Welcome back for day 3 of this Pentatonix Pentathlon -- 5 days for 5 of PTX's greatest Christmas hits! What's been your favorite so far, and which one are you looking forward to most?
Carol of the Bells is my forever favorite--favorite carol (to sing with a choir) and first introduction to PTX. I'm hoping you have last year's "O Holy NIght" on your list for this Pentathlon.
It wasn't until you mentioned the drone in Kevin's "Pipers Piping" verse that I realized that the drone is a key feature of bagpipes. Which struck me as a clever feature of the arrangement -- as is the fact that they switched around the gifts from the ninth day on, to bring the drummers in earlier, and so the vocal percussion could play a bigger role.
Yes, they perform this live. And Scott has told Ben Bram that he will never forgive Ben for suggesting that they change the style on each pass. (Scott is renowned for being the member of #Pentatonix most likely to forget the lyrics.)
@@RosheenQuynhno that was a joke obviously it was hard for Scott but he loves to be challenged. He’s a hard worker and he never steps back from challenge and Ben knows that so he always provides with some challenges for PTX lmao
Many dont catch the fact this video was made also as an homage to videos past. "Love Again", "daft punk", "Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy", "Amazing Grace", theres a few but its very subtle. Most of their videos have subtext people dont always catch
I saw them about 3 weeks ago do this live as well as in 2022. It's insane to watch. There's an official live version or two out there that he can watch as well.
Seeing them perform this live is incredible. Such coordination! Something I love about this arrangement is how Kevin still gets vocal solos despite doing the vocal percussion. He gets #5 and #10. 5 golden rings is the ensemble line, and 10 pipers piping, they use the drone effect so he can sing for that measure. I find it clever, and it’s especially impressive that he can shift between beatboxing and singing each measure if he has to
"#Pentatonix doesn't *do* covers; they do upgrades." So how do you upgrade something that's just crazy? Buy into the craziness and take it as far as it will go. And while you're at it, make sure it contains beautiful harmonies, Matt's most chocolatey bass, and Kevin's sweetest falsetto. Yep. That should do it.
Yes, they do it live. It's nuts! Mitch said it was a hard one to remember, and if Mr Consistent struggles, imagine the rest of them? Imagine Scott? LOL
There’s a short of Scott doing all his parts of this song and it really shows how crazy this arrangement is. In a good way. This is the only version of this song I’ll listen to.
In this song, Kevin is THE MAN!! My suggestion, watch God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen and Imagine from Pentatonix. Both are outstanding. Watch out for tears in Imagine.
My grandmother loved Christmas and worked hard to ensure it was good for the whole family. The year after she died was a nightmare -her death marked the beginning of a series of disasters and funerals. When Christmas finally came around and passed I was loathed to let it go again, and while listening to this song I realized I didn't have to... Christmas wasn't over yet. That was the first year I celebrated all 12 days of Christmas. Now everyone at work associates this song with me because they know I'll still be giving out snacks and spitting Christmas facts until well into January.
I have seen them do this live 4 times!!! Each time… I sit there just slacked jawed! So impressed. There are a few fan cams of this live . Worth the watch!!!
Excellent arrangement, they made a very repetitive song not boring I always like the song but could be tired to hear it, and even that all of them are great, Kevin switch the rhythm of each little moment is incredible, they have a live version of this song in their Christmas tours, they are very fun
When your choir is on Christmas tour, this is a really good carol to sing for fun on the bus (until about the fourth day, when we start voluntarily resting our voices and--mostly--sleeping on the bus). Other than being an improvement over "100 Bottles of [Coke] on the Wall," the song doesn't have much to recommend it. Until PTX touches it. I'm so glad you chose this one, Peter!
I was in the front row on Dec. 1st at their SC concert... but I've also seen them for the past several years, also from up front, & they do this perfectly - plus with choreo!!! It's totally amazing! I suggest you watch the live version sometime!
