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tuiyla · 2 years

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Ranking Santana’s solos based on importance to her character, part II

Part one with the bottom seven and the introduction to this whole ranking can be found here, go give that a read before continuing with this one. Done? Okay, so this part two of this different type of ranking and we’ve reached the top 7 Santana solos in terms of how important they are to her character.

7. Cold Hearted

We’re continuing almost right where we left off, since the last song on part one’s list also had to do with Santana’s New York storyline and her complicated relationship with her roommates, particularly Rachel. Enter Cold Hearted, a Santana solo that serves many a purpose, among them showing off and intimidating a guy she doesn’t trust in the slightest. But if we dig a little deeper than her elaborate use of what I can only describe as scaffolding, and even a little deeper than being dramatic for drama’s sake, Cold Hearted is about how Santana is as a friend.

I’ve long argued that Santana’s New York storyline rests entirely on two pillars: her career and questioning of, which is in part represented by her version of DROMP, as discussed previously. And the other one, her friendships and her journey of expanding this inner circle that previously only included Brittany and maaaybe Quinn. The unlikely Kurtcheltana trio is very new when Santana performs this song in 4x16 Feud but that makes Cold Hearted all the more important. You see, despite Santana singing this to Brody in a literal sense, symbolically it’s only about him and addressed to Rachel instead. The lyrics are meant for Rachel even if she only finds out retroactively that Santana even sang this song and doesn’t exactly appreciate it. And I think that’s crucial to Cold Hearted making it to the top 7 because it becomes a representation of who Santana is as a friend at this point in season 4 and how she’ll approach her relationship with Hummelberry.

Even the fact that Santana goes behind her roommates’ back here to confront Brody at their school is on brand for her and further establishes the whole Cold Hearted performance as a quintessentially Santana thing to do. She’s a little misguided in her attempt to intimidate Brody into leaving, yes. She’s misguided in a lot of her early attempts at proving herself to her roommates. And yes, she didn’t need to be this extra, but that’s who Santana is and that’s another aspect which elevates Cold Hearted to this spot. The most crucial point? That it represents how Santana, at the end of the day, is a hardcore friend with questionable methods but wholehearted belief in protecting her friends and confronting sus people like Brody. It’s extra, it conveys her distaste for Brody, it betrays how she thinks Rachel deserves better, it’s a very Santana-esque move. What else can we wish for.

6. If I Die Young

The difficult one, isn’t it? A song that has been impossible to view in a vacuum separate from irl stuff from the moment it was performed on the show and has only become even more tragic since. If I Die Young is a favourite of mine, both the song itself and this cover, so I admittedly have bias going into this and not to mention the baggage it has due to incredibly real-life events. But if we at least attempt to put all that aside for a moment, I’ll argue that If I Die Young represents a similar aspect of Santana’s character as Cold Hearted does, only in a much more sincere and heartbreaking way.

If I Die Young is Santana’s tribute to Finn. As tumultuous as their relationship was and as much as Santana puts up her bitchy front up to this moment in the episode, it’s a touching tribute to a life cut short. But more than that, I’m choosing to place If I Die Young here because, by starting out with Santana weirdly offensive speech and ending in an emotional breakdown, it showcases who she is. Leave it to Santana to introduce her tribute with insults that baffle the audience but show her true colours in song. It’s not just the song choice, in itself touching and, in retrospect, haunting, but the way she sings it with so much heart and the way we see her mental journey take place throughout, it’s so telling. Santana has a strange relationship with the difference of words vs. actions and this time it’s no different, though very much in the tragic category.

And I do have to acknowledge once again that If I Die Young and in fact The Quarterback as a whole carry a lot of real-life baggage and it feels strange to judge this performance’s emotion as that of Santana’s when there was a very real pain there for Naya and others. But, despite what some annoying pieces of misinformation would have you believe, Naya was acting and at the end of the day we have Santana the character. And Santana the character had a very, very complicated relationship with Finn full of hurt, but that doesn’t mean her love can’t shine through in song. Especially in song, since we see time and again and particularly with later episodes how much easier it is further to be sincere in music than in plain words. So If I Die Young is as sincere as we get, and as raw by the end of it.

