The Glee Rankdown (BLAINE ANDERSON, ROUND 2)

[*Amanda]

SANTANA LOPEZ PERFORMANCES

 

 

 

 

5. "Songbird"

WATCH HERE: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CJUgLEtA-74

 

 

9.53

Public: 2/20

Amanda: 3/20

Chris: 4/20

JC: 4/20

Megan: 6/20

Priscilla: 8/20

Victoria: 8/20

Diana: 9/20

Sola: 10/20

Derek: 13/20

Kaley: 14/20

Elliott: 15/20

Lily: 15/20
Wally: 15/20

Rei: 17/20

 

CHRIS:

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One of the most beautiful performance, and it's also one of the most underrated performance.

 

JC:

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What a gorgeous performance, she slayed this and I always love when Santana sings to Britt  

 

MEGAN:

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It's Santana singing about her love for Brittany when she isn't fully out to everybody yet. And also it's Fleetwood Mac. DUH. 

 

 

LILY:

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So beautiful and showcased Naya's gorgeous vocals so well, as well as a great highlight of the Brittana relationship.

WALLY:

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I can’t fully remember but I don’t think I was too excited about the Fleetwood Mac inspired Rumours episode but Santana’s “Songbird” performance was a definite highlight. This was such a gorgeous and vulnerable performance from Santana. Her vocals and emotional connection to the song is so beautiful.  Super tricky to rank but will give this my #15 ranking.

 

 

 

 

4. "Mine"

WATCH HERE: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2o1W_bvpE8U&t=71

 

 

8.73

Diana: 2/20

Rei: 3/20

Megan: 4/20
Amanda: 5/20

Public: 5/20

Priscilla: 6/20

VIctoria: 6/20

JC: 7/20

Chris: 9/20

Derek: 9/20

Elliott: 11/20

Wally: 11/20

Kaley: 15/20

Lily: 18/20

Sola: 20/20

 

MEGAN:

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See my "Taylor Swift is a WLW" essay and how many of her songs are so easily adapted to be written from the POV from a woman about a woman because of her avoidance of pronouns. Anyway, I'm writing up all my comments at the same time even though they aren't seen at the same time which means that I don't want to be too repetitive when I say that the Brittana relationship is the best part of Glee emotionally. 

 

JC:

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Another love song from Santana to Britt  Always obsessed with these because Santana always gives me feels when she sings to her lover. 

 

CHRIS:

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The arrangements and vocals of this performance >>> 

 

WALLY:

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Gosh “Mine” was such a gorgeous, stunning and emotional performance. :’( Santana sings this song so beautifully with so much heartfelt emotion and heartbreak in her voice. She really pours her heart and everything into this singing this to Brittany.  I especially love how she sings the chorus and bridge here. And those parts where she really looks like she’s about to cry.  And Brittany got sad too - with Santana breaking up with Brittany.  This is soo tricky to rank…. I do really love this (and actually rewatching this makes me remember I love this more than I remembered) but love the other performances I have higher, so this will get my #11 ranking.

 

LILY:

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Beautiful and touching.

 

 

 

 

 

 

3. "Valerie"

WATCH HERE: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5RkN9eHtsRc

 

5.06

Chris: 1/20

Rei: 1/20

Megan: 2/20

Priscilla: 2/20

Victoria: 2/20

Wally: 3/20

Amanda: 4/20

Elliott: 5/20

Derek: 6/20

Kaley: 6/20

Lily: 7/20

Public: 8/20

JC: 9/20

Sola: 9/20

Diana: 10/20

 

CHRIS:

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I am ranking this one at the top of my ranking as it's one of my favourite Santana's performance. And the performance was Naya's big break on the show which really showcased how incredibly talented she was. 

 

 

MEGAN:

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I almost had this at my #1 because it's truly exceptional. It has some great dancing with Mike and Brittany and it's a Santana solo song. It takes a lot of talent to be able to hold a candle to Amy Winehouse and Naya Rivera does that in this song. It doesn't fall into the sometimes too "theater kid" productions that sometimes Glee's most bombastic numbers fall into. It hits that sweet spot by mostly allowing Naya Rivera to do a straight cover of the Mark Ronson/Amy Winehouse collaboration. Also a Glee song is always great when you can forget that Rachel and Kurt exist. 

 

WALLY:

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As I sai in my “Back to Black” write-up, it was such a genus idea for Santana to sing Amy Winehouse songs (as these songs suit Naya’s voice so perfectly), and her “Valerie” performance is amongst one of my very favorites that I will give it the #3 ranking.  This was such a fun performance and Santana sings and performs this so wonderfully and makes it so effortless.  I love her voice on the song and her overall energy in this! This is such great fun, joyous performance and makes me so happy.  Oh and I love Brittany & Mikes dancing in this too.

 

LILY:

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This will go down as one of the most memorable moments from the show IMO, I feel like this was one of the songs I saw shared everywhere especially following the tragic news. Naya slays this and Heather and Harry nail the dancing too.