Almost makes me wonder if the choreo might be helpful in this case, when it's in the muscle memory. Because each difference will be tied to where you're standing and the moves you're doing. I feel like part of the difficulty is getting lost and knowing what "version" you're doing each repetition. But if each new version is tied to where you stand, it might be easier to remember... not at first, but after a while. But I might be way off.
Yes, PTX performs this live. I saw a short backstage video of Scott working through his lyrics and vocal parts. He, and the group, know he's the one most likely to mess up lyrics. He spent extra time to make sure that didn't happen. I wonder how much time they spent imagining this arrangement from six on -- what style choices and harmonies can we choose to keep this intricate arrangement full of surprises?
Haha, for a minute there I thought we were never going to get past day 6. You were so excited for the style change at first. I was willing you to move on and show you that there’s even more than just adding on the beatboxing on day 6. Seeing this live in person is that much more impressive. The fact that everyone can remember their background parts since it changes every time they count back down after a new number is sung is crazy to me.
Love your reaction and insights. You should do a live version. I believe on Scott’s You tube page he has a video of him practicing his part alone with headphones on and a couple of verses he has a droning hum for much of verse 10. Verses 6 to 12 are crazy performed live. The actual lyrics the Drummer Drumming is verse 12. They switched it to verse 9 I believe to give Kevin more opportunities to beatbox that drum verse more than 1 time at the end. This makes a song I avoided before Pentatonix did this into a fav that is on my playlist ❤❤❤❤❤
@ Thank you! I knew I had seen it once and he was so focused. His part was interesting and I remember thinking he didn’t sing as much as I thought he did on this
As always a GREAT reaction….and I learned even more things. I saw them perform this on a winter concert in November. As far as I could tell they did it exactly this same way.
It’s kind of funny because it wasn’t until a couple days ago (when Sir Hairless posted his reaction/analysis to this song) that I found out so many people didn’t like this song. One of my favorite Christmas albums of all time is Relient K’s “Let it Snow Baby…Let it Reindeer”. Their rendition of 12 Days is so good, much more rock influenced but they also change it up several times throughout the song. If you enjoy rock versions of Christmas songs I highly recommend it!
This has got to be an 11 difficulty on a scale of 1 to 10 because each verse is different. Can't believe they do this live. How they don't mess this up and dissolve into laughter is a mystery to me.
Pentatonix are the Christmas royalty, to be sure. If you haven't before, definitely find the first version made famous by Straight No Chaser (a fantastic A Capella group themselves!). They've done a "remix" for 2024 (which is great, to be sure!), but their original (from over a decade ago) always hits my playlist at Christmastime! Talk about a variation!
Loving this pentathalon for PTX! For another fun a cappella version of 12 Days of Christmas, please check out Straight No Chaser's cover. The 2024 remix includes part of their song Christmas Can-Can; earlier versions are "just" the 12 Days -- like you've never heard before, I promise.
Their video quality obviously improved as they became more successful. Bigger budgets, more sophistication. Ed Boyer is their amazing sound person. You can definitely hear a difference after they started working with him. Although sometimes I think he smoothes them out a little too much. I realize it’s industry standard for most vocal recordings. It’s not bad but I do like to find fan videos of them performing live so I can hear their raw voices, not run through pitch correction. That’s just my non musically trained opinion. On the video. In their BTS documentaries of several other videos, each part gets filmed solo. Then, depending on the video storyline, they may also be together to record the group scenes. O Holy Night was shot with each of them individually like 12 Days. As this was COVID time, they probably weren’t together much. Kudos to the video editing on this one which must have been a nightmare with all complex moving parts. Same with the recording and mixing of the audio. Yes they do perform this song live almost every Christmas concert. From their interviews, it took a lot of work to get this ready for them to perform it live. There is a current high quality fan video of 12 Days performed just a few days ago. I’m not sure the arrangement is quite this complex but it’s still excellent. There is also a video or Tik Tok of Scott practicing his part.
