Kurt's Singing Voice

It's never too late to fall in love with Chris's voice. I have forced several people who would never watch a show like Glee to sit through some of Chris's solos (I usually start them on As If We Never Said Goodbye so they can see the beautify of his tone and expressiveness, and then Being Alive to show his remarkable range). I've created a number of fans for him that won't ever watch Glee but will look up his singing on YouTube.

I wonder how many new fans he'll gain when he sings in the Noel biopic.

^Very true.

Listening to the full version of "Being Alive" never fails to give me chills.  

I would give a kidney for Chris to tackle the role of Robert in "Company" somewhere down the line in his career. Early to mid thirties would be perfect....

REVIEW: Away in a Manger (AIAM).

Isn’t television a magic thing? In the Glee-universe it’s possible for people to sing songs together even when they are hundreds of miles apart. Lima, Ohio and New York City are 600 miles apart, yet it’s possible for Kurt and Kitty to sing in perfect harmony. Not that I’m complaining about that, btw, and Christmas is an excellent time for miracles to happen anyway.


‘Away in a Manger’ is from 5x08, from the episode ‘Previously Unaired Christmas’.  In that episode there’s a storyline about Kitty not feeling she is a good enough person to play Maria in the school’s Nativity scene, while the New York storyline has Kurtcheltana working several Christmas jobs in big department stores. AIAM is the last song of the episode, where both storylines come together and all characters are singing in harmony on one of the most beautiful (imo) Christmas carols. And since I like that song a lot and also all of the singers on it, I can only say: what a nice Christmas gift it was.
 
Youtube :
 

  
The lyrics:
 
New Directions:
Away in a manger, no crib for His bed,
The little Lord Jesus lay down His sweet head.

Kitty:
The stars in the sky look down where he lay,
The little Lord Jesus, asleep on the hay.

Rachel, Kurt and Santana:
The cattle are lowing, the poor baby wakes,
But little Lord Jesus no crying he makes.

Rachel and Kurt:
I love you Lord Jesus,  look down from the sky,
And stay by my cradle 'til morning is night.

Santana:
Be near me Lord Jesus, I ask thee to stay,
Close by me forever, and love me, I pray.

Kitty, Rachel, Kurt and ND:
Bless all the dear children in thy tender care,
And take us to Heaven to live with Thee there.
  
 
The song :
 
Since I never get bored of old Christmas carols I’m going to bore you instead with a little history lesson. Hey, I’m a teacher after all.
‘Away in a Manger’ was composed at the end of the 19^th century (the Victorian Era). In that time period and before, even going back as far as to the Middle Ages, it was common that multiple melodies were composed for the same, already excisting texts or rhymes. The texts would be taken from e.g. the Bible or other religious books, or from poetry books. Sometimes they were old stories being passed on from generation to generation, like Good King Wenceslas , which is a legend based on a real duke who lived in Middle-Europe in the 10^th century (Sheldon tells you all about King Wenceslas in ‘The Big Bang Theory’: youtube. He also sing the first verse of the song. )
Btw, the opposite was true as well, with centuries old songs being used for new lyrics, like how a19^th  century’s Christmas poem was set to the same melody of an old English folk song Greensleeves , which was probably composed early in the 16^th century, and then became What Child is This.
And it’s funny how, in my experience at least, Europeans usually recognize that melody as ‘Greensleeves’ and Americans as ‘What Child is This’.
 
For a long while it was assumed that the lyrics of ‘Away in a Manger’ also stemmed from an old rhyme, written by no one less than Martin Luther himself, the German church/religion reformer (1483-1546) who indeed collected a lot of rhymes and songs. However, this was untrue: it was written in the late 19^th century itself, in America even, so not even in Europe.
But even when texts and rhymes (or lyrics as we now call them) were newly created (in the 19^th century) it still was common practice that multiple composers would write several melodies to them. Two of the melodies that were written for AIAM are still very popular today, the William J. Kirkpatrick version  (and just because I can, my favorite rendition of that song is surprisingly this one by Emmylou Harris), and the one the Glee kids sing, from American composer James R. Murray.