If Cold Hearted showcases Santana’s misguided but well-intentioned attempts at looking out for her friends, If I Die Young is proof of her heart even when she herself would rather not acknowledge it. What elevates it above the season 4 solo is this deeper sense of vulnerability, even before the breakdown. That it’s Santana baring her heart and she herself being taken aback by it. It’s fundamentally an expression of love, through song choice, context, emotion through vocals. And maybe the placement is mostly due to bias, sure, and maybe everything to do with The Quarterback is impossible the rank within the same framework as the rest of the show. Despite all that this feels right and so I rest my case.

5. If I Can’t Have You

Moving on to lighter subjects, we’re going from bluegrass to disco and talking about the solo that I’ve seen so many misinterpretations of. If I Can’t Have You doubles as both the kickstart to Santana’s career struggle storyline and as a serenade to Brittany, a public one this time around, and that combo gets it to the top 5.

First, let’s start with the career aspect and how Santana herself claims this is a song about her love for fame. Though I do think a lot of her post-performance speech is due to Will so incredibly weird and presumptuous about her song and Santana not vibing with that at all, as she shouldn’t, I also think it holds some truth. Truth in that If I Can’t Have You is about Santana hyperfocusing on the one thing she for sure knows she wants post-high school: fame. Her plans are so vague because she doesn’t quite have the introspection to examine what it is that appeals to her about fame and yeah, some of it is being defensive when Will goes ahead and takes a huuuge leap in logic. I don’t blame her for being weirded out by that and I don’t blame her for being an 18 year-old wanting fame but not having a clue as to what that means. So I do consider this to be the truth, her truth when it comes to this song.

But, and this is where the misinterpretations come in, I also think it was a love song directed towards Brittany. Only, Santana doesn’t do so well with an audience when it comes to how incredibly vulnerable her love for Brittany makes her and she doesn’t do well with people assigning her labels and paths and things she doesn’t want. So she refutes If I Can’t Have You being about her love for Brittany- no, actually. Crucially, she refutes all the bullshit Will starts talking about and doubles down on the fame aspect. But that can’t take away from the fact that it is a song, a love song she sings to Brittany and does so with the whole club there. Similarly to Love You Like a Love Song’s significance, this aspect of IICHY is about Santana having grown so much and being able to sing a song like this. Which is why it’s even more infuriating that Will had to go and ruin it and Santana got defensive, but it shows that Santana’s come a long way but she’s not there yet. She’ll sing to Brittany with the whole club being there but when she’s called out on it and when people try to put her into boxes, she doubles down. Good on her for that last part, Will can get fucked, but Santana could also have just admitted that it was a love song to Brittany instead of insisting it was all about fame.

All in all, an interesting example and the last solo on our list not to be what I consider an actual big character moment but a good case study of where Santana was at, mentally and emotionally, nonetheless. What’s the point in all this analysis if she’s not a layered and flawed character, after all.

4. Mine

If anything should tell you that this isn’t a personal preference ranking it’s that Mine is here and not on top, where it famously belongs according to my GCV tastes. And while Mine continues to be that bitch as far as I’m concerned, it’s doesn’t quite make it to the top 3. Still, fourth place is an achievement and it’s deserved for how serves not just the Brittana relationship but Santana’s character. If this was a Brittana songs and their significance ranking, Mine would go straight into the top 3 and possibly battle it out with Landslide but it still holds meaning for Santana as an individual.

The breakup is one of Santana’s most mature decisions in the whole series and I’m honestly struggling to think of anything else that could snatch first place from it. It’s not just that it marks a milestone in the Brittana relationship, it’s that, fresh off from graduation and her first few weeks in college, Santana already has enough distance from Lima to be able to make a more mature decision she ever could have in high school. People sometimes ask me why, as a Brittana fan, do I love their breakup so much but it’s simple. Because it is about love. About not wanting to lose each other but also not wanting to hurt one another. About Santana taking a step back and making a decision she knows will break both their hearts but deciding it’s better than the alternative. The potential of losing each other much more permanently.

That in itself is a breathtaking view into Santana’s character. And it’s so beautiful because we know her journey doesn’t end here, we know she’ll later use Nutbush as an opportunity to make Britt jealous even though she initiated the breakup and told Brittany to go out there and date. It’s not that Mine is the be all end all of mature decisions it’s that it shows a journey, a progress that isn’t linear and shows just how much Santana will be able to grow now that she’s out of Lima. And yes, it also shows how their relationship with Brittany has evolved.

