single-phile: Gleeking Out

1. Music taken out of context.
Boy oh boy, do we love to hear a song uprooted from its normal environs and plunked down in what seems like a completely incongruous genre or style. Hip-hop is at least partially built on this conceit: some of the best efforts in hip-hop sampling often are also some of the wackiest (see Jay-Z's Annie-biting "Hard Knock Life (Ghetto Anthem)"). So when a group of earnest, clean-cut young show-choir singers cover Amy Winehouse's decadent, despondent "Rehab," it feels deliciously out of context.
See also: The Gourds, "Gin and Juice" (we have an extra-special place in our hearts for covers of hip-hop tracks by dorky white people or in geeky white genres)

2. Overstating the context.
Even as Glee yanks pop songs into new and funnily foreign realms, another huge part of its appeal is its overstatement of a song's lyrics. So when Rachel sings Rihanna's "'Take a Bow," she aims it at the heartbreaking Finn and does it with an overwrought expression -- and we eat it up. It's like a gazillion embarrassingly earnest teen movies all rolled into one hyperdramatic musical number. What's not to love?
See also: Hairspray, which builds a pitch-perfect recreation of '60s teen culture at least partially out of its pitch-perfect '60s musical style

3. You can't not look at it.
You know when you see someone completely wipe out in a public setting and you feel cringingly humiliated for them, but at the same time, you can't look away? Glee lives for those moments -- it creates them, exacerbates them and just keeps shoving them in our eager faces. There is nothing that's not embarrassing about these dorky kids doing a hypersexual performance of Salt-n-Pepa's "Push It" at a school assembly. Nothing. But just try to look away.
See also: Most of American Idol

4. Taking pop's big shots down a peg.
Call us heartless, cynical a-holes, but we sure do love to see our idols brought crashing back down to earth, no? In fact, sometimes it seems like the more we love them, the more we want to see the wind taken out of their sails. Glee understands this sick and twisted desire and is more than happy to deliver a blow to, say, Kanye's ego by having a dorky white Spanish teacher with a perm execute a spot-on cover of "Gold Digger."
See also: Weird Al's entire oeuvre; Eminem (though he could stand to take himself down a peg or two)

5. Camp -- and the importance of being earnest.
Truth be told, we could practically boil most of this list down to one word: camp. Glee is, in many, ways, built of pure, flamboyant, over-the-top tongue-in-cheekiness. But irony alone and all the time can start to feel cold and alienating. It's best served with a side of warmth and earnestness. It's this combination that makes Glee's "Don't Stop Believin'" so compelling: It pulls you in with its silly, even slightly mocking campiness, but it keeps you riveted with its heart.
See also: Rufus Wainwright (especially the video for "April Fool's"); Hedwig and the Angry Inch; Yma Sumac

6. Musicals, period.
Musical theater has been a part of pop music since, well, pop music existed. But we go through stages where show tunes and Broadway babies play a bigger role in the Top 40 than they do at other times. After Mamma Mia and, hello, High School Musical, we can say pretty safely that America is in the midst of a serious musical theater revival. At its most basic, Glee is musical theater pure and simple, but sometimes the show also makes its debt to show tunes explicit, like when Rachel sang "On My Own" from Les Miserables.
See also: Kristin Chenoweth; Camp Rock

7. Great karaoke material.
There's a recipe for the best karaoke song: you want something that's familiar (maybe even a guilty pleasure), meaningful to you and your audience, maybe a little dramatic -- and, of course, something with plenty of vocal acrobatics (whether you can pull them off or not). A huge part of Glee's appeal comes from the songs they pick to sing: passionate but comforting, compelling, culturally meaningful. Songs we all love (or could). Songs we love to sing along with.
Quintessential Gleek Moment: Mercedes' powerhouse cover of Jazmine Sullivan's "Bust Your Windows"; guest Kristin Chenoweth and teacher Will's karaoke duet of "Alone"
See also: Journey; Heart; Aretha

8. Sounds like a candy shop.
The best pop songs are often like little bits of candy: sweet. Perfectly assembled. Nice to look at. Delicious. If nothing else, Glee offers us a wide range of pretty, delectable bites (and bytes) -- tooth-aching confections that leave you wanting more.
Quintessential Gleek Moment: The girls' sunny mash-up of "Halo" and "Walking on Sunshine"
See also: Britney Spears. Rihanna. Robbie Williams. Madonna's Hard Candy

9. Covers, period.
America loves nothing if not a good cover song. Covers have long been an integral part of pop music, whether it's Elvis doing Big Mama Thornton's "Hound Dog," Whitney Houston doing Chaka Kahn's "I'm Every Woman" or Glee's "Acafellas" doing Color Me Badd's "I Wanna Sex You Up."
See also: Covers and Curious Similarities playlist

10. America hearts underdogs.
Indeed we do, and Glee is chock full of them: the quirky-crazy, OCD guidance counselor; fierce, lonely Rachel; the entire motley crew of misfits that is the Glee club. And then there are the musical underdogs: the show almost singlehandedly revived Journey's career this summer (or at least did a better job of it than the band itself has). We want to see them overcome their obstacles, rise up from the ashes and, most of all, win -- especially if they sound good doing it.
Quintessential Gleek Moment: "Somebody to Love"

Listen to all these Glee tracks and more on our Gleek Out playlist!