VICTORIA NOT VICTORIOUS

by Ella Struble estruble765@g.fhsdschools.org

By now, most have seen the infamous viral video of Victoria Justice, who played Tori Vega in Nickelodeon’s “Victorious”, saying “I think we all sing” in a passiveaggressive response to Elizabeth Gillies, who plays Jade West, complimenting a fellow “Victorious” cast member. But why did she react this way? Anyone would. They would if they knew that they were the least talented cast member of a show in which they were supposed to be the lead.

Although they have considerably fewer songs in the show, Gillies, Ariana Grande as Cat Valentine and Leon Thomas as Andre Harris were able to establish their talent as singers with very unique voices. Meanwhile, the show is plagued with song after song of Victoria Justice, whose voice is, despite the copious amount of auto tune that seems to have been used on her tracks, nasally and flat. Oftentimes, she isn’t even really singing, rather relying upon sprechgesang (speaksinging) and vocal fry to get through the lyrics. That’s not to say Justice was an awful singer, she was simply average. And when you’re the lead of a show, average just isn’t good enough.

If Justice had the least talent, why was she cast as the female lead? It may have had less to do with her talent and much more to do with her appearance. She was extremely conventionally attractive in that time, possibly pushing the role away from “too short” Grande and “too curvy” Gillies. But whatever the reason, it is clear that Justice was cast for something other than her talent, which was severely lacking in comparison to her cast mates.