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Why doesn't Taylor get to sing?
By BAD BABY
01 June 2010
There are six key HSM characters: Troy and Gabriella (the heroes); Sharpay and Ryan (the bad guys); and Chad and Taylor (the side-kicks).
Between the characters, the song allocation in HSM1 is entirely balanced, setting up Troy and Gabriella as Sharpay and Ryan’s only obstacle to starring in the East High musical and giving each of these pairs a number of duets (and our heroes a solo each) accordingly.
HSM2 is far less predictable in its song allocation, upsetting the equilibrium by giving Chad a duet with Ryan, and giving Troy an extra duet with Sharpay to compensate. Similarly, HSM3 again has Chad in a duet, this time with Troy, who also gets two solos and three duets with Gabriella.
It takes till the bridge of the very last song of HSM3 before Taylor gets more than a one-liner to herself. Paired with Chad (the obvious choice) for the harmony part, Taylor demonstrates surprisingly decent vocal ability, leaving the viewer wondering why exactly this lead character, whose face appears on every item of group HSM merchandise, wasn’t allowed to open her mouth till the final minutes of the trilogy.
I propose threefold answer to this deeply perplexing question. The first issue is that at the time of filming HSM1, Monique Coleman (who plays Taylor) was 26 and, whilst her youthful appearances allowed her to blend with the rest of the 18 year old cast pretty discreetly, the maturity of her singing voice is a real give away. Of course, the fact that both Gabriella and Sharpay have excessively childish voices only worsens the situation.
This is possibly one reason why there are no all girl numbers in HSM. The other reason would be the classic boyband vs. Britney argument: American kids love boys in groups (New Kids, *NSYNC, Backstreet, 98 Degrees) and girls solo (Britney, Christina, Jessica, Avril). There is therefore limited justification for an all girl HSM song. The only alternative scenario that could produce an opportunity for Taylor to sing would be a Chad-Taylor duet, but this lacks appeal as it would not have been able to achieve anything that a Gabriella-Troy number couldn’t.
But the underlying problem that deprives Taylor of her chance in the spotlight is that Taylor is simply the least popular HSM character. After HSM1, the distribution of songs in each film moves to accommodate the developing popularity of the characters, i.e. more Troy and more Sharpay at the expense of everyone else. By HSM3 Troy is even getting the majority of the lead lines in his duets with Gabriella, whilst Gabriella’s one solo gets brutally edited down to give Troy more screen-time. With no independent connection to fan favourites Troy and Sharpay, ultimately, Taylor is victim to being Gabriella’s sidekick.