[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Little_White_Lie1_1733.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:350:Let's face it, now we're caught in the lie...]]

->''"This is the story of how me, Sami Reese, and my brother became rock stars, with very little talent and a whole lot of lies."''
-->-- '''Sami'''

''Little White Lie'' (found [[https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL7036788DF36D6AC7 here]]) is a musical webseries consisting of 11 episodes that was created in 2007 by Creator/TeamStarKid, before they were Team [=StarKid=]. It did not get very popular until 2009 after the creators found success with ''Theatre/AVeryPotterMusical''.

It was funded by [[NoBudget a $20,000 grant]] from a contest sponsored by Disney for pilot pitches; like many webseries from this era, it was made in hopes of getting picked up by Disney as a full length TV show. It wasn't, the creators gave up on work in mainstream TV, made a stage show parodying Harry Potter in their newfound free time, and the rest is history.

The plot centers around two siblings, Sami and Duder Reese, who long to be rockstars. Unfortunately their musical talent is... ''limited'', and they are the ButtMonkey of their BattleOfTheBands-obsessed school. Sami wants to beat her rival AlphaBitch Tanya in the next competition so she and Duder search for a third member to liven up the band. They get a response from a shy boy named Kevin but before he properly auditions he is put into a coma by a hit-and-run. Sami and Duder go over to his house later and are shocked to discover that he has written several great songs. Sami steals his work and the band--now named Little White Lie--perform them at the battle. They lose to Tanya (who had bribed the judge) but are offered a chance to record by a local producer.

Drama ensues as Sami and Duder try to keep the truth behind their songs a secret while facing sudden popularity. Tanya jealously begins to go after Sami as she is stealing not only her popularity but her boyfriend, Toby, and searches for information about Kevin.

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!!This work provides examples of:

* ActorAllusion: Meredith is the drummer for the Hot Girls thanks to Meredith Stepien being a drummer in real life.
** Tanya Freemont seems to enjoy baking, as does her actor (Creator/LaurenLopez loves baking enough that she wrote and published a gluten-free cookbook). This is one of the very few things they have in common.
** Brian Holden's character Zach fancies himself an impresario who does all the administration and promotion for the Battle of the Bands and tries to assume this role for Little White Lie as a band. In RealLife this is pretty much the role Brian played for proto-Creator/TeamStarkid's videos and stage productions in college and took on full-time after Theatre/AVeryPotterMusical.
* AcquiredSituationalNarcissism: Mostly Sami at first, though it starts to get to Duder by the time he buys an all-white designer outfit to be in theme for the future Little White Lie album cover.
* AdultsAreUseless: Very few adults are seen or get involved in the plot at all. All we see of Sami and Duder's parents is her dad surprising Sami and Toby in her room with Orange Juliuses.
** ArtisticLicenseLaw: Much is made of the kids signing contracts and getting record deals with no mention of whether they're legal adults and need to get their parents involved. In particular, Kevin being in a coma is presented as a reason he can't give permission to use his music and Sami has to lie, when in real life they could just ask his aunt on his behalf.
* AllThereInTheManual: The credits list the full title of The Ex-Boyfriends' song "You Left Me" as "Tanya (You Left Me)", implying all of them are ''[[ReallyGetsAround Tanya's]]'' ex-boyfriends.
* AlphaBitch: Tanya. It gets deconstructed.
-->'''Sami''': Why? You're the coolest girl in school Tanya, everybody loves you!\\
'''Tanya''': [[ArmorPiercingResponse Everybody hates me.]]
* AlwaysSomeoneBetter: Among all the wannabe musicians at Arborland High, Toby seems like the only one with serious talent... until Sami comes along and blows him out of the water. Of course, she's faking it, and the real genius was Kevin all along.
* AmbiguousSituation: Sami thinks Tanya's obsession with Kevin is her PullingTheThread on her lies. [[spoiler: It turns out she genuinely wants to get closer to Kevin because she MustMakeAmends for being the one who hit him, and is [[EvenEvilHasStandards totally blindsided and outraged]] when she discovers what Sami did.]]
* AnguishedDeclarationOfLove: [[spoiler:Duder to Tanya in episode 11]].
