By Chris McPherson

Just when you think Naya Rivera can’t get any better, she knocks another Glee number out of the park. Her rendition of Paula Abdul’s number one hit Cold Hearted was not only amazing, but also seems to fill a void that was missing for a while in the fourth season of Glee.

I have been a dedicated Glee fan since the beginning and have watched the plot, characters, music and show as a whole grow since. It is obvious season four has had its ups and downs after the graduation of a large part of it’s main cast. But when Naya Rivera returned to the show this year, I was reminded of what this show was all about. Yes, Rivera made several appearances in the first have of this season, but it seems like she’s taken over the second half and I have no complaints. The show was beginning to seem like a Glee 2.0 with a Rachel Barry subplot that was not as interesting as I would have hoped it to be. Lea Michelle is an amazing singer, but her voice is so Broadway/Theatre trained that I’ve cringed at her pronunciation of some notes in her solos this season.

Rivera, on the other hand, has been bringing her all. Nutbush City Limits. Girl on Fire. And now, Cold Hearted. Although Abdul’s career was before my time, I have been exposed to her music, and Cold Hearted was one of my favorites. Rivera jazzed up the song by hitting her usual belts with her heavy vocal prowess. Abdul did a great job with this song decades ago, but Rivera stepped it up a few notches from the 1989 single. She can never disappoint when it comes to a big number. Let’s see what more she has this season.