I also love the words Santana says before the music starts. Where I could say things with music when words just weren’t enough. It shows further self-awareness and proof of introspection. And is it any wonder? She fell in love with Brittany in that back row. She counted smiles, she was her angsty teenage lesbian self. But not that the choir room isn’t the place she goes to for comfort, she realizes and, I think, appreciates just how much music means to her. Santana, who’s always been big on words and insults and threats but rarely was as intimidating when it came to actions. Who talked a big game but couldn’t articulate when it came to feelings. Music gave her an outlet and so she utilized its power excellently here.

I mean, do I even need to say it? Vocally, emotionally, Mine is the perfect solo. Compared to the original’s upbeat vibe it’s almost haunting and, in Britt’s word, sad. And yet there’s that spark of hope because Santana Lopez might have turned Mine into a breakup song but she did so with so much heart and love and even maturity. For all these reasons and more, I wholeheartedly believe it’s as much a milestone for her own character development as it is for the Brittana relationship.

3. Songbird

And just when you thought we were done getting emotional over choir room serenades, here comes the biggie. Similar to Mine in many ways but also the inverse and representing an entirely different moment in time for Santana. If Mine was introspective and a confidently vulnerable moment then Songbird is the baby step that lead to it. And though you could argue, and you’d be right, that Mine!Santana is much more self-assured and an overall better rounded version of herself than Songbird!Santana, I still place this higher than Mine.

The reason is simple. What we’re looking for here is not “when was Santana the best version of herself,” it’s more about how well a given solo represented that moment in time for her and what it tells us about her character. And sure, it’s also about when she was the most at her “character development fulfilled”-ness. But in the case of Songbird getting into the top 3, it’s not about the objective importance of a given moment but rather, how big a deal that step was for Santana relative to where she was in her story. And in that sense, there’s no beating Songbird as far as Brittana-related songs go. And McKinley songs, too, since this is the last solo on the list that Santana performs while still a high schooler.

Think about what this step meant for Santana. She might only be singing in private (Brad doesn’t count), she might be oh so fragile and she might even change her mind about coming out right after telling Brittany ‘yes’ re::Fondue for Two. But for these few minutes in the choir room she poured her heart out. She went through the Rumours album, listened to Songbird and went, ah yes. That is the song that best expresses what Brittany means to her. Even a step beyond Landslide! And it’s so raw and so personal and something she couldn’t possibly bear to be open about in public. But when it’s just Brittany sitting in that back row, Santana allows herself to fully feel her own feelings through Christine McVie’s song. In the grand scheme of things and how much she grows later on, it might not seem like much. But in that moment? Man, it means everything.

Landslide or not, Hurt Locker or not, I believe this is a major milestone in Santana’s journey and one of the first moments during her coming out storyline where she really allows her feelings to sink in. She allows vulnerability, if only for those few minutes, only in the choir room, only with Brittany. It’s impossible to overstate the importance of this, of what it meant for Santana to take this step forward even if it was then two steps back. Heck, maybe especially because it was then two steps back. Progress isn’t linear, Santana’s certainly isn’t, but these moments are no less magical and in fact all the more integral to who she is as a person.

2. Girl On Fire

God, I’ve waited so long to go on and on about Girl On Fire’s significance and now.... I have way too little to truly get into it And to be honest Girl On Fire, as well as the one last remaining song deserve their own posts so who knows, maybe parts three and four. But I won’t leave you with nothing, I will justify these choices.

When I first heard Santana performed Girl On Fire in the show, I immediately thought it was the perfect choice. Granted, that assessment was mostly vibes-based Santana is fire and if nothing else, the fact that this is the only time in the series this symbolism is implied would already put Girl On Fire on the top of my list. So much so that this was originally the number one solo I chose, until some aficionados of what was originally second place convinced me. Beyond the fire symbolism, it’s also just everything else not only about the fact that Santana got to cover this song but when she had the chance to.

I ranked Nutbush, her other Diva solo low and I stand by that but there would have been no better placement for GOF then just as Santana finally makes her way to New York. We’ve seen her struggle and hesitate about the future since I Can’t Have You and we’ll see her stumble some more, as DROMP shows, but this moment is truly hers. She makes one last attempt to make Lima home and Brittany stops her from making that mistake, instead encouraging her to do what she’s been wanting to for a while now. The word that circles my mind whenever I rewatch this whole scene with the Lima to NYC transition is triumphant, because it truly is such a milestone for Santana and such a leap of faith. A life-changing decision, really, and it ends up being a net positive even with struggles and roommate problems.