So now you know, just in case you need a neutral topic to lighten the mood at next year’s Christmas family dinner.
 
 
Choir :
 
 New Directions:
“Away in a manger, no crib for His bed,
The little Lord Jesus lay down His sweet head.”

The song starts with a few girls singing a lovely intro, with a single guy doing a few bass-tones. Then a few guys sing “Away in a manger, no crib for His bed,” in unisono, while the girls keep “Doowoowoo”ing. I think I can recognise Blaine and Jake’s voices, but it’s hard to tell or recognize other NND (new New Directions) members because most of the male voices sound a lot alike and the song has also been processed with a diffuser (the sound equivalent of a ‘soft focus’) to make it all sound more homogeneous, maybe even to make the choir appear fuller and bigger than it probably is.
The line “The little Lord Jesus lay down His sweet head.” is sung by both the boys and the girls,  in a pretty 2 voiced harmony. Of the girls I think I can only hear Tina clearly,  but as said: it’s hard to tell with that diffusing going on (and this will remain a problem for me throughout the song).
 
Kitty/Becca :
 
Kitty:
“The stars in the sky look down where he lay,
The little Lord Jesus, asleep on the hay.”

Kitty, one of the sophomores at McKinley introduced in season 4 is played by Becca Tobin. Ever since she first sang on the show there has been some debate in the fandom on her voice: some love it, some don’t. Now we all know this is nothing new in the Glee fandom, but mostly in these cases the controversy simply revolves around whether a singer is regarded good or not. But the reason why some dislike Becca’s voice is because they perceive it as very edgy/sharp. Her vocal techniques are actually quite good, so that’s not the problem here, but, and this is why I’m bringing this up in this review, some people are of the opinion that the sharpness in her timbre makes her voice not suited for slow, tender songs as it supposedly is too piercing and not lovely at all.
I disagree. A voice like Becca’s can indeed create a slightly piercing sound, but it also can be perceived as very pure and direct because of that, and when used as a solo with soft backup vocals as in AIAM it kinda has the effect of a bright shooting star in a hazy sky. In ‘Away in a Manger’ Becca even deliberately softens her natural voice in her solo a bit by inserting a little air into her tones, making her timbre sound milder as usual, so she adapts her voice more to the softer tone that this song requires.
And I love her very faint vibrato at the end of some of her notes.
 
 
Kurtcheltana :
 
Rachel, Kurt and Santana:
“The cattle are lowing, the poor baby wakes,
But little Lord Jesus no crying he makes.”
 
Compared to Becca’s tender interpretation in her lines Lea immediately continuing with the next verse is almost a rude awakening. I think it’s due to the editing, as her voice sounds significantly louder than Becca’s, and only part of that can be explained by her voice being natural stronger and brighter. My guess is that this little discrepancy between Kitty’s first and Rachel’s second verse is mostly caused by the habit of the Glee music producers to dial Rachel always louder than her duet partners, as this is the case in AIAM as well.
Granted: harmony voices should be slightly subservient to the lead vocals, but they at least should be audible and distinguishable, and with the way AIAM is edited it’s hard to hear Kurt and Santana in the little  Kurtcheltana trio, when it’s in all fairnes 2 against 1 as far as loudness should go. But more on that later.
 