* AntiHero: Sami, of the UnsympatheticComedyProtagonist variety. She feels bad about lying and stealing Kevin's songs, but she does it anyways, all to selfish ends.
* ArtifactTitle: In-universe, Tanya's "Save Calvin" campaign is still called that after she realizes that [[AccidentalMisnaming his name is Kevin]], since she already had a bunch of merchandise printed.
** Out-of-universe, Darren Criss released the song "Sami" on his ''Human'' EP, prompting wild speculation on Sami's identity from people who didn't know this show existed.
* BaitAndSwitch: Hunkytonk's song sounds like it's a song about a LostLenore, much like the Ex-Boyfriends' "You Left Me", until the last line of the chorus reveals it's about a truck (in a TakeThat toward CountryMusic).
* TheBandMinusTheFace: The Hot Girls, after they fire former front woman Tanya. Interestingly while Meredith seems to be angling to become the new face of the band, it's Alexa who's replaced Tanya as the AlphaBitch of the Hot Girls as a GirlPosse.
* BetaBitch: Meredith. Pulls a BackstabbingTheAlphaBitch to upgrade her status.
* BreakthroughHit: "It's Over Now" for Little White Lie InUniverse.
* BritishRockstar: Love Grenade is a band built entirely on this stereotype. It's not clear whether there just happen to be four British students at this Michigan high school, or it's a FakeBrit situation.
** Record store owner Nigel Waters is a retired one of these.
* BrotherSisterTeam: Duder and Sami
* ButtMonkey: Various characters are like this at certain points but Sami, Duder, Kevin and Zach stand out the most
* CannotTalkToWomen: Duder
-->'''Duder''': There are so many girls in there, and I can't... I ''can't'' talk to them. So... I sit out here... and I wait until they leave.\\
'''Tanya''': Duder, that's ''so sad''. Just go in there and talk to them!\\
'''Duder''': I can't, I can't talk to them. I... I wouldn't know what to say. I feel like they would think I was an idiot.
* CatholicSchoolGirlsRule: The theme of the Hot Girls' costumes for the battle of the bands.
* CharacterBlog: Chris Allen had the idea to give Duder Reese a Website/MySpace account hosting snippets of music and random musings. The account was never created, but Allen [[https://youtu.be/Tx_GOdDEDio later posted the clips on YouTube]].
* ChekhovsGun: Our brief glimpse of the car that hit-and-runs Kevin.
* {{Cliffhanger}}: The last episode.
* ComicRolePlay: Tanya decides to do this to help Duder with his anxiety around girls. Whether she actually suspected ''she'' was the girl he was having trouble approaching is unclear.
* CorruptTheCutie: Duder starts off heartbreakingly innocent, and at first outright refuses to sign a fraudulent document saying Kevin's music is his, forcing Sami to do it. By the end she's pressured him into crimes like stalking Tanya and breaking into Kevin's house to take down his website. [[spoiler: Was also planned to happen to Kevin when he wakes up, when his rage at what Sami did drives him to skeevy actions like [[ScarpiaUltimatum blackmailing her to dump Toby for him]].]]
* CreatorCameo: Several, given the creators' limited budget for actors and extras. Co-director Nick Lang plays the SmallRoleBigImpact Kevin Bushwald (whose hospital bed is actually Nick's bed in his apartment). Nick Lang's brother and co-director Matt shows up as an extra in the battle of the bands. Writer Eric Kahn Gale can be seen as one of the members of Hunkytonk, as can co-composers Mark Swiderski and Grant Anderson. Chris Allen, Brian Holden and Darren Criss, of course, play major roles as Duder, Zach and Toby, but Darren can also be seen [[PaperThinDisguise in a hoodie and sunglasses]] helping fill in the crowd at the battle of the bands.
* DefrostingIceQueen: Tanya
* {{Delinquents}}: Sami and Duder seem to be mildly this. The first episode shows them casually deciding to skip school to play a gig at a coffee shop.
* DiegeticSoundtrackUsage: Variation. The theme tune "Caught In A Lie" is sung from Sami's POV by a female vocalist (though not her actual actress). Toward the end of the series, we hear a song with the same tune from Kevin's recordings -- only, [[TheCoverChangesTheMeaning his version of the song has completely different lyrics]], singing about his forlorn hope for success in the future, rather than the theme tune singer's regret for success built on lies.