 

JC:

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This song suits her voice so well and I love it. Santana slayed this and did Amy proud  

 

 

 

 

 

2. "If I Die Young"

WATCH HERE: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TlWHTfrGhoY

 

 

4.00

JC: 1/20

Priscilla: 1/20

Sola: 1/20

Amanda: 2/20

Cbris: 3/20

Derek: 3/20

Diana: 3/20

Kaley: 3/20

Victoria: 3/20

Public: 4/20

Rei: 4/20

Wally: 5/20

Megan: 7/20

Elliott: 8/20

Lily: 12/20

 

JC:

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I mean this was always going to be my #1, I love this song and always get the feels when I hear Santana's version, especially since it is in regards to Cory/Finn   Her emotional connection is so superb, love Santana/Naya.

 

CHRIS:

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An emotional performance that took a brand new meeting; it's one of my favourite song of hers as I absolutely love the emotions & Naya's voice on the song.

 

DEREK:

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WALLY:

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Gosh, soo "If I Die Young" is the only song of this Final 20 that I didn’t and can’t really listen to, but i have heard it a lot throughout the years to remember it. I did hear this song (or the clips of it) a lot a few months ago when the news broke of when Naya went missing and then passed away.  For those reasons, this song is just too hard for me to listen to right now. It also takes in a very different meaning than when she sang it on the show.  This was such a beautiful tribute from Santana to Finn on The Quarterback episode. Santana sang this with so much heart, emotion and vulnerability in her vocals. She gave me chills when I watched it - and it gives me even more chills now.  This was tricky to figure out where to rank but this is my favorite Santana ballad, and will get my #5 ranking.

 

LILY:

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Truthfully this is the one performance I've not really been able to go back to since Naya's passing. The performance and the song itself just are even more poignant now, but especially just seeing Naya overcome with emotion while singing for Cory. It is absolutely a highlight of the show and thoroughly deserving of being here.

 

 

 

 

 

1. "Rumour Has It/Someone Like You"

WATCH HERE: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sKhymT6OAng

 

 

2.73

Amanda: 1/20
Diana: 1/20

Elliott: 1/20

Megan: 1/20

Victoria: 1/20

Wally: 1/20

Chris: 2/20

Derek: 2/20
Lily: 2/20

Rei: 2/20

Sola: 2/20

Public: 3/20

Priscilla: 4/20

Kaley: 5/20

JC: 13/20

 

MEGAN:

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'm not sure if this is better or if "Valerie" is better but I think throughout this game that they have clearly been my top 2. When Naya Rivera died, I wrote an entire thing about how much Santana meant to me and when I think about that and I think of Santana I think of this song and this performance. 

 

As Alex pointed out, Glee is cut happy. It never quite lingers on a character too much when they are doing a performance (perhaps because as Elliott pointed out, sometimes the choreography of the entire thing is less than great). But I feel that this one the cuts aren't distracting and when they happen they are largely purposeful. To see Santana's full face, her full force, her love for Brittany, her (JUSTIFIED RIGHTEOUS) anger at Finn. Sometimes I call this the most perfect performance Glee has ever had because it truly packs up everything that made Glee fantastic (namely Santana and Mercedes singing and Naya Rivera's acting) and mashed it up into two of Adele's best song (I'd argue that they are Adele's best songs, especially "Someone Like You") and produced about as perfect of 2.5 minutes of television as Glee could be. If I wanted to let somebody know why I watched this dumb awful show for so long and why I quickly then dipped out I'd show them this song and then the subsequent episode where they couldn't just let have Santana even have "Constant Craving" all to herself. 

 

Even long after I had stopped watching Glee or even youtubing just Santana's performances, I still thought about this song and it's still on a steady rotation of youtube videos that I cycle through when I just want something comfortable and familiar and good. 

 

This song is the very best of Glee and the very best of Santana. 

 

WALLY:

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"Rumour Has It/Someone Like You" is ICONIC, EPIC and the epitome of all Glee songs. I have said in my comments of how I love Santana & Mercedes duets and how they are everything. If I needed to give just one performance as an example of that, it would be this one. I love how they took two very different Adele songs and blended them into one iconic mash-up!  So this was a super easy choice for my #1 ranking. I remember being in awe and blown away when I first watched this. I’ve listened to this a ton of times since its airing and never got tired of this. I will solely focus on Santana here. This song/performance has a deep meaning to it, as this was around the time where Santana’s sexuality got exposed in some negative political ad, when she hadn’t publicly came out yet, which was so heartbreaking for her to go through.  But she poured so much emotion, passion and vulnerability into what she was singing.  

 

Her breakout solo section where she BELTS OUT: Don’t forget me I Beg. I rememberrrr you said…. is one of my favorite Glee vocal moments ever.  

 

 

That power & emotion is mind-blowing and it gives me major chills!  Then I also really love how she sings the “Someone Like You” section of the song. It’s all SOO flipping good!  This will always be my  favorite Glee song - so I hope this an rank #1 on Santana’s, Mercedes’ and the duet/trio/etcs round. But if not, I am just it got to the finals and hope this can rank highly!

 

CHRIS:

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This performance still holds up after all these years, and easily the best mash-up featured on the show.

