"Loser Like Me": Gleek Empowerment or Failed Venture into Unfamiliar Territory?

Fellow gleeks around the country assembled in front of their television sets to watch the New Directions perform original songs for the first time in Glee history.

After gaining fame with their chart-topping covers, original songs seemed somewhat inevitable for singers of their caliber and popularity.

We asked for more, and we got it.

But do we like it?

As an epic ender in their road to regionals, the performance of Glee’s original number “Loser Like Me” is nothing less than glee-tastic. With few and simple choreographed moves, the New Directions carry themselves in a free-spirited, fun-loving way, much like the vibe the song portrays.

With laughing, jumping, confetti-throwing, and a cheering audience, it’s impossible to watch without feeling the same contagious joy.

The musicality is not phenomenal, but the beat is fun, the lyrics are catchy, and it’s hard not to love any song that comes from the lovable Glee cast.

Rolling Stone gives "Loser Like Me" four out of five stars and describes it as “a fiendishly catchy verse with a hopped-up beat and pop-funk chicken-scratch guitars, followed by an even catchier singsong chorus.”

As a play on Glee’s trademark “Loser” sign and theme of embracing the “gLeek” inside of you, the song is an anthem of everything Glee stands for.

Glee Cast with their signature "Loser" sign

Source: chortlingspatulas.blogspot.com

Lea Michele "Rachel Berry" performing Glee's "Loser Like Me"

Source: motorhelmets.com

According to people.com, music producer Adam Anders told Entertainment Weekly that “Loser Like Me” is a “Gleek anthem…It’s a very uptempo, kind-of-summery hit.”

MTV News calls it “a song that's something of a lyrical Cliff's Notes about the show itself.”

Although the beat slightly falls under the category of the currently trending corny teen pop genre ("Friday," anyone?), “Loser Like Me” proves that there’s still hope for songs sung by anyone over 13 that don’t talk about sex, alcohol, or partying.

In an age where people’s insecurities are at a high and society’s sympathy is at a low, we crave for any signs that tell us to accept ourselves for who we are and embrace our imperfections.

That’s the exact message that “Loser Like Me” sings: “Just go ahead and hate on me and run your mouth/So everyone can hear/Hit me with the words you got and knock me down…You wanna be/A loser like me.”

 

The lyrics perfectly accompany the plot and characters of Glee, as they are bullied and taunted at school for being a “loser in Glee,” while making the words relatable to the rest of the non-McKinley High students of the world.

Glee's original song "Loser Like Me"

Source: YouTube

“Loser Like Me” tells us to embrace our inner “freak” and be proud of the “loser” we all have inside ourselves. Sound familiar?

“Keeping in line with the recent trend of ‘It's good to be different’ tunes such as Lady Gaga's ‘Born This Way,’ Katy Perry's ‘Firework’ and Pink's ‘Raise Your Glass’ (the latter two have also been covered on the show), the song is a spirited, if not slightly corny number,” reports MTV news.

Others look past the inspiring message of the song and call it a failed attempt at expanding the growing Glee franchise.

Creating original songs could be the start of a more profitable and identifiable branding strategy, as Glee-exclusive songs would gain more attention and respect than cover songs.

Top40.about.com disagrees with this expansion.

"Why not try original songs to expand the Glee franchise further? One listen to 'Loser Like Me' gives good reasons to not continue down this path. Those songs and Lady GaGa’s #1 smash 'Born This Way' are about mass empowerment. 'Loser Like Me' is, sadly, a revenge fantasy. It is hard to imagine that this recording was inspired by much of anything beyond a corporate desire to own more of the music marketplace.“

Whatever their intentions or results are, "Loser Like Me" embodies the underlying theme that has become the reason for Glee's success: that being a loser is perfectly okay.

So, you be the judge: is "Loser Like Me" the start of a beautiful Glee career, or is it a sign of a future of failed ventures into legitimate music-making?

It's A Long Way from California to Outer Space

Cue scary, impending music. 


Cue image of obsolete scrapyard.


Wait...is this really a Katy Perry music video? 


The "California Gurl" we know as the jolly, carefree jokester has gone "extra terrestrial" with her new "E.T." music video.


No longer is she dancing around with giant gingerbread men or frolicking around the beach in her underwear. Instead, she takes to a literal interpretation of "E.T." (extra-terrestrial), and transforms herself into a frightening creature in outer space. 

Katy Perry in her "California Gurls" music video

Source: buzzworthy.mtv.com

Looks from Katy Perry's "E.T." music video

Source: 143news.com

Of course, a pop song is nothing without the random rapper who contributes a few useless and irrelevant lines, and that is where Kanye West comes to play.


The music video begins with the egotistic rapper in mid-air, shining his diamond teeth and saying something about "calling him an alien" and a "big headed astronaut." 

The scene switches rapidly to an alien floating aimlessly in space, its lips awkwardly moving to the words of Perry's song. The alien then transforms into Perry, and she begins her character as the weirdest depiction of an alien we have ever seen.

A mash up of weird images that look like they were taken from the Sci-Fy channel and a biology documentary flash quickly throughout the scene, almost to set the mood as scary and foreboding. 

Perry's make-up and costume seem to get creepier and more extravagant with the progression of scenes, and I don't know whether I should be amazed...or scared. 

According to cocoperez.com, each alien look took five to six hours to complete. 

We get it, she's an alien. You couldn't make it more obvious.

There are more images of cells erupting, animals birthing, and flowers blooming (in the most non-beautiful way possible), and Perry stares deeply into the camera with her glossy, hypnotizing eyes. 

After Perry discovers and kisses a shiny piece of metal in the junk-filled yard, an even shinier creature appears to Perry's delight. In the end of the video, Perry (who is revealed as being a deer from the waist down) and her new alien friend disappear into the sunlight for a supposedly happily ever after.

But this does not leave me happy. This leaves me disturbed and distraught, much like Lady GaGa's "Born This Way" did. 

Immediately after the release of "E.T.," many GaGa fans criticized Perry for "copying" GaGa's "Born This Way" video- both have themes of outer space aliens with frighteningly disturbing images. 

According to aolnews.com, GaGa fans wrote comments such as: "Katy Perry's music video for ET is too Lady Gaga for my taste. Only Lady Gaga can pull off Lady Gaga."

Others defended Perry, pointing out the fact that it may be logically impossible for her to have copied Gaga.

"Katy Perry most likely developed the theme for this video before Gaga's Born This Way was even released...These videos take a… long time to make, and I am sure Perry had no intention of stealing anything from Gaga.”

Compared to the bouncy Perry in her previous videos where she seemed to be having fun more than anything, "E.T." shows a more serious, dramatic side of her that we've never seen before...and for good reason. 

An article in latimes.com writes:

"[E.T.] marks a departure in style for Perry, who's usually frolicking with bananas or rolling her eyes like a screwball comedy actress or otherwise engaging in something raunchily campy... “In "E.T.," she's playing an alien goddess -- a rather stiff one who doesn't wink at the camera nearly enough.”

Yes, shooting whipped cream out of your bra was a bit distasteful...but it was "Katy Perry."

Her quirkiness and ability to make raunchiness look like fun are the qualities we love most. So why the sudden change?

Let's hope that this is a temporary experiment, and that Katy will be back full force with canon-shooting undergarments and rainbow hair in her next music video.

Katy Perry's "E.T." music video

Source: YouTube