* TheDitz: Meredith, in spades. Contrast Tanya, who's at least partially faking it.
* DoubleEntendre: When Sami thinks she's talking to Tanya's party guests about her burgeoning musical career but they're talking about her upcoming gender reassignment surgery.
-->'''Meredith''': So do your parents support what you're doing?
-->'''Sami''': Well, they bought all my equipment, so I assume they want me to succeed.
-->'''Meredith''': Oh!... High-quality stuff?
-->'''Sami''': It's all [[{{Squick}} previously owned]], but it's in ''really'' good condition.
* DoItYourselfThemeTune: Averted with the actual theme song, which is from Sami's perspective but sung by Michelle Chamuel. However, Darren Criss (Toby) sings on multiple songs in the soundtrack, and Brian Holden (Zach) randomly sings the one-episode "theme song" "Duder's a Spy".
* DreadfulMusician: Sami and Duder's original band, Reese's Pieces. They're not ''bad'' per se, but they're not good. Tanya and the Hot Girls, however, ''are'' bad and they actually get worse after Tanya leaves.
* DudeShesLikeInAComa: Sami visits Kevin in the hospital and gives him a kiss on the cheek and a "Thank you" after hearing the love song he wrote for her. Of course, this only makes many viewers angrier that [[AesopAmnesia even after this]] she continues to steal his music and use it to pursue Toby.
* DullSurprise: Sami's usual affect, including in her narration, in stark contrast to Tanya's gratingly forced perkiness. She'd be a DeadpanSnarker except most of the time she seems too moody and depressed to bother making an actual joke.
* DumbAndDrummer: Jim Povolo, who is one part TheBrute and one part CloudCuckooLander. Also the Hot Girls, where in an unusual variation of this trope Meredith is both this and TheDitz.
** In a bit of TakeThat towards drummers, Little White Lie first become a smash hit in a live performance where the drums were provided by a laptop, and Meredith has no compunction about replacing herself with synth drums from a keyboard when she upgrades to lead singer.
-->'''Toby''': Jim? *holds up drumsticks* I found these in the bathroom again. It's just kinda weird, man.
* EarlyBirdCameo: Meredith Stepien appears in a minor role in this show in 2007 (a "pre-Starkid production"), but wouldn't make her Starkid debut until four years and three productions later, as Mega-Girl in 2011's {{Theatre/Starship}}.
** A variant of this occurs with the Little White Lie logo, which is seen during the opening credits sequence and becomes the motif Zach uses on the Little White Lie band merch he creates. It's first seen in the form of Kevin's electric guitar he brings to the audition (which is white with a blue musical staff motif under the strings). Since Zach obviously never saw it, him designing a similar logo for the band becomes a ContrivedCoincidence.
* EarlyInstallmentWeirdness: This show, for Starkid Productions as a whole. Not just IronyAsSheIsCast like Creator/LaurenLopez as a GirlyGirl, but the near-total lack of ReferenceOverdosed and ObligatorySwearing, which have become Creator/TeamStarkid trademarks, thanks to the fact that this show was originally written in hopes of being picked up as a full-length series by Disney's short-lived channel [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soapnet Soapnet]].
* EasilyForgiven: Everyone seems to just forget Jim was first seen on the show as TheBully to Kevin when he auditions to become Little White Lie's drummer. [[spoiler: Presumably this would've become an issue when an awakened Kevin demands to join the band in Season 2.]]
* EmoTeen: The Ex-Boyfriends are a joke about this trope, but to be honest Little White Lie also falls within this territory -- "It's Over Now" would definitely have been played on the radio as an {{Emo}} anthem in real life. Certainly a big part of Sami's offstage persona (less so Duder), and in their fashion choices (like wearing camo as a major part of their outfits).
-->'''Zack''' (reading band name): Still not over it, huh?
-->'''The Ex-Boyfriends''' (mumbling): No... No... It's normal...
* EstablishingCharacterMoment: Reese's Pieces playing their signature song, "(Don't) Play a Riff On My Heartstrings", to a nearly deserted coffee shop only to be told by a lone heckler, "You suck!"
** Tanya is introduced with an ogling MaleGaze shot of her descending a staircase to her {{Leitmotif}}, intercut with {{Reaction Shot}}s of Duder and Zach shamelessly EatingTheEyeCandy and Sami looking pissed.
* EvenTheGirlsWantHer: Meredith briefly considers hooking up with Sami if she comes out as a trans man. Even after this is exposed as a fake rumor, she awkwardly tells Sami how pretty she looks when they run into each other at the recording studio.
* EverytownAmerica: Implied to take place in Ann Arbor, {{UsefulNotes/Michigan}}, where it was filmed.
* {{Expy}}: Love Grenade for [[Film/ThisIsSpinalTap Spinal Tap]]
* TheFakeCutie: Tanya uses this image shamelessly, thanks to being played by Creator/LaurenLopez.
-->'''Tanya''': When I perform, I reach out my impossibly tiny hand and touch every single heart.
* FlatWhat: Zach's reaction to the band name "Hunkytonk".
* ForWantOfANail: Discussed by Duder and Sami. If they'd either prevented Kevin from auditioning at all (like Sami wanted) or given him the time to finish his audition (like Duder wanted) he wouldn't have happened to FreakOut and run into the street at the exact moment a car came by.
** CouldHaveAvoidedThisPlot: The above becomes extra painful once we realize that had they let him finish his audition and join the band, ''everyone could have gotten everything they wanted'' without any of the lies and conflict.
* FreezeFrameBonus: Kevin's delightfully tacky Geocities-style website. Notably has a section for fanfiction -- and the most recent news update is him announcing his plans to go to the Reese's Pieces audition and play Sami her song.
* TheFriendNobodyLikes: Zach. He seems to unapologetically maintain social relevance just by [[NewJobsAsThePlotDemands taking over important jobs]] (organizer of the battle of the bands, promoter for Little White Lie) before anyone else can claim them.
* FullNameBasis: Jim Povolo. Also the actor's name [[TheDanza in real life]], possibly an in-joke among Creator/TeamStarkid about his name being inherently funny.
* GenderFlip: Pre-production version. According to [[WordOfSaintPaul Elona Finlay]], the original call sheet for Sami Reese said "A girlish boy with a bad attitude". HilariousInHindsight since Creator/LaurenLopez, who normally plays actual boys or {{Tomboy}}s, was originally cast as Sami before being recast as GirlyGirl Tanya Freemont. May be the reason for [[InformedFlaw repeated references to Sami being "mannish" despite being played by the very femme Elona Finlay]].
* GilliganCut:
-->'''Detective''': You are not to share the details of this case with anyone. Nobody at school. No gossip.
-->'''Sami''': The next day at school, the hallways were filled with gossip.
-->*cut to a series of VoxPops with wild theorizing on Kevin's accident*
* GirlishPigtails: Meredith's hairstyle for battle of the bands.
* GirlPosse: The Hot Girls seem to be this first and an actual musical act second.
* GoneHorriblyRight: Sami was initially only thinking about winning battle of the bands, and never planned to have to extend her lying indefinitely to support their new social status and career.
-->'''Sami''': We're cool now, Duder! We ''became'' cool! Now we have to deal with that!
-->'''Duder''': I don't WANNA be cool! [[ScrewThisImOuttaHere *runs off*]]
* HeartbeatSoundtrack: Of the "accelerating panic" variety, when Kevin has his anxiety attack at his audition for Reese's Pieces. [[spoiler: [[CallBack Happens again]] when he wakes up.]]
* HiddenDepths: Apparently nobody -- other than a select few kids he gave a website invite to in middle school -- had ''any'' idea Kevin was a professional-level musical prodigy until Sami and Duder discover his jam room and recording studio.
** His website reveals his depths go even deeper than that -- he's also a prolific writer, artist and graphic designer... [[WhatTheHellHero whose work all gets deleted just to protect Sami's secret]].
** Kevin's [[TheBully bully]], Jim Povolo, also has these. Apparently when he's not holding "slapping parties" for Kevin in empty classrooms, he's sitting in the bathroom brooding about life and writing angsty poetry. (The poem he reads is apparently him establishing himself as a JerkassWoobie, although at no point does he specify what the supposed FreudianExcuse for his bullying ways actually is.)
