Entertainment

Amber Riley Is Getting Musical Post-'Glee'

by Rosie Narasaki

As you may have expected, Amber Riley is among the ever-growing list of stars set to appear in Dancing With The Stars' sure-to-be-epic 10th anniversary. It's going to be quite the bonanza: To give you a taste of what's to come, Amber will be performing alongside "Lady Marmalade" icon Patti LaBelle, plus Meryl Davis and Maksim Chmerkovskiy and Alfonso Ribiero and Witney Carson will be engaging in a special dance-off — seriously, can you say "spectacular"? But with this walk down memory lane comes a question, especially in light of the Glee star's claim to fame calling it curtains earlier this year: What is Amber Riley up to now that Glee is over?

I mean, this girl just has to be headed for something awesome now that the show is over: Remember Amber's season of Dancing with the Stars? After weeks of perfect 10s and challenges, she took home to mirror ball trophy along with her partner, five-time champion Derek Hough, and everything was glorious. I mean, competition was pretty thick that season — she was in a particularly well-matched race to the top along with former High School Musical star, Corbin Bleu (as per the ever-trusty Wikipedia, her average score was 27.8, while his was 27.4 — so it was really a nail-biter for all involved). Jack Osbourne also added in some serious competition with an average score of 26.5, and a plucky underdog story that all the voters could really get behind.

Suffice it to say, it was quite the tumultuous season, and it's nice to see that Amber will be making an appearance in the DWTS 10th Anniversary Special. But what has she been up to since wrapping Season 17 (not to mention wrapping Glee's sixth and final season)?

She's Been Working On Her Singing Career... Right?

There's no official word, but Riley released her first single about a year ago, and she also completed a holiday tour this winter. What's next? Will she go on another concert tour? Cut an album? Join a Broadway musical? The sky's the limit here!

She's Been Collaborating With Boyz II Men

Have you ever heard such glorious news?

She Has NBC's The Wiz In Her Sights

It was recently announced that NBC would be taking on The Wiz as its third live televised musical, after The Sound of Music and Peter Pan. The production is in the early stages, and there's been nary a casting whisper, but Riley definitely got a head start and threw her hat into the ring with this Instagram post — fingers crossed for Dorothy!

She'll Be Speaking At The Curvy Con

Amber is set to be the keynote speaker at The Curvy Con, a convention for plus-size brands, fashionistas, and bloggers — you can still book a ticket if you're interested; the convention's set for June 10.

She's Been Watching Empire

Looks like she's been enjoying Empire as much as the rest of us have — and as a fan of the show and superlatively amazing singer, I think she ought to make a cameo soon, don't you? In fact, with Glee in the rearview mirror, I think we can expect a lot of Riley cameos all over TV — though my personal hope is that she'll get her own new series.

In a nutshell? I'm excited to watch Amber sing and dance in the DWTS 10th Anniversary Special, and I'm even more excited to see where her post-Glee career takes her next.