Welcome to the Pentatonix rabbit hole. Each song will be your favorite until the next song. Pentatonix does not make 'covers' they make 'upgrades'. They will leave you speachless everytime. I loved your reaction, so I 'liked and subscribed' for more Pentatonix reactions. BTW...they are actually better in a live performance.
This group has a very loyal following named the Pentaholics. They love watching new reactors discovering PTX and will often subscribe to see more reactions. You might find that your video gets blocked if you don’t put some sort of filter over the PTX video and you should stop here and there to add your comments. If you do stop to comment, rewind for 3-4 seconds and restart from there. If you do further PTX reactions, you will get plenty of views/likes and subscribers. Just going to let you know that the young man with the hat that got your attention is Mitch and Pentaholics call your style of reaction to his voice a “Mitch-slap”😊
Thank you so much for this Michele! I love those guys and their music! I reacted to two of their songs and both were blocked and I had I dispute them and it took 48hrs for UA-cam to released them - the blocks affected their performances and they did not do well in terms of views and reactions. I’ll be back with another reaction by them.
Pentatonix a "brief" background. They won The Sing Off in 2011. They made a guest starring appearance on America′s Got Talent as non−competitors a couple of years after that. The founding members are:- Scott Hoying (tall blond guy, natural baritone but has an impressive five−to−six octave range, can go all the way up to high tenor and down to bass, sings the bass lines when the usual bass singer takes the lead);
Kirstin "Kirstie" (Rhymes with "Thirsty") Maldonado (the only female member, natural mezzo soprano, but can go down to low alto and as high as upper soprano, also can sing in whistle notes that are off the scale); For a time in 2018 between the group’s tours, had the female lead on Broadway in the production of “Kinky Boots”. Mitch Grassi (a true contra−tenor, can hit high notes in his chest voice with ease and go WAY higher in his falsetto, also with ease); Avriel "Avi" Kaplan (dark beard and long hair), true basso profundo, trained as an opera singer, also can go up into the tenor range; and Kevin "KO" Olusola (beatboxer extraordinaire, also is a world−class cellist who plays cello on some of their songs, has a beautiful high tenor voice and gets occasional lead vocal solos as well, graduated pre−med from Yale and speaks several languages including Mandarin Chinese). Kirstie, Scott & Mitch grew up together in Arlington, Texas, and began performing together as children in local youth musical theater. They ended up in high school together and performed in the choir. While there, they formed an a cappella group called The Trio which had several performance videos go viral on UA-cam, most notably a cover of Lady Gaga′s "Telephone". The three of them are best friends and consider themselves to be almost siblings. Scott & Kirstie (who were a class year ahead of Mitch) both graduated high school in 2010 and went their separate ways to different colleges, Scott at USC and Kirstie at Oklahoma. While at USC, Scott joined a USC−based a cappella group called the SoCal VoCals, where he met alumnus Ben Bram, who was now an arranger and vocal coach for the NBC TV show The Sing Off, an a cappella competition show. Ben convinced Scott to get The Trio to audition for the show. The three reunited (Mitch had to skip high school graduation ceremonies to go) in Los Angeles for the audition. They found out that the rules had changed, so they needed at least five members to audition. Ben put them together with Avi (a native of Visalia, California), who he knew from Avi′s performing days at Mount San Antonio College in California. They found Kevin (from Kentucky) through one of his UA-cam videos that had gone viral featuring him playing the cello and beatboxing at the same time, a talent that Kevin coined as "Cello−Boxing". Kevin arrived in Los Angeles literally the day before the audition! Scott came up with the name "Pentatonix" after the pentatonic scale. They performed a re−arrangement of "The Telephone" for the audition and passed, despite having been together as a five−piece group for less that 24 hours! They won The Sing Off that season (all of the performances are available on UA-cam), in which they received a substantial cash prize AND a record contract with Epic Records. They pooled their prize winnings together and all moved to Los Angeles, and all got apartments right next door to each other in the same building. But just a week later, Epic dropped them because the marketing people didn′t think an a cappella group could sell records. Instead of giving up, they were determined and began recording their own songs on UA-cam, hiring Ben Bram as their producer and arranger. These usually consisted of the five of them sitting on a couch and performing cover songs live. Several of the videos went viral, and Sony (the parent company of Epic) decided to give them another chance by placing them on one of their smaller labels, Madison Gate. They released two secular EPs and one Christmas EP on Madison Gate, all of which were strong sellers. But when their cover of a medley of songs by Daft Punk not only went super−viral, but also won them their first Grammy, they were promoted all the way up to RCA Records, Sony′s top label. They began writing and producing their own songs in addition to their covers, began putting out a Christmas album just about annually (which has become their best−selling genre), and have had multi−platinum album sales, sold−out world tours, and have won two additional Grammys. Avi began getting burned out with all of the touring and heavy recording schedule, was suffering from anxiety and personal problems, and learned that his mother had been diagnosed with cancer in 2017. He announced he was departing from the group and taking some time away from the music industry. Matt Sallee (from Baltimore) joined them in September 2017. He did only become official when they renewed their RCA contract in February 2018, but he recorded