* HollywoodHacking: Everything about the subplot involving finding Kevin's secret website, then deleting it is this. (The URL even has an apostrophe in it!) The Website/YouTube upload for this episode straight up says, "''Little White Lie'' takes place in an alternate universe where the Internet works this way."
* HollywoodToneDeaf: Tanya. And the other Hot Girls for that matter.
* HopelessAuditionees: Subverted. We're led to expect one of these scenes when Reese's Pieces hold open auditions of their house, only for nobody at all to show up... until Kevin.
** Played straight with the sign-ups for the Battle of the Bands.
* IAmTheBand: Kevin, who has recorded several high quality fully produced songs ''by himself in the secrecy of his home'', and has apparently been doing this since [[ChildProdigy elementary school]].
* IdiotBall: As pointed out in the comments on virtually every video, the entire plot of the series could have been wrapped up if Sami had just said from the beginning that there was a third member of the band--Kevin did, after all, try out--who was in a coma, rather than take credit for it herself.
** Sami and Duder make no attempt to get close to Kevin's aunt or learn more about Kevin until Tanya has already beaten them to doing so. They even resort to ''breaking into her house'' rather than just talking to her to get access to Kevin's computer, even though she already assumes they're Kevin's "close friends". May be a joke about how [[AmazinglyEmbarrassingParents annoying she is]].
* IdolSinger: Tanya somehow pulls this off despite not really being able to sing.
* InformedFlaw: Sami being unfashionable or masculine compared to Tanya, although this might be chalked up to Tanya exploiting her popularity to bully Sami groundlessly.
* InnocentlyInsensitive: Sami isn't ''gratuitously'' cruel to Kevin, but her impatience with him at his botched audition looks a lot worse after we (and she) find out he's madly in love with her and has written a whole catalogue of songs with her as his muse.
* InUniverseSoundtrack: Most of the Creator/DarrenCriss songs on the soundtrack turn out to have been composed and recorded by Kevin in-universe.
* InWithTheInCrowd: Most of the in-crowd, with the exception of Tanya, are actually fairly decent people, yet Sami still seems to think of them as jerks, and Toby for some reason agrees with her.
* IronicEcho: After Little White Lie brings down the house at battle of the band but the judges give the prize to the Hot Girls.
-->'''Sami''': It doesn't even matter! They loved us, but she still won!\\
'''Duder''' (grinning): Yeah, yeah... but... they did love us.
Later, backstage, as Tanya watches Toby praise Sami's performance:
-->'''Tanya''', icily: We won... but they loved ''her''.
-->'''Zach''': Yes, but you did win.
* {{Irony}}: Jim is the first one to scream "YEAH!" and start the crowd dancing as Little White Lie performs "It's Over Now," a song that seems to be inspired by the bullying Kevin suffered at Jim's hands.
* KickTheDog: At the recording session, Little White Lie runs into the Hot Girls, and the Hot Girls mercilessly mock Tanya.
* LampshadeHanging: For plot reasons it becomes necessary to have Duder successfully stalk Tanya for a whole day, which both strains credulity and risks making Duder seem like a creeeper... except the creators made a virtue of necessity and set the sequence to the "Duder's a Spy" song.
* LeftHanging: The season finale has a huge cliffhanger but there's no plan for a season 2. During the [=StarKid=] S.P.A.C.E. Tour, the cast gets the crowd excited with the prospect of a second season, only for them to take it all away by saying that there won't be another season. There ''is'' a [[http://erickahngalepresents.tumblr.com/post/60223046875/little-white-lie-season-2-synopsis synopsis]] of Season 2 available, though.
** ''Literature/TheBullyBook'' is set in the same universe, and Eric Kahn Gale said that the sequel will tie back in to Little White Lie.
* {{Leitmotif}}: Tanya is constantly followed around by a brassy hip-hop beat befitting her AlphaBitch arrogance -- the first time it even has a vocalist chanting "I... have... more privileges!" As the show goes on and Tanya's popularity unravels, her leitmotif stays the same, eventually becoming hilarious SoundtrackDissonance when it plays over her FreakOut while trying to hack Kevin's website (disheveled, sleepless, surrounded by empty Coke cans).