And for Santana to sing this song, of all things, it feels apt beyond comprehension. I’ve been saying for a long while that Girl On Fire is Santana’s character defining solo and, despite it only coming in second today I stand by that. The lyrics feel so appropriate, a somewhat rare occurrence on Glee and the whole sequence is worthy of the character. And trust me, the standard is very high for anything to be worthy of Santana in my eyes. Some highlights that a separate post would need to get into deeper include “You can try, but you'll never forget her name” and the entire bridge:

Everybody stares as she goes by 'Cause they can see the flame that's in her eyes Watch her when she's lighting up the night Nobody knows that she's a lonely girl and it's a lonely world But she gon' let it burn, baby, burn, baby

That’s so quintessentially Santana and it feels so satisfying to be able to say that, and that Glee chose an appropriate moment to let her sing this solo. When else if not when she truly leaves Lima behind, when she takes a leap of faith, when, after having regressed, she faces adult life for real. All of it is so good that I can barely believe it exists on a show like Glee.

1. Alfie

Between the Alfie love of some fellow Santana fans @randomcanbian, @amazonworrier and @danisdreaming, and posts they’ve made such as here and here, I felt like I had no choice. That last one especially tipped the scales but make no mistake, it wasn’t peer pressure that led me to making this final decision and putting Alfie on top. As with Girl On Fire, it’s hard to articulate everything that Alfie means in the context of Santana’s character within the constraints of a post like this. I could keep it brief by asking, what’s it all about? And just saying ‘love’, but it does warrant a little more exploration than that.

So... Alfie is Santana’s last solo. We started with Science Fiction Double Feature and now we’re here, both in terms of the show and this ranking. Season 6 scaled back on the number of solos, with even Rachel not having as many and characters like Kurt and Blaine having none. When I had my first full watch of the series, I was secretly, or, well, not so secretly hoping Santana would have one more hurray. And what a solo it is, one with a context unrivaled in its significance and a song that embodies Santana in a very different way than Girl On Fire did but is arguably even more poignant.

I don’t need to explain to anyone already reading this the role Alma plays in Santana’s life and what this performance dedicated to her means. What it means that Santana’s already been rejected before and she is once again when Alfie finishes. But also, what it means that Santana stands her ground anyway and stands by her own identity, by her growth that happened in spite of Alma’s rejection and cruelty. If only fools are kind, Alfie, then I guess it is wise to be cruel. That was Santana for so long and so much of it was because of Alma’s upbringing of tough love. But Santana isn’t a little girl anymore and she’s certainly not Alma’s little girl.

Santana’s also not the terrified girl who walked the halls of McKinley, so cruel and so afraid to show genuine emotion. She carries that person with her, sure, but she’s also singing about love in an auditorium full of friend and miscellaneous new kids now.The Santana who rejected vulnerability and never thought she could embrace love to the fullest is now singing an ode to the very thing. She has people literally backing her because she opened her heart up. She has the strength to basically reject Alma’s rejection because she’s come too far to believe that kindness is foolish and love isn’t something she could have. Instead, she is love and, though she still has a long way to go, she gives love and accepts it freely.

All of that is embodied in her performance of Alfie where she puts herself, her heart in the limelight and is brave enough to face Alma and a possible rejection. And when the rejection comes, she can cope much better thanks to the support she has because she opened herself up to kindness. This is Santana at her most vulnerable, arguably at her bravest, and since those are things she struggles with throughout the series, I’d even dare to say her best. And Alfie becomes the best solo in terms of importance because she pours all that into every syllable and every note. Don’t you see? She believes in love. The girl who sued to tear everyone down and would only dare whisper her true feelings, who would rather live up to worst expectations then open herself up to the potential of hurt now believes in love, above all.

