The Sing-Off Season 3, Episode 4
The Sing-Off is back for week four, with the second showing for bracket two. The theme is current radio hits and sixiteis musica again. The Pentatonix lead guy kicks us off with a solo too high for him on The Plain White Ts’ “Rhythm of Love”, and The Collective front woman is in love with herself again as she takes the second shotat the solo mic.. A Dartmouth Aire and Sonos chick are up on a floral balcony and another collection of talent is on the patio downstairs. This is a corny song to begin with, but they’re really milking it. The North Shore guys are palpably more comfortable with this mellow little ditty than they were with My Chemical Romance two weeks ago. Lots of snapping and touch steps scattered across the stage. This is more critique of the song selection and style choices than anything the groups are doing wrong, but I gotta say this is kind of painful. I have to give the duke to the Aires for selling it all the best, perhaps on account of the bizarre neon pink and pastel blue formal wear that, like a platter, seems designed to serve up cheese.
The Deltones are first up with Lady Gaga’s “Edge of Glory.” Nice pulsing perc on the open. Ooh… lyric flub within the first five lines. Let’s see if they can keep it together. Nice little bit of stage repositioning to a V-formation. The soloist is gutting this out nicely, but the sound is just kind of empty on the whole. Even the fist bumps don’t really seem to have much piss and vinegar behind them. This is the sort of song that’s all about attitude and the cheesy little echo effects they’re going with are not delivering that. This is not a stellar showing for this group.
Shawn calls the performance solid. He lays the praise on the solo and the perc. Sara liked the shift to a more playful sound and credits the solo. She wanted the physicality to come across less static, though, and for the ‘Tones to sing their asses off more. Ben says it sounded like the song had some southern flavor. He was worried about the top of the perc and he tought it was a little weak on top, but he says the song overall was solid.
The Dartmouth Aires are here with “Animal” by Neon Trees. This has been a favorite as of late on the collegiate scene. It will be interesting to hear how the guys can make it their own. Neat visual on the opening with the guys circled up and the soloist running within them. The soloist drops to a seat on the stairs as the groups spreads the stage. Nice pulsing beat. Tons of fun visuals going on as the guys move their bums off to sell every bit of this thing. The guys take full advantage of the sheer size of the group, pounding out the volume and filling their parts nicely. Nice second solo. The sound starts to seem a little repetitive, which I wouldn’t worry so much about if they were doing the whole song, but this is just a two-minute sample—that shouldn’t happen. It’s a relatively minor quibble—solid showing.
Shawn says the song and performance exemplified the group’s youth and energy, and he loves the guys’ pants. Ben says the energy was great and solo really told a story. It sounded like a pop song—they rocked it. Sara thought the energy and excitement from each guy was fantastic and loved the solo, particularly when he went into his upper register for the choruses.
Season 3’s biggest underachievers, Sonos are back, this time singing Coldplay’s “Viva La Vida.” Hmm… not the first song I would have picked (if just for how dead this horse was beaten on the collegiate scene two years ago), but let’s see what they can do. That perc is so sick. Nice harmonies, albeit them coming across a bit thin again. I want to see the front man emote a little more--he sounds great, but the performance aspect just isn’t there. The group is making an effort to move more this week, which bodes well, but what movement we get is pretty restrained. I worry the overall vibe was just too mellow to connect with a general audience here.
Ben says the arrangement was really strong and a marked improvement, tapping into the song. Ben applauds the bass sound one of the women worked out. Sara loves that the group has embraced this new sound. She found it pitchy at points, and felt like they were missing an extra voice. Shawn praises the nuance of the perc effects. He was concerned about the female harmonies going in, but says they came across beautifully. He thought the intricacy of the harmonies led to some pitchy points, but overall liked it.
Pentatonix is coming up next, and bringing Ke$ha’s “Your Love is My Drug” to the stage. They promise a sick remix. This song is one of my guilty pleasures from the past year—I’m interested to hear what they do with it. The guys are huddled as the female member strolls on past them. Odd little jazzy sound on the opening here. Nice perc, interesting harmonies. I’m OK with it. I guy with a way too classical voice for this song takes the lead heading into the chorus, and it is not so good. The group sounds awfully thin on that chorus. I credit for at least working the stage effectively. The song more or less falls into the original sound in the bridge when the female lead takes over, with pulsing perc behind it—and this is a very good thing. Very cool little wind-it-back audio effect, and the original soloist gets a moment to shine. Talk about a bipolar performance—start good, tank, then go sublime. I’m still a little overwhelmed with the lack of firepower this group is giving us—past winners NOTA and committed overcame the numbers game, so there aren’t any excuses.
