Blake Jenner has sung his way on to “Glee.”
On Tuesday night, Blake was revealed as the Season 2 winner of Oxygen’s “Glee Project,” beating out two runners-up who had gone through professional vocal lessons, despite having no formal singing background himself – other than in the shower.
In the finale, the Miami native bested vocal jazz performance major Aylin Bayramoglu and Broadway-trained singer Ali Stroker, in an 11-episode long competition that will now earn him a seven-episode appearance on “Glee.”
Despite his lack of experience as a trained singer, the young hopeful still charmed the judges with his skill and natural talent – maintaining a five-episode streak without receiving any criticisms from the panel. But what really won people over was his amiable personality, astounding ability to act and, of course, his charming looks and athletic build!
Blake had several bumps along the way, dealing with the difficulty of learning how to sing and perfecting his weekly performances – with some weeks not as perfect as others and even landing in the bottom three at one point.
For the season finale, the 19-year-old singer brought his A-game and paid tribute to Edwin McCain with the song “I’ll Be.” He added a final sentimental touch before leaving the stage by reciting an original poem titled “I’m the Guy” with lines like “I am the guy who will persist in his path/ I am the guy who will make you laugh” to highlight the reason why he’s there.
Meanwhile, Ali continued to play up her Broadway strengths by delivering her own rendition of “Popular” from “Wicked” while Aylin chose to perform Adele’s “Rolling in the Deep” but Blake took home the seven-episode contract at the end of the night.
After showrunner Ryan Murphy announced Blake as the winner, Blake tweeted, “Thank you to everyone for their love and support throughout this ENTIRE journey I will be grateful and thankful to you all FOREVER I PROMISE.”
It appears Ryan has already begun crafting Blake’s character and role in the show, teasing everyone – Blake included – with a Tweet that read, “Writing such a great role for the winner! And just wait until you see who they are dating.”
Production for “Glee’s” fourth season is already underway and the show will return to Fox on September 13, 2012.
— Lynn Chu
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