Because there’s another reason why Rachel sounds so much louder and even a bit intrusive when she starts singing the 2^nd verse. Something curious happens. The start note for Rachel is higher than Kitty’s, and I mean a lot higher. The song goes through an unexptected key change and jumps up from the key Eflat (Eb) to the key Aflat (Ab), which is no less than a 5 semitones upwards jump! (for the musically learned among you: the song jumps from the tonic/tonica to its subdominant). So at first I thought that the loudness of Lea’s voice was the main reason why she sounded so much higher than Becca, but after analyzing the song I found out that Lea sounds a lot higher (and therefore more piercing) than Becca because she is simply actually singing much higher, duh.
The key change is on the one hand quite subtle: you don’t easily hear right away, as there is no little intermezzo to build up to the key change and the jump is one of the most natural junps between chords in a harmony (a fourth). But on the other hand I think they messed it up a bit, by adding to the effect of the key jump nto only Lea singing significantly louder (which already creates a “Whoah” effect) but also having the 2^nd verse start when the 1^st verse isn’t even over yet. Rachel (and Kurt and Santana) ‘steal’ the last milliseconds of Kitty and ND’s last note.
 
This all together makes it a bit jarring to me, funnily enough not because of the key change itself, but because of the added stuff (louder volume and barging in on the 1^st verse). It rudely takes me out of the sweetness of the song for a bit.
And it’s not the first time Glee has used this technique to give a song an extra ‘oomph’ so to speak. The example that came to my mind immediately when I discovered this key jump was ‘For Good’, in which they jumped a third (4 semitones) upwards when Rachel and Kurt start singing the harmony together halfway through the song. Maybe they do this to highlight Lea’s higher part of her voice, and it does create that effect, but imo it’s often just too much of a good thing as e.g. ‘For Good’ was perfectly fine in its original key.
So I’m going back and forth if I think the key jump in AIAM was a good idea. It certainly is nice to have a higher voice on the 2^nd verse to make the song perk up a bit halfway through, and it also has the benefit of the harmonies that are underneath the main melody (Santana and Kurt) not needing to be too low in comparison: Santana’s 2^nd voice and especially Kurt’s 3^rd voice are quite low for them as it is already, and the key jump allowed them to sing in a more comfortable semi-low range. But the jolt I get at the beginning of the 2^nd verse is quite annoying, and imo unnecessary if they had only left out the other 2 effects besides the key change.
 
The Harmonies :
Rachel is singing the lead voice, Santana the 2^nd voice, and Kurt the 3^rd voice. This is basically how a regular choir or small ensemble would divide their voices: 1) mezzo-soprano, 2) alto, 3) tenor. All that’s missing is a bass, but Glee never had much with basses (I’m pretty sure Rory/Damian was their only real bass).
 
And here is where it gets a bit murky (and one of the reasons why making this review took a lot longer than I expected it too), because although I tried really hard I’m not sure if I was able to catch and write down everything Chris and Naya are singing in their harmonies. Lea’s voice is just too loud, and with the reverb/diffusing stuff  the music producers edited in on top of Naya and Chris both dialed down so softly it’s really, really hard to keep them apart. 
I think their 2^nd and 3^rd voices share a few notes, overlapping at some times, but most of their melodies are definitely sung in a 3^rd part harmony. So..... I did my best and here’s hoping:
 
 
- As you can see, there is quite a gap between all 3 voices.
- Santana sings mostly fifths (a quint) lower than Rachel, with only little deviations to fourths and sixths, and ending the line with a strong thirds harmony.
- Kurt sings even lower than Santana and starts with sixths and even sevenths between him and her, then slowly crawls nearer with fifths, then fourths, and also ending on a harmonious strong third.
- With so many notes between not only Kurt and Santana but between Santana and Rachel too, the result is that we get Kurt singing over an octave(!) lower than Rachel. The biggest gap is an octave and a third (8+3, called a “decime” in musical terms).
- Kurt sings 2 notes unisono (same note) with Rachel, only 1 octave lower than her, so that’s an unisono in octave.
- With a third between Rachel’s end note and Santana’s, and also a third between Santana and Kurt (and a fifth between Rachel and Kurt) we get a complete and solid chord, the chord Aflat (Ab), also known as the ground chord, the tonica (1^st chord) of the key the song is in at the moment.
Kurt = Ab, Santana = C, Rachel = Eb. Together that’s the chord Aflat:  Ab-C-Es.
 
