With the magic of TikTok, a cover of a Broadway song performed by the cast of “Glee” is rising on Billboard charts.
“Rose’s Turn,” performed by Chris Colfer for the hit Fox musical comedy-drama, originally from the Broadway musical “Gypsy,” has debuted at No. 3 on the TikTok Billboard Top 50 chart, a feat that has Colfer himself baffled.
“What is happening??????” he captioned a post on X, formerly Twitter, Friday. Fans were happy to let him in on the reason for the bizarre resurgence 14 years after the cover debuted on Season 1, Episode 18 of the series, which ran from 2009 to 2015.
“the greatest tiktok trend yet,” X user @sournaya replied.
‘Glee’ cover resurfaces from viral TikTok audio
Though “Rose’s Turn” has been sung by Bette Midler and Angela Lansbury, its audio from Colfer’s cover that has gone viral.
“All that work, and what did it get me?” he sings in the opening lines. “Why did I do it?”
The sound has been used over 297,000 times, including by Josh Peck, who used the audio to make a joke about Ozempic by panning the camera around his face with a caption that reads, “When you lose 100 pounds naturally and then Ozempic.”
The airline airBaltic used it for a similar joke featuring a pilot who captioned the video, “when you do the smoothest landing and nobody claps.”
Though many videos have been made in jest, with users poking fun at hard work leading to perceived meaningless results, other users used the audio for accomplishments they are genuinely proud of, like knee-length hair and an effective love spell.
Trending ‘Glee’ cover follows UMG battle with TikTok
The “Rose’s Turn” cover follows TikTok’s battle with Universal Music Group, which has led to some interesting songs trending on the platform and landing on music charts, including the 2022 track “End of Beginning” by Djo — also known as actor Joe Keery of “Stranger Things” — and Bobby Caldwell’s 1978 single “What You Won’t Do For Love.”
UMG stopped licensing its music on TikTok earlier this year, a move that resulted in songs by major artists like Taylor Swift, Olivia Rodrigo, Drake and BTS being removed from the platform on Jan. 31.
All videos containing music from the label’s artists are now muted with a message noting the sound was removed due to copyright restrictions.
Music from Taylor Swift,Drake and more officially gone from TikTok: Here’s why
In an open letter released on its website at the time, the record label said a music licensing agreement between UMG and TikTok expires at the end of January, and new terms haven’t been agreed upon.
The label noted various issues standing in the way of a licensing agreement, including artist and songwriter pay, protecting artists from the effects of artificial intelligence and TikTok user safety, recalling Hollywood strike concerns brought forth last summer.
The label accused the social media platform of attempting to “bully us into accepting a deal.” TikTok responded to the open letter in a statement to USA TODAY, calling UMG’s claims a “false narrative” created out of “greed.”
Contributing: Katie Camero
