First Grammy of three, filmed in a closet in the apartment Avi and Kevin shared. Put together on the kitchen counter. Spent $400 on basic. They also do this song for a Make A Wish fan. No microphones or anything EXCEPT their voices and they produce the same reverb and edits live by themselves. Welcome to PTX and the Pentaholics base
Not true, but close. It was recorded in the closet when the studio fell through at the last minute. The video was shot in the kitchen, but by a professional videography team. The pros edited it... I think the whole "edited by them" thing comes from the "couch video" era where their very earliest videos (Moves Like Jagger, for instance) were recorded on Mitch's iPad. The budget for things like makeup and those contacts was $400 but they spent much more than that on the actual filming and editing. There's a behind the scenes writeup, with photos, from Fifgen Films on a lighting and photography blog that's pretty easy to find.
Welcome to the PTX rabbithole. The Prayer, Bohemian Rhapsody, their "Evolution of.." series, Sound of Silence, and Imagine are some of my personal favorites.
This song won them their first (of three!) Grammys. It's a deep rabbit hole and we'll gladly dive into it with you. I saw them in concert a number of years ago and they sound exactly the same. And that's one of their criteria for doing a song - they have to be able to sing it live and have it sound the same. Like Home Free, they do upgrades, not covers. Anything you choose to do next will be great but don't neglect to do some of their originals, like Run to You as Avi mentioned.
Popspring 2016 is a live performance thar includes 3 original songs as well as Evolution of Michael Jackson if you'd like to check out a live performance. Hallelujah is their most viewed video, I think. It's the first time I ever saw them ever in life was this past summer, so I suppose I was living under a rock somewhere. I was instantly a Mitchell Grassi Superfan. Speaking of Suoer, Scott and Mitch have a channel on UA-cam called Superfruit in which they share a piece of their life, personality, and comedic relief. They also sing Mashups and cover some songs and have a few originals of their own. They do an excellent rendition of Nicki Minaj and Beyonce Feeling Myself, Katy Perry's Rise is a collab. Cool story to that particular song, so you may want to Google it or let someone comment about it . I would now bit duty calls. I subscribed fast for your PTX reactions.
The super crazy thing is the also sing this live. There is a video of them performing this in a backroom for a small group recorded on someone's phone. No in-ears, mics,tuning...just the 5 of them singing something originally created primarily by machines.
You mentioned seeing Avi do a song w Home Free, so to clarify. PTX was formed by a group of friends+ to compete in 2011 on the Sing Off. They won. The next year, Home Free competed and won. At some point after that, Avi did a "guest appearance" for one song with Home Free. Avi remained with PTX until 2017, when he left PTX due to personal reasons. From 2017/8, the PTX bass has been Matt. PTX continues to lead the way in the modern a capella "movement."
I love it when you pause. Some people try to talk while the video is going on and I can't hear them over the video. I have seen them live twice and boy are they energetic! I just subbed. Mitch, their high tenor singer is standing in the back on the left. Scott, the baritone with an INCREDIBLE range, is in the middle back, Kirstie (rhymes with thirsty) is in the back right. As you mentioned Avi is in front on the left, and their beatboxer, singer, and cello player is Kevin in the front next to Avi. I look forward to more of your Pentatonix aka PTX reactions.