with them in September as a featured artist and went on their Christmas tour as a featured artist, as well. When he attended the audition for the group, he had already mastered the Bass part for most if not all their past catalogue. He was successful and has proved that he fits in well with the group. If you think there have been other changes to the line up - look again. This is the ONLY change. Kirstie and Mitch are like chameleons and change looks frequently. It is an often debated subject among the Pentaholics as to just how soon we introduce the "Beginners Guide" as we don't want to overdo the introduction. This is a compilation of snips of a whole load of songs which PTX have released. It highlights each member with some of their solos and then a brief history in video. It is quite long - 14+ minutes and is a little dated now (Feb 2020) but is a good watch ua-cam.com/video/lDxIfwfCmQE/v-deo.html&pp=ygUdYmVnaW5uZXJzIGd1aWRlIHRvIHBlbnRhdG9uaXg%3D. After a year away from music, Avi has now returned as a phenomenal solo artist in the Folk/Americana/Roots genre. Ben Bram has been in charge of their production, including arranging and directing from the beginning. He is often referred to as the sixth member. Scott and Kevin are major players in the arrangements, but every member contributes. A good watch is "The Recording of Evergreen" where a camera was invited into the studio for the second week of recording/ Also, all members are songwriters for both Pentatonix and their own solo work. Ed Boyer who mixes everything of theirs (even the HWB Livestream) is the one who pulled Ben Bram into the sing off in the first place. They have Grammy wins for Daft Punk Medley, Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy, and Jolene featuring Dolly Parton. They were nominated for a 4th Grammy for their album Evergreen, but didn't win. Another nomination for Holidays Around the World album in the 2024 list! Kirstie became a new mum which caused a pause in touring after their Evergreen Christmas tour 2021. Mid March 2023 Kirstie has announced that she is engaged to Ben Hausdorff, their videographer. They married 22/04/24! They have a star on the Hollywood walk of fame installed in February 2023. They are the only a capella group with a star! They came 3rd in the 2023 Masked Singer performing as "California Rolls" being unmasked in May 23. Things you need to know because if you get these wrong Pentaholics will come after you with pitch forks and torches! Ha Ha!! 1- There is NO Auto-Tune; what you hear is actually what they sing. They really are that good. One exception is the 90's Dance Medley where Cher used autotune as an effect - so they had to. 2- What produces everything that you hear in the video, you see in the official video. If there is an instrument used in the music, you see it on screen. In the 2022 Christmas album, there are some instruments not featured throughout the album. 3- They never release something on video they can’t reproduce with the exact same quality live on-stage. 4. It is "Pentatonix" there is no "The".
WOW! Such a great history to know about Pentatonix! Thanks a lot for this! I’m glad they did not give up after Epic Records dropped them just a week after signing them. They have a star on Hollywood walk of fame?🤯🎊🎉🕺🏾! It’s great to know this. Will check out the link you shared
The fact that five people can come together, who all on their own are superstars with magnificent voices are all in one group! Kevin, the beatboxer has a beautiful voice you can hear him singing in Mary Did You Know song. And we all love the reaction to Mitch in this song! Great for you.! I said before I don’t know why don’t have more reviews! But we pentaholics, as we like to call ourselves, we’ll go where the Pentatonix songs are being played! Another awesome review!
Loved your reaction to the Premier acapella group Pentatonix. I am so glad you discovered them and subscribed to hear more Pentatonix reactions. The last soloist "hat guy" is Mitch Grassi. He is a counter tenor and has a crazy high range, and just sounds like an angel whenever he opens his mouth. You basically got "Mitch Slapped". I am sure other people have listed the names of all the members for you so I won't go into that. My top two suggestions to react to next would be Daft Punk and Bohemian Rhapsody. Daft Punk is a mash-up of Daft Punk songs. Bohemian Rhapsody and the one you just listened to, Hallelujah, are what we call upgrades rather than covers. Because they just seem to make everything better if not unique. Daft Punk was their first Grammy nomination and win. I'm so glad you found Pentatonix and we will be right there with you as you go down the rabbit hole.
Thanks you a lot for your kind words! Yes, their names have been listed to me already and I now know them by name. Mitch is something else😀! I already reacted to Bohemian Rhapsody and will look into Daft Punk - thanks for the recommendation!
They are just a wonderful human beings as they are extrordinary singers. They have huge catalog of near;y 300 songs all on you tube. Hope you can continue to react, Super reaction/
That voice is the amazing Avi Kaplan. He left the group in 2017 for personal reasons and now has a stunning solo career going. Moist reactors start with Change on the Rise his first release after leaving Pentatonix. Avi's music is varied does not fit into one category and every song has a different feel. I hope you will react to his music. Subscribing for Avi.
Just found this reaction and enjoyed it very much! I'm SUBBING in hopes of more Pentatonix reactions! Everything they do is amazing, so take your pick. They have a lot of Christmas songs, don't think you have to wait to react to any of them, Pentaholics listen year round! Thanks, it was great!!
Great reaction-positively loved your reaction to being Mitch-slapped! He leaves people speechless when he sings! I get goosebumps every single time I hear him sing! Every single member of this group has extraordinary talent. Avi was spectacular, and so is Matt. I feel so blessed to be able to tune in and listen to them anytime I want to. They truly are a gift from God to this world! ❤️❤️❤️ I’m so glad you found them!
