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The Troubletones were the second glee club based in William McKinley High School. The club later became a subsidiary of New Directions. The club was started when Al Motta privately donated enough money to Principal Figgins to allow for the continuation of an additional show choir which heavily featured his daughter, Sugar. In Al Motta's request, Principal Figgins summoned Shelby Corcoran from New York to direct the group. Later, Mercedes convinced fellow glee clubbers Santana and Brittany to join The Troubletones alongside her, which forced Sugar into the background of all the group performances. The Troubletones were never seen again after Season 3.

Club History

In I Am Unicorn, it is revealed that Shelby Corcoran has been summoned to McKinley High at the request of Al Motta, who offered Principal Figgins a presumably very sizable sum of money to make it happen. Naturally, Sugar immediately joins the group, and takes advantage of private singing lessons with Shelby.

In Asian F, Mercedes joins after becoming tired of Will's blatant favoritism of Rachel, and realizing that The Troubletones could offer her several opportunities that New Directions kept her from achieving.

In Pot o' Gold, Mercedes attempts to persuade Santana and Brittany to defect with her. Blaine's solo of Last Friday Night in New Directions irritates Santana, and she immediately comes to understand Mercedes' reasons for leaving. Following this, Santana quickly joins Mercedes and Sugar in The Troubletones, and makes it her mission to convince Brittany to do the same.

Brittana + Mercedes dodgeball

In Mash Off, in an attempt to make a safe competition for the both teams Will and Shelby make the first Annual Mash Off. While this Santana with her trash-talk makes Finn invites her and The Troubletones for a dodgeball game. During the game The Troubletones and New Directions sing Hit Me with Your Best Shot/One Way or Another, at the end of the game The Troubletones win and viciously assault Rory Flanagan.

Rumour has it someone like you

The Troubletones

Quinn, in an attempt to be closer to Shelby, therefore closer to Beth, asks if she can join. Shelby say's she'll consider, and later Puck tells Shelby about Quinn's deceit. Shelby tells Quinn that she cannot join and she can not see Beth.

Mercedes gives the idea for an Adele Mash-up for the competition and calls herself the captain of the team for what Santana shows to be against. At the end of the episode The Troubletones sing Rumour Has It/Someone Like You and Santana slaps Finn because she believes he outed her.

In I Kissed a Girl, Figgins decides to punish Santana because of the slap, but Finn says that the slap was fake and so this way she couldn't be suspended. Out of the office Finn invites Santana and The Troubletones for a week with the New Directions. In the choir room Finn says that this week's assignment will be "Lady Music Week", and The Troubletones along with the New Directions should sing "songs made by girls for girls" in a way to help Santana to come out. The Troubletones along with the New Directions Girls sing Katy Perry's I Kissed a Girl.

Tumblr lve9w44tvp1qdev8fo1 500

In Hold on to Sixteen, The Troubletones face off against New Directions and The Unitards at Sectionals by performing Survivor/I Will Survive. Ultimately, they are unable to beat New Directions and are awarded second place.

Stronger pic

In On My Way, Will followed with his promise of letting The Troubletones perform a number at Regionals. Five previous members of the Troubletones join Santana, Brittany, Mercedes, and Sugar and put on a performance of What Doesn't Kill You (Stronger). This helps to secure New Directions the 1st place trophy and a ticket to Nationals. They outperform a common rival, the Warblers, and the not so well-known Golden Goblets.

In Props, Will and Sue are discussing the New Directions' Nationals Set-list which will feature the Troubletones performing Lady Gaga's Edge of Glory. In the opening scene of Nationals, Mercedes is showed to have gotten food poisoning while in Chicago. She is put on bed rest while Will has Quinn Fabray and Tina Cohen-Chang take

Edge of Glory2

her place in Edge of Glory. Just before New Directions begins their performance Mercedes is shown to have recovered and is ready to perform, relieving Quinn who feels unable to perform well, but Mercedes tell that she and Tina will be performing with the Troubletones. Following this, the Troubletones open the New Directions set by performing Edge of Glory with Santana, Mercedes, Quinn, and Tina having solos and Brittany, Sugar, and 6 other Troubletones member performing with them. It is this performance and the rest of the New Directions set that allows New Directions to finally beat their long-time rival show-choir Vocal Adrenaline and win first place at Nationals.

In Season Four, the group of The Troubletones is no longer integrated in New Directions as the majority of the group had graduated. 

