Pacific Collegiate Choir Blog: Pentatonix

For about a two years my favorite band has been Pentatonix, they are an amazing Grammy winning accapella group. The group started with three high school choir nerds, like ourselves, Scott Hoying, Mitch Grassi, and Kirstin Maldonado. Back in high school they created an arrangement of Lady Gaga’s “Telephone”, which was uploaded to Youtube and quickly gained thousands of views ( I warn you the video is pretty cringy).

In 2011, they auditioned for an acappella competition show called The Sing Off. Which is when they added their bass, Avi Kaplan and beat boxer, Kevin Olusola. They won the Sing Off, and their prize was a record deal. So all five of them moved out to L.A, where after only a week of living there they were dropped from their label. So they started to upload covers on Youtube, where they were discovered by Madison Gates Records, which is owned by Sony Pictures.

Flash forward to 2016, they have released three EPs, PTX Vol. 1-3, two Christmas albums, PTXmas and That’s Christmas to me, they are also releasing a new one this year. Their album, That’s Christmas to Me has went double platinum. In 2015, they released a self titled album consisting of mostly original music.

I personally love them because of their super tight arrangements, that also have interesting harmonies and unexpected twist on covers. The songs themselves are solid, but you can still pick one voice to follow throughout the song, which creates a really interesting experience. Actually Monday, I am going to their concert, and I am so excited, as I have been listening to them for so long.

Here are a few of my favorite covers and songs (for best results where with headphones):

They won their first Grammy for this melody of Daft Punk: