Blaine Anderson - Musical Performances

Musical Performances

Further information: Glee Cast discography, List of songs in Glee (season 2), List of songs in Glee (season 3), List of songs in Glee (season 4)

As Blaine, Criss features in many musical performances, which have been released as singles, available for download. His first performance, "Teenage Dream" by Katy Perry, was featured on the soundtrack album Glee: The Music, Volume 4. It reached number eight on the Billboard Hot 100 in the week ending November 27, 2010, and was the best-selling song in the U.S. that week, selling 214,000 copies: the largest figure for a Glee title. It was only the second U.S.-certified gold single in the show's history. Both Billboard's Jillian Mapes and Erica Futterman of Rolling Stone deemed "Teenage Dream" the best song of "Never Been Kissed", the episode in which it featured. The Daily News's Anthony Benigno gave the song an "A", and noted that it was "flawless" and improved on Perry's original. The performance was nominated for the Best Gay Moment of the Year and Favorite Music Video awards at the 2010 AfterElton.com Visibility Awards. A Billboard cover-feature on Criss noted that the performance "arguably ushered in the trend of more current pop hits being reworked by the cast."

Later songs performed by Blaine and the Warblers became popular enough to warrant a Warbler soundtrack album, Glee: The Music Presents the Warblers. The tracks had sold over 1.3 million copies as singles by the time the album was released. Blaine performed the lead vocal on covers of Train's "Hey, Soul Sister", which peaked at number 32 in Canada, "Bills, Bills, Bills" by Destiny's Child, which reached number 44 in the U.S., and Robin Thicke's "When I Get You Alone", which got to number 47 on the Billboard Hot 100. Criss downplayed his performance of "Bills, Bills, Bills", and jested that he ought to issue the group's lead singer, Beyoncé Knowles, an apology for his cover. Blaine also led on "Silly Love Songs" by Wings, and Maroon 5's "Misery", which reached 45 and 52 respectively in the U.S., and Pink's "Raise Your Glass", which peaked at number 30 in Australia.

Blaine duetted with Kurt on Frank Loesser's "Baby, It's Cold Outside", which was included on Glee: The Music, The Christmas Album and reached number 53 in Canada. It was reportedly the most downloaded track of the album, and called "by far the gayest thing that has ever been on TV" by Colfer. Murphy expressed his pride in the number for "push the envelope a bit." Jessica Ronayne of Zap2it called the duet one of the Christmas episode's few saving graces. Blaine and Kurt also duetted on Neon Trees' "Animal" and Hey Monday's "Candles", which peaked at 62 and 71 in the U.S. respectively. In an April 2011 interview, Criss stated that he did not feel established enough within the cast to make song suggestions, but had mentioned liking "Animal" to Murphy, who included it in a script soon thereafter. Blaine shared a duet of "Don't You Want Me" by The Human League with Rachel, which Reiter deemed a musical highlight of the episode "Blame It on the Alcohol". It was included on Glee: The Music, Volume 5, and peaked at number 44 in Australia.

Over the course of the season, Blaine's musical performances leading the Warblers became so prevalent that he was called out for it on-screen. Criss offered the insight: "Blaine definitely had his moment in the sun. I think it's time to focus back on the characters that fans of the show really know and love. Completely objectively from watching the show, I was like, 'Why does Blaine get all these songs? This is ridiculous. I want to hear other people doing stuff.' I think we're focusing a little more back on New Directions and taking a little bit of a break from the Warblers."

In the first episode of season three of Glee, "The Purple Piano Project", Blaine sings "It's Not Unusual" by Tom Jones when he transfers to McKinley and quits the Warblers for New Directions. After successfully auditioning later in the season for the school's production of West Side Story with "Something's Coming" from the musical, he sings "Tonight" in rehearsal and "One Hand, One Heart" in performance, both with his co-star Rachel. He sings lead or co-lead on several songs with New Directions, including "Last Friday Night (T.G.I.F.)"; "Perfect" and "Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow!" with Kurt; "Control" and "Man in the Mirror" with Artie and others; and his first original song, the duet "Extraordinary Merry Christmas", with Rachel.

In special tribute episode to Michael Jackson, "Michael", Blaine sings "Wanna Be Startin' Somethin'". Futterman wrote that Blaine's "slick showmanship" made him a "natural for lead vocals", and TVLine's Michael Slezak called it "the best use of Darren Criss' voice on Glee in quite some time" and gave it an "A−". Entertainment Weekly's Joseph Brannigan Lynch also gave it an "A−", and said Criss "captured the excitement and the spunky bravado of the original". MTV's Kevin P. Sullivan was another fan of "the sheer awesomeness of Darren Criss" on the song, and characterized it as "a tribute that's more respectful than any other in the episode". In the fourteenth episode of the third season, "On My Way", Blaine performs "Cough Syrup" by Young the Giant, which is sung during the Dave Karofsky suicide sequence. Futterman said Blaine "flawlessly deliver the vocal". Lynch called it a "chilling rendition" that was "hard to shake" and gave it an "A−", the same grade given by Slezak, who wrote, "taken on its own, Blaine's vocal was strong and passionate—perhaps better than the original". Bobby Hankinson of the Houston Chronicle said it was the "best" of the episode, and added that the "scene was really, really well done and carried maximum emotional punch". In the following episode, "Big Brother", Blaine shares a duet of Gotye's "Somebody That I Used to Know" with his brother Cooper (Matt Bomer). Crystal Bell of HuffPost TV called it the "highlight of the episode", and it was Hankinson's favorite performance: "Bomer and Criss did a fantastic job bringing it to life". Futterman said that "it was initially disconcerting to envision" two brothers singing about a "former love", but she noted that it "was less weird in context". In its first week, the cover sold 152,000 digital downloads in the US, and was number twenty-six on the Billboard Hot 100.