And then it got awkward.

I love a skinny tie.  I love purple.
But I really love this voice.

I am, of course, talking about my totally inappropriate crush on Darren Criss.

I don't really think that he's that cute, (If you ask me, Mark Salling is the only Glee guy worth writing home about.) and he's not particularly smooth or a great dancer.  But his voice is absolutely what keeps me watching Glee.  In my opinion, the introduction of the Warblers is the only thing that got Glee through this season at all.  For me, I was pre-destined to be a Warblers fan because I've been a huge fan of the Tufts Beelzebubs since my first year of college.  (If you don't know, the Bubs are an all-male acapella group at Tufts University.  They appeared on the first season of NBC's The Sing Off and are the real voices -- besides Blaine and Kurt -- of the Warblers.  They also arrange most of the songs.) I knew I'd like the Warblers and then I heard Teenage Dream.  I was hooked.  They took that song to a whole new level, and I loved it. Loved it, loved it.  I thought that my love peaked with When I Get You Alone.  (Which I listened to on repeat for approximately three weeks.)  But I was so very wrong.

I bought the Warblers Glee album last week (well, I completed the album for $3 since I already owned most of the songs) and I've pretty much been listening to it non-stop since then.  Which is a little bit strange, since it's only about an hour long, and I have a desk job.  But it's absolutely phenomenal.  I tried for a long time to come up with a metaphor for the Darren's voice.  But I couldn't.  So this is the best I can do: Darren's voice is like ice cream; sweet and smooth and full.  I don't know if that makes sense, but I mean it as a compliment.  He has single-handedly made me like three songs that I previously hated:  Hey Soul Sister, Raise Your Glass and Teenage Dream.  This is particularly impressive because Katy Perry and Pink are in my artists-I-hate pantheon.  (I'm actually a closet Train fan, I just think that song was horrible.  But For Me, It's You and Get to Me are two of my favorites.)

At any rate, last week it got awkward because I heard Darren's Glee cover of Keane's Somewhere Only We Know and my obsession went to a whole new level.  Suddenly, I was following him on Facebook and trying to log into "live chats" with him in the middle of the work day. (And I'm going to be honest with you, I don't even actually know what a live chat is.  And I never found out because of "unexpectedly high traffic."  Apparently I'm not the only one with a Darren Criss problem.)  I watched him on Ellen.  I awkwardly googled him to find out his age (24), whether he's really gay (no) and if he has a solo album (EP only, available on iTunes).  I watched him on MTV. I listened to his top five indie bands on Spin.com.  I watched him on The Today Show.

And it was all because of this:



So there you have it, wildcats.  I'm officially a Gleek.  And, apparently, a stalker.

xo kate