The members of #Pentatonix. In this video we have: • First verse: Tall blond guy, Scott Hoying, lyric baritone. 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. • Second verse: Bearded guy wearing a stocking cap, Avi (pronounced Ah'-vee, emphasis on the first syllable) Kaplan, lyric bass. Avi is an operatically trained basso profundo - his lowest notes have blown out speakers in live performances - but his range extends to somewhere in the middle of a normal tenor range. If this were a live performance you'd be hearing Scott singing the bass line during Avi's solo, but if you listen carefully you can hear the bass starting up during Scott's solo, and the voice doesn't change as it continues into Avi's solo. So what gives? Early on, they decided that when they're recording in the studio for release on an album, it's worth a small cheat to improve the audio quality. The bass records one track with the bass harmonies for the entire song, and a separate track with his solo, which is then layered in over the bass track. And since this is an official video of a song that was released on an album, that's Avi you hear singing bass while he's also soloing in the baritone and tenor parts of his range. • Third verse: The only woman in Pentatonix, Kirstin (also called Kirstie, which rhymes with thirsty) Maldonado. Kirstin sings everywhere from a low alto through coloratura soprano, the highest female range. And she has fantastic whistle notes on top of that. Lately Pentatonix has begun referring to her as an "alto soprano." • Fourth verse: Guy wearing a wide-brimmed hat, Mitch Grassi (pronounced Grah'-see, emphasis on the first syllable), natural contratenor. No one is certain whether Mitch can sing higher than Kirstin or Kirstin can sing higher than Mitch; I suspect that it varies from day to day, though everyone agrees that Kirstin has better whistle notes. Mitch is known for his ethereally beautiful (some say "angelic") high vocals. Shawn Stockman, of Boyz II Men, said Mitch has "one of the prettiest voices I have ever heard in my life." Mitch switches seamlessly from chest voice to mixed voice to head voice. He has a range of just over six octaves. And we call that stunned look people get the first time they realize that the beautiful high voice is coming from a man, "being Mitch slapped." You've just been Mitch slapped. Don't let it worry you; it's happened to all of us, generally more than once because Mitch is full of surprises. • The fifth member of Pentatonix (PTX for short) is Kevin Olusola (pronounced Oh-loosh"-oh-luh', primary emphasis on the second syllable, secondary emphasis on the fourth) beatboxer extraordinaire. There may be a better beatboxer than Kevin, but if so I've never encountered him or her. We don't get to hear Kevin sing as often as we'd like because he's generally too busy being the entire percussion section, but when he does sing he has a lovely tenor voice that occasionally descends to the uppermost reaches of a baritone range. He's also known for the beauty of his falsetto, which goes higher than Mitch's and Kirstin's voices. Kevin has perfect pitch. He began piano lessons at age 4, cello at age 6, and alto saxophone at age 10. When he was a teenager he performed at Carnegie Hall twice, once on the cello and once on the saxophone. He beatboxes while playing the cello, which he refers to as "celloboxing." He graduated from Yale in 2011 with a pre-med major and had already been accepted to Yale Medical School when he gave up his dream of becoming a surgeon to pursue his dream of becoming a professional beatboxer instead. He speaks five languages fluently: English, French, German, Spanish, and Mandarin Chinese. He's one of the kindest people in the world, and when he laughs the whole planet seems like a brighter place. In 2017 Avi found it necesssary to leave Pentatonix, for a variety of personal reasons. He has since gone on to have a very successful solo career, and I strongly recommend subscribing to his UA-cam channel, which you can find here: youtube.com/@AviKaplanMusic Avi's replacement joined in either late 2017 or early 2018 (depending on how you figure it) and has now been with Pentatonix longer than Avi was. You'll see him in all of their newer videos: • The second black member of Pentatonix is Matt Sallee (pronounced Suh-lee', emphasis on the second syllable), lyric bass. In addition to being the newest member of Pentatonix Matt is also the youngest member, and I'm told that bass voices improve with age. Matt's range seems to be growing on a daily basis right now. His current lowest note appears to be A1, which just barely counts as basso profundo, albeit not the blowing out speakers variety (though he may achieve that within a year or two). But on his high end Matt reaches nearly the top of a normal tenor range. To find his current range I recommend listening to a recent live stream of "Hallelujah." You can find one here: ua-cam.com/video/FqphhPapkoc/v-deo.htmlsi=tC6Ew07JGeQKQvDL Matt's arrangement of the second verse seems to be designed to show off his full range, which is astonishing. I believe Matt has the largest range of any member of Pentatonix, past or present.
Hi Magaret, I can’t thank you enough for this detailed info about #Pentatonix and their names😀! I haven’t done any more of their songs due to fear of it being blocked again. I’ll do something this coming week, so stay tuned!
Subscribed. If you decide to continue down this rabbit hole you can expect a LOT of new subscriptions; #Pentatonix fans are enthusiastic about reaction videos to anything our favorite band puts out. Some useful terminology: • pentaholic = Pentatonix fan • PTX = abbreviation for Pentatonix - extremely useful in searches • the trio = Kirstin, Mitch, and Scott • Mitch slap = what you get the first time you realize how incredible Mitch's voice is. • Avi-lanche = like a Mitch slap, except with Avi instead of Mitch. • KO = like a Mitch slap or Avi-lanche, except with Kevin Olusola. (Note: You never become immune to Mitch slaps, Avi-lanches, KOs, or the similar things that Kirstin, Scott, and Matt do. They always have the ability to surprise us.) 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: ua-cam.com/video/FqphhPapkoc/v-deo.htmlsi=tC6Ew07JGeQKQvDL ) • "Imagine" (the official video) • "The Prayer" • "Bohemian Rhapsody" (the official video) • "Sound of Silence" • "Run To You" (an original, written by Avi and Kevin) • "Happy Now" (another original) • "Daft Punk Medley" (their first Grammy winner) • "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: ua-cam.com/video/ReJAU2mXm8w/v-deo.htmlsi=upj2Q3vLqigVEtgm ) • "Pure Imagination / Christmas Time is Here" (preferably the live Vevo recording) • "Kiss From a Rose" (preferably the live Vevo recording) • "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: ua-cam.com/video/DbCasvcNx78/v-deo.html and this is the very special performance of "Kevin's Fifth" (without "The Kevin Show") from Kevin's birthday in 2022: ua-cam.com/video/7m0g7xThIWs/v-deo.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)": ua-cam.com/video/QkVeKb2igrg/v-deo.html If you've never seen the movie it won't make sense, so take care of that first. One advantage to reacting to "The Wizard of Ahhhs" is that you won't need to obscure the video to avoid copyright claims. Most of Pentatonix's copyrights are owned by their publisher, RCA, and RCA is notorious for getting reaction videos taken down over copyright issues, but the copyrights for "The Wizard of Ahhhs" are owned by Todrick Hall, and Todrick seems to be more interested in good publicity than in stomping on innocent reactors. (I regret to say that Todrick has gotten a lot of bad publicity in recent years, for very good reasons; he appears to be something of a jerk. But making copyright claims against other UA-camrs isn't one of his vices.)
