'Glee' First Listen: 'The Glee Project's' Alex Newell Covers Nicki Minaj's 'Starship' (Exclusive)

The runner-up from Oxygen's reality series, who plays Wade Adams/Unique will perform the song with Vocal Adrenaline during Tuesday's "Nationals" episode.

"Glee's" Alex Newell as Wade Adams

Glee takes on Nicki Minaj on Tuesday during the second of back-to-back episodes when New Directions squares off with rival Vocal Adrenaline at Nationals.

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During the episode, which features New Directions heading to Chicago for the competition, The Glee Project's Alex Newell will lead Vocal Adrenaline in a cover of Minaj's "Starships" and The Hollywood Reporter has the exclusive first listen to the track.

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Newell, who along with Lindsay Pearce, was a runner-up during Oxygen's The Glee Project and plays Wade Adams/Unique on the Fox musical dramedy. His character first appeared during Glee's April 17 "Saturday Night Glee-ver" episode in which he seeks out Mercedes and Kurt's advice about how to handle his over-zealous coach, Jesse St. James (Jonathan Groff).

Wade ultimately ends up performing KC and the Sunshine Band's "Boogie Shoes" in drag, as his alter-ego Unique, both embracing Newell's love of drag and staying true to Glee co-creators Ryan Murphy and Brad Falchuk's vision of who he'd play on the flagship series.

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Listen to the track above and hit the comments with your thoughts on who you think will come out on top between New Directions and Vocal Adrenaline.

Glee airs back-to-back episodes starting Tuesday at 8 p.m. on Fox with "Props," its body switch hour, followed by "Nationals" at 9 p.m. Listen to the rest of the music from the episode at gleethemusic.com.

Email: Lesley.Goldberg@thr.com; Twitter: @Snoodit