* LonelyAtTheTop: [[spoiler: The plan for Season 2 was for the band to slowly shed members until Sami achieves fame and fortune as a solo act, only to have her HeelRealization when she realizes how she's driven everyone away.]]
* LoveDodecahedron: Kevin likes Sami, who likes Toby, who's with Tanya even though he doesn't really like her, though Zach and Duder both do.
* LovingAShadow: The synopsis of the second season has [[spoiler: Kevin realizing this about his crush on Sami.]]
* MaleRestroomEtiquette: Glaringly averted by Jim Povolo, who seems to hang out in a stall all day and brazenly strikes up a conversation with Duder there.
-->'''Jim''': DUDER. *peers over stall wall* I'M NOT POOPING.
* MistreatmentInducedBetrayal: Tanya bribes Zach to make sure the Hot Girls win Battle of the Bands by promising him a kiss. He does, and she just sarcastically blows him a kiss and walls off. Zach mentally kicks himself, then goes and becomes self-appointed manager for Little White Lie.
* MoodDissonance: Tanya tries to adapt her dancing and tone of voice from "Boy Toy" to perform Little White Lie's gritty, angsty signature song "It's Over Now", with truly cringey results.
* MultiPartEpisode: The first three episodes are a two-parter, a two-parter and a three-parter, thanks to the creators [[TroubledProduction having to do serious editing]] to make the footage from their early film shoots work.
* MustMakeAmends: [[spoiler:Tanya is raising money for Kevin's medical bills because she was the one who hit him.]]
* MyNaymeIs: Sami spells her name with only one M, and an I.
* {{Nephewism}}: Kevin lives with his aunt. That he doesn't have parents is one of many things that made clear his status as TheWoobie, though what ''happened'' to his parents is never explained.
* NewAgeRetroHippie: Kevin's aunt.
* TheNicknamer: Tanya, of the cutesy baby talk variety ("Sami-Sam", "Zacky-poo").
* NobodyLovesTheBassist: Duder, once Reese's Pieces rebrands as Little White Lie and Sami becomes the front man.
* ObliviouslyBeautiful: Sami, according to the "Sami" song Kevin wrote for her. Seems to be accurate given her low self esteem. Interestingly, her lie that she wrote the song about herself -- because she didn't believe anyone else would see her that way -- only strengthens the effect for Toby.
** May be oh so much more [[{{Irony}} ironic]] because "Sami" talks like this about Sami's ''voice'', suggesting Kevin has seen Sami perform and thinks she's too hard on herself for her lack of talent.
* OnceMoreWithClarity: [[spoiler: Sami flashes back on all of Tanya's actions since the accident upon realizing she's the hit-and-run driver.]]
* OpeningNarration:
-->'''Sami''': This is the story of how me, Sami Reese, and my brother became rock stars, with very little talent and a whole lot of lies.
** Also one for the series as a whole in the first episode, which borders on FauxlosophicalNarration:
-->'''Sami''': Music. It's an ancient power. Some can wield it, and we call them "rock stars". The question is, [[NatureVsNurture are they born, or are they made?]] All I know is, some people have it, and some people... [[GilliganCut don't]].
* PetTheDog: Tanya gets several, as part of her DefrostingIceQueen arc.
** When she goes to give Kevin's aunt the money she raised for Kevin's medical bills.
** In episode 10, when Tanya says that [[ArmorPiercingResponse everyone hates her]] and begs Sami to teach her how to sing.
** When she thanks Sami for being nice to her and letting her be in the band.
* TheReasonYouSuckSpeech: Furious at Sami for kissing Toby, Tanya gives her one in episode 11, calling her out for her incredible selfishness for exploiting Kevin's love for her while trying to get with someone else.
** [[spoiler: AccidentalPublicConfession: Unfortunately Tanya gets so mad she lets slip she knows way too much about the details of Kevin's accident, when the only other witness was the driver of the car that hit him.]]
* RecycledSoundtrack: Most fans are more familiar with Kevin's song "Sami" from this show as Ginny's song "Harry" from Theatre/AVeryPotterMusical.
** The theme song "Caught in the Lie" was originally written by Darren Criss as a jokey theme tune for the [=UMich=] 24-Hour Theatre event.
* TheReveal: [[spoiler:Tanya was the driver in the hit-and-run.]]