- It’s funny when you think of Chris’ large vocal range, as he could have just as easily sung that 3^rd voice an entire octave higher.
- If Kurt’s had sung his 3^rd voice an octave higher, then at first he would have sung the first notes of the line (“The cattle are lowing...”) a bit lower than Rachel, then a few words in unisono (“...the poor...”), and then make a crossing and go higher than Rachel at the end (“...baby wakes.”).

 
 
As you can see I have given Santana and Kurt the same 2^nd voice in 2 parts. Here’s where the earlier disclaimer comes into effect: I’m not sure about this. Truth is that I simply can’t hear any of them sing something else on those words. So there’s a slight chance that maybe they do both have different notes. I know for certain that the 2^nd voice I wrote down is what Naya is singing, as I’m certain she isn’t singing higher on those words. But I can’t hear Chris singing a possible lower 3^rd voice, so I’m guessing he’s singing the same notes as Naya.
In my defence I can speculate that an even lower 3^rd voice for Kurt would push Chris in an even lower part of his voice, and although he’d be able to sing so low it would hardly be audible in the harmony over the 2 girls singing. Which, when you turn that around, is also an excellent explanation why I’m not able to hear him if he indeed is singing a low 3^rd harmony, lol.
 
- The harmonies have come closer together, as they already ended the last line with being only thirds apart from one another, and Rachel’s lead melody is much lower than her first line (the 2^nd line of the lead melody starts exactly one octave lower than the 1^st line). As Santana, and especially Kurt were already singing low, the lead melody temporarily descending so low too makes it a little cramped down there.
- The intervals between Rachel’s lead and Santana’s 2^nd voice are mostly fourths and thirds now (compared to the many fifths in the 1^st line).
- As Kurt is singing the same 2^nd voice as Santana on some notes (unisono) he also has mostly fourths and thirds intervals between him and Rachel now, when in the 1^st line Hummelberry were singing approximately an octave apart.
- The only different notes Santana and Kurt have in the 2^nd line are on (“But little Lord Jesus...”) and the last 2 notes on (“...no crying He makes.”).
- Kurt sings only 2 semitones lower than Santana on (“...Jesus...”), and where Rachel and Santana have an harmonious sixth interval on that syllable Rachel and Kurt have a seventh. A seventh interval creates tension that usually longs for a more harmonious conclusion, but as we’re still half a line away from the harmony (temporarily) ending/resting, in this case Kurt’s seventh creates this delicious teeny tiny feeling of “Hey, what happened there?”.  
- Santana and Kurt also sing different notes at the ending of the line, and Kurtcheltana is forming a 3-part harmony again. On the note before the last one (“...He makes.”) Kurt stays on the same note as the note before, whereas Santana jumps a third upwards. On the last note they both jump a fourth upwards, but by then their voices have already seperated to form that 3-part harmony.
- The end tones form the chord Aflat (Ab) again, but now the chord is in its 2^nd inversion:
Kurt = Eb, Santana = Ab, Rachel = C. So Aflat (Ab-C-Es) again, but turned around this time, with the 3^rd note being first:  Es- Ab-C.
 
I love music theory and harmony analyzing : the surprises you find never disappoint.
Phew, now wasn’t that exciting?

 
Rachel solo with NY and ND back-up :
 
Rachel, Kurtana and ND:
“I love you Lord Jesus,  look down from the sky,
And stay by my cradle 'til morning is night.”
 
And here is where the true miracle of Christmas commences: the 3 characters from New York City start singing together with the new ND in Lima in perfect harmony.
Rachel is singing lead voice, as the only girl (I think), and therefore she can be heard over the rest (and thanks to clever editing of course). But there are also some men singing the lead voice, only all of them 1 octave lower than Rachel (and maybe some girls singing one octave lower than Rachel too, along with the boys, but I can’t hear them properly). Kurt is one of the men singing the lead voice in the lower octave (and clearly audible if you listen carefully, and/or are a nutty Chris Colfer fan who can recognize his voice anywhere, lol).
There are other voices and harmonies  in these lines as well, and also a few little, pretty cascades of notes, even some low “dum, dum, dum”s  in the bass. But it’s all quite diffused with that studio-reverb and multiple layering of voices. And since I’ve already spent way too much time on the Kurtcheltana harmonies I’ve decided to let the other harmonies in AIAM go.
I told you what Kurt is singing and that should suffice for a Kurt review.
 