 

LILY:

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I mean duh. The Troubletones were everything, and Naya is just something else in this performance. The emotion she brings to the performance when you know what Santana is going through at the time is so raw and a highlight of the show.

 

JC:

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This was an amazing mashup, if it was a Santana solo, it would be much higher because I actually think Santana slayed Mercedes in this. Her part of Someone Like You was STUNNING  

 

[Elliott]

2 minutes ago, *Amanda said:

1. "Rumour Has It/Someone Like You"

JC: 13/20

[totes4totes]

Thank you to all the people above me alphabetically that didn’t submit write ups for the Adele Mashup so I got the top one

 

also Valerie was robbed!!!

[Solaris]

Iconic Top 2.  Total slay!

[Elliott]

Also RHI/SLY was Glee's 300th musical number!

[*Amanda]

14/15 rankings in the Top 5 with a 2.73 average, though.   I doubt that score will be beaten in any other round except maybe the mash-up round.

[JC]

10 minutes ago, Elliott said:

I said if it was a solo, it would be much higher. Like if it was just Santana's part without Mercedes, it would def have been top 5 for me.

 

If I Die Young was robbed!

[FrogLenzen]

ugh why did I just watch If I Die Young... I was avoiding it for a reason

[*Amanda]

Also, Valerie was the only song to rank in everyone’s top 10, which is an impressive feat with 15 rankings, so I just wanted to give it a shout-out.

[*Chris]

No major surprise but some of the rankings for Songbird ain't cute.

Super happy RHI/SLY winning, as I expected it to win.  

[*Lily]

I feel bad for ranking If I Die Young so low.  I really love it but have found it super hard to go back and listen to. Ooh yeah so Wally and I were talking about the same song there.  

 

Super happy with the winner! Wow, it did amazing in the rankings

[*Amanda]

The Finn round starts today! There is still time to sign up if you haven’t yet.

 

Finn Hudson Round

1. @*Chris

2. @*Diana

3. @*Amanda

4. @JC

5. @Elliott

6. @FrogLenzen

7. @Solaris

8. @*Lily

9. @1234567890

10. @goofycilla90

11. @~*8Kay8*~

[*Wallace]

“Songbird” & “Mine” are both really stunning, gut wrenching and beautiful performances. Not surprised these both ranked so high.

 

“Valerie.” Wow absolutely amazing to see this get Top 10 rankings from everyone. And wow I love how Valerie has at least one spot in all of the Top 10 spots!

 

“If I Die Young.” :’( Danggg, this is incredible for this song to have all of those Top 5 rankings - and 3 #1s in there too. And soo many #3 rankings in there too. And gah yeah I had a feeling Lily was referring to not being able to go back on this song, as was the case with me. It’s too hard. But this has always been stunning, emotional, beautiful and a classic Glee performance.

 

SLAY @ “Rumour Has It/Someone Like You” getting #1 and danggg wowww at all of these killer stats! 6 #1s! 5 #2s! And 3 more rankings in the Top 5. JC had to mess things up with that #13 ranking tho. Lol I’m not mad and can understand the reasoning, as I use that for some songs to rank lower too. Anyway this song was such an iconic moment on the show. Megan’s write-up on this was so detailed and amazing here!

 

This Santana round was so great to be apart of! Love Naya/Santana, and always greatly miss her. Rewatching and re-listening to these were such a pleasure.  And a great reminder of how talented she truly was! I won’t participate but I’ll be watching the Finn round and will vote whenever his final round is all gathered.  

[*Wallace]

13 hours ago, Elliott said:

Also RHI/SLY was Glee's 300th musical number!

Oh wow, I forgot about that but that is really cool.  

13 hours ago, *Amanda said:

14/15 rankings in the Top 5 with a 2.73 average, though.   I doubt that score will be beaten in any other round except maybe the mash-up round.

Super impressive!  

12 hours ago, *Amanda said:

Also, Valerie was the only song to rank in everyone’s top 10, which is an impressive feat with 15 rankings, so I just wanted to give it a shout-out.

I noticed that too and thought that was really amazing.  

 

4 hours ago, *Lily said:

I feel bad for ranking If I Die Young so low.  I really love it but have found it super hard to go back and listen to. Ooh yeah so Wally and I were talking about the same song there.  

 

Super happy with the winner! Wow, it did amazing in the rankings

Gahh yeah I had a feeling you were referring to that song too.  I understand your comments on the song, as I feel the same.

[*Amanda]

Yeah, I figured that not as many people would participate in the Finn round because he's not as loved of a character as Santana is.  

[*Wallace]

2 hours ago, *Amanda said:

Yeah, I figured that not as many people would participate in the Finn round because he's not as loved of a character as Santana is.  

Aww, I don't mind Finn - but I never really cared for his singing voice and don't remember which songs of his I liked.  (just speaking for myself).

[*Amanda]

New page for the start of the Finn Hudson round.  

[*Chris]

2 minutes ago, *Amanda said:

New page for the start of the Finn Hudson round.  

[*Chris]

[*Chris]

[*Chris]

[*Chris]

[*Amanda]

 

[*Amanda]

Y'all aren't very good at the whole spamming thing in this thread.  

[Elliott]