Where Pentatonix came from: Kirstin, Mitch, and Scott all grew up in Arlington, Texas. (I believe that Kirstin prefers that only personal friends use her nickname, though there's some disagreement on this point.) All of them were involved with community musical theater as children, and Mitch met both Scott and Kirstin there (separately) when he was still a pre-teen, and became friends with each of them. However, Scott and Kirstin didn't meet each other until they were fourteen and in the same high school class. All three were choir geeks (duh), and they quickly became best friends in high school. There was some kind of singing contest to meet the stars of _"Glee,"_ and the three of them wanted to enter, so they formed a trio which they named "The Trio." (I know; not very imaginative. They're somewhat better with that now.) They lost the contest, but they kept The Trio together anyway; they performed at school functions and occasionally on local television. Pentaholics still refer to these three as "the trio," and the trio is the heart of Pentatonix. Kirstin and Scott were a year ahead of Mitch; they graduated in 2010, when Mitch was still in eleventh grade, and both went away for their freshman year of college. Scott went to the University of Southern Califonia, and Kirstin went to the University of Oklahoma with a full ride scholarship. Scott is a very outgoing person, so he immediately began looking around for extracurricular activities where he could meet people and make new friends, and he found an award-winning a cappella group named SoCal VoCals, which he joined. While there he met Ben Bram, who at the time was a coach on NBC's a cappella competition show named _"The Sing-Off."_ A cappella groups would audition for the show, and those that passed appeared throughout the season. There was a panel of three judges, all professional musicians, who would give their reactions to each performance. Along the way some groups would be eliminated, narrowing the field, and at the end of the season viewers would be invited to vote on a winner. The winning group would receive $200,000 and a recording contract with Epic, a minor subsidiary of Sony, the show's sponsor. Scott was intrigued. He thought The Trio could be competitive, and if they could get a recording contract they could have a career doing what they most loved, with the people they most loved. So he talked to Kirstin, who thought his idea had promise, and at the end of their first year of college the two of them headed back to Arlington to be there for Mitch's graduation and to talk with Mitch about Scott's idea. Meanwhile, back in Arlington Mitch had been having a very difficult year. His best friends weren't there, and as an out-of-the-closet young gay man with an unusually high voice he was being seriously bullied. And unfortunately, since the bullying was ostensibly for his voice he was quickly developing the notion that there was something wrong with his voice and that no one would want to hear him sing. So when Scott presented his idea Mitch was on board; it was a way to get away from the bullies. He had doubts about his ability to carry his weight in the group, because of the bullying, but he was willing to try and if Scott and Kirstin said they could win, well, maybe they could. So with everyone agreed, Scott called Ben Bram to find out how to arrange for an audition, and this is where they met their first setback. _"The Sing-Off"_ had a size requirement; the minimum size allowed was five. The Trio needed two new members and a new name. They were stumped. Ben suggested that they'd profit from adding a rhythm section: a bass and a beatboxer, and he knew the perfect person to recommend for the bass, a guy named Avi Kaplan. They talked to Avi, and he was very interested, so that took care of the bass, but where to find the beatboxer? Ben didn't have any suggestions. So in desperation they typed "beatboxer" into a UA-cam search box and the first hit they got was a black guy playing a classical piece on the cello and beatboxing at the same time. And all of them said, "Wow! He's the one! How can we get in touch with him?" They were in luck. At the time UA-cam had something called UA-cam messages, which would allow private messages between members (now discontinued), so they sent Kevin a private message: "Hey! We really love your stuff, and we wonder if you'd be interested in flying across the country to join four strangers to audition for an a cappella competition show on television?" And Kevin messaged them back: "Normally I'd be there in a heart beat; I love a cappella and have been in a cappella groups before. But right now I'm studying for my final exams for my pre-med major from Yale." Oh. That sounded pretty definite; better keep looking. So they kept looking, and they found someone, but he was no Kevin Olusola. Oh well; you work with what you have. And two weeks later Kevin messaged them again: "Good news! I just graduated. If the gig's still open I can fly out." He arrived the day before their audition. Mitch had to skip his graduation ceremony to attend the audition. But even with just a day of rehearsal they still passed the audition; they were in. Oh, yes, the name. Pentatonix is named for the pentatonic scale, which has five (penta) tones just as Pentatonix has five (Penta) singers. In other words, it's a fancier way of saying they're now "The Quintet." 😂 Pentatonix appeared throughout season three of _"The Sing-Off,"_ and eventually won. All those performances are available on UA-cam and are well worth watching, preferably in order so you can see how they grew throughout the season. Some of them are as good as anything they've done since (which is saying a lot) and are only available in those old videos. So, they'd won _"The Sing-Off,"_ complete with recording contract. Time to move to California permanently and begin recording. And a week later Epic reneged on the contract, saying that they didn't know how to market a cappella. But at this point Pentatonix weren't willing to give up; they WANTED that career they'd been working toward. So they pooled their winnings and lived frugally. The four men shared two apartments, to cut down on expenses. They arranged music and rehearsed every day, and when they had a song ready they used their iPhones to record themselves anywhere they could find good acoustics, and sometimes in places with acoustics that were just okay. And they posted to UA-cam. Their fans from _"The Sing-Off"_ quickly found them there, and subscribed, and they began to get more views and more subscribers, and to pick up a few patrons. In fact, they were going viral. And Sony noticed, and approached them with an offer: Perhaps Pentatonix would like a recording contract with Madison Gate, another minor subsidiary? Hmmm. 🤔 Would they like a recording contract? Might have to think about that, for a second or two. Darn right they'd like a recording contract! And then came "Daft Punk Medley," and Pentatonix won their first Grammy. And again, Sony took notice, and approached Pentatonix: "We've been thinking about it and we believe you might find a better fit with our flagship label, RCA. Are you interested?" They've been with RCA ever since. They go on tours world wide and perform to sold-out venues. They put out at LEAST one album a year, frequently more. One has gone Gold and one has gone Platinum twice. They have three Grammys and recently received a star on Hollywood's Walk of Fame. And they are the only a cappella band to have won so much as ONE Grammy, or to be represented on the Walk of Fame.
