The Glee Generation

Songs from Glee’s Santana Lopez soared from Sophie’s bedroom this past spring, her angelic voice giving my daughter a bit of freedom to get lost in during what’s been an isolating year for teens.

So it was awfully sad to hear today that the Glee character Naya Rivera, just 33 years old, may have drowned Thursday, possibly leaving behind a 4-year-old son and, at least in my household, kids who looked up to her. Who hung on her every note for Glee’s six seasons.

Santana’s version of Michael Jackson’s Smooth Criminal was actually the first time Sophie heard Jackson’s epic 1980s hit. “Wait, dad, Santana sings that right? Who’s Michael Jackson again? Wasn’t he a President?”

If you grew up in the 80s, dancing to Smooth Criminal was a right of passage. You tried to lean over like Jackson did when the FM radio station played it, like you were in a V8 commercial. You wore a turtleneck, bellbottoms, a Walk-man and Reeboks with the air bubbles to pump up before jumping to a Van Halen song, or moonwalking like Michael from locker to locker. You couldn’t afford Air Jordans, but those Reeboks worked. This generation doesn’t really know about these 80s music stars. Glee is their music. Santana is their Madonna, their Michael. Their mental health. It is sad to see Glee lose another voice.