The Most Unhinged Songs & Mashups That Should Be In The Glee Revival

Here’s what you missed on Glee: The beloved series is returning on Disney+ and Hulu for a reboot — or maybe a revival (it’s not really clear which one) — and the cast is slowly becoming unhinged in addressing their returns. As creator Ryan Murphy figures out the final casting, it’s also time to consider one crucial aspect of the show’s return.

What songs will Glee take on next, for better or worse? (In my opinion, it’s usually better.)

Years before the revival was announced, Lea Michele already started doing the work by performing a medley of what songs she thought her character, Rachel Berry, would sing on Glee today during her own shows. Her selections included Miley’s “Flowers,” Billie Eilish’s “What Was I Made For?” and Rachel Platten’s “Fight Song,” all of which are accurate.

But there’s even more fun to be had, and given Kevin McHale’s goal of having the Glee cast reclaim their former Billboard record from Drake, they seem down for anything. Therefore, us Gleeks have come up with some ideas, from new songs that McKinley High alumni would obviously take on to completely unhinged mashups, plus a couple older tracks that were never performed on the original series.

Olivia Rodrigo - “Deja Vú”

Rodrigo directly referencing Glee on her 2021 hit should make it the very first song of the revival, preferably as Rachel ends up returning to McKinley High, Kurt cheats on Blaine again, or Brittany rediscovers her math genius.

Chappell Roan - “Pink Pony Club”

Michele included this song in her Rachel medley, and as always, she tore. But you know who else would slay Roan’s hit, and probably have a more fitting story to sing it for? Kurt Hummel.

Ariana Grande - “The Boy Is Mine”

Santana and Mercedes utterly tore Brandy and Monica’s original 1999 classic “The Boy Is Fine” on the original series. Therefore, it’s time for some more divas to battle it out on Grande’s song. Maybe Mercedes can brag about stealing Sam Evans from Rachel, or something.

Noah Kahan - “Stick Season”

Speaking of Sam, I would bet $100 that for his first number back on Glee, he’s going to get out his guitar and sing-slash-yelp Kahan’s campfire-friendly hit for no apparent reason.

Lady Gaga - “Abracadabra”

You just know that Lady Gaga getting the most Gaga she’s ever Gaga-ed since Born This Way stirred something in Kurt, and something random will lead him to recreate the music video frame-by-frame á la “Bad Romance.” Maybe he needs to cast a spell on Blaine to spice up their relationship, I don’t know.

Charli xcx - “Sympathy Is A Knife” / Taylor Swift - “Actually Romantic”

Sonically, these two songs don’t gel together at all. But Glee’s music team will find a way to make it work, because there’s no way Murphy will be able to resist another feud-themed episode with Swift and Charli’s reported tracks about one another as a centerpiece.

Sabrina Carpenter - “Manchild” / Olivia Rodrigo - “Expectations”

Speaking of feuds, they’d be remiss not to dig into Carpenter and Rodrigo’s “Drivers License” days, preferably with an empowering mash-up about one thing they have in common: dealing with pathetic men.

Beyoncé & Miley - “II Most Wanted”

After Rachel steals Kurt’s role of Mama Rose in the Broadway revival of Gypsy — but it’s about Gypsy Rose Blanchard, not Lee, or something equally absurd — they can come back together through the healing words of Queen Bey and her “shotgun rider” Miley.

Aaliyah - “Try Again”

Aaliyah’s catalog wasn’t released on streaming platforms until 2021, well after Glee ended, which means the series probably wouldn’t have gotten the rights to her music if they tried. Now, it’s time to “Try Again” (pun completely intended), preferably with Mercedes singing lead and Artie doing Timbaland’s backing vocals.

Celine Dion - “My Heart Will Go On”

My vision for Glee’s final episode was Rachel giving a powerful rendition of “My Heart Will Go On” from Titanic, as one of the only vocalists alive that could slightly compare to Dion. (OneRepublic’s “I Lived” sufficed, I guess.) With the revival, they have another chance to make this right.

Raye - “WHERE IS MY HUSBAND!” / Ashe - “Stop The Wedding!”

There is bound to be some wedding on the revival (ideas: Samcedes, Sue Sylvester and Madonna, Rachel and Aaron Tveit playing himself). The first part of any good ceremony is wedding jitters, which the girls can combat with a powerhouse mash-up of these dramatic wedding songs, fusing the polar opposite lyrics into a coherent narrative. I’m not sure how, but that’s the writers’ job.

Rihanna - ...

Oh wait, RiRi’s barely released any music since Glee first ended, never mind.

KATSEYE - “Hootie Frutti”

There is no world where it makes sense for the OG New Directions members to sing any KATSEYE song, but Murphy will make it happen. And when fans started joking about it on X (formerly Twitter), it unfortunately felt right.

Taylor Swift - “Cleveland!”

A student that falls in love with the new McKinley High quarterback should sing Swift’s divisive jingle after just one date, since Cleveland is basically Hollywood to kids living in Lima, Ohio.