And yes they do it live and mostly flawlessly. Of course in live theres the occasional hiccup but mostly perfect. Ptx prides themselves on only doing songs they know they can perform live AND also completely live, meaning off mic, no production, no studio. Check out daff punk private performance and theres another in a classroom singing someone I used to know where mitch proves he can go higher than even kirstie in his natural not falsetto voice. Also A-ha Take on Me upgrade is great because mitch goes between 3 octaves in one ascending chorus without pause and with zero effort. But you hear his low range which he admits hes not used to or has worked on but has expressed a desire to learn and be reached baritone. Now that in concert he strains to do which in a way is oddly adorable because the counter tenor range is so easy for him. Ive no doubt he can master it thougb, like anything musically. Kevin and mitch are the two musical geniuses of the group where its so natural to them its as easy as breathing.
Have you reacted to Thank You? It's an original that was also released at the end of the pandemic. And Little Drummer Boy, Oh, Come All Ye Faithful? The last 2 are baby-Tonics
I can't wait until you check out some of their newest Christmas stuff !!! Silly you, to think they wouldn't do a big change up😆😆. Yehhh... bet this was a tough one to do and I'll bet Ben B. will think twice before doing that again. LOL For such a repetitive and somewhat boring song they sure made it fun and complicated. By far my favorite version of this song. Please, please check out "Please Santa Please' and "O Holy Night" . So EPIC!!!
Lol I don't blame you for worrying about this song; it's one of my least favorite Christmas songs also, but they managed to make it fresh and entertaining! And yes, it's incredible to see live!
Great reaction. I love how detailed you are. Here's a live version for you: ruclips.net/video/1UHmQANFtNs/видео.htmlsi=dAamhcsfQsJaUMK9 Merry Christmas!
It’s kind of funny because it wasn’t until a couple days ago (when Sir Hairless posted his reaction/analysis to this song) that I found out so many people didn’t like this song. One of my favorite Christmas albums of all time is Relient K’s “Let it Snow Baby…Let it Reindeer”. Their rendition of 12 Days is so good, much more rock influenced but they also change it up several times throughout the song. If you enjoy rock versions of Christmas songs I highly recommend it!
Welcome back for day 3 of this Pentatonix Pentathlon -- 5 days for 5 of PTX's greatest Christmas hits! What's been your favorite so far, and which one are you looking forward to most?
Carol of the Bells is my forever favorite--favorite carol (to sing with a choir) and first introduction to PTX. I'm hoping you have last year's "O Holy NIght" on your list for this Pentathlon.
It wasn't until you mentioned the drone in Kevin's "Pipers Piping" verse that I realized that the drone is a key feature of bagpipes. Which struck me as a clever feature of the arrangement -- as is the fact that they switched around the gifts from the ninth day on, to bring the drummers in earlier, and so the vocal percussion could play a bigger role.
You really need to end the week off with "Oh Come All Ye Faithful", but "God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen" and "Mr. Grinch" are bangers as well.
You're a mean One Mister Grinch is a beautiful arrangement. Comedy, surprise, overall very fun.
Yes, they perform this live. And Scott has told Ben Bram that he will never forgive Ben for suggesting that they change the style on each pass. (Scott is renowned for being the member of #Pentatonix most likely to forget the lyrics.)
Does this imply a bad relationship between he and Ben? 😟
@@RosheenQuynhno that was a joke obviously it was hard for Scott but he loves to be challenged. He’s a hard worker and he never steps back from challenge and Ben knows that so he always provides with some challenges for PTX lmao
@@RosheenQuynh If it was a truly bad relationship they would not say it publicly. They are way too professional. It was very clearly a joke.
Many dont catch the fact this video was made also as an homage to videos past. "Love Again", "daft punk", "Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy", "Amazing Grace", theres a few but its very subtle. Most of their videos have subtext people dont always catch
I heard them do this live around a month ago and it's even crazier because they have choreo for this one. It's so much fun!
