across strongest.
While Volume 1 is hit or miss in terms of vocals and song choice, Volume 2 offers better vocals overall (in all of their auto-tune glory) but the song selection seems to be an even more random pick of hits across the decades.
Opening with a John Fogerty’s classic, “Proud Mary,” shows that no one can really carry the song like Fogerty did. It is nostalgically catchy, but it also seems pointless.
The inclusion of the following two tracks, Lionel Richie’s and Diana Ross’s “Endless Love” and The Pretenders’ “I’ll Stand by You” is equally questionable. Richie and Ross own the former, along with its complex and glorious harmonies. Any other duet suffers by comparison.
“I’ll Stand by You” has been covered so many times that by now it should be astoundingly clear just how much Chrissie Hynde’s vocals add to the song’s bittersweet strength.
The better covers are, again, the less serious ones. These include Lily Allen’s “Smile,” Jennifer Paige’s “Crush” and, perhaps Volume 2’s best offering, Van Halen’s over-the-top “Jump.”
Unfortunately, Volume 2 contains more duds than the already uneven first edition. The three opening covers are painful, especially if you’re familiar with the originals, as is the completely out-of-place version of John Lennon’s “Imagine.”
Both albums are clearly geared to fans of the show or at least listeners of similar music. For such a crowd this album certainly delivers: the songs are immediate and the arrangements are as predictable as can be.
However, since many of the songs fall into the classic rock category it’s impossible not to make the distinction between how the original sounded and how the “Glee” cast sings it.
More often than not this makes the record sound like Karaoke mix tape — well-sung and professionally-produced Karaoke, but Karaoke nonetheless.