Ben says that, from the bridge out the song was really strong, but he didn’t really like the risks the group took at the top, applying a melody to the song—he thinks they’re stronger when they’re freaking out. Shawn says the group has found its niche with the futuristic dance sound. He talks about the solo and how the guy can sing really well, but needs to know when to hold it back to fit the song. He liked the pleasant, sweet sound of the second solo. Sara loves the way in which the group has a signature sound, and says the bass and drum blew her face off. She calls the soloist a beast.
The Collective is here. Of the three groups in jeopardy (the others are The Deltones and Sonos) this group has the most ground to make up from last time. The crew is singing “Rocketeer” by Far East Movement. The hype video tells us the soloist has laryngitis. Ouch. Static opening with just the soloist from last week riffing. She transitions to a different soloist whose likeability factor is instantly several times higher. The group blend is far better this time out, though the sound is a bit basic. Good perc. Male solo is good, if a bit too restrained, with a bit of an Adam Levine tinge to it. I really want to hear more attitude from the background—the one dude who’s shouting “fly” echoes is trying—they could double up on that. All in all, it really wasn’t bad (and was much better than last time) but was just a bit too vanilla for my tastes.
Sara lauds the solos and credits the jazzy approach to the song, though she says they lost the groove a bit, and the bass got off pitch at points. Ben talks about the solo working really well, and her illness not being an issue for it. He wants to hear the group relax and open a little more so they can feel the blend. Shawn talks about how the rhythm section is really important on a song like this, and though it fell away at times, it was generally good and demonstrated improvement from last time.
North Shore is stepping out of its comfort zone for this top 40 performance. None of them listen to the radio anymore, and they hadn’t heard of Bruno Mars before, but here they come with “The Lazy Song”. We open on the guys lounging on easy chairs for a fun if a bit overly literal visual interpretation. I love the bass sound from this group. The soloist is really going for it—not a perfect fit, but it functions. The whistle is so smoothly incorporated. Nice playing up of a more current reference like doing the Dougie. Nice moment as they get on up to fall into a groove. As much as the sound is, objectively, a bit thin the guys are clearly having fun and do a nice job of building to moments when the soloist can let loose or the group can show off it’s ‘tude. That’s the difference between a group like this and Pentatonix. Given how far these guys are from home, I’ll give that a vote of “excellent.” Best number of the night so far.
Sara calls the performance clean and crisp. She digs the group’s personality and ability to make it all look effortless. Shawn was concerned if the guys would be able to make the song their own, and he says they pulled it off well. He gives props to the bass. Ben says he couldn’t find anything wrong it, and celebrates the breath control on the solo.
The Dartmouth Aires are here with “Animal” by Neon Trees. This has been a favorite as of late on the collegiate scene. It will be interesting to hear how the guys can make it their own. Neat visual on the opening with the guys circled up and the soloist running within them. The soloist drops to a seat on the stairs as the groups spreads the stage. Nice pulsing beat. Tons of fun visuals going on as the guys move their bums off to sell every bit of this thing. The guys take full advantage of the sheer size of the group, pounding out the volume and filling their parts nicely. Nice second solo. The sound starts to seem a little repetitive, which I wouldn’t worry so much about if they were doing the whole song, but this is just a two-minute sample—that shouldn’t happen. It’s a relatively minor quibble—solid showing.
Shawn says the song and performance exemplified the group’s youth and energy, and he loves the guys’ pants. Ben says the energy was great and solo really told a story. It sounded like a pop song—they rocked it. Sara thought the energy and excitement from each guy was fantastic and loved the solo, particularly when he went into his upper register for the choruses.
Pentatonix is back with Janice Joplin’s “Piece of My Heart” odd little reggae groove on the opening. The lyric change to make this a man’s song is just contextually strange. The group seems a lot more restrained on this one than we’ve heard the group up to this point—far less of the frenzy, far more chill. I don’t love the sight of the soloist and the woman just kneeling and watching during the horn solo. As much as it spotlights a cool effect, when you only have five members, at least three of them should be singing at all times. I’m growing a little weary of that same record-slow-down effect to end every song. The overall performance was better than all this criticism gives it credit for, but I’m just not on the same wavelength with this group’s artistic decisions.
Shawn calls the arrangement fly. Sara credits the group making the song its own and lauds the perc/horn man. She likes the groups blend, though she missed the power of the group a little. Ben says that they took a risk and did a great job. He cites that the group wants to rush and they could have slowed down a bit more to sell the song.