 
Santana/Naya :
 
Santana:
“Be near me Lord Jesus, I ask thee to stay,
Close by me forever, and love me, I pray.”

And they’re doing it again!!!  We had a key change after the first verse, and now there’s another key change after the 2^nd verse! So the song went from starting in the key Eflat (Eb) to being in Aflat (Ab), and now they jump another fourth to Dflat (Db).
Technically they’re jumping upwards every time, with the key going a fourth (5 semitones) up with each change. And we have indeed heard Lea singing significantly higher than Becca. But Naya can’t go even higher than Lea after that 2^nd key change, as she has a lower voice than Lea.
So, what to do?
The answer is simple: Naya sings one octave lower in the new key. The lead melody technically goes up 5 semitones every jump, so the begin note changed from a Bflat4 (Bb4) for Becca, to an Eflat5 (Eb5) for Lea, and now it would be an Aflat5! (Ab5) for Naya. That would be even very high up for Lea to sing. Only Amber could have sung the 3^rd verse starting with that note, as it’s only a little bit below the soprano C6.
So Naya doesn’t start singing on that Aflat5 (Ab5), she starts singing on a Aflat 4 (Ab4), one octave lower.
Funny thing (stay with me, I’m almost done with the technical/numbers stuff  ) is that because the song jumps upwards 5 semitones twice (= 10 semitones total), and one octave = 12 semitones,  the lead melody is now 2 semitones lower than at the beginning of the song! Startnote + 5 semitones + 5 semitones – 12 semitones (Naya’s octave jump to the lower octave) = -2. So the song ends 2 semitones lower than it started, even though the key jumped upwards twice.
How about that, eh?
 
With the key changes and octave lowering the verses are actually perfectly suitable for their singers:
- Lea the high mezzo-soprano gets the highest verse,
- Becca, who I think is a low mezzo-soprano gets the verse in the middle range,
- Naya, who is an alto, gets the lowest verse.
You gotta give that to the music producers: that was smart. 
 
So Naya’s verse suits her voice to a T. Her rich middle range gets to shine, and after the higher voices in the other 2 verses it’s a nice change to hear her darker timbre. She also has this R&B quality in her timbre that gives AWIAM a somewhat gospel-like sound.
 

All together now :
 
NYC and ND:
“Bless all the dear children in thy tender care,
And take us to Heaven to live with Thee there.”
 
Finally everyone is singing together as a true choir. Again some lovely harmonies (though I don’t think they’re exactly the same as the Kurtana ones).
No solos, but Lea and/or Becca can be heard a little louder on the lead melody, and for some reason I can hear Chris very clearly, especially on the last few words. It’s interesting to know that he sings the last verse in the same octave as Lea, Becca and Naya, mostly in his high register (falsetto) while all the other guys are singing in a lower octave (so maybe that’s why I can hear him so well here).
 
 
Chris :
 
Chris sings in the second and third verse of AIAM, but he sings something different both times.
- In the second verse (“The cattle are lowing, the poor baby wakes, But little Lord Jesus no crying he makes”) he sings a low harmony, a 3^rd voice, with his lowest note being an A3. And although we heard him sing an A2 (in ‘Give Up the Funk’), which is one octave lower, I think Chris considers that A3 quite low in his range.
Chris’ voice matches well with both Lea and Naya, and I think the edginess of Naya’s voice combined with Chris’ hazy low voice form a beautiful counterpart and underlayer for Lea’s lead vocals.
- In the third verse (“Bless all the dear children in thy tender care, And take us to Heaven to live with Thee there.”) Chris sings the lead voice, on the girls’ octave, mostly in his high register, as a countertenor would.
However, he switches a few notes to low register (the last ones of both lines), probably because they are below his breakpoints (the lowest note is a Bflat3) but then ‘colors’ them light to make them sound like his high register and to blend in better with the girls. So he is basically using his colfertenor techniques here (singing with female vocal techniques).
 
