As Mercedes, Riley features in many ensemble musical performances, has had several solos and duets, which have been released as
singles, available for
download, and included on
Glee soundtrack albums. Her first performance, "Respect" by
Aretha Franklin, was included in full on the series' first DVD
box set,
Glee – Volume 1: Road to Sectionals. In the episode "
Acafellas", her performance of
Jazmine Sullivan's "
Bust Your Windows" was called "showstopping" by Raymund Flandez of
The Wall Street Journal. It was included on the album
Glee: The Music, Volume 1, and released as a single, which peaked at number 35 in Ireland. Riley recorded a version of
Dionne Warwick's "
Don't Make Me Over" for the episode "
Hairography". It was used as an instrumental within the episode, rather than performed by Mercedes on-screen, but was included in full on
Glee: The Music, Volume 2. Her performance of "And I Am Telling You I'm Not Going" in the episode "Sectionals" also features on this album. The rendition of Aguilera's "Beautiful" in the episode "
Home" was called "so forced that it loses any power it might have from what's a genuinely nice arrangement of the song" by Emily VanDerWerff of
The A.V. Club, while Tim Stack of
Entertainment Weekly wrote that it was "a great moment for not only Amber Riley but for the entire show." Riley duetted with Colfer on "
4 Minutes" by
Madonna, which was included on the
extended play (EP)
Glee: The Music, The Power of Madonna, and reached number 32 in Ireland. and reached number 72 in Canada, and reached 46 in Ireland. Erica Futterman of
Rolling Stone commended Riley's vocals on the latter, and commented that series creator
Ryan Murphy should assign Mercedes more solos.
MTV's Aly Semigran felt that "I Look to You" was the episode's weakest song, preferring Riley's "more powerful" rendition of "Bridge over Troubled Water". Amy Reiter of the
Los Angeles Times expressed disappointment in both numbers, as they left her "strangely unmoved". She suggested that, "Mercedes sang admirably, beautifully even, but she didn’t seem truly transported by the music; so we weren't." "I Look to You" peaked at number 74 in Canada and the U.S., while "Bridge Over Troubled Water" reached 69 and 73 respectively in the same territories. Mercedes later assumed the role of
Frank N. Furter in the glee club's performance of
The Rocky Horror Show, and sang "
Sweet Transvestite". The song was included on the EP
Glee: The Music, The Rocky Horror Glee Show. Semigran felt that, as sung by a female, the song lost its shock value. Flandez would have preferred Salling's Puck in the role, but praised Riley's vocals, and wrote that her solo "woke us all up from the timid pacing". Anthony Benigno of the
New York Daily News also enjoyed the number, and found that while Mercedes lacked the stage presence of
Tim Curry, Riley did something "completely remarkable" as Frank, giving a largely flawless performance. "Hell to the No", Mercedes' original song, was titled for the character's signature catchphrase. Co-written by
Glee music supervisor Adam Anders, composer
Peer Åström, and executive producer
Ian Brennan, the piece peaked at number 53 on the US
Billboard Hot 100. In the episode "
A Night of Neglect", she performed another Franklin song, "
Ain't No Way". Her final solo of the season was
Otis Redding's "
Try a Little Tenderness", which was included on the album
Glee: The Music, Volume 6. During the season, Mercedes reprised duets with both Santana and Rachel: with the former on
Ike & Tina Turner's "
River Deep – Mountain High" and
ABBA's "
Dancing Queen", and with the latter on "
Take Me or Leave Me" from the musical
Rent. "River Deep, Mountain High" was included on the album
Glee: The Music, Volume 4 and peaked at number 30 in Ireland. "Take Me or Leave Me" featured on the following album,
Glee: The Music, Volume 5, and reached number 51 in the U.S. "Dancing Queen" appeared on the season's final soundtrack album,
Volume 6, Futterman criticized the arrangement of "Dancing Queen" for diluting Riley and Rivera's "power vocals", which, she said, "[gave] them the thin sound of ABBA's original even though they're both much better than that." Anthony Benigno, writing for
The Faster Times, said that it was "great", but added that it was "not much of a stretch for Amber Riley to hit this one". Other reviewers were more critical, including VanDerWerff, who said that this was the only song in the episode that "really didn't work". In her "Maria-off" with Rachel, Benigno said they "both kill it", characterized it as "easy but fun", and gave it an "A−", as did Slezak and West, the latter of whom "didn't feel that Mercedes was the clear winner" but thought both singers were "fantastic". However, Hyman thought that the two "were evenly matched", while
IGN journalist Robert Canning and
Billboard Rae Votta both thought Rachel was the victor; Votta stated, "While the show wants us to believe otherwise, Rachel clearly outsang Mercedes". "It's All Over" from
Dreamgirls received the most enthusiastic commentary, including an "A+" from West, who wrote "Mercedes was at her best in this performance", a sentiment echoed by Benigno when he awarded the song an "A". The "
Mash Off" episode marked the 300th musical number
Glee has filmed, which was a mash-up of two
Adele songs: "
Rumour Has It" and "
Someone Like You", with lead vocals by Riley and Rivera. It was acclaimed as its main highlight. Futterman wrote that the performance was one of
Glee best sequences: "Mercedes and Santana nail their vocals and the song combines great tracks from one of the year's biggest albums while capturing both the sass and sadness of the Troubletones at this particular moment." Votta called it the best performance since the cast's rendition of "
Don't Stop Believin' in the season one finale, "
Journey to Regionals". Jen Chaney of
The Washington Post awarded the sequence a "A+" grade, and Brian Moyler of
Gawker asserted that the number was "perfection" and said, "This is why I watch
Glee. It is just brilliant from Mercedes first belting to the snaps on the beat to the choreography with the girls walking in a circle and making little whispers to Santana bringing tears to my eyes singing 'Someone Like You' as if it was the last song she'll ever sing in her damn life.". Cinema Blend's Melissa Duko stated that the show "hit it out of the park" and added that it was her favorite performance of the season. TVLine correspondent Michael Slezak gave the number an "A+" and wrote, "Nobody can completely match Adele doing Adele, and yet Naya Rivera and Amber Riley somehow made the sum of this mashup a worthy equal to Adele's glorious original parts." "Rumour Has It" / "Someone Like You" debuted at number eleven in the Hot 100 issue dated November 23, 2011. It sold 160,000 digital downloads in its first week, the fifth-highest first week digital sales for the series. In Canada, the mash-up entered on the Canadian Hot 100 at number twelve on the strength of sales of 14,000 downloads. With the death of Whitney Houston three days before the "Heart" episode aired, a great deal of attention was given to Riley's performance of Houston's hit during the episode, "
I Will Always Love You", and its unexpected function as a tribute to the singer. Reviews were glowing: Reiter called it a "gorgeous, lush take" that was "definitely an episode highlight", and Bell described is as "a beautiful cover", "the perfect song for Mercedes to sing to Sam" and a "haunting performance". Flandez wrote that it was a "heart-rending love song that becomes a homage of the 48-year-old fallen star", and "brought goosebumps"; the shot near the end, "of Mercedes dressed in a sweetheart gown, standing alone, reaching for the stars, was memorable". Chaney said that "Riley deserves a standing ovation", and that she sang the song with "a power motivated by genuine emotions that tied in directly to her storyline"; the "heartbreaking context of Houston's death ... immediately elevated this moment to the very best one of
Glee entire third season." ==Reception==