Okay, I need to tell you where #Pentatonix came from: Kirstin, Mitch, and Scott all grew up in Arlington, Texas. All of them were involved with community musical theater as children, and Mitch met both Scott and Kirstin there (separately) when they were still pre-teens, and became friends with each of them. However, Scott and Kirstin didn't meet each other until they were fourteen and in the same high school class. All three were choir geeks (duh), and they quickly became best friends in high school. And if you're wondering what was in the water in Arlington in the early 1990s that three such remarkably talented people should all be born in such proximity, you aren't the only one. There was some kind of singing contest to meet the stars of _Glee,_ and the three of them wanted to enter, so they formed a trio which they named "The Trio." (I know; not very imaginative. They're somewhat better with that now.) They lost the contest, but they kept The Trio together anyway; they performed at school functions and occasionally on local television. Pentaholics still refer to these three as "the trio," and the trio is the heart of Pentatonix. Kirstin and Scott were a year ahead of Mitch; they graduated in 2010, when Mitch was still in eleventh grade, and both went away for their freshman year of college. Kirstin went to the University of Oklahoma (with a full ride scholarship!), and Scott went to the University of Southern Califonia. Scott is a very outgoing person, so he immediately began looking around for extracurricular activities where he could meet people and make new friends, and he found an award-winning amateur a cappella group named SoCal VoCals, which he joined. While there he met a former member named Ben Bram, who at the time was a coach on NBC's a cappella competition show named _"The Sing-Off."_ A cappella groups would audition for the show, and those that passed appeared throughout the season. There was a panel of three judges, all professional musicians, who would critique each performance. Along the way some groups would be eliminated, narrowing the field, and at the end of the season viewers would be invited to vote on a winner. The winning group would receive $200,000 and a recording contract with Epic, a minor subsidiary of Sony, the show's sponsor. Scott was intrigued. He thought The Trio could be competitive, and if they could get a recording contract they could have a career doing what they most loved, with the people they most loved. So he talked to Kirstin, who thought his idea had promise, and at the end of their first year of college the two of them headed back to Arlington to be there for Mitch's graduation and to talk with Mitch about Scott's idea. Meanwhile, back in Arlington Mitch had been having a very difficult year. His best friends weren't there, and as an out-of-the-closet young gay man with an unusually high voice he was being seriously bullied. And unfortunately, since the bullying was ostensibly for his voice he was quickly developing the notion that there was something wrong with his voice and that no one would want to hear him sing. So when Scott presented his idea Mitch was on board; it was a way to get away from the bullies. He had doubts about his ability to carry his weight in the group, because of the bullying, but he was willing to try, and if Scott and Kirstin said they could win, well, maybe they could. So with everyone agreed, Scott called Ben Bram to find out how to arrange for an audition, and this is where they met their first setback. _The Sing-Off_ had a size requirement; the minimum size allowed was five. The Trio needed two new members and a new name. They were stumped. Ben suggested that they'd profit from adding a rhythm section: a bass and a beatboxer, and he knew the perfect person to recommend for the bass, a guy named Avi Kaplan. They talked to Avi, and he was very interested, so that took care of the bass, but where to find the beatboxer? Ben didn't have any suggestions. So in desperation they typed "beatboxer" into a RUclips search box and the first hit they got was a black guy playing a classical piece on the cello and beatboxing at the same time. And all of them said, "Wow! He's the one! How can we get in touch with him?" They were in luck. At the time RUclips had something called RUclips messages, which would allow private messages between members (now discontinued), so they sent Kevin a private message: "Hey! We really love your stuff, and we wonder if you'd be interested in flying across the country to join four strangers to audition for an a cappella competition show on television?" And Kevin messaged them back: "Normally I'd be there in a heart beat; I love a cappella and have been in a cappella groups before. But right now I'm studying for my final exams for my pre-med major from Yale." Oh. That sounded pretty definite; better keep looking. So they kept looking, and they found someone, but he was no Kevin Olusola. Oh well; you work with what you have. And two weeks later Kevin messaged them again: "Good news! I just graduated. If the gig's still open I can fly out." He arrived the day before their audition. Mitch had to skip his graduation ceremony to attend the audition. But even with just a day of rehearsal they still passed the audition; they were in. Oh, yes, the name. Pentatonix is named for the pentatonic scale, which has five (penta) tones just as Pentatonix has five (Penta) singers. In other words, it's a fancier way of saying they're now "The Quintet." 😂 Pentatonix appeared throughout season three of _The Sing-Off,_ and eventually won. All those performances are available on RUclips and are well worth watching, preferably in order so you can see how they grew throughout the season. Some of them are as good as anything they've done since (which is saying a lot) and are only available in those old videos. (Note: If you decide to react to these, be sure and watch the versions that contain the show's introduction of Pentatonix just before the performance, and the judges' critiques of the performance, and any comments Pentatonix made backstage.) So, they'd won _The Sing-Off,_ complete with recording contract. Time to move to California permanently and begin recording. And a week later Epic reneged on the contract, saying that they didn't know how to market a cappella. But at this point Pentatonix weren't willing to give up; they WANTED that career they'd been working toward. So they pooled their winnings and lived frugally. The four men shared two apartments, to cut down on expenses. They arranged music and rehearsed every day, and when they had a song ready they used their iPhones to record themselves anywhere they could find good acoustics, and sometimes in places with acoustics that were just okay. And they posted to RUclips. Their fans from _The Sing-Off_ quickly found them there, and subscribed, and they began to get more views and more subscribers, and to pick up a few patrons. In fact, they were going viral. And Sony noticed, and approached them with an offer: Perhaps Pentatonix would like a recording contract with Madison Gate, another minor subsidiary? Hmmm. 🤔 Would they like a recording contract? Might have to think about that, for a second or two. Darn right they'd like a recording contract! And then came "Daft Punk Medley," and Pentatonix won their first Grammy. And again, Sony took notice, and approached Pentatonix: "We've been thinking about it and we believe you might find a better fit with our flagship label, RCA. Are you interested?" They've been with RCA ever since. They go on tours world wide and perform to sold-out venues. They put out at LEAST one album a year, frequently more. One has gone Gold and one has gone Platinum twice. They have three Grammys and recently received a star on Hollywood's Walk of Fame. And they are the only a cappella band to have won so much as ONE Grammy, or to be represented on the Walk of Fame. Now, *one* of the things they decided was a necessary expense during those lean years was having a professional producer who was also good with arranging, and they hired someone they already knew: Ben Bram. He's been with them ever since they won _The Sing-Off,_ and is sometimes referred to as "the sixth member of Pentatonix." Even though everyone participates in arranging songs, Ben does a lot of that as well as producing - he is listed as co-arranger of this song, and since the Grammy was for the arrangement he has his very own Grammy for this.
You need to check out the "Private performance" of this. Literally stood at the front of a room and SING - no mic's - no "In Ears" and captured on a fan mobile!
As I understand, they had studio time for recording, however, something happened within the studio and their time was cancelled. Instead of giving up on the opportunity to record, they videotaped this in Avi’s closet at his apartment and edited the final in the kitchen. Crazy! You must checkout their live recording of Seal’s epic “Kiss from a Rose”. It will knock your socks off.
This is a mashup of Daft Punk songs, Daft Punk being the name of a French electronic music duo; they disbanded in 2021. You can find out more about them here: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daft_Punk At the time #Pentatonix recorded this their publisher was Madison Gate, a minor subsidiary of Sony. Madison Gate specializes in publishing movie soundtracks, which makes it a less than ideal publisher for a group like Pentatonix. Even so, it was better than just posting everything to RUclips and hoping to get some patrons, which is what they'd been doing before. Madison Gate didn't have a recording studio - they'd had no need of one for movie soundtracks - but Pentatonix had already discovered that a closet had good acoustics so they were cool with recording audio tracks there. Madison Gate DID hook Pentatonix up with an excellent video recording company named FifGen. PTX had a venue lined up for this video shoot, but it fell through at the last minute, so someone at FifGen suggested that they get some black sheets and set up a sort of photo booth in Avi and Kevin's kitchen. The single ring light came out of PTX's $400 budget for this shoot, as did the makeup, presumably including the blue contact lenses. (Kevin's eyes couldn't tolerate the contacts, hence the visor, which is reministic of the helmets Daft Punk wore to protect their identities. Judging by how red Avi's eyes were, he must have had trouble with the contacts also.) I don't know who edited the video, either FifGen or Ben Bram. Almost certainly the audio was edited by Ed Boyer. This won them their first Grammy, for "Best Arrangement Instrumental Or A Cappella." (As their co-arranger, Ben Bram shared the Grammy.) Before "Daft Punk Medley," that Grammy category did not exist - the Academy changed "Best Instrumental Arrangement" just so they could nominate Pentatonix! The songs in this mashup are: • “Technologic” • “One More Time” • “Get Lucky” • “Digital Love” • “Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger” • “Television Rules the Nation” • “Around the World” You can find the complete lyrics here: genius.com/Pentatonix-daft-punk-lyrics I recommend watching their private performance of this. Recorded on a fan's cell phone, just the five of them, off-mic., in a quiet room. You'll be surprised by how close it is to the professionally edited version. ruclips.net/video/tw4YCsHXKgI/видео.html