The highest note Chris has to sing in that third verse is a Bflat 4, which he could have sung in his low register, but his high register sounds much better and softer in AIAM, so that’s why he chose that timbre. But even when Chris is singing with the girls in ‘their’ octave, using ‘their’ female vocal techniques, his voice is quite distinguishable from them. His unusual countertenor timbre gives just that little extra flavor to the total sound mix, adding his own unique layer to the choir.
 
 
Final remark :
 
This is my first review in a long time. Being busy in real life prevented me from writing much, but also tbh I was fed up with and very disappointed by Glee in the last seasons, so I didn’t feel much like writing about it, even when the focus would be mainly on Kurt in my reviews. Too many thoughts about what could have been clouding the enjoyment of what we got, I guess.
So I figured ‘Away in a Manger’ was a nice song to get back in the saddle again, so to speak. I thought this was going to be a nice, short review (not much to tell except for the harmonies, right?) to get my writing back on track again, but boy was I mistaken. The first big hurdle was of course the sound editing which made the song a bit fuzzy and the individual singers almost impossible to trace for me, so ‘catching’ all the harmonies was very hard (and you may have noticed I just gave up analyzing them thoroughly after the Hummelpezberry one, lol). Fuzzy as they may be, those harmonies are beautiful though: I really enjoy this song because of them.
 
But what really threw me off in AIAM were the 2 key changes. I was so concentrated on finding the harmonies that I simply overlooked those key changes at first, and didn’t notice them untill I decided to listen to Naya’s verse to see if I could find the same harmonies Hummelpezberry had done in their verse (to check what I had detected and written down) and to my horror none of the notes I heard were even close to Hummelpezberry’s verse. That was….. not fun (keeping it PC here, lol).
At that moment I thought I had gotten everything I had done so far wrong and that my ears were absolutely worthless, and I wanted to throw this review in the bin and never look at it again. Yup, I have an artist’s temperament. But when the penny finally dropped and I discovered the key changes I wondered how I could ever not have heard that as it was so obvious. I guess it’s like watching a piece of paper with some seemingly incoherent blurs on it and finally seeing what’s hidden in the picture: you can’t ‘unsee’ it anymore.
 
So, for what looked like a simple song ‘Away in a Manger’ isn’t a simple song at all, as it has quite a few harmony/music technical aces up its sleeve. But still the song remains its peaceful and pure quality, not needing all the whistles and (sleigh)bells some other Christmas songs have.

What I love the most about Glee’s AIAM is that it is a very good song for a choir to sing, and Glee is supposed to be about a show choir after all, although RIB often forget that. And in some parts of AIAM that pure choir sound could be heard, with not that complicated but still nice harmonies, with even 3^rd and 4^th voices, like regular choirs have. Personally I would have been okay with only 1 solo and/or if they hadn’t had 1 or 2 voices singing louder than the rest of the choir on some parts, which undermine the feeling of harmony a bit imo. Although I would not dare to speculate here which solo I would have cut, lol, and I still like the end result very much.
It’s funny, how some of the best choir and true (equal) small ensemble songs Glee has done have been Christmas songs (from PUC but also from the previous seasons’ Christmas episodes). I guess at Christmas we all want harmony, a feeling of belonging in a group, and maybe that is echoed/reflected in the songs we want to hear then.
 

Welcome back, it's lovely to read your in-depth analysis' again. I think Colfertenor should be made a real word, because it is a truly unique sound. You never feel that Chris' voice is technically male or female. It is a lovely combination of both. It is like hazy warm honey, to me, because I describe everything as food Rich and timeless.

