9 songs we’re thankful Glee will never get the chance to ruin

Even though Glee did have some good songs, you have to admit there’s still a cringe factor behind them. Thank goodness they’ll never get to touch these songs.

Unless Ryan Murphy secretly plans on reviving Glee sometime soon, we should all be thankful that it followed the path of that all good things follow; it came to an end.

Now that it’s been three years since Glee’s been off the air, we can properly realize that sometimes, Glee was a bit cringy. While some of the songs and crossovers were pretty good, you have to admit that it was like Kidz Bop for teens. That’s probably why Kevin McHale fully agreed that it would be blasphemous if the Gleeks covered Beyoncé’s album Lemonade, for example.

Since there’s been three years and counting of music that Glee will never get the chance to cover, we’re highlighting all the other songs we’re lucky will never get the Glee treatment. Because, really, some songs just should not be touched.

“This Is America” – Childish Gambino

“This is America” is already a hot-topic video and song, so can we all agree that any adaptation of it should be handled carefully? On one hand, the students could do it tastefully like rapper Falz in his “This is Nigeria” video. On the other hand, it could go really, really wrong, like with Nicole Arbour’s “This is America: Women’s Edit.” Still, something like “This is McKinley” would still come off as pretty out-of-touch. Tell Mr. Schu it’d be better just to play it safe and not do it at all.

Every song from Hamilton

Okay, I admit that I did like Glee’s Rocky Horror Picture Show-themed episode. And they’re pretty good at handling pretty much anything on Broadway. But when you have a mega-hit like Hamilton, again, you just have to play it safe. One person on Tumblr imagined how a Hamilton episode might go. And while it all sounds like it could be great in another world, this is not that world.

“24K Magic” – Bruno Mars

Before I researched this, Bruno Mar’s “Uptown Funk” automatically came to mind.  Except, Glee was still around back then and of course they did it. But “24K Magic” is basically the 2016 equivalent of “Uptown Funk.” And oh no, the kids at William McKinley High School are not going to get their hands on this one.

“Closer” – Chainsmokers

Here’s one of those songs that they just couldn’t stop playing on the radio. And as talented as everyone from Glee is, their singing of this song would only make it more annoying. So as the unofficial judge of the 2018 Glee Club Competition, it’s a no from me.

Any song from DAMN – Kendrick Lamar

Just like with “This is America,” all of Kendrick Lamar’s DAMN touches on some pretty heavy subjects. And while Glee was good at addressing diversity — whether it be race, sexuality or anything else — you have to be careful with these kinds of songs. Maybe someone could get away with “LOYALTY,” but that’s about it.

“Lift Yourself” – Kanye West

I can see the episode now. One of the edgy kids at McKinley High would be going through his “Kanye Phase” where he really wants attention. So in the middle of Glee club, he’s like “Yo, I got something I think you all would really like.” Then he plays this nice beat on his phone, only moments later to start rapping “Poppity scoop.” Everyone would stare at him in confusion, even though he thinks he’s the coolest kid on the block. But at least it’d probably be an episode about mental health, and making sure that kid got help.

Any song from Reputation – Taylor Swift

It pains me to imagine that on some 2017 episode of Glee, they’d dedicate a whole episode to Taylor Swift’s Reputation. It’d probably happen if one of the students was going through this “massive scandal” like being seen as the most whiniest cheerleader (you know, high school scandals). Then, instead of crying about everything, she reinvents herself as the girl who doesn’t give damn, and would fill everyone’s DMs with snake emojis.

“Hotline Bling” – Drake

Thank goodness, even though “Hotline Bling” came out in 2015, it narrowly escaped Glee‘s wrath since it came out at toward the end of the year. Could you imagine the music video for a Glee verison of “Hotline Bling”? They’d probably be on those big steps outside the school, and everyone would be doing those iconic dad dances in unison. Just, no.

Any song from La La Land

With La La Land being such a huge movie musical, you know some of the students would do a whole song and dance routine from some of the movie’s soundtrack. It’d probably center around one of the high school’s cutest almost-couples that hasn’t yet gotten together. And one of the people in the relationship would definitely want to go to Hollywood to be an actor (because of course one of the students would want to do that).

Related Story: Grease songs ranked, from 'Summer Nights' to 'Look at Me'

Really, watching Glee as a teen was quite the experience.  And honestly, it was fun and cool to see the cast do their own covers of some of the greatest songs. But still, there’s a limit to these kinds of things. Are there any other songs you’re glad Glee will never get the chance to cover? Let us know in the comments!