The Singing

"The Singing" is the thirty-first episode of Season 5 of The Amazing World of Gumball. It is the 187th episode overall.

Synopsis
Join the citizens of Elmore for a song and dance spectacular that will have people covering their ears with joy.

Plot
The episode starts with Nicole and Richard sleeping, when Nicole is awakened by someone's singing. She soon finds the source of the music to be a singing showerhead in her bathroom. After failing to shush it, she rips it from the wall, throws it in a trash can, and puts it in the car to take it to the dump.

Several citizens continue along with the singing while describing the woes of their lives, eventually leading to Elmore Junior High, where Miss Simian sings about how all of her students are brats. Suddenly, a rat falls into her mug, so she tosses it out a window, knocking over a trash can on the ground in the schoolyard.

Seeing this and believing Dolphin Man, Spray-Paint Bottle, and 8-Bit Dog to be the suspects, Billy decides to teach them proper etiquette in the form of a rap. Spray-Paint Bottle talks to 8-Bit Dog about how sad it was to watch a kid let himself go that much, but 8-Bit Dog stresses that, being a background character, he has little to comment upon. Spray-Paint Bottle instills confidence in him, though, and he starts a song, though it gets immediately cut off as Teri walks by. Disgusted by the trash, she faints and dreams up a J-pop musical number about filth. As two doctors carry her away, the sheer contagiousness of her J-Pop turns them and their ambulance kawaii in the process.

Meanwhile, Richard is ordering food from a Joyful Burger drive-thru, but Larry states that he can not serve him a meal with many calories that will pump hot lard directly down his throat and says that so much unhealthy food is seriously dangerous for him. Richard then breaks out into a song to defend his love for fried food, causing Larry to cave and hand him a bucket of chicken, but it is so unhealthy that it falls out of the bucket and through the car floor.

Some rats are lurking in the sewers looking for food and come to a nearby restaurant, but decide not to go in because it's had negative reviews and continue their search. In the restaurant, Principal Brown and Miss Simian are out on a date. Miss Simian starts talking, but Principal Brown cuts her off and starts singing an R&amp;B ballad professing his love for her being covered in body hair (with help from Larry, however reluctant), much to Miss Simian's humiliation. Eventually, fed up with the song, Miss Simian bites Principal Brown's hands and ends the song prematurely.

Nicole drives past the restaurant, getting increasingly fed up by the singing showerhead, before the scene zooms out to space, showing all of the planets making a joke at the expense of Pluto, but she picks up on it, to their embarrassment. They make an excuse to ditch Pluto, who then breaks out into a dreary song, but Earth cuts her off because her singing is causing Uranus to be put off of his strike. Some asteroids confront her to see if she would be interested in trashing a planet, and she gleefully joins along.

In his room, Banana Joe "na"s along to Beethoven's Fifth Symphony, though he is cut off when his mother appears, causing him to freak out and fly into the ceiling fan, making him explode all over the room. The scene is revealed to be a viral video, before clicking on another one: an advertisement for Mr. Small's new, experimental album, "The Small Hours." At the end of the commercial, several of his CD cases are seen being brought to the dump. Nicole drives up behind the truck, takes the singing showerhead, and hurls it across the dump. The episode ends with the showerhead singing the last verse nonetheless, in spite of his poor circumstances.

Supporting Characters

 * Nicole
 * Showerhead
 * Richard
 * Larry
 * Miss Simian
 * Billy
 * Teri
 * Principal Brown
 * Pluto
 * Banana Joe
 * Mr. Small
 * Rats

Minor Characters

 * Mr. Robinson
 * Mrs. Robinson
 * Gary
 * Hobo
 * Sal Left Thumb
 * Doughnut Sheriff
 * Mrs. Jötunheim
 * Hector
 * Carrie
 * Masami
 * Juke
 * Leslie
 * Carmen
 * Tobias
 * Ocho
 * 8-Bit Dog
 * Dolphin Man
 * Spray-Paint Bottle
 * Felicity
 * Bomb Guy
 * Hexagon Lady
 * Martin
 * Marvin
 * Germs
 * Bandage Doctor
 * Joan
 * Harold
 * Jackie
 * Patrick
 * Mrs. Fitzgerald
 * Rooster Waiter
 * Blue Elephant
 * Earth
 * The Sun
 * Planet Cosmos
 * Asteroids
 * Banana Barbara
 * Saxophone Chihuahua
 * Crocodile Woman

Trivia

 * This episode's title was first revealed at The A-May-zing Month of Gumball Special Screening Event in London.
 * A total of 50 characters appear in this episode, beating "The Finale."
 * This is the first episode Gumball is absent from.
 * The 8-Bit Dog breaks the fourth wall by pointing out that he is a background character and has no name.
 * This episode reveals that Mrs. Jötunheim is 28 years old despite looking older.
 * This episode reveals that Teri listens to J-Pop.
 * While Ms. Simian and Principal Brown are at the restaurant, Ms. Simian might have referred to Mr. Small by his first name.

Continuity

 * This is the tenth episode in which Gumball and Darwin are not main characters. The first nine were "The World," "The Extras," "The Butterfly," "The Return," "The Routine," "The Uploads," "The Night," "The Compilation," and "The Choices."
 * This is the third episode Darwin is absent from. The first two were "The Apprentice" and "The Awkwardness."
 * Posters for the "Thumb Wrestling Federation," a fake television show first shown in "The End," appear in Banana Joe's bedroom.
 * The mascot on Richard's supplements that the kids mistakenly ate in "The Mustache" makes a reappearance on a poster in Banana Joe's bedroom.

Cultural References

 * Several of the songs in the episode are parodies of real-life songs, including:
 * "I'm Singing" is a reference to Olaf's song, "In Summer," from the Disney movie, Frozen.
 * The J-Pop song and music video that plays when Teri is passed out is a parody of "PONPONPON" by Kyary Pamyu Pamyu.
 * "I Prefer All My Food Fried" is a reference to "Always on My Mind" by Brenda Lee.
 * "The Hurt I Feel" is a reference to "Hello" by Adele.
 * Banana Joe sings Beethoven's "Symphony No. 5."
 * The cover of Mr. Small's album references Tino Fernandez' "Por Primera Dez." The songs on his album have the following references:
 * "This Boy is Not My Son" is a parody of Kraftwerk's "Die Roboter."
 * "Mother" references Aphex Twin's "Come to Daddy."

Goofs/Errors

 * When the ambulance drives away, the doors of Elmore Junior High are colored red instead of the usual pink, blue and orange. Additionally, the text above the entrance is mirrored and reads "Abraham Lincoln High School" - the name of the real life location.
 * The Dolphin Man and Spray-Paint Bottle appear inside the Schoolyard despite not attending Elmore Junior High.