@@SaeedReacts. I make the same comments frequently, with minor tweeks depending on what a reactor says, so I just keep them in text files on my tablet so I can copy-and-paste. 😉
May I recommend their 90's Dance Medley, Hallelujah, Evolution of Michael Jackson and Evolution of Ariana Grande to start with. Subbed for more Pentatonix and welcome to the PTX rabbit hole.
I recorded a reaction to Hallelujah and 90's medley. Coming soon. Will add the others to my list. Thanks so much for subscribing and have a wonderful day.
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. No dates YET! 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".
Thank you for taking the time to share this. I love learning about the members. I did record a reaction to the 90's medley and thought i noticed the autotune in the Cher part, but i figured it was for the reason you said. Thanks again and have a wonderful day.
@@SaeedReacts. There is a bit of hyperbole in the previous post. Most official music videos or album tracks have the industry standard tools for pop music: this includes but not limited to compression, high/low pass filters, multi-tracking, pitch correction, etc. This does not mean they aren't amazingly talented and in their live performances you can see that clearly too. But to say there is no autotune isnt correct (Ed Boyer their mixer clearly states in interviews he uses pitch correction like melodyne) And as for the "they never release something they cant reproduce live" has caveats of things like they will use clap/body percussion backing tracks for certain songs (like if they do i saw three ships live), or they adjust the arrangement for live (like in the prayer there are parts where you can easily hear Kirstin singing the main melody and a different background harmony at the same time.) This is not a bad thing as sometimes this "altered" version for a live performance can be even more fun, but thats subjective. They are an amazing group and its a great rabbit hole to go down. have fun
I don't know about PTX's tour schedule this year, but Avi Kaplan (the bass, left the group in 2017 and now has a thriving solo career) is doing a short European tour this September. While he did play Leuven on his 2022 tour, as well as Utrecht, Netherlands, this time around the closest he'll be to you is Amsterdam on September 9 at Melkweg Oz. Having been to 5 of his concerts (3 in 2019 and 2 in 2022), I can assure you that a trip would be more than worth it. His solo work (about 90% of which is original) is amazing.
I'm so happy you found PTX! Thank you so much for reacting to them. Their level of talent is unmatched. Please go down this rabbit hole! I'll be back for every PTX reaction you do! PTX Suggestions: Hallelujah, Live version of Hallelujah from their Christmas special, The Sound of Silence, Bohemian Rhapsody, 90's Dance Medley, The Prayer, Amazing Grace, O Holy Night (absolutely stunning), Mad World, and so many more! PTX Originals to check out: "Love Again", "Sing" and "Run to You".
Thank you so much for beinh here and the suggestions. I recorded a reaction to Hallelujah, but it was the video. And 90's medley as well that was so much fun, i grew up in the 90's.
This was their first Grammy. Their other 2 Grammy's were Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy and Jolene with Dolly Parton, so definitely check those out. Say Something is amazing, Bohemian Rhapsody and Hallelujah, O Come All Ye Faithful. I prefer the older stuff with Avi but they have amazing songs with Matt too, Amazing Grace, Come Along, Happy Now....
ah yes. my first loves before ren, and i still love them . huge, huge catalog of diverse songs and not a bummer in the bunch. they also don't put out anything they can't sing live on stage. they are also the nicest human beings, just like ren. not a diva in the bunch. looking so forward to your dive into the pentatonix world, as you are very easy and charismatic to listen to. I am also amazed how people from europe can speak multiple languages fluently.few of we americans can do that.
They won their first of 4 grammys for this.. :) and they have a star on the hollywood walk of fame. Keep heading down the rabbit hole. They are PHENOMENAL!
Since this was their first Grammy win, they still perform it live in concert and it's always a treat. You are correct, that is Avi Kaplan. FYI Avi left Pentatonix in 2017 and was replaced by Matt Sallee, so as you go through the catalog, you will see them both. Most reactors start with this, Hallelujah (their most watched UA-cam video), and Bohemian Rhapsody. They still perform those two as well, due to the popularity - Bohemian Rhapsody is often their encore. I think it would be interesting for you as a new reactor to the band to maybe jump ahead to the recent Vevo Live performance of their cover of Kiss From a Rose, because then you will have seen where they started and where they are now, but honestly, throw a dart at their catalog, whatever you land on, they won't let you down. They have an extensive collection of covers, original songs, collaborations, evolution videos (medleys), a huge Christmas catalog, and they all have some fantastic solo work on the side that will give you insight into them as individual artists, [and then there is Sup3rfruit, the vlog/humor/parody/serious musical collaboration of Scott Hoying (white blonde, here), and Mitch Grassi (dark hair, higher vocals, here) mostly from the years when they were roommates]. Oh, and since I didn't mention them individually yet, the beatboxer (cello-boxer)/tenor is Kevin Olusola, and the Mezzo Soprano is Kirstin (Kirstie rhymes with thirsty) Maldonado. Throw a dart! Trust me, and welcome to PTX! Subbed for more!
