page_title: Original Song
section_title: Music and performances
hierarchical_section_title: Original Song / Reception / Critical response / Music and performances
caption_attribution_description: Norsk bokmål: Vi spurte L'Oréal Paris' talsperson Lea Michele hva hun ønsker seg på den internasjonale kvinnedagen. Se svarene hennes i denne videoen. English: Lea Michele, L'oréal Paris spokesperson
context_page_description: "Original Song" is the sixteenth episode of the second season of the American television series Glee, and the thirty-eighth episode overall. It was written by Ryan Murphy, directed by Bradley Buecker, and premiered on Fox in the United States on March 15, 2011. McKinley High's glee club, New Directions, decides to prepare original songs for the Regionals competition against the Dalton Academy Warblers, and Westvale High's Aural Intensity coached by Sue Sylvester. Blaine finally shows his affection for Kurt. Rachel tries to repair her relationship with Finn and faces off with Quinn. New Directions wins the Midwest Regional Show Choir competition, advancing to the upcoming Nationals competition in New York City.
  "Original Song" garnered mostly positive reception. Critics praised the interaction between Kurt and Blaine, as well as most of the original songs in the episode. Mark Perigard of the Boston Herald called it a "great" episode "filled with so many good moments". Cover versions of six songs were featured, including "Raise Your Glass" by Pink and "Blackbird" by The Beatles.
context_section_description: The musical performances and selection in the episode were met with mixed response from critics. The original track "Loser Like Me" received general acclaim from critics. Berk praised the performance, and gave it four stars. He opined, "All four stars are for the lyrics [...] in which the lovable dorks sing about being the lovable dorks we fell in love with [...]". In her review for the episode, Erica Futterman of Rolling Stone praised the song, and called it a "true anthem" that "ends triumphantly". Raymond Flandez of The Wall Street Journal gave a positive review of the song: "The song grew out of a collaborative brainstorming session that went beyond rhyming dictionaries or first attempts at ditties such as 'Trouty Mouth', 'Big Ass Heart', and 'Hell to the No'." Jarrett Wieselman of the New York Post commended the show for the use of original songs, and wrote "Glee entered uncharted territory last night [...] no, not Kurt's first kiss. I'm talking about New Directions dabbling in, and debuting, their very first original songs. It was as risky for the show as it was for the group since opting to perform wholly new creations would either give them a leg up on the competition or put them six feet under." Bobby Hankinson of the Houston Chronicle praised the song, and deemed it "fun and summery".
  Sandra Gonzalez of Entertainment Weekly was generally positive on most of the songs featured in the episode. She gave the performance of "Loser Like Me" a "B", and explained that "This one took a little time to grow on me. I liked it better on the show than when I heard it by itself, which is weird because it's exactly the same thing. Goes to show how much of a difference a good performance [...] makes." Gonzalez gave the highest grade to the cover versions of "Misery" and "Raise Your Glass", both performed by the Dalton Academy Warblers. In her review for "Misery", she praised the performance, and gave it an "A". She opined, "I'm a sucker for a Warbler-ized pop song, especially when it makes Blaine dance and make his weird, animated faces. They're simply adorable, and these Warblers are simply amazing." Gonzalez gave the performance of "Raise Your Glass" an "A". The lowest grade given by Gonzalez was a "D" for Santana's performance of "Trouty Mouth". She explained "If we're taking this song as a joke, it gets a 'B−' because Santana sounded great. But [...] I think about how bad I felt for Sam watching his utter mortification." "Candles" was generally well received by Gonzalez. She gave the performance a "B" and went on to write "It’s really hard for this pair to live up to the awesomeness of 'Baby, It's Cold Outside'. I'm sure they could one day, but this one fell a bit short for me musically. [...] In the context of the show, however, it was a great moment."
  Amy Reiter of the Los Angeles Times reacted positively to all of the songs. In her review for "Original Song", Reiter opined that "The original songs [...] weren't half bad: From Santana's ode to poor, horrified Sam, 'Trouty Mouth,' to Puck's tribute to Lauren, 'Big Ass Heart,' to Mercedes' self-celebrating 'Hell to the No,' the original songs on this episode were funny and revealing. And rousing Regionals-winning anthem 'Loser Like Me' landed like an exuberant slushy in the face [...]." Katie Morgan of Billboard praised the performance of "Candles", and called it "beautifully intimate", and commended The Warblers' "solid performance". Todd VanDerrWerf of The A.V. Club responded negatively to "Trouty Mouth", but was generally pleased with the other songs. VanDerWerff went on to praise the voice of Lea Michele: "The first song Rachel sang at regionals [...] was a nicely done little ballad, the sort of song you could both see someone like Rachel writing and later belting." James Poniewozik also praised the voice of Michele, as well as her character development. He opined, "That said, I like the arc of Rachel-as-songwriter, which has played to some of Lea Michele's greatest strengths both as a comic and dramatic actress." Robert Canning of IGN found the original songs to be "hi
caption: Several critics praised the vocal performance of Lea Michele (pictured) as Rachel in the episode, as well as the development of the character.
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