Posted by Emily Exton on 09/11/2012 at 11:08 AM Videos

The Popdust Files: Call Me Maybe, carly rae jepsen, darren criss, glee

By now, even the most ingenious ways of covering “Call Me Maybe” seem passé, after having experienced versions by Olympians, politicians and wannabes with a camera and a dream–heck, even Carly Rae Jepsen has moved on to something new. But with the return of Glee to the fall television schedule, there is still an iTunes-dependent corner of the “Call Me Maybe” universe to be conquered, and the slim possibility that your grandmother in Laramie still hasn’t heard of it yet. While the show prides itself on pulling the freshest or most enjoyable of covers, they already tackled the biggest boy band hits of the spring, so better late than never when it comes to Canadian pals of Justin Bieber.

The fourth season of the show choir spectacle premieres on Thursday, after growing even less realistic than its days of fake pregnancies and sending half of its stars to what is a typically doomed fate in the television world: post-high school. Now is the time for the remaining New Directions members Blaine (Darren Criss), Brittany (Heather Morris), Unique (Alex Newell) and Tina (Jenna Ushkowitz) to shine. They go through the motions of the song you can sing backwards and forwards, altering the melodies and allowing for showy vocal runs when they can, but it feels a little empty without the power driven crazy eyes of Ms. Rachel Berry (Lea Michele). And for a show that’s impressed us with its ability to select relatively unknown songs and launch them into ubiquity—ahem, fun.—is this too little, too late? We’ll watch, regardless, because Tina Cohen-Chang stuck around an awfully long time to get that solo. We owe it to her.