I enjoyed the actual choir like approach, rather than a soloist/duetist approach Glee usually takes. Rachel is the star, but it is about a choir, not just her. I miss the first season multiple voice sounds. One of the few things Glee has gotten right, the visuals helped as well.

Divalicious wrote:Welcome back, it's lovely to read your in-depth analysis' again.  I think Colfertenor should be made a real word, because it is a truly unique sound.  You never feel that Chris' voice is technically male or female.  It is a lovely combination of both.  It is like hazy warm honey, to me, because I describe everything as food   Rich and timeless.  

I enjoyed the actual choir like approach, rather than a soloist/duetist approach Glee usually takes.  Rachel is the star, but it is about a choir, not just her.  I miss the first season multiple voice sounds.  One of the few things Glee has gotten right, the visuals helped as well.

Perfect description!

Thanks, Marie, for taking the time and effort to write another review for us all.

To be frank, I had felt a bit let down by the scarcity of songs with Kurtcheltana harmonies despite them living in the same loft for so many episodes. I believe the only other one we got was the chipmunk song, wasn't it? So, 'Away in a manger' was somewhat disappointing for me because even though we did get two lines with the three singing together, I had to listen very closely to even hear Chris's voice.

I agree that Chris's colfertenor blends with the girls' voices very nicely. Sigh... what I wouldn't give for another song as sublime as 'For Good'.

^Kurtcheltana also sings 'Here Comes Santa Claus' in the same episode as 'Away in a Manger' and the chipmunk song.

But yeah, it's strange (and a terrible waste) they never let these 3 sing together more.

So if it wasn't for 'Previously Unaired Christmas' we never would have gotten a Kurtcheltana harmony at all. When Kurt, Rachel and Santana lived together for about a year in the loft!

They released Kurt's season 5 solo version of 'Defying Gravity' (link), and I think it should be in this thread.

It's amazing how much stronger Chris' voice got over the years, how much he learned and how much he improved!
 



I think some day I need to make a comparison review between this version and the season 1 one.
Still lots of stuff to do: Glee may be over now, but Kurt (and his voice) will be celebrated for a long time to come yet.



-ETA-
And here's a download link!
-ETA 2-
Just 'right click' on the audio bar and save the link: it will magically be saved as an mp3.

thank you so much xoxoxoxoxoxo!

so so so so so happy!

yes Marie you MUST do a comparison review or else no more xo!

I felt a little heart twinge when I listened to that. How incredible his voice sounded, and the confidence. Kurt had no doubt he would hit each note perfectly, and there was an ease to it, which he did not have in the first song (which was still fantastic). The first time Kurt sang that song it was truly his song, he was defying what was the accepted norm when he went up against Rachel, so it will always mean something special to me. Every time I hear it, I think of him looking at Rachel during the song, so this version warms my heart. But him being comfortable in himself and secure in his talent is also heart-warming. Man, this was when Glee was actually about something, and that Glee, I will miss.

Oh my god, eargasm! It's on loop until my laptop runs out of battery, haha. His voice is so very lovely

Glorfindel wrote:They released Kurt's season 5 solo version of 'Defying Gravity' (link), and I think it should be in this thread.

It's amazing how much stronger Chris' voice got over the years, how much he learned and how much he improved!
 



I think some day I need to make a comparison review between this version and the season 1 one.
Still lots of stuff to do: Glee may be over now, but Kurt (and his voice) will be celebrated for a long time to come yet.



-ETA-
And here's a download link!

This is so beautiful! I will accept this as a solo! This is Chris last solo cause it just got released! Unless Glee starts releasing more solo pieces to Klaine songs that Chris should have sung himself....  Omg What if they do have solo Chris songs in Klaine songs, Please..... I need those so much!