I loved your reaction and will be subbing for more Pentatonix and the other acapella groups home free voice play the best gang. I love that you put your subtitles on but can you turn your mic up a little bit or talk a little louder. Just really hard for me to hear and I really don't think it's my phone. I just want to get all your reaction. Mini it's not all reactors to Pentatonix has to deal with the copyright strike or it being blocked. So what you need to do is stop about every 30 seconds put a filter on the video or distorted somehow. Some people just put block for copyright. We the fans completely understand this. They don't just have that Christmas album they have quite a number of Christmas albums. In fact Pentatonix owns Christmas. I love your house apartment the way it's decorated and I really love that painting
Thanks a lot Lesa for your comment and kind words. I think I’ll have to learn about the filter bit. I started reacting just over 2 weeks ago and wasn’t aware my mic volume was on low, but it’s on max now, so if could do me favour of checking out one or two of my recent reactions, to see if there’s improvement or not, I’ll really appreciate it. I’ll check the other groups you mentioned The apartment is temporary as I’m moving out in few days, but thanks. It’s a nice apartment
Since you haven't done anything to obscure the official video, I fear that your reaction will be taken down by a copyright claim. #Pentatonix loves UA-cam reactions and reactors; they're well aware that reaction videos have helped to make them the success that they are today. Unfortunately, their copyrights are owned by their publisher, RCA, and RCA doesn't share their love of reaction videos. RCA is notorious for making copyright claims that get reaction videos taken down. The claims all seem to be about the video, not the music, and there are several strategies people use to keep their reactions up. Some people only react to live performances. This works, but it's limiting. In general, Pentatonix is as good live as they are in their official releases, but that's musically; there are a few of their official videos that have important video effects that can't be duplicated live. The most obvious one is "Imagine," but several others spring to mind. Also, if you only react to live performances you can't react to any "Behind the Scenes" or "Making of" videos. Another strategy is to pause the video frequently. This is probably a good idea (be sure to rewind a bit whenever you do this), but the definition of "frequent" is subjective so I don't recommend it as your only protection. What seems to work best is to slightly mask the video, combined with frequent pauses. Some people put a translucent "PENTATONIX" or "COPYRIGHT" over the video; others put what appears to be a window with raindrops on it over the video. Remember, the pentaholics are here to see your reaction, not the video - we've seen the video numerous times already. We only need to be able to see enough of it to be sure what exactly you're reacting to, in real time.
@@Franklynreact A couple of pauses probably won't be enough. I really do recommend some blurring. It doesn't need to be major; just making the video slightly transparent so we can see your room behind it should be plenty. Three things NOT to do: 1. Don't just skip past a second or two of the song; that's jarring. 2. Don't black out both the official video and yourself. (Yes, I have seen reactors do both of those things.) 3. PLEASE don't simply present the video as a mirror image of itself. It's easy; it takes care of copyright issues; and it means that any comment I've saved to a text file to make it easy to post needs to be gone through line by line to make sure I didn't refer to left or right. And in at least one official video it ruins the point.
You’re right about the audio and not alone on this as there has been a few #pentaholics who also pointed it out. I hope that my other reactions don’t have the same issue. Thank you for your comment and for pointing out the audio issue.
Could you please adjust the volume? Your voice is much quieter than the music, which means we have to turn the volume up to hear you, at which point the music becomes dangerously loud.
I've never heard a Mitch slap described as "he can sing the dead from the grave" before, but you're absolutely right! 😂
Ha ha ha! Mitch can SING!!!
Welcome to the Pentatonix rabbit hole. Each song will be your favorite until the next song. Pentatonix does not make 'covers' they make 'upgrades'. They will leave you speachless everytime. I loved your reaction, so I 'liked and subscribed' for more Pentatonix reactions. BTW...they are actually better in a live performance.
The first Mitch slap is the sweetest ❤
😁❤️
This group has a very loyal following named the Pentaholics. They love watching new reactors discovering PTX and will often subscribe to see more reactions. You might find that your video gets blocked if you don’t put some sort of filter over the PTX video and you should stop here and there to add your comments. If you do stop to comment, rewind for 3-4 seconds and restart from there. If you do further PTX reactions, you will get plenty of views/likes and subscribers. Just going to let you know that the young man with the hat that got your attention is Mitch and Pentaholics call your style of reaction to his voice a “Mitch-slap”😊
Thank you so much for this Michele! I love those guys and their music! I reacted to two of their songs and both were blocked and I had I dispute them and it took 48hrs for UA-cam to released them - the blocks affected their performances and they did not do well in terms of views and reactions.
I’ll be back with another reaction by them.
Can you believe there isn't a single instrument being used? Purely their voices and beat boxing. It's so beautiful. Great reaction ❤
Exactly! It’s crazy what they do with no single instrument being used! I sometimes doubt it🤣🤣🤣, but that shows how great they are!