The members of #Pentatonix In this video we have, in order of first appearance: Mitch Grassi (pronounced Grah'-see, emphasis on the first syllable), the clean shaven dark-haired guy who keeps singing "One more time," is a natural contratenor with a range of just over six octaves. Shawn Stockman, of Boyz II Men, said Mitch has "one of the prettiest voices I have ever heard in my life." Mitch moves seamlessly between chest voice, mixed voice, and head voice, and all the other members of Pentatonix agree that he's their best singer. The guy with white hair and eyebrows is Scott Hoying, lyric baritone. (Normally Scott is blond, but he'd recently decided to bleach his hair when they made this.) In describing a man's vocal range, "lyric" means that the actual range exceeds the nominal range. In Scott's case, he sings everywhere from about the middle of a normal bass range through a normal tenor range, with an excellent falsetto on top. In live performances Scott typically takes over the bass harmony line when their bass has a solo. (And his range has grown over the years. Check out how low he goes in their most recent live performance of "Hallelujah" during Matt's solo on the second verse: ruclips.net/video/Se0BmDdZuX0/видео.html ) Avi (pronounced Ah'-vee, emphasis on the first syllable) Kaplan, bearded white guy, is a lyric bass. Avi is an operatically trained basso profundo (his lowest notes have blown out speakers in live performances), but his range extends upward to about the middle of a normal tenor range. Avi is also the only member of Pentatonix who is no longer with the band; he resigned in 2017 for a variety of personal reasons, but he's since gone on to have a very successful solo career. I highly recommend subscribing to his RUclips channel: youtube.com/@AviKaplanMusic Kirstin (also called Kirstie, which rhymes with thirsty) Maldonado, the only woman in Pentatonix. Kirstin can sing anything from low alto through coloratura soprano, and she has fantastic whistle notes on top of that. Recently Pentatonix has begun describing her as an "alto soprano." The fifth member of Pentatonix is the black guy wearing the visor: Kevin Olusola (pronounced Oh-loosh"-oh-luh', primary emphasis on the second syllable, secondary emphasis on the fourth syllable), beatboxer extraordinaire. Kevin is generally too busy being the entire percussion section to sing, but when he does sing he has a lovely tenor voice that occasionally dips into the uppermost reaches of baritone, and he's known for the beauty of his falsetto. He's also a pretty good rapper and an excellent dancer. Kevin has perfect pitch. He began piano lessons at age 4, cello at age 6, and alto saxophone at age 10. He beatboxes while playing the cello, a technique he calls "celloboxing." He performed at Carnegie Hall twice when he was a teenager, once on the cello and once on the saxophone. He graduated from Yale in 2011 with a pre-med major and had been accepted to Yale Medical School before he decided to become a professional beatboxer instead of a brilliant surgeon. He speaks five languages fluently: English, French, Spanish, German, and Mandarin Chinese. He's one of the kindest people in the world, and when he laughs he makes the whole planet seem like a brighter place. Not in this video: Avi was succeeded by Matt Sallee (pronounced Suh-lee', emphasis on the second syllable), lyric bass, who has now been with Pentatonix longer than Avi was. It's hard to be sure just what Matt's range is, because it's still growing. To find his current range I recommend listening to a a re8cent live performance of "Hallelujah";. you can find that recording here: ruclips.net/video/Se0BmDdZuX0/видео.html Matt's arrangement of the second verse seems to be designed to show off his full range, which is fantastic. His lowest notes don't blow out speakers the way Avi's have done (though they may within a year or two), but on the high end his falsetto can match Kevin's.
You should check out their Sound of Silence video and then in a few weeks when they release all the live versions of these 4 songs you can watch those as well and then also check out their new Taylor Swift Medley that so far they’ve only sang on tour, they will be releasing their live video of it soon.
Pentatonix songs suggestions: **List may contain some songs you may have reacted to** Some Covers are: Hallelujah, The Sound of Silence, Daft Punk(GRAMMY WINNER), God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen, Cheerleader (OMI Cover), 12 Days Of Christmas, Cruisin For a Bruisin, Can You Feel the Love Tonight, O Come All Ye Faithful, 90’s Dance Medley, Bohemian Rhapsody, Mad World, Wizard of Ahhhs (a montage of several modern songs made to tell the classic story of wizard of oz), Radioactive, Problem, Say Something, Kiss From a Rose (live vevo), Jolene(GRAMMY WINNER), Royals, Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairies(GRAMMY WINNER), the Prayer, You’re a Mean One Mr. Grinch….. Some Originals are: Love Again, Sing, Be My Eyes, Coffee in Bed, Happy Now, Run to You, A Little Space, Never Gonna Cry Again, The Lucky Ones…. During the pandemic they released an album called “At Home”. It was recorded entirely at their own homes separately on Zoom then sent to the studio to be put together….songs include… Blinding Lights, Home, When the Party’s Over, Break My Heart, Dreams. SO MANY MORE…. TOO MANY TO LIST, BUT THIS IS A GOOD START. ENJOY YOUR JOURNEY TO THE RABBIT HOLE KNOWN AS… PENTATONIX.
you could watch 'the making of evergreen' video that shows them coming up with who will sing what and how the process works. its really interesting. it will answer a lot of questions.. you are right that they can sing any genre of music. they can rap too. check out 'can't hold us' and 'problem'.