The Deltones are here with “You Can’t Hurry Love” by The Supremes. Nice bass sound, and nice ability to take advantage of the female quorum for some high harmonies and good girl movement. Things seem to slip a little out of tune as it goes on. Nice little moment as the group drops out leading into the chorus. The movement grows a little cheesy, but fits the song well. Nothing earth-shattering here, but generally a solid outing.
Sara calls the group “so damn cute” and really liked the sass of the movement. She observes a bit of pitchiness. Ben credits the ability of a collegiate group to come together, but does observe the pitch issues as well. Shawn said he was listening for the bass line and says they pulled that off well. He found the lead beautiful and sassy. He said he could have used a little more from the mid-range voices to round out the sound.
North Shore brings us “Unchained Melody” by The Righteous Brothers. Are these guys ever in their element. Simple. Beautiful. Holy cow, did you catch the soloist’s falsetto?! Haha—that’s not even fair. I could have dealt with a bit of movement from the guys, but that’s as minor of a quibble as you’re likely to get on this blog. Fantastic outing.
Ben says the second verse had a bit of pitch issues, but says he’s poking holes in something amazing. Shawn calls the solo silky—he observes the pitch issues as well, but says they delivered the song as it should be delivered. Sara loved the performance and sings the praises of the solo, too. She dug the blend as well.
The Collective is back with Sam and Dave’s “Hold On, I’m Coming.” On an aside, Ithacappella’s version of this song from a few years back remains an all-time favorite. Dueling male and female soloists—I’m not so sure about that decision. I’ve gotta be honest, I don’t love either of them. This is probably the fullest the group has sounded, to its credit. I like the idea of the moment, but when the left side of the stage moonwalks, they look awkward as all heck. The group goes for the gusto towards the finish for what sounds like it’s building to the group’s best moment yet—until they finish on a messy final note.
Ben says the second half rocked, and is what he’s wanted from the group—maybe it points out the need for the group to let loose more, sooner. Shawn echoes that, on a song like this, the group needs to take the audience to church from the get-go. He wanted more, sooner. Sara likes the leads o this one and loved it from the second chorus out. She says the group is comfortable on stage and she believes in them.
Sonos comes out swinging with “I Want You Back” by The Jackson 5. Jazzy, but dangerous sounding opening. Cool. The female lead is downright sultry, and the group is both moving more, and moving in a way that looks comfortable for them. Nice moment as they cluster then spread out, adding parts as they go with the perc man holding down the foundation. I wish we could have arrived at a bit more of a dramatic moment, but this is still such a cool reimagining, and probably the best we’ve heard Sonos on The Sing-Off
Ben questions how effective the reharmonizations were, and says they have to get past pedals. Shawn says the danger of covering a classic is that it’s a classic, and he was missing the riffs. He says it was ambitious, but it didn’t work for him. Sara says she really likes when groups change up their arrangements, but she wanted them to at least throw it back to the original for a moment, and she wanted to see a little more pleading from the solo.
The Dartmouth Aires round out the second half with The Who’s “Pinball Wizard.” Check them basses! The soloist demonstrates a unique ability to create remarkable volume and depth while looking chill as hell. The guys are selling everything they’ve got. Neat little visual with one member portraying a pinball against the simulated machine walls of two lines of Aires—not musical, but fun to watch. This is where a little bit of a performance gets lost in the translation from live stage to TV. Very nice high harmonies to close.
Sara says it was awesome, calls the soloist a natural, and loved the arrangement. She credits them with wrangling together so many voices. Ben says Pete Townshend would love that arrangement, and he loved the style of silly the guys brought to the finish. He loved the transitions. There were occasional pitch issues, but they were effectively masked. Shawn calls the soloist a rock star. The mentions the pitch problems early on, but says it was fun and he loved the energy.
Elimination time. North Shore and The Dartmouth Aires are safe. Pentatonix and The Deltones are safe. No surprises here. None of the bottom three really performed this week—The Deltones were the safest coming in, and played things steady throughout the episode. The Collective is safe. Not a surprise, but still a disappointment to see a pro group head out so early in favor of a thrown-together gang that hasn’t yet got it together in the form of The Collective. Sonos sings Boyz II Men’s “It’s So Hard to Say Goodbye To Yesterday.” The emotion shows in the missed notes on the opening here. Messier than I’ve ever heard or would expect from Sonos. Shawn hides his face--he might claim in sorrow, but I think it’s more displeasure about the treatment of his song than the elimination.
That’s all for this episode. Next week, the brackets merge for the top ten. Two groups go home next week. Be sure to check back here at The ACB later this week for the updated Sing-Off Power Rankings!