Pentatonix a "brief" background.
They won The Sing Off in 2011. They made a guest starring appearance on America′s Got Talent as non−competitors a couple of years after that.
The founding members are:-
Scott Hoying (tall blond guy, natural baritone but has an impressive five−to−six octave range, can go all the way up to high tenor and down to bass, sings the bass lines when the usual bass singer takes the lead);
Kirstin "Kirstie" (Rhymes with "Thirsty") Maldonado (the only female member, natural mezzo soprano, but can go down to low alto and as high as upper soprano, also can sing in whistle notes that are off the scale); For a time in 2018 between the group’s tours, had the female lead on Broadway in the production of “Kinky Boots”.
Mitch Grassi (a true contra−tenor, can hit high notes in his chest voice with ease and go WAY higher in his falsetto, also with ease);
Avriel "Avi" Kaplan (dark beard and long hair), true basso profundo, trained as an opera singer, also can go up into the tenor range; and
Kevin "KO" Olusola (beatboxer extraordinaire, also is a world−class cellist who plays cello on some of their songs, has a beautiful high tenor voice and gets occasional lead vocal solos as well, graduated pre−med from Yale and speaks several languages including Mandarin Chinese).
Kirstie, Scott & Mitch grew up together in Arlington, Texas, and began performing together as children in local youth musical theater. They ended up in high school together and performed in the choir. While there, they formed an a cappella group called The Trio which had several performance videos go viral on UA-cam, most notably a cover of Lady Gaga′s "Telephone". The three of them are best friends and consider themselves to be almost siblings.
Scott & Kirstie (who were a class year ahead of Mitch) both graduated high school in 2010 and went their separate ways to different colleges, Scott at USC and Kirstie at Oklahoma.
While at USC, Scott joined a USC−based a cappella group called the SoCal VoCals, where he met alumnus Ben Bram, who was now an arranger and vocal coach for the NBC TV show The Sing Off, an a cappella competition show. Ben convinced Scott to get The Trio to audition for the show. The three reunited (Mitch had to skip high school graduation ceremonies to go) in Los Angeles for the audition.
They found out that the rules had changed, so they needed at least five members to audition. Ben put them together with Avi (a native of Visalia, California), who he knew from Avi′s performing days at Mount San Antonio College in California. They found Kevin (from Kentucky) through one of his UA-cam videos that had gone viral featuring him playing the cello and beatboxing at the same time, a talent that Kevin coined as "Cello−Boxing".
Kevin arrived in Los Angeles literally the day before the audition! Scott came up with the name "Pentatonix" after the pentatonic scale. They performed a re−arrangement of "The Telephone" for the audition and passed, despite having been together as a five−piece group for less that 24 hours!
They won The Sing Off that season (all of the performances are available on UA-cam), in which they received a substantial cash prize AND a record contract with Epic Records. They pooled their prize winnings together and all moved to Los Angeles, and all got apartments right next door to each other in the same building.
But just a week later, Epic dropped them because the marketing people didn′t think an a cappella group could sell records.
Instead of giving up, they were determined and began recording their own songs on UA-cam, hiring Ben Bram as their producer and arranger. These usually consisted of the five of them sitting on a couch and performing cover songs live.
Several of the videos went viral, and Sony (the parent company of Epic) decided to give them another chance by placing them on one of their smaller labels, Madison Gate. They released two secular EPs and one Christmas EP on Madison Gate, all of which were strong sellers.
But when their cover of a medley of songs by Daft Punk not only went super−viral, but also won them their first Grammy, they were promoted all the way up to RCA Records, Sony′s top label.
They began writing and producing their own songs in addition to their covers, began putting out a Christmas album just about annually (which has become their best−selling genre), and have had multi−platinum album sales, sold−out world tours, and have won two additional Grammys.
Avi began getting burned out with all of the touring and heavy recording schedule, was suffering from anxiety and personal problems, and learned that his mother had been diagnosed with cancer in 2017. He announced he was departing from the group and taking some time away from the music industry.
Matt Sallee (from Baltimore) joined them in September 2017. He did only become official when they renewed their RCA contract in February 2018, but he recorded with them in September as a featured artist and went on their Christmas tour as a featured artist, as well. When he attended the audition for the group, he had already mastered the Bass part for most if not all their past catalogue. He was successful and has proved that he fits in well with the group.
If you think there have been other changes to the line up - look again. This is the ONLY change. Kirstie and Mitch are like chameleons and change looks frequently.
It is an often debated subject among the Pentaholics as to just how soon we introduce the "Beginners Guide" as we don't want to overdo the introduction. This is a compilation of snips of a whole load of songs which PTX have released. It highlights each member with some of their solos and then a brief history in video. It is quite long - 14+ minutes and is a little dated now (Feb 2020) but is a good watch ua-cam.com/video/lDxIfwfCmQE/v-deo.html&pp=ygUdYmVnaW5uZXJzIGd1aWRlIHRvIHBlbnRhdG9uaXg%3D.
After a year away from music, Avi has now returned as a phenomenal solo artist in the Folk/Americana/Roots genre.
Ben Bram has been in charge of their production, including arranging and directing from the beginning. He is often referred to as the sixth member. Scott and Kevin are major players in the arrangements, but every member contributes. A good watch is "The Recording of Evergreen" where a camera was invited into the studio for the second week of recording/
Also, all members are songwriters for both Pentatonix and their own solo work.
Ed Boyer who mixes everything of theirs (even the HWB Livestream) is the one who pulled Ben Bram into the sing off in the first place.
They have Grammy wins for Daft Punk Medley, Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy, and Jolene featuring Dolly Parton. They were nominated for a 4th Grammy for their album Evergreen, but didn't win. Another nomination for Holidays Around the World album in the 2024 list!
Kirstie became a new mum which caused a pause in touring after their Evergreen Christmas tour 2021. Mid March 2023 Kirstie has announced that she is engaged to Ben Hausdorff, their videographer. They married 22/04/24!
They have a star on the Hollywood walk of fame installed in February 2023. They are the only a capella group with a star!
They came 3rd in the 2023 Masked Singer performing as "California Rolls" being unmasked in May 23.
Things you need to know because if you get these wrong Pentaholics will come after you with pitch forks and torches! Ha Ha!!
1- There is NO Auto-Tune; what you hear is actually what they sing. They really are that good. One exception is the 90's Dance Medley where Cher used autotune as an effect - so they had to.
2- What produces everything that you hear in the video, you see in the official video. If there is an instrument used in the music, you see it on screen. In the 2022 Christmas album, there are some instruments not featured throughout the album.
3- They never release something on video they can’t reproduce with the exact same quality live on-stage.
4. It is "Pentatonix" there is no "The".
WOW! Such a great history to know about Pentatonix! Thanks a lot for this! I’m glad they did not give up after Epic Records dropped them just a week after signing them.
They have a star on Hollywood walk of fame?🤯🎊🎉🕺🏾! It’s great to know this. Will check out the link you shared
The fact that five people can come together, who all on their own are superstars with magnificent voices are all in one group! Kevin, the beatboxer has a beautiful voice you can hear him singing in Mary Did You Know song. And we all love the reaction to Mitch in this song! Great for you.! I said before I don’t know why don’t have more reviews! But we pentaholics, as we like to call ourselves, we’ll go where the Pentatonix songs are being played! Another awesome review!
They’re just so amazing and I have so much respect for them and what they do - thank you Vicky for your comment😊. I’ll be looking Mary Did You Know?
Pentaholics will show...
I’m seeing that already😊
Loved your reaction to the Premier acapella group Pentatonix. I am so glad you discovered them and subscribed to hear more Pentatonix reactions. The last soloist "hat guy" is Mitch Grassi. He is a counter tenor and has a crazy high range, and just sounds like an angel whenever he opens his mouth. You basically got "Mitch Slapped". I am sure other people have listed the names of all the members for you so I won't go into that. My top two suggestions to react to next would be Daft Punk and Bohemian Rhapsody. Daft Punk is a mash-up of Daft Punk songs. Bohemian Rhapsody and the one you just listened to, Hallelujah, are what we call upgrades rather than covers. Because they just seem to make everything better if not unique. Daft Punk was their first Grammy nomination and win. I'm so glad you found Pentatonix and we will be right there with you as you go down the rabbit hole.
Thanks you a lot for your kind words! Yes, their names have been listed to me already and I now know them by name. Mitch is something else😀! I already reacted to Bohemian Rhapsody and will look into Daft Punk - thanks for the recommendation!
They are just a wonderful human beings as they are extrordinary singers. They have huge catalog of near;y 300 songs all on you tube. Hope you can continue to react, Super reaction/
Bless them all! I’ll react to more
That voice is the amazing Avi Kaplan. He left the group in 2017 for personal reasons and now has a stunning solo career going. Moist reactors start with Change on the Rise his first release after leaving Pentatonix. Avi's music is varied does not fit into one category and every song has a different feel. I hope you will react to his music. Subscribing for Avi.
Thanks Heather! I’ll look into Avi
Just found this reaction and enjoyed it very much! I'm SUBBING in hopes of more Pentatonix reactions! Everything they do is amazing, so take your pick. They have a lot of Christmas songs, don't think you have to wait to react to any of them, Pentaholics listen year round! Thanks, it was great!!
Thanks a lot Kathy! I’ll react to them again this coming week, I promise.
Hi and welcome to the rabbit hole. Its Deep and worth every second listening to their songs
Thank you so much - I hope to make it up to you guys!
Great reaction-positively loved your reaction to being Mitch-slapped! He leaves people speechless when he sings! I get goosebumps every single time I hear him sing! Every single member of this group has extraordinary talent. Avi was spectacular, and so is Matt. I feel so blessed to be able to tune in and listen to them anytime I want to. They truly are a gift from God to this world! ❤️❤️❤️ I’m so glad you found them!
They’re just so amazing in every aspect of their single. They give me chills.
Mitch is just something else - yes you’re right, they’re all very talented and amazing guys.! I’m glad to have found them too😊!
@@Franklynreact ❤️❤️❤️
❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤
🩷🩷🩷
Following you down this rabbit hole! Enjoy 🇨🇦
Thank you so much! I appreciate and will do my best to make you smile through my reactions
Incredible song choice and lovely reaction ❤❤
Thank you so much Blessing!
Great reaction. Tubing for more PTX!
Thank you! You’ll see more PTX
The members of #Pentatonix. In this video we have:
• First verse: Tall blond guy, Scott Hoying, lyric baritone. 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.
• Second verse: Bearded guy wearing a stocking cap, Avi (pronounced Ah'-vee, emphasis on the first syllable) Kaplan, lyric bass. Avi is an operatically trained basso profundo - his lowest notes have blown out speakers in live performances - but his range extends to somewhere in the middle of a normal tenor range. If this were a live performance you'd be hearing Scott singing the bass line during Avi's solo, but if you listen carefully you can hear the bass starting up during Scott's solo, and the voice doesn't change as it continues into Avi's solo. So what gives? Early on, they decided that when they're recording in the studio for release on an album, it's worth a small cheat to improve the audio quality. The bass records one track with the bass harmonies for the entire song, and a separate track with his solo, which is then layered in over the bass track. And since this is an official video of a song that was released on an album, that's Avi you hear singing bass while he's also soloing in the baritone and tenor parts of his range.