I have seen their last 3 Christmas tours (22-24). They have performed this song in each of the conerts. And they do it seamlessly,
I saw them about 3 weeks ago do this live as well as in 2022. It's insane to watch. There's an official live version or two out there that he can watch as well.
Seeing them perform this live is incredible. Such coordination!
Something I love about this arrangement is how Kevin still gets vocal solos despite doing the vocal percussion. He gets #5 and #10. 5 golden rings is the ensemble line, and 10 pipers piping, they use the drone effect so he can sing for that measure. I find it clever, and it’s especially impressive that he can shift between beatboxing and singing each measure if he has to
Yes, Kevin is an alien! 👽
"#Pentatonix doesn't *do* covers; they do upgrades." So how do you upgrade something that's just crazy? Buy into the craziness and take it as far as it will go. And while you're at it, make sure it contains beautiful harmonies, Matt's most chocolatey bass, and Kevin's sweetest falsetto. Yep. That should do it.
Yes, they do it live. It's nuts! Mitch said it was a hard one to remember, and if Mr Consistent struggles, imagine the rest of them? Imagine Scott? LOL
There’s a short of Scott doing all his parts of this song and it really shows how crazy this arrangement is. In a good way. This is the only version of this song I’ll listen to.
Have you heard the straight no chaser version of this song? Because it's actually my favorite, it's hysterical.
@super_siri my favorite version😂
@HannahSBax mine too
In this song, Kevin is THE MAN!! My suggestion, watch God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen and Imagine from Pentatonix. Both are outstanding. Watch out for tears in Imagine.
My grandmother loved Christmas and worked hard to ensure it was good for the whole family.
The year after she died was a nightmare -her death marked the beginning of a series of disasters and funerals. When Christmas finally came around and passed I was loathed to let it go again, and while listening to this song I realized I didn't have to... Christmas wasn't over yet. That was the first year I celebrated all 12 days of Christmas. Now everyone at work associates this song with me because they know I'll still be giving out snacks and spitting Christmas facts until well into January.
I have seen them do this live 4 times!!! Each time… I sit there just slacked jawed! So impressed. There are a few fan cams of this live . Worth the watch!!!
They do perform it live, there are plenty of videos of them from concerts doing this - they are amazing. You need to see them in concert.
Excellent arrangement, they made a very repetitive song not boring I always like the song but could be tired to hear it, and even that all of them are great, Kevin switch the rhythm of each little moment is incredible, they have a live version of this song in their Christmas tours, they are very fun
Exactly! It had become one of the most repetetive, boring, and annoying Christmas songs, and they made me fall in love with it again.
Yes, they do this live on tour. Here's a recording of a live performance from their 2023 tour ruclips.net/video/rJ_fUqN2bFY/видео.html
When your choir is on Christmas tour, this is a really good carol to sing for fun on the bus (until about the fourth day, when we start voluntarily resting our voices and--mostly--sleeping on the bus). Other than being an improvement over "100 Bottles of [Coke] on the Wall," the song doesn't have much to recommend it. Until PTX touches it. I'm so glad you chose this one, Peter!
I was in the front row on Dec. 1st at their SC concert... but I've also seen them for the past several years, also from up front, & they do this perfectly - plus with choreo!!! It's totally amazing! I suggest you watch the live version sometime!
Almost makes me wonder if the choreo might be helpful in this case, when it's in the muscle memory. Because each difference will be tied to where you're standing and the moves you're doing. I feel like part of the difficulty is getting lost and knowing what "version" you're doing each repetition. But if each new version is tied to where you stand, it might be easier to remember... not at first, but after a while. But I might be way off.
Yes, PTX performs this live. I saw a short backstage video of Scott working through his lyrics and vocal parts. He, and the group, know he's the one most likely to mess up lyrics. He spent extra time to make sure that didn't happen.
I wonder how much time they spent imagining this arrangement from six on -- what style choices and harmonies can we choose to keep this intricate arrangement full of surprises?
They do this live and I’m sure they rehearse the heck out of it.
Haha, for a minute there I thought we were never going to get past day 6. You were so excited for the style change at first. I was willing you to move on and show you that there’s even more than just adding on the beatboxing on day 6. Seeing this live in person is that much more impressive. The fact that everyone can remember their background parts since it changes every time they count back down after a new number is sung is crazy to me.
Love your reaction and insights. You should do a live version. I believe on Scott’s You tube page he has a video of him practicing his part alone with headphones on and a couple of verses he has a droning hum for much of verse 10. Verses 6 to 12 are crazy performed live. The actual lyrics the Drummer Drumming is verse 12. They switched it to verse 9 I believe to give Kevin more opportunities to beatbox that drum verse more than 1 time at the end. This makes a song I avoided before Pentatonix did this into a fav that is on my playlist
❤❤❤❤❤
It’s on his TT from a few years ago
@ Thank you! I knew I had seen it once and he was so focused. His part was interesting and I remember thinking he didn’t sing as much as I thought he did on this
Straight No Chaser KILLS this song! And they couldn't resist adding a number of other tunes including Toto's Africa.
Their arrangements are always spectacular.
Favorite so far? Carol of the Bells, BUT huge Nutcraker fan so looking forward to tomorrow.
"I was wondering if they were gonna some Pentatonix style rearranging"
Oh Peter....you have no idea what's coming lol
Wow.. so much going on! So glad you were able to break it down - no way I could have kept up with all the style changes!
As always a GREAT reaction….and I learned even more things. I saw them perform this on a winter concert in November. As far as I could tell they did it exactly this same way.
It’s kind of funny because it wasn’t until a couple days ago (when Sir Hairless posted his reaction/analysis to this song) that I found out so many people didn’t like this song. One of my favorite Christmas albums of all time is Relient K’s “Let it Snow Baby…Let it Reindeer”. Their rendition of 12 Days is so good, much more rock influenced but they also change it up several times throughout the song. If you enjoy rock versions of Christmas songs I highly recommend it!
It’s incredible live! ❤
This has got to be an 11 difficulty on a scale of 1 to 10 because each verse is different. Can't believe they do this live. How they don't mess this up and dissolve into laughter is a mystery to me.
Pentatonix are the Christmas royalty, to be sure. If you haven't before, definitely find the first version made famous by Straight No Chaser (a fantastic A Capella group themselves!). They've done a "remix" for 2024 (which is great, to be sure!), but their original (from over a decade ago) always hits my playlist at Christmastime! Talk about a variation!
Loving this pentathalon for PTX! For another fun a cappella version of 12 Days of Christmas, please check out Straight No Chaser's cover. The 2024 remix includes part of their song Christmas Can-Can; earlier versions are "just" the 12 Days -- like you've never heard before, I promise.
I have seen them perform this live on stage in a few videos. So entertaining.
I really enjoyed this one - Christmas music being something that just happens in the background for me. I have a new appreciation for this song.
This is amazing live!!!
Yes I’ve seen this live. Scott had said it’s one of their most difficult arrangements. They still kill it!
You gave me a much better appreciation for this!💜💜💜
You have to listen to the straight no chaser version of this song. It's hysterical.
Their video quality obviously improved as they became more successful. Bigger budgets, more sophistication. Ed Boyer is their amazing sound person. You can definitely hear a difference after they started working with him. Although sometimes I think he smoothes them out a little too much. I realize it’s industry standard for most vocal recordings. It’s not bad but I do like to find fan videos of them performing live so I can hear their raw voices, not run through pitch correction. That’s just my non musically trained opinion.
On the video. In their BTS documentaries of several other videos, each part gets filmed solo. Then, depending on the video storyline, they may also be together to record the group scenes. O Holy Night was shot with each of them individually like 12 Days. As this was COVID time, they probably weren’t together much. Kudos to the video editing on this one which must have been a nightmare with all complex moving parts. Same with the recording and mixing of the audio.
Yes they do perform this song live almost every Christmas concert. From their interviews, it took a lot of work to get this ready for them to perform it live. There is a current high quality fan video of 12 Days performed just a few days ago. I’m not sure the arrangement is quite this complex but it’s still excellent.
There is also a video or Tik Tok of Scott practicing his part.
I loved Carol of the Bells, but this is a close second, maybe even a tie!
Loved your reaction - this is a great take on this traditional song! BTW I loved Drumline too!
They did make that song awesome. Love all the rhythms and boomin bass/perc/beatbox, of course.. you’re very good
The old dial-up modem sound... Mason, was that you?🤗😜
I know!! I was cracking up!!!
Merry Christmas Peter 🌲
Somewhere on TikTok is Ben Bram suggesting the switches and Scott turning to him laughing and saying "I hate you".
And yes they do it live and mostly flawlessly. Of course in live theres the occasional hiccup but mostly perfect. Ptx prides themselves on only doing songs they know they can perform live AND also completely live, meaning off mic, no production, no studio. Check out daff punk private performance and theres another in a classroom singing someone I used to know where mitch proves he can go higher than even kirstie in his natural not falsetto voice. Also A-ha Take on Me upgrade is great because mitch goes between 3 octaves in one ascending chorus without pause and with zero effort. But you hear his low range which he admits hes not used to or has worked on but has expressed a desire to learn and be reached baritone. Now that in concert he strains to do which in a way is oddly adorable because the counter tenor range is so easy for him. Ive no doubt he can master it thougb, like anything musically. Kevin and mitch are the two musical geniuses of the group where its so natural to them its as easy as breathing.
Thanks for the insights. Hope u do Pure Imagination/ Christmas Time is Here.
According to the Pentatonix singers Kevin is the highest pitch singer - hard to believe
Have you reacted to Thank You? It's an original that was also released at the end of the pandemic. And Little Drummer Boy, Oh, Come All Ye Faithful? The last 2 are baby-Tonics
I can't wait until you check out some of their newest Christmas stuff !!! Silly you, to think they wouldn't do a big change up😆😆. Yehhh... bet this was a tough one to do and I'll bet Ben B. will think twice before doing that again. LOL For such a repetitive and somewhat boring song they sure made it fun and complicated. By far my favorite version of this song. Please, please check out "Please Santa Please' and "O Holy Night" . So EPIC!!!
Please check also Christmas In Our Hearts - Pentatonix ft. Lea Salonga 🤍
If you get the chance check out Pentatonix The Recording of Evergreen - it shows their process - Thanks for your review - Loved it
That drone is very bagPIPE-like
I think the tenth day is Kevin's homage to Gregorian chants
10:49 have you seen t pains new covers that he does live there amazing
💕🎵🎶💕
Lol I don't blame you for worrying about this song; it's one of my least favorite Christmas songs also, but they managed to make it fresh and entertaining! And yes, it's incredible to see live!
You need to listen to “no one mourns the wicked “ from the wicked movie please !
The dialup sounds and the "Are you good?" 🤣🤣🤣
Wonderful R&A! They made this boring song actually slap.
🖤🩵🖤🩵
Live: ruclips.net/video/rJ_fUqN2bFY/видео.htmlsi=NskDyk3miE3sE2hm
Great reaction. I love how detailed you are. Here's a live version for you: ruclips.net/video/1UHmQANFtNs/видео.htmlsi=dAamhcsfQsJaUMK9
Merry Christmas!
PLS REACT TO BEYONCÉ SONG “Daughter”!!!
React to Sohyang - O Holy Night.
40 years in the business....I am tired. You...sound good, wanna work on something+
It’s kind of funny because it wasn’t until a couple days ago (when Sir Hairless posted his reaction/analysis to this song) that I found out so many people didn’t like this song. One of my favorite Christmas albums of all time is Relient K’s “Let it Snow Baby…Let it Reindeer”. Their rendition of 12 Days is so good, much more rock influenced but they also change it up several times throughout the song. If you enjoy rock versions of Christmas songs I highly recommend it!