* RichBitch: Tanya lives in a BigFancyHouse, [[ChekhovsGun drives a nice car]] while Sami and Duder bike everywhere, and apparently owns a piano she doesn't know how to play.
* RudeHeroNiceSidekick: Sami and Duder, to a tee.
* SeriousBusiness:
-->'''Sami''': This is Arborland High, where being in a band means ''everything''.
* ShoutOut: In a series almost devoid of overt ones, two of them only exist for "Boy Toy": "You look just like Brad Pitt from {{Film/Troy}}", and "You're magic just like Siegfried and Roy".
* ShrinkingViolet: Kevin.
* SiblingYinYang: Sami and Duder, of the RedOniBlueOni variety.
* SmallRoleBigImpact: We briefly see Kevin in the first episode, and then he's in a coma. His existence is absolutely central to the plot though.
* SpotlightStealingTitle: It's ambiguous whether the band is called "The Hot Girls" or "Tanya Freemont and the Hot Girls". [[TheBandMinusTheFace At first, anyway]].
* TheStarscream: Meredith has been establishing herself as a better singer and dancer than Tanya for a while before she strikes.
* StepfordSmiler: Tanya smiles all of the time, even when she is extremely angry. Part of her contrast with Sami, who's a bit of a PerpetualFrowner.
* StylisticSuck: "(Don't) Play a Riff on My Heartstrings" by Reese's Pieces and "Boy Toy" by The Hot Girls, as well as the other non-Kevin songs we briefly hear from the other battle of the bands acts ("You Left Me" by the Ex-Boyfriends, "Fancy Machine" by Hunkytonk, [[SelfTitledAlbum "Love Grenade" by Love Grenade]]).
* SucksAtDancing: Tanya's drummer from the Hot Girls tries to show her where in the rhythm the "butt grab" move in their signature dance is supposed to go. She ends up just dropping it completely.
* SuddenlyShouting: According to WordOfGod, the only actor cast off of Craigslist rather than the proto-Starkid social network was Rita Khori as Alexa (the Hot Girls' bassist), because of her ability to do this.
* ThemeNaming: All of the acts at the battle of the bands have one of these (including, initially, the cheesy sibling act Reese's Pieces). Lampshaded when Tanya brings her boyfriend onstage with her.
-->'''Sami''': Toby's in the Hot Girls?
-->'''Duder''': That doesn't make sense. Toby's not a hot girl.
* TimePassesMontage: PlayedForLaughs with the Reese's Pieces auditions. We expect a HopelessAuditionees montage and instead get Sami and Duder flopping around killing time for hours when no one shows.
** Gets a CallBack, where, hilariously, [[JerkAss Sami spends hours killing time]] while Duder feverishly tries to [[HollywoodHacking brute force]] his way into Kevin's website.
* TitleDrop: The moment before their big performance when Sami impulsively changes the name of the band from Reese's Pieces to Little White Lie.
* TomboyAndGirlyGirl: Sami and Tanya.
* TomboyishName: Sami. Lampshaded when Tanya starts a rumor she'll soon be transitioning to "Sam".
* TragicHero: Sami, according to WordOfGod, with her TragicMistake taking Kevin's music. Everyone in the cast does bad things, but none of it would've happened if not for that one decision.
* TrespassingToTalk: Tanya does this to Sami in episode 9 after [[spoiler:finding out she stole Kevin's songs]].
* TruckDriversGearChange: Kevin, like Darren Criss, likes to use this trick in his songs -- both "Sami" and "It's Over Now" have it.
* UnkemptBeauty: Sami doesn't put much effort into brushing her hair except on special occasions. (Interestingly, Elona Finlay says her hair is very naturally straight in real life and she had to get a perm to achieve Sami's "grunge princess" look.)
* WhatDidYouExpectWhenYouNamedIt: Sami's spur of the moment decision to change the band's name to "Little White Lie" at the battle of the bands seems to be a guilt-induced form of TemptingFate.
* WhereDoesHeGetAllThoseWonderfulToys: Kevin owns a full band's worth of top end musical instruments that make Duder and Sami drool, along with a fully equipped recording studio, in stark contrast to his aunt's seemingly modest home. [[WildMassGuessing Possibly purchased with his inheritance after his parents died.]]
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