By Jorge Carreon
You won’t find two bigger cheerleaders for all things Glee than the formidable Amber Riley and Jenna Ushkowitz. Sitting down together at the Paramount Studios to discuss their second year on one the most influential series in recent years, the duo was the very definition of ebullient. And why shouldn’t they be happy these days? As the vocal powerhouse Mercedes (Riley) and emo girl supreme Tina (Ushkowitz), the ladies have amassed global followings of their own. With their second blockbuster season in full swing, the ladies are thrilled to discover exactly how global the show’s positive message and music has spread.
“It’s not just the U.S.,” Riley, 25, exclaims. “Everyone just loves the show. They love the music. It was so unexpected, so it’s still kind of like “Wow! People really know who we are.”
Fate certainly played a role in Riley being lead to find her place within the McKinley High universe. Rejected by the American Idol producers at the age 17, she went on to catch the attention of Glee’s co-creator Ryan Murphy a few years later for a different show. Korean-born Ushkowitz was a Broadway baby along with co-star and friend Lea Michele before trading coasts for Glee. Now that all of the cast have found their respective voices on the show, Riley and Ushkowitz say the adventure of a lifetime can only get better. Even more, they are excited over how the show has broadened the appeal of its characters, as well as their own world view.
“It’s the best to be able to take risks and have a net of people to catch you when you fall,” Ushkowitz, 24, says. “That’s our family, our audience and our fans. We’re eternally grateful for these roles that we’ve been able to create and bring to life.”
Mercedes has gone through some nice changes from when we first heard that explosive voice.
AMBER RILEY: I think at the beginning you saw Mercedes on the surface. She was the diva who didn’t want to sing background. As the season went on, you saw that she was a great friend. They really showed the human side of her like in the episode “Home”, where she was learning to love herself. You saw a softer side of Mercedes as the season goes on and this season you also see that softer side.
And, Tina has also found a new voice. She doesn’t stutter anymore.
JENNA USHKOWITZ: It’s gone. It was one of those surprises. They were like it’s gone and I was like, “What do I do now?”
RILEY: It’s that she stutters in real life.
USHKOWITZ: I’m trying to stutter in real life. [LAUGHS]. I was really glad just because it opens up a whole new level for Tina and all these layers that I wasn’t sure if she was going to be able to have with a stutter, and being able to have a full conversation with somebody. After she and Artie had gone through their trials and tribulations, you learned about her through their relationship more. This season, I feel like you’re learning about Tina in a different way. Performing and being with Mike Chang. I get to go to that comedic side this time rather than this weird aggressive dark side that she had in season one. It’s been really fun finding all the different sides of her.
Clear up this misconception: How did Tina break Artie’s heart?
USHKOWITZ: Artie broke my heart. It was a back and forth. In season one, we went through that whole betrayal with faking the stutter and then he got mad at me. I was wrong for wanting to help him, but we found a level playing ground. He just wasn’t a good boyfriend to Tina. You go through that in high school and you learn who your best friends are and what works better as a friendship and what works better as a relationship, so we’ll see. But, Mike Chang was there for her.
RILEY: And those abs.
USHKOWITZ: Oh yeah! Priority number one. Those abs.
Fans have really enjoyed the friendship between Mercedes and Kurt. How has that evolved for the second season?
RILEY: The relationship with Mercedes and Kurt is exactly how I am with my friends. I just wish people would have more friendships like that, especially what’s been going on around with the bullying and everything. In season two, there is an episode called “Grilled Cheesus.” It’s the religion episode, but it’s more of her saying, “You believe what you believe, I believe what I believe.” It’s altogether about love and loving yourself. I love the writers for creating such honest moments. I swear they pick my brain of what I would say to a friend that’s going though what Kurt goes through.
How aware do you try to be about the musical impact of the show, especially that you’ve been starting to tour around the world?
RILEY: It’s extremely gratifying. It’s really hard and very taboo to go after number ones. We’ve done a lot of number one songs. We’ve done Imagine, Somebody to Love, Don’t Stop Believing. Thankfully, the artists are like, “Go ahead, you’re the next generation. Make our songs new again.” We got the opportunity to meet Brandy when we did The Boy Is Mine and she was like, “You brought me and Monica into this day and age!” For people to appreciate that, especially in places that you’ve never been, it made me want to read up about a lot of these different places and visit these places. It’s just opening up a whole new world and a whole new window of possibilities.
USHKOWITZ: It’s true. If there’s one goal of the show it’s to bring people together and show love. This is exactly what we’re doing. I’ve never been to Asia, except when I was born. I’m excited to go back, but I feel like it might be a different experience now than if I was not on Glee. It should be a very interesting thing.
RILEY: We’ve gone to Australia. I’ve been to Madrid. London.
USHKOWITZ: We’ve been to Monaco. London. France.
RILEY: I love it. I love it. I loved London. I could live there. I mean, I loved Spain. I love the culture. Our bodyguard in Madrid took me around and there was just so much history! In America, everybody has their own history from somewhere else. But everybody in Spain had the same history. They took me to a palace. There’s no palace in the United States. Not a real one anyway. We have Burger King.
USHKOWITZ: No, you didn’t. [LAUGHS]
RILEY: There’s not like a real palace! It was so amazing. So much culture; it was like culture shock. Loved it.
USHKOWITZ: Me too. So much culture.
What is keeping you all motivated to push through the demands of a show like Glee, which has so many working parts?
USHKOWITZ: For me, it’s the cast and my friends. When you think, “I can’t do this song. I would never want to touch this song.” They will say, “I can’t wait for you to sing it. Or, I can’t wait to hear you sing it. You did such a great job.” It’s that support and the constant challenge and knowing that you’ve achieved something that really makes you say, “I can do this and I can make it my own.” But, it’s hard to just keep the integrity of everything and have that support.
RILEY: I feel a love for music. When you have a gift, it’s kind of inherent. It just comes out of you. You can’t help it, it’s God-given. We do have a good support system here because all the cast we is very supportive of one another. It’s very scary and new for all of us. People can love it or people can hate it. So far, we’ve been really lucky. People love it!
Glee Season 2 Volume 2 is available on Blu-ray and DVD now from 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment.
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