“They make it better”. 100% agree 😁. Listen to Kiss From a Rose for more 🤯. No one like them on the planet imo. You might also like their original, Love Again. It also has an EDM vibe.
Have you discovered SuperFruit yet? When Mitch and Scott were sharing living quarters (late 2011 through early 2019) they maintained their own RUclips channel, which you can find here: youtube.com/@sup3rfruit They posted things that were specific to the two of them, that they didn't want clogging up the PTXofficial channel. Basically, they used it as a vlog. Occasionally they'd perform something; most of those performances are hilarious. They also published two albums, named "Future Friends" and "Future Friends 2," and posted the official videos to their SuperFruit channel. (Except for those official videos, if it's funny and it's on SuperFruit stick around after the obvious end of the video for the blooper reel.) The reason I bring up SuperFruit is that in one of their videos from around this time Scott mentioned that he was going to try bleaching his hair. He didn't do it specifically for this video; it just worked out that way. He still had white hair when they filmed the official video for "Say Something," though by then his eyebrows were once again blond. (I shudder to think of dying or bleaching eyebrows; it seems incredibly dangerous.) Daft Punk (the duo, not the song) went to extreme lengths to keep their identities private while they were still publishing music. They did do public appearances, but they always wore futuristic outfits that looked rather robotic and didn't show their faces (or hair) at all. The blue theme in this video was entirely the idea of #Pentatonix. Old pentaholic joke: Kirstin: "I found a blue tinsel wig that goes perfectly with the contacts, and I'm going to wear this blue tutu on my shoulders." Kevin: "Hey, guys! Look at the cool shades I found!" Scott: "I got a new dress shirt; I think I'll wear that." Mitch: "I'm just going to wear this comfortable sweater." Avi: "Wait a minute! You guys are planning to wear *clothes?!"*
You don't have a #Pentatonix playlist, so I'm not entirely sure what you've already reacted to, but I *think* it's just "Hallelujah," "Bohemian Rhapsody," and "Daft Punk," so I'll leave those three out of my recommendations (except to reiterate that you really should listen to their latest version of "Hallelujah"). You can't go wrong listening to anything Pentatonix has released; it's all gorgeous. But all pentaholics have our own personal favorites that we like to recommend. These are some of my favorites: • "Hallelujah" ( a recent live performance, with Matt and a new arrangement: ruclips.net/video/Se0BmDdZuX0/видео.html ) • "Imagine" (the official video) • "The Prayer" • "Sound of Silence" • "Run To You" (an original, written by Avi and Kevin) • "Happy Now" (another original) • "O Come All Ye Faithful" • "O Holy Night" (they did a totally new recording for their 2023 Christmas album; you can find the official video here: ruclips.net/video/ReJAU2mXm8w/видео.htmlsi=upj2Q3vLqigVEtgm ) • "Pure Imagination / Christmas Time is Here" (preferably the live Vevo recording) • "Kiss From a Rose" (preferably the live Vevo recording - both of the Vevo recordings are available on RUclips) • "You're A Mean One, Mr. Grinch" • "The Lucky Ones" (an original, written by Scott) • "Thank You" (an original, written by Scott and his then fiancé, now husband, Mark Manio Hoying, shortly after the end of COVID lockdown, about how much easier it was to get through that time because they were together) • "The Kevin Show/Kevin's Fifth." This is a live feed from a concert they gave in Owensboro, Kentucky, Kevin's home town: ruclips.net/video/DbCasvcNx78/видео.html and this is the very special performance of "Kevin's Fifth" (without "The Kevin Show") from Kevin's birthday in 2022: ruclips.net/video/7m0g7xThIWs/видео.htmlsi=99F7iG5qkdgPCm43 Additionally, *IF* you're familiar with _"The Wizard Of Oz"_ (the 1939 movie starring Judy Garland), I recommend "Todrick Hall - The Wizard of Ahhhs (ft. Pentatonix)": ruclips.net/video/QkVeKb2igrg/видео.html If you've never seen the movie it won't make sense, so take care of that first.
Okay, I need to tell you where #Pentatonix came from:
Kirstin, Mitch, and Scott all grew up in Arlington, Texas. All of them were involved with community musical theater as children, and Mitch met both Scott and Kirstin there (separately) when they were still pre-teens, and became friends with each of them. However, Scott and Kirstin didn't meet each other until they were fourteen and in the same high school class. All three were choir geeks (duh), and they quickly became best friends in high school. And if you're wondering what was in the water in Arlington in the early 1990s that three such remarkably talented people should all be born in such proximity, you aren't the only one.
There was some kind of singing contest to meet the stars of _Glee,_ and the three of them wanted to enter, so they formed a trio which they named "The Trio." (I know; not very imaginative. They're somewhat better with that now.) They lost the contest, but they kept The Trio together anyway; they performed at school functions and occasionally on local television. Pentaholics still refer to these three as "the trio," and the trio is the heart of Pentatonix.