#glee #santana lopez #santanalysis #brittana #mine gcv #alfie #girl on fire gcv #if i die young gcv #if i can't have you #cold hearted gcv #songbird gcv #didn't have time to proofread oops #song analysis

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inkskinned · 4 months

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i got rickrolled today but it didn't work because i have adblocker installed, so youtube just told me i violated the terms of service. yesterday i was trying to edit a picture as a joke for my girlfriend, and google made me check a box to prove i'm human because i wasn't "searching normally".

it isn't just that capitalism is killing fun and whimsy, it is that any element of entertainment or joy is being fed upon by this mosquito body, one that will suck you dry at any vulnerability.

do you want to meet new friends in your city? download this app, visit our website, sign up for our email list. pay for this class on making a terrarium, on candlemaking, on cooking. it will be 90 dollars a session. you can go to group fitness, but only under our specific gym membership. solve the puzzle, sign up for our puzzle-of-the-month-club. what is a club if not just a paid opportunity - you are all paying for the same thing, which makes you a community.

but you're like me, i know it - you're careful, you try the library meetings and the stuff at the local school and all of that. the problem is that you kind of want really specific opportunities that used to exist. you are so grateful for libraries and the publicly-funded things: they are, however, an exception - and everything they have, they've fought tooth-and-nail to protect. you read a headline about how in many other states, libraries have virtually nothing left.

do you want to meet up with your friends afterwards? gift your friends the discord app. you can choose to go to a cafe (buy a coffee, at least), a bar (money, alcohol) or you can all stay in and catch a movie (streaming) or you can all stay in bed (rent. don't get me started) and scream (noise complaint. ticket at least).

you want to read a new book, but the book has to have 124 buzzwords from tiktok readers that are, like, weirdly horny. you can purchase this audiobook on audible! your podcast isn't on spotify, it's on its own server, pay for a different site. fuck, at least you're supporting artists you like. the art museum just raised their ticket price. once, they had a temporary exhibit that acknowledged that ~85% of their permanent art galleries were from cis white men, and that they had thousands of works by women (even famous women, like frida! georgia o'keefe!) just rotting in their basement. that exhibit lasted for 3 months and then they put everything away again.

walmart proudly supports this strip of land by the street! here are some flowers with wilting leaves. its employees have to pay out-of-pocket for their uniforms. my friend once got fined by the city because she organized a community pick-up of the riverfront, which was technically private property.

no, you cannot afford to take that dance class, neither can i. by the way - i'm a teacher. i'm absolutely not saying "educators shouldn't be paid fairly." i'm saying that when i taught classes, renting a studio went from 20 bucks an hour to 180 in the span of 6 months. no significant changes to the studio were made, except they now list the place as updated and friendly. the heat still doesn't work in the building. i have literally never seen the landlord who ignores my emails. recently they've been renting it out at night as an "unusual nightclub; a once-in-a-lifetime close-knit party." they spent some of those 180 dollars on LEDs and called it renovating. the high heels they invite in have been ruining the marley.

do you want to experience the old internet? do you want to play flash games or get back the temporary joy of club penguin? you can, you just need to pay for it. i have a weird, neurodivergent obsession with occasionally checking in to watch the downfall and NFT-ification of neopets. if i'm honest with you all - i never got into webkins, my family didn't have the money to buy me a pointless elephant. people forget that "being poor" can mean literally "if i buy you that toy, i can't afford rent."

you and i don't have time to make good food, and we don't have the budget for it. we are not gonna be able to host dinner parties, we're not made of money, kid. do you want some kind of 3rd space? a space that isn't home or work or school? you could try being online, but - what places actually exist for you? tiktok counts as social media because you see other people on it, not because they actually talk to you.

there was a local winter tradition of sledding down the hill at my school. kids would use pizza boxes and jackets and whatever worked, howling and laughing. back in september, they made a big announcement that this time, rules were changing, and everyone must pay 10 dollars to participate. when im not scared shitless, i kind of appreciate the environmental irony - it hasn't gone below 40. so much for snow & joyriding.

i saw a bulletin for a local dogwalking group and, nervous about making a good first impression, showed up early. the first guy there grimaced at me. "sorry," he said. "there's a 30-dollar buy-in fee." i thought he was joking. wait. for what? the group doesn't offer anything except friendship and people with whom to walk around the city.

he didn't know the answer. just shrugged at me. "you know," he said. "these days, everything costs money."

#spilled ink #warm up #“why did u tag it warm up” bc i wrote it off the cuff while drinkin coffee lol #btw the 30 dollar buy in for the dog walking is bc they pay the organizer a small pittance so she can #run fb ads and stuff and like she does put in a lot of work i don't mind paying her #but that's exactly what im fucking talking about like.#ppl can't afford to volunteer their time anymore and we all understand it!!! everything costs money for everyone!#like we didn't have to use to say ''do you mind paying me back for the stuff we ate''#we used to be able to afford to feed our friends once in a while!!!

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