• Third verse: The only woman in Pentatonix, Kirstin (also called Kirstie, which rhymes with thirsty) Maldonado. Kirstin sings everywhere from a low alto through coloratura soprano, the highest female range. And she has fantastic whistle notes on top of that. Lately Pentatonix has begun referring to her as an "alto soprano."
• Fourth verse: Guy wearing a wide-brimmed hat, Mitch Grassi (pronounced Grah'-see, emphasis on the first syllable), natural contratenor. No one is certain whether Mitch can sing higher than Kirstin or Kirstin can sing higher than Mitch; I suspect that it varies from day to day, though everyone agrees that Kirstin has better whistle notes. Mitch is known for his ethereally beautiful (some say "angelic") high vocals. Shawn Stockman, of Boyz II Men, said Mitch has "one of the prettiest voices I have ever heard in my life." Mitch switches seamlessly from chest voice to mixed voice to head voice. He has a range of just over six octaves. And we call that stunned look people get the first time they realize that the beautiful high voice is coming from a man, "being Mitch slapped." You've just been Mitch slapped. Don't let it worry you; it's happened to all of us, generally more than once because Mitch is full of surprises.
• The fifth member of Pentatonix (PTX for short) is Kevin Olusola (pronounced Oh-loosh"-oh-luh', primary emphasis on the second syllable, secondary emphasis on the fourth) beatboxer extraordinaire. There may be a better beatboxer than Kevin, but if so I've never encountered him or her. We don't get to hear Kevin sing as often as we'd like because he's generally too busy being the entire percussion section, but when he does sing he has a lovely tenor voice that occasionally descends to the uppermost reaches of a baritone range. He's also known for the beauty of his falsetto, which goes higher than Mitch's and Kirstin's voices. Kevin has perfect pitch. He began piano lessons at age 4, cello at age 6, and alto saxophone at age 10. When he was a teenager he performed at Carnegie Hall twice, once on the cello and once on the saxophone. He beatboxes while playing the cello, which he refers to as "celloboxing." He graduated from Yale in 2011 with a pre-med major and had already been accepted to Yale Medical School when he gave up his dream of becoming a surgeon to pursue his dream of becoming a professional beatboxer instead. He speaks five languages fluently: English, French, German, Spanish, and Mandarin Chinese. He's one of the kindest people in the world, and when he laughs the whole planet seems like a brighter place.
In 2017 Avi found it necesssary to leave Pentatonix, for a variety of personal reasons. He has since gone on to have a very successful solo career, and I strongly recommend subscribing to his UA-cam channel, which you can find here: youtube.com/@AviKaplanMusic
Avi's replacement joined in either late 2017 or early 2018 (depending on how you figure it) and has now been with Pentatonix longer than Avi was. You'll see him in all of their newer videos:
• The second black member of Pentatonix is Matt Sallee (pronounced Suh-lee', emphasis on the second syllable), lyric bass. In addition to being the newest member of Pentatonix Matt is also the youngest member, and I'm told that bass voices improve with age. Matt's range seems to be growing on a daily basis right now. His current lowest note appears to be A1, which just barely counts as basso profundo, albeit not the blowing out speakers variety (though he may achieve that within a year or two). But on his high end Matt reaches nearly the top of a normal tenor range. To find his current range I recommend listening to a recent live stream of "Hallelujah." You can find one here: ua-cam.com/video/FqphhPapkoc/v-deo.htmlsi=tC6Ew07JGeQKQvDL Matt's arrangement of the second verse seems to be designed to show off his full range, which is astonishing. I believe Matt has the largest range of any member of Pentatonix, past or present.
Hi Magaret, I can’t thank you enough for this detailed info about #Pentatonix and their names😀! I haven’t done any more of their songs due to fear of it being blocked again. I’ll do something this coming week, so stay tuned!
Broooo expect nothing less than magic from these 5 musically gifted aliens. Check out Sound of silence
So true! I reacted to it already - check my reactions and you’d see it
Awesome Reaction - More PTX Please!
Thank you! You’ll see more
Pentaholic here 🇨🇦
You’re welcome😊
New sub here and I enjoyed watching this with you. Avi was the second man to sing and he is also the low voice you hear in the video.
Thanks for subbing and for your kind words😊
Not only are the vocals perfect, but WHO DID THAT ARRANGEMENT?
Can please clarify me on this?
You may need to use a few tricks to get by the copyrighting. We are use to it.
Recommend their cover of Sound Of Silence.
I’ve been advised to pause every 30 seconds or so, I’ll try that and see if it works. Thank you!
Subscribed.
If you decide to continue down this rabbit hole you can expect a LOT of new subscriptions; #Pentatonix fans are enthusiastic about reaction videos to anything our favorite band puts out.
Some useful terminology:
• pentaholic = Pentatonix fan
• PTX = abbreviation for Pentatonix - extremely useful in searches
• the trio = Kirstin, Mitch, and Scott
• Mitch slap = what you get the first time you realize how incredible Mitch's voice is.
• Avi-lanche = like a Mitch slap, except with Avi instead of Mitch.
• KO = like a Mitch slap or Avi-lanche, except with Kevin Olusola.
(Note: You never become immune to Mitch slaps, Avi-lanches, KOs, or the similar things that Kirstin, Scott, and Matt do. They always have the ability to surprise us.)