Thank you so much for taking the time to write this. As it happens i recorded my reaction to Hallelujah and should be up on the channel later tonight. Excited for much more Pentatonix.
Thanks for taking the dive into Pentatonix. Some of my favourites include: The Prayer, Hallelujah, O Holy Night, Imagine, Sound of Silence, and Amazing Grace (My Chains are Gone). I hope you will enjoy these as well!
Hey Saeed, I know my comment is 9mo late, but I found your channel a couple months ago and am wrking my way back thru the reactions. I saw PTX in concert last summer and they were just as amazing live as they are recorded. Tbh, I only started listening to their music about 3yrs ago even though they have been around for yrs. Great reaction ❤
I've seen them do this live - they don't miss a beat, but the video itself is a work of art. They have done a number of mashups you will enjoy. Evolution of Michael Jackson, of Ariana Grande, 90's Dance Medley - so many great songs.
To this day, Pentatonix is the only a cappella band to have ever won a Grammy, except they've actually won THREE Grammys. They're also the only a cappella band to have a star on Hollywood's Walk of Fame. Their first Grammy was for Best Arrangement Instrumental Or A Cappella, for "Daft Punk Medley." Before "Daft Punk Medley," that category did not exist; it was just Best Instrumental Arrangement. It was so obvious to the members of the Recording Academy that "Daft Punk" was Grammy-worthy that they expanded a category just so they could nominate it! Their second Grammy was in the same category, for "Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy," from Tchaikovsky's "Nutcracker Suite." Note that the song has no words, but Pentatonix performed it entirely by voice. (Old joke: Critic: "A song with no words performed by a band with no instruments? Impossible!" Pentatonix: "Here. Hold my Grammy while I demonstrate.") Because both of those Grammys were for the innovative arrangements, they were shared with Ben Bram, who is almost always listed as an arranger on their music (Ben is sometimes referred to by pentaholics as "the sixth member of Pentatonix"). Their third Grammy was for Best Country Duo/Group Performance, for their collaboration with Dolly Parton on "Jolene." For obvious reasons that Grammy was shared with Dolly Parton - it was the first time she won a Grammy for "Jolene," which I find astonishing. Pentatonix says that their collaboration with Dolly is still the most enjoyable collaboration they've ever done. They were all starry-eyed, expecting that they would simply be supplying the harmony for Dolly, and she was very down to earth, treated them as equals, and insisted that Scott do the solo on one of the verses. In the opinion of most pentaholics, they should have won a fourth Grammy for "The Prayer," but somebody at RCA dropped the ball and didn't submit it in time. They were nominated for "Evergreen" (their 2021 Christmas album, which is where they published "The Prayer") in the category Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album, but lost to Michael Bublé's album "Higher." And this year "Holidays Around the World" (their 2022 Christmas album) was nominated for Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album but lost out to Laufey's album "Bewitched." Because all three of their Grammys are for songs they published while Avi was still with them, Matt is the only member of Pentatonix to have no Grammys, which is a crying shame.
HUGE Pentaholic here. I'm so excited that you're diving into them now too. Now you've got the trifecta of acapella groups! They tour all the time. You probably can catch them sometime this summer, if you want. Now you need to react to "The Prayer or "Hallelujah" next.(both original videos) They're not a religious group but their 'religious' songs are gorgeous and moving. They are fun, serious, uber creative, and have a ton of Christmas songs too. Also some originals. Check out the others before you do the originals. You WILL find that you have to blur the screen when reacting to them. Sony is amazingly strict and even anal about copyright issues. We all know that, accept blurred images, and have the ability to see the originals on our own whenever we want. We're here for your reaction to them and what you're seeing. So, please CYA and blur the screen. It might take a lot of blurring. It's OK! Great reaction, love that you see how talented they are. Can't wait to see more PTX. THANKS!!
Thank you for taking the time to write thid comment. And letting me know about blurring the video. This one did get blocked when i uploaded it. Will see how the dispute turns out. Will keep that in mind for future videos. I have recorded reaction to Hallellujah and 90's Medley that should go up this week.