Kirstin and Scott were a year ahead of Mitch; they graduated in 2010, when Mitch was still in eleventh grade, and both went away for their freshman year of college. Kirstin went to the University of Oklahoma (with a full ride scholarship!), and Scott went to the University of Southern Califonia.
Scott is a very outgoing person, so he immediately began looking around for extracurricular activities where he could meet people and make new friends, and he found an award-winning amateur a cappella group named SoCal VoCals, which he joined. While there he met a former member named Ben Bram, who at the time was a coach on NBC's a cappella competition show named _"The Sing-Off."_ A cappella groups would audition for the show, and those that passed appeared throughout the season. There was a panel of three judges, all professional musicians, who would critique each performance. Along the way some groups would be eliminated, narrowing the field, and at the end of the season viewers would be invited to vote on a winner. The winning group would receive $200,000 and a recording contract with Epic, a minor subsidiary of Sony, the show's sponsor.
Scott was intrigued. He thought The Trio could be competitive, and if they could get a recording contract they could have a career doing what they most loved, with the people they most loved. So he talked to Kirstin, who thought his idea had promise, and at the end of their first year of college the two of them headed back to Arlington to be there for Mitch's graduation and to talk with Mitch about Scott's idea.
Meanwhile, back in Arlington Mitch had been having a very difficult year. His best friends weren't there, and as an out-of-the-closet young gay man with an unusually high voice he was being seriously bullied. And unfortunately, since the bullying was ostensibly for his voice he was quickly developing the notion that there was something wrong with his voice and that no one would want to hear him sing. So when Scott presented his idea Mitch was on board; it was a way to get away from the bullies. He had doubts about his ability to carry his weight in the group, because of the bullying, but he was willing to try, and if Scott and Kirstin said they could win, well, maybe they could.
So with everyone agreed, Scott called Ben Bram to find out how to arrange for an audition, and this is where they met their first setback. _The Sing-Off_ had a size requirement; the minimum size allowed was five. The Trio needed two new members and a new name. They were stumped.
Ben suggested that they'd profit from adding a rhythm section: a bass and a beatboxer, and he knew the perfect person to recommend for the bass, a guy named Avi Kaplan. They talked to Avi, and he was very interested, so that took care of the bass, but where to find the beatboxer? Ben didn't have any suggestions. So in desperation they typed "beatboxer" into a RUclips search box and the first hit they got was a black guy playing a classical piece on the cello and beatboxing at the same time. And all of them said, "Wow! He's the one! How can we get in touch with him?"
They were in luck. At the time RUclips had something called RUclips messages, which would allow private messages between members (now discontinued), so they sent Kevin a private message: "Hey! We really love your stuff, and we wonder if you'd be interested in flying across the country to join four strangers to audition for an a cappella competition show on television?" And Kevin messaged them back: "Normally I'd be there in a heart beat; I love a cappella and have been in a cappella groups before. But right now I'm studying for my final exams for my pre-med major from Yale." Oh. That sounded pretty definite; better keep looking. So they kept looking, and they found someone, but he was no Kevin Olusola. Oh well; you work with what you have.
And two weeks later Kevin messaged them again: "Good news! I just graduated. If the gig's still open I can fly out." He arrived the day before their audition. Mitch had to skip his graduation ceremony to attend the audition. But even with just a day of rehearsal they still passed the audition; they were in.
Oh, yes, the name. Pentatonix is named for the pentatonic scale, which has five (penta) tones just as Pentatonix has five (Penta) singers. In other words, it's a fancier way of saying they're now "The Quintet." 😂
Pentatonix appeared throughout season three of _The Sing-Off,_ and eventually won. All those performances are available on RUclips and are well worth watching, preferably in order so you can see how they grew throughout the season. Some of them are as good as anything they've done since (which is saying a lot) and are only available in those old videos. (Note: If you decide to react to these, be sure and watch the versions that contain the show's introduction of Pentatonix just before the performance, and the judges' critiques of the performance, and any comments Pentatonix made backstage.)
So, they'd won _The Sing-Off,_ complete with recording contract. Time to move to California permanently and begin recording. And a week later Epic reneged on the contract, saying that they didn't know how to market a cappella. But at this point Pentatonix weren't willing to give up; they WANTED that career they'd been working toward. So they pooled their winnings and lived frugally. The four men shared two apartments, to cut down on expenses. They arranged music and rehearsed every day, and when they had a song ready they used their iPhones to record themselves anywhere they could find good acoustics, and sometimes in places with acoustics that were just okay. And they posted to RUclips. Their fans from _The Sing-Off_ quickly found them there, and subscribed, and they began to get more views and more subscribers, and to pick up a few patrons. In fact, they were going viral. And Sony noticed, and approached them with an offer: Perhaps Pentatonix would like a recording contract with Madison Gate, another minor subsidiary? Hmmm. 🤔 Would they like a recording contract? Might have to think about that, for a second or two. Darn right they'd like a recording contract!