I remember crying when Chris Colfer's version of Defying Gravity was used in this pretty popular book, the character was about to die and they were scared so they just started singing this song and thinking of Kurt Hummel and how strong and brave Kurt was, and like now I am crying all over again

ChrisColfersLightning wrote:I remember crying when Chris Colfer's version of Defying Gravity was used in this pretty popular book, the character was about to die and they were scared so they just started singing this song and thinking of Kurt Hummel and how strong and brave Kurt was, and like now I am crying all over again

What book is this?

M&M wrote:

ChrisColfersLightning wrote:I remember crying when Chris Colfer's version of Defying Gravity was used in this pretty popular book, the character was about to die and they were scared so they just started singing this song and thinking of Kurt Hummel and how strong and brave Kurt was, and like now I am crying all over again

What book is this?

The House Of Night Series by Kristen and P.C. Cast. The character who died was Jack Twist Omg that scene was super sad too, It was in Awakening. Like I cried when he started belting out the words omfg!
Jack Tribute on Youtube

I'm so happy they released this, it sounds so beautiful and it's really different from his Season 1 version. Been playing this on repeat.

@Marie would love to hear your comparison of the 2 versions, they're both so good but different, and his singing has gotten better than it already was.

Ireth wrote:@Marie would love to hear your comparison of the 2 versions, they're both so good but different, and his singing has gotten better than it already was.

It will be the first thing I'll start writing on as soon as the buzz of the last episodes dies down in a week or so.


Somehow Glee's ending lifted this weight off of my shoulders , and I want to write about Kurt and his voice again. No more bad spoilers for Kurt to anticipate from now on, all that's left is celebration and admiration of this marvelous character (and actor).
So much to do!!!

ChrisColfersLightning wrote:

M&M wrote:

ChrisColfersLightning wrote:I remember crying when Chris Colfer's version of Defying Gravity was used in this pretty popular book, the character was about to die and they were scared so they just started singing this song and thinking of Kurt Hummel and how strong and brave Kurt was, and like now I am crying all over again

What book is this?

The House Of Night Series by Kristen and P.C. Cast. The character who died was Jack Twist Omg that scene was super sad too, It was in Awakening. Like I cried when he started belting out the words omfg!
Jack Tribute on Youtube

Thank you so much

Glorfindel wrote:

Ireth wrote:@Marie would love to hear your comparison of the 2 versions, they're both so good but different, and his singing has gotten better than it already was.

It will be the first thing I'll start writing on as soon as the buzz of the last episodes dies down in a week or so.


Somehow Glee's ending lifted this weight off of my shoulders , and I want to write about Kurt and his voice again. No more bad spoilers for Kurt to anticipate from now on, all that's left is celebration and admiration of this marvelous character (and actor).
So much to do!!!

Thank you so much Marie!!! Your Kurt song reviews and music lessons are some of my favourite things about being in this fandom.

HELLO MARIE where's the review!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!



(Ivana, what the hell does that banner say?)

Sky have put series 1-6 on their box sets, so guess who has just binge watched series 1-2? Back in the day when they let Chris sing epic songs, I so miss his voice! But what I also miss is Marie's excellent feedback and analysis of Chris's songs, sorry to be a pain Marie you probably get this winge all the time, but ant chance of some comments on Chris's later songs, on his tone and range now that he is older? Love to hear your comments and there were albeit infrequent some gems in the series end. Thank you

^Well... starting to write again is one of my New Year's resolutions of 2016, because I've really missed it. 
And now that Glee is over and well in the past there won't be any new frustrations about Kurt's treatment in the show anymore to distract and discourage me. So hopefully I will now be able to get back to the reviews with pleasure.

Glorfindel wrote:^Well... starting to write again is one of my New Year's resolutions of 2016, because I've really missed it. 
And now that Glee is over and well in the past there won't be any new frustrations about Kurt's treatment in the show anymore to distract and discourage me. So hopefully I will now be able to get back to the reviews with pleasure.

Yay thank you

Thank you from me too! Can't wait for the reviews.