Former Members

Temporary Members

The Troubletones Member List

Director

Current members

(Arranged in the chronological order of joining)

No. Name Status Solos Position
1 Sugar Motta Quit 2 Creator, Member, Back-up Singer
2 Mercedes Jones 5 President, Lead Singer, Costume Designer
3 Santana Lopez 7 Member, Lead Singer, Choreographer
4 Brittany Pierce 4 Member, Lead Singer, Choreographer
5-12 Unknown Inactive 0 Back-up Dancers and Singers
13 Quinn Fabray Temporary 1 Temporary Lead Singer/Dancer
14 Tina Cohen-Chang Temporary 1 Temporary Lead Singer/Dancer

Attendance

Season 3 Table

Season 3 Summer Break
Episode 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22
Sugar Motta Joined Active Quit Regionals Nationals
Mercedes Jones Joined Active Quit Regionals Nationals Graduated
Santana Lopez Joined Active Quit Regionals Nationals Graduated
Brittany Pierce Joined Active Quit Regionals Nationals
Members 5-6 Joined Active Quit
Member 7 Joined Active Quit Nationals
Quinn Fabray Rejected Nationals Graduated

Members 8-12

Joined /
Disbanded
Regionals Nationals
Tina Cohen-Chang Nationals

Songs

Note: All songs have solos confirmed via a cappella version.

Setlist of Competitions

Sectionals 2011

Regionals 2012

Nationals 2012

Rivals

New Directions

Mercedes (Asian F) and Santana (Pot o' Gold) left New Directions and joined the Troubletones to be featured in the spotlight more, while Brittany does so only because Santana asked her. In Mash Off, the two teams compete in a Mash up competition, in which the Troubletones sing a mashup of Adele's Rumour Has It and Someone Like You. Earlier, in a competitive game of dodgeball, the Troubletones sing Blondie's One Way or Another with New Directions singing Pat Benetar's Hit Me With Your Best Shot.

In I Kissed a Girl, the two groups team up for "Lady Music Week" in order to help Santana deal with her trouble coming out. The girls of both groups get together and sing Katy Perry's I Kissed a Girl. The two groups, along with The Unitards face off during Sectionals. (Hold on to Sixteen)

The Unitards

In Mash Off, Will and Shelby discuss how the Unitards don't stand a chance against both New Directions and the Troubletones. The Troubletones have to beat The Unitards, along with New Directions in Hold on to Sixteen during Sectionals.

Competition Costumes

2011/2012 (L-R: Sectionals, Regionals, Nationals)

Trivia

  • Originally believed to be called "Pot of Sugar," although Pot o' Gold confirmed the club's actual name as being "The Troubletones."
  • The Troubletones was created due to a private donation by Al Motta.
  • It is the third glee club in William McKinley High School. The second being Sue's Kids. But out of the two, The Troubletones are the only ones to compete at a show choir competition.
  • Is the third exclusively female glee club to be shown (the first was Jane Addams Academy, second was Singaz Wit Attitude and fourth was The Amazonians).
  • Santana is the only Troubletones' member to have a solo in every Troubletones' song.
  • In all Troubletones' competition numbers, Santana is the first to sing.
  • Other ideas for the name of this group were Hot Bitches and Hot Messes (Santana) and Free Beer (Brittany).
  • Sugar and Mercedes are the only members that aren't members of the Cheerios, although Mercedes has been a member of the Cheerios in the past.
  • The three unnamed members that featured in Rumour Has It/Someone Like You are portrayed by Jaimie Goodwin, Comfort Fedoke, and Athena Perample.
  • As of Hold on to Sixteen there are a total of 12 members in the club. Five of the girls who joined are The Mack and four unnamed Cheerios portrayed by Hannah Douglass, Glenda Morales, Brittany Parks, and Janelle Ginestra.
  • Quinn is the only one who has been rejected to join, but she later performs and sings a solo in Edge of Glory.
  • Rachel is the only girl from New Directions, prior to Season Four, who hasn't been part of The Troubletones at one point in the series.
  • Although the Troubletones lost at Sectionals, Will allowed the girls to perform one number per competition if they rejoined the New Directions.
  • It is the second glee club to have members taken from New Directions, the first was Sue's Kids. Interestingly, Santana and Mercedes were part of both groups.
  • The back-up dancers during The Troubletones performances for New Directions are rarely seen after performing the numbers. However, they were on stage celebrating with the rest of the team at Nationals.
  • The Troubletones are never seen rehearsing as part of the New Directions at all, but still manage to pull of the choreography and harmonies perfectly.

Gallery

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