And then came "Daft Punk Medley," and Pentatonix won their first Grammy. And again, Sony took notice, and approached Pentatonix: "We've been thinking about it and we believe you might find a better fit with our flagship label, RCA. Are you interested?" They've been with RCA ever since. They go on tours world wide and perform to sold-out venues. They put out at LEAST one album a year, frequently more. One has gone Gold and one has gone Platinum twice. They have three Grammys and recently received a star on Hollywood's Walk of Fame. And they are the only a cappella band to have won so much as ONE Grammy, or to be represented on the Walk of Fame.
Now, *one* of the things they decided was a necessary expense during those lean years was having a professional producer who was also good with arranging, and they hired someone they already knew: Ben Bram. He's been with them ever since they won _The Sing-Off,_ and is sometimes referred to as "the sixth member of Pentatonix." Even though everyone participates in arranging songs, Ben does a lot of that as well as producing - he is listed as co-arranger of this song, and since the Grammy was for the arrangement he has his very own Grammy for this.
You need to check out the "Private performance" of this. Literally stood at the front of a room and SING - no mic's - no "In Ears" and captured on a fan mobile!
Thanks for watching ❤️
It only cost them $400 and they won their first Grammy.
$400.00 for the whole thing! ❤️
Thanks for watching ❤️
Accurate reaction. Totally agree.
As I understand, they had studio time for recording, however, something happened within the studio and their time was cancelled. Instead of giving up on the opportunity to record, they videotaped this in Avi’s closet at his apartment and edited the final in the kitchen. Crazy!
You must checkout their live recording of Seal’s epic “Kiss from a Rose”. It will knock your socks off.
COST $400
Thanks for watching ❤️
...and it won them their 1st Grammy. Crazy.
Daft Punk is an EDM band. This is a medley of their songs.
Thanks for watching ❤️
This is a mashup of Daft Punk songs, Daft Punk being the name of a French electronic music duo; they disbanded in 2021. You can find out more about them here: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daft_Punk
At the time #Pentatonix recorded this their publisher was Madison Gate, a minor subsidiary of Sony. Madison Gate specializes in publishing movie soundtracks, which makes it a less than ideal publisher for a group like Pentatonix. Even so, it was better than just posting everything to RUclips and hoping to get some patrons, which is what they'd been doing before.
Madison Gate didn't have a recording studio - they'd had no need of one for movie soundtracks - but Pentatonix had already discovered that a closet had good acoustics so they were cool with recording audio tracks there.
Madison Gate DID hook Pentatonix up with an excellent video recording company named FifGen. PTX had a venue lined up for this video shoot, but it fell through at the last minute, so someone at FifGen suggested that they get some black sheets and set up a sort of photo booth in Avi and Kevin's kitchen.
The single ring light came out of PTX's $400 budget for this shoot, as did the makeup, presumably including the blue contact lenses. (Kevin's eyes couldn't tolerate the contacts, hence the visor, which is reministic of the helmets Daft Punk wore to protect their identities. Judging by how red Avi's eyes were, he must have had trouble with the contacts also.)
I don't know who edited the video, either FifGen or Ben Bram. Almost certainly the audio was edited by Ed Boyer.
This won them their first Grammy, for "Best Arrangement Instrumental Or A Cappella." (As their co-arranger, Ben Bram shared the Grammy.) Before "Daft Punk Medley," that Grammy category did not exist - the Academy changed "Best Instrumental Arrangement" just so they could nominate Pentatonix!
The songs in this mashup are:
• “Technologic”
• “One More Time”
• “Get Lucky”
• “Digital Love”
• “Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger”
• “Television Rules the Nation”
• “Around the World”
You can find the complete lyrics here: genius.com/Pentatonix-daft-punk-lyrics
I recommend watching their private performance of this. Recorded on a fan's cell phone, just the five of them, off-mic., in a quiet room. You'll be surprised by how close it is to the professionally edited version. ruclips.net/video/tw4YCsHXKgI/видео.html
The members of #Pentatonix
In this video we have, in order of first appearance:
Mitch Grassi (pronounced Grah'-see, emphasis on the first syllable), the clean shaven dark-haired guy who keeps singing "One more time," is a natural contratenor with a range of just over six octaves. Shawn Stockman, of Boyz II Men, said Mitch has "one of the prettiest voices I have ever heard in my life." Mitch moves seamlessly between chest voice, mixed voice, and head voice, and all the other members of Pentatonix agree that he's their best singer.