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: ua-cam.com/video/FqphhPapkoc/v-deo.htmlsi=tC6Ew07JGeQKQvDL )
• "Imagine" (the official video)
• "The Prayer"
• "Bohemian Rhapsody" (the official video)
• "Sound of Silence"
• "Run To You" (an original, written by Avi and Kevin)
• "Happy Now" (another original)
• "Daft Punk Medley" (their first Grammy winner)
• "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: ua-cam.com/video/ReJAU2mXm8w/v-deo.htmlsi=upj2Q3vLqigVEtgm )
• "Pure Imagination / Christmas Time is Here" (preferably the live Vevo recording)
• "Kiss From a Rose" (preferably the live Vevo recording)
• "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: ua-cam.com/video/DbCasvcNx78/v-deo.html and this is the very special performance of "Kevin's Fifth" (without "The Kevin Show") from Kevin's birthday in 2022: ua-cam.com/video/7m0g7xThIWs/v-deo.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)": ua-cam.com/video/QkVeKb2igrg/v-deo.html If you've never seen the movie it won't make sense, so take care of that first. One advantage to reacting to "The Wizard of Ahhhs" is that you won't need to obscure the video to avoid copyright claims. Most of Pentatonix's copyrights are owned by their publisher, RCA, and RCA is notorious for getting reaction videos taken down over copyright issues, but the copyrights for "The Wizard of Ahhhs" are owned by Todrick Hall, and Todrick seems to be more interested in good publicity than in stomping on innocent reactors. (I regret to say that Todrick has gotten a lot of bad publicity in recent years, for very good reasons; he appears to be something of a jerk. But making copyright claims against other UA-camrs isn't one of his vices.)
Thank you for subscribing to my channel😄! Maybe I should react to “Hallelujah” live performance?
I subscribed for more Pentatonix. Greetings from South Africa
Thank you for subscribing to my channel
I loved your reaction and will be subbing for more Pentatonix and the other acapella groups home free voice play the best gang. I love that you put your subtitles on but can you turn your mic up a little bit or talk a little louder. Just really hard for me to hear and I really don't think it's my phone. I just want to get all your reaction. Mini it's not all reactors to Pentatonix has to deal with the copyright strike or it being blocked. So what you need to do is stop about every 30 seconds put a filter on the video or distorted somehow. Some people just put block for copyright. We the fans completely understand this. They don't just have that Christmas album they have quite a number of Christmas albums. In fact Pentatonix owns Christmas. I love your house apartment the way it's decorated and I really love that painting
Thanks a lot Lesa for your comment and kind words. I think I’ll have to learn about the filter bit. I started reacting just over 2 weeks ago and wasn’t aware my mic volume was on low, but it’s on max now, so if could do me favour of checking out one or two of my recent reactions, to see if there’s improvement or not, I’ll really appreciate it. I’ll check the other groups you mentioned
The apartment is temporary as I’m moving out in few days, but thanks. It’s a nice apartment
Getting lots of distortion on the bass here in Copenhagen, DK. But I guess you'll have it sorted when I return for your next PTX reaction.
So sorry to hear about the distortion - could you please help me check my recent reaction and let me know if they have similar issue? Many thanks
Since you haven't done anything to obscure the official video, I fear that your reaction will be taken down by a copyright claim.
#Pentatonix loves UA-cam reactions and reactors; they're well aware that reaction videos have helped to make them the success that they are today. Unfortunately, their copyrights are owned by their publisher, RCA, and RCA doesn't share their love of reaction videos. RCA is notorious for making copyright claims that get reaction videos taken down.
The claims all seem to be about the video, not the music, and there are several strategies people use to keep their reactions up. Some people only react to live performances. This works, but it's limiting. In general, Pentatonix is as good live as they are in their official releases, but that's musically; there are a few of their official videos that have important video effects that can't be duplicated live. The most obvious one is "Imagine," but several others spring to mind. Also, if you only react to live performances you can't react to any "Behind the Scenes" or "Making of" videos.
Another strategy is to pause the video frequently. This is probably a good idea (be sure to rewind a bit whenever you do this), but the definition of "frequent" is subjective so I don't recommend it as your only protection. What seems to work best is to slightly mask the video, combined with frequent pauses. Some people put a translucent "PENTATONIX" or "COPYRIGHT" over the video; others put what appears to be a window with raindrops on it over the video. Remember, the pentaholics are here to see your reaction, not the video - we've seen the video numerous times already. We only need to be able to see enough of it to be sure what exactly you're reacting to, in real time.
This is so lovely to read, thanks! My next reaction will have a couple of pauses
@@Franklynreact A couple of pauses probably won't be enough. I really do recommend some blurring. It doesn't need to be major; just making the video slightly transparent so we can see your room behind it should be plenty.
Three things NOT to do:
1. Don't just skip past a second or two of the song; that's jarring.
2. Don't black out both the official video and yourself. (Yes, I have seen reactors do both of those things.)
3. PLEASE don't simply present the video as a mirror image of itself. It's easy; it takes care of copyright issues; and it means that any comment I've saved to a text file to make it easy to post needs to be gone through line by line to make sure I didn't refer to left or right. And in at least one official video it ruins the point.
Great reaction!
If I can critique, ignore if I can't. Your audio is a bit low and muffled relative to the reacted to. Audio is super important.
You’re right about the audio and not alone on this as there has been a few #pentaholics who also pointed it out. I hope that my other reactions don’t have the same issue. Thank you for your comment and for pointing out the audio issue.
Could you please adjust the volume? Your voice is much quieter than the music, which means we have to turn the volume up to hear you, at which point the music becomes dangerously loud.
Noted. Thanks for pointing that out