This week on The Glee Project the contenders faced their toughest acting challenge yet: believability. Each had to perform Cyndi Lauper’s “True Colors” in its entirety for guest judge Jenna Ushkowitz, who plays Tina on Glee. The song seemed to be a challenge for some — particularly those with more masculine voices. One such contestant was Samuel, who somehow managed to turn the soft ballad into a rock song. Jenna didn’t have a bad thing to say about any of performers, and yet she still had to choose. So she picked Hannah, who Jenna believed could have been singing to one of her best friends.
For the group video shoot the contenders sang “The Only Exception” by Paramore. A vocally and emotionally challenging song, a few of the contestants had difficulty in the recording studio. Hannah (who, in my opinion, has the worst voice of the bunch) wasn’t great at emoting vocally, although the mentors see her as one of the best actors in the competition. Alex went to a very somber place, and ended up breaking down during his session, thinking about the death of his father in order to convey real emotion. Lindsay also had a mini breakdown and said she was homesick, though Nikki later called it essentially fake.
This article appears in Aug 4-10, 2011.