The guy with white hair and eyebrows is Scott Hoying, lyric baritone. (Normally Scott is blond, but he'd recently decided to bleach his hair when they made this.) In describing a man's vocal range, "lyric" means that the actual range exceeds the nominal range. In Scott's case, he sings everywhere from about the middle of a normal bass range through a normal tenor range, with an excellent falsetto on top. In live performances Scott typically takes over the bass harmony line when their bass has a solo. (And his range has grown over the years. Check out how low he goes in their most recent live performance of "Hallelujah" during Matt's solo on the second verse: ruclips.net/video/Se0BmDdZuX0/видео.html )
Avi (pronounced Ah'-vee, emphasis on the first syllable) Kaplan, bearded white guy, is a lyric bass. Avi is an operatically trained basso profundo (his lowest notes have blown out speakers in live performances), but his range extends upward to about the middle of a normal tenor range. Avi is also the only member of Pentatonix who is no longer with the band; he resigned in 2017 for a variety of personal reasons, but he's since gone on to have a very successful solo career. I highly recommend subscribing to his RUclips channel: youtube.com/@AviKaplanMusic
Kirstin (also called Kirstie, which rhymes with thirsty) Maldonado, the only woman in Pentatonix. Kirstin can sing anything from low alto through coloratura soprano, and she has fantastic whistle notes on top of that. Recently Pentatonix has begun describing her as an "alto soprano."
The fifth member of Pentatonix is the black guy wearing the visor: Kevin Olusola (pronounced Oh-loosh"-oh-luh', primary emphasis on the second syllable, secondary emphasis on the fourth syllable), beatboxer extraordinaire. Kevin is generally too busy being the entire percussion section to sing, but when he does sing he has a lovely tenor voice that occasionally dips into the uppermost reaches of baritone, and he's known for the beauty of his falsetto. He's also a pretty good rapper and an excellent dancer. Kevin has perfect pitch. He began piano lessons at age 4, cello at age 6, and alto saxophone at age 10. He beatboxes while playing the cello, a technique he calls "celloboxing." He performed at Carnegie Hall twice when he was a teenager, once on the cello and once on the saxophone. He graduated from Yale in 2011 with a pre-med major and had been accepted to Yale Medical School before he decided to become a professional beatboxer instead of a brilliant surgeon. He speaks five languages fluently: English, French, Spanish, German, and Mandarin Chinese. He's one of the kindest people in the world, and when he laughs he makes the whole planet seem like a brighter place.
Not in this video: Avi was succeeded by Matt Sallee (pronounced Suh-lee', emphasis on the second syllable), lyric bass, who has now been with Pentatonix longer than Avi was. It's hard to be sure just what Matt's range is, because it's still growing. To find his current range I recommend listening to a a re8cent live performance of "Hallelujah";. you can find that recording here: ruclips.net/video/Se0BmDdZuX0/видео.html Matt's arrangement of the second verse seems to be designed to show off his full range, which is fantastic. His lowest notes don't blow out speakers the way Avi's have done (though they may within a year or two), but on the high end his falsetto can match Kevin's.
You should check out their Sound of Silence video and then in a few weeks when they release all the live versions of these 4 songs you can watch those as well and then also check out their new Taylor Swift Medley that so far they’ve only sang on tour, they will be releasing their live video of it soon.
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I HIGHLY recommend reacting to any Voiceplay. They're my personal favourite group.
“They make your song better” you are absolutely right 😂
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This video blows me away no matter how many times I see it, impossible to watch it and not smile.
Check out Gold, Can’t Hold Us and any of their other medley’s done on the couches live! Mind blowing!
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if they use an actual instrument in the song, you'll see it in the vid - it's usually Kevin (the beatboxer) playing his cello and celloboxing.
I love your enthusiasm. Thx for the Ptx reactions!
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Pentatonix songs suggestions:
**List may contain some songs you may have reacted to**
Some Covers are: Hallelujah, The Sound of Silence, Daft Punk(GRAMMY WINNER), God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen, Cheerleader (OMI Cover), 12 Days Of Christmas, Cruisin For a Bruisin, Can You Feel the Love Tonight, O Come All Ye Faithful, 90’s Dance Medley, Bohemian Rhapsody, Mad World, Wizard of Ahhhs (a montage of several modern songs made to tell the classic story of wizard of oz), Radioactive, Problem, Say Something, Kiss From a Rose (live vevo), Jolene(GRAMMY WINNER), Royals, Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairies(GRAMMY WINNER), the Prayer, You’re a Mean One Mr. Grinch…..
Some Originals are: Love Again, Sing, Be My Eyes, Coffee in Bed, Happy Now, Run to You, A Little Space, Never Gonna Cry Again, The Lucky Ones….
During the pandemic they released an album called “At Home”. It was recorded entirely at their own homes separately on Zoom then sent to the studio to be put together….songs include… Blinding Lights, Home, When the Party’s Over, Break My Heart, Dreams.
SO MANY MORE…. TOO MANY TO LIST, BUT THIS IS A GOOD START. ENJOY YOUR JOURNEY TO THE RABBIT HOLE KNOWN AS… PENTATONIX.
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I just subscribed for your Pentatonix videos!
you could watch 'the making of evergreen' video that shows them coming up with who will sing what and how the process works. its really interesting. it will answer a lot of questions.. you are right that they can sing any genre of music. they can rap too. check out 'can't hold us' and 'problem'.
Great reaction. Pentatonix just released a new live version of Bohemian Rhapsody. Please react to this. Thanks. Have a great day.
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“They make it better”. 100% agree 😁. Listen to Kiss From a Rose for more 🤯. No one like them on the planet imo. You might also like their original, Love Again. It also has an EDM vibe.
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If you liked this one, you really should check out 'Love again' 🥰🥰🥰
Thanks for the reaction. I think it is more EDM music. Check out Love Again an original EDM style music created by PTX
This was made at one of their apts and did it all their selves makeup video cutting it . . For very little $ and won their first Grammy
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This genre is EDM.
Enjoyed your reaction! I think you would like:
[Official Video] Can't Hold Us - Pentatonix (Macklemore & Ryan Lewis cover) ❤️
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Have you discovered SuperFruit yet?
When Mitch and Scott were sharing living quarters (late 2011 through early 2019) they maintained their own RUclips channel, which you can find here: youtube.com/@sup3rfruit They posted things that were specific to the two of them, that they didn't want clogging up the PTXofficial channel. Basically, they used it as a vlog. Occasionally they'd perform something; most of those performances are hilarious. They also published two albums, named "Future Friends" and "Future Friends 2," and posted the official videos to their SuperFruit channel. (Except for those official videos, if it's funny and it's on SuperFruit stick around after the obvious end of the video for the blooper reel.)
The reason I bring up SuperFruit is that in one of their videos from around this time Scott mentioned that he was going to try bleaching his hair. He didn't do it specifically for this video; it just worked out that way. He still had white hair when they filmed the official video for "Say Something," though by then his eyebrows were once again blond. (I shudder to think of dying or bleaching eyebrows; it seems incredibly dangerous.)
Daft Punk (the duo, not the song) went to extreme lengths to keep their identities private while they were still publishing music. They did do public appearances, but they always wore futuristic outfits that looked rather robotic and didn't show their faces (or hair) at all. The blue theme in this video was entirely the idea of #Pentatonix.
Old pentaholic joke:
Kirstin: "I found a blue tinsel wig that goes perfectly with the contacts, and I'm going to wear this blue tutu on my shoulders."
Kevin: "Hey, guys! Look at the cool shades I found!"
Scott: "I got a new dress shirt; I think I'll wear that."
Mitch: "I'm just going to wear this comfortable sweater."
Avi: "Wait a minute! You guys are planning to wear *clothes?!"*
You don't have a #Pentatonix playlist, so I'm not entirely sure what you've already reacted to, but I *think* it's just "Hallelujah," "Bohemian Rhapsody," and "Daft Punk," so I'll leave those three out of my recommendations (except to reiterate that you really should listen to their latest version of "Hallelujah").
You can't go wrong listening to anything Pentatonix has released; it's all gorgeous. But all pentaholics have our own personal favorites that we like to recommend. These are some of my favorites:
• "Hallelujah" ( a recent live performance, with Matt and a new arrangement: ruclips.net/video/Se0BmDdZuX0/видео.html )
• "Imagine" (the official video)
• "The Prayer"
• "Sound of Silence"
• "Run To You" (an original, written by Avi and Kevin)
• "Happy Now" (another original)
• "O Come All Ye Faithful"
• "O Holy Night" (they did a totally new recording for their 2023 Christmas album; you can find the official video here: ruclips.net/video/ReJAU2mXm8w/видео.htmlsi=upj2Q3vLqigVEtgm )
• "Pure Imagination / Christmas Time is Here" (preferably the live Vevo recording)
• "Kiss From a Rose" (preferably the live Vevo recording - both of the Vevo recordings are available on RUclips)
• "You're A Mean One, Mr. Grinch"
• "The Lucky Ones" (an original, written by Scott)
• "Thank You" (an original, written by Scott and his then fiancé, now husband, Mark Manio Hoying, shortly after the end of COVID lockdown, about how much easier it was to get through that time because they were together)
• "The Kevin Show/Kevin's Fifth." This is a live feed from a concert they gave in Owensboro, Kentucky, Kevin's home town: ruclips.net/video/DbCasvcNx78/видео.html and this is the very special performance of "Kevin's Fifth" (without "The Kevin Show") from Kevin's birthday in 2022: ruclips.net/video/7m0g7xThIWs/видео.htmlsi=99F7iG5qkdgPCm43
Additionally, *IF* you're familiar with _"The Wizard Of Oz"_ (the 1939 movie starring Judy Garland), I recommend "Todrick Hall - The Wizard of Ahhhs (ft. Pentatonix)": ruclips.net/video/QkVeKb2igrg/видео.html If you've never seen the movie it won't make sense, so take care of that first.
You should check out their evolution of Michael Jackson
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Who are Daft Punk? So a bit of research!