Great to see a new rector to Pentatonix ( PTX)!! Yes, we generally like reactors pausing a piece to comment. It's good to hear on the spot commentary and questions...and besides...it helps foil the blocking algorithms. Always a plus!! Members are; Dark -haired guy in the sweater...Mitch Grassi, countertenor with a really wonderful, ethereal, high-pitched voice. Changes his looks often, so reactors don't always recognize him. Guy with the white hair and eyebrows ( not his normal hair colour).... is Scott Hoying, baritone. Scott, like all the group, has a huge vocal range and can go low enough to take over the bass when the bass is singing a verse or has lead. His falsetto is just as amazing. Girl with the blue and silver make-up.... Kirstin ( Kirstie) Maldonado, alto-soprano. Massive range and great belting abilities and is like Mitch in her constantly changing looks Guy that seems to be naked...Avi Kaplan, basso profundo. He's blown speakers with his voice. He's an opera trained bass with a lovely warm deep voice and a massive vocal range like everyone else in the group does. Guy in the cool goggles...Kevin Olusola, beatboxer, tenor, cellist. Kevin rarely sings a verse, but does help with backing vocals when not actively beatboxing. He's the genius of the group. He was studying to be a doctor ( had just graduated Pre-Med at Yale) when Scott called and invited him to join the group. Kevin plays both sax and cello at concert levels, speaks several languages, including Mandarin, helps a LOT with songwriting and arrangements. Avi left the group amicably in 2017 and now is enjoying a solo career. Matt Sallee joined them in 2018 and has been a really wonderful addition. Suggestions: Sound of Silence, Love Again ( original), Imagine, Evolution of Michael Jackson, Coffee In Bed ( original), Be My Eyes ( original), Shallow, Bohemian Rhapsody.
@@SaeedReacts. , Yup! He'd planned on living in China once he'd become a doc. He did spend about 18 months there before entering Yale. Oh...Mitch, Kirstie and Scott grew up together in Arlington Texas. Knew each other separately until they entered high school and all three became an item, eventually forming a group...The Trio ...in high school. There's videos somewhere of a couple of numbers they did for the school events.
Avi Kaplan was the original bass singer, but he left in 2017 and Matt Sallee is the current bass. Scott is the very tall man who had the white hair in this video - Kevin is the beat boxer, he also sings and plays Cello, Kirstin is a mezzo soprano I believe - and Mitch is the angel with the very high voice.
Welcome to the PTX rabbit hole! I understand that they are able to do this just as impressively live. There are so many incredible PTX videos to choose from! Their covers and originals and Christmas songs are all so perfect! A couple of my faves are Can't Hold Us, New Rules x Are You That Somebody, and Kiss From A Rose.
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" (the official video, with Avi) • "Hallelujah" ( a recent live performance, with Matt: ua-cam.com/video/FqphhPapkoc/v-deo.htmlsi=tC6Ew07JGeQKQvDL ) • "Imagine" (the official video) • "Sound of Silence" • "Run To You" (an original, written by Avi and Kevin) • "Happy Now" (another original) • "O Come All Ye Faithful" • "O Holy Night" (they did a totally new recording for their 2023 Christmas album; you can find the official video here: ua-cam.com/video/ReJAU2mXm8w/v-deo.htmlsi=upj2Q3vLqigVEtgm ) • "The Prayer" • "Bohemian Rhapsody" • "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 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.
The Petatonix rabbit hole will be a wild experience. Anything from their huge library will not disappoint. You will probably become a fellow Pentaholic in no time, I am looking forward to you reacting to more PTX.
Saw them in concert back in November here in Evansville, Indiana for their Holiday tour. Kevin the beatboxer’s parents live just over the state line in Kentucky. I’m hoping they come back during the non-holiday time and do their other covers and the original stuff.
They are the best a cappella group (imho). They expand people idea of what a cappella is. You can find videos of them doing this live in concert or at private performances.
Didnt know this was your first ever listening to them. So I subscribed on your 2nd one. Keep it up. I dont say every reaction must be pentatonix but regularly please as they have such a lot of songs and every single one is terrific. Greetings from South Africa
The members of Pentatonix: In this video we have: Scott Hoying, lyric baritone. Scott is the guy with white hair and eyebrows; normally he's blond but he'd recently decided to bleach his hair when they made this. Scott's range begins somewhere in the middle of a normal bass range and extends up through a normal tenor range. When Pentatonix's bass has a solo Scott can and does take over the bass's harmony line. Kirstin (also called Kirstie, which rhymes with thirsty) Maldonado, the only woman in Pentatonix. Kirstin can sing anything from a low alto through a high soprano, and she has fantastic whistle notes on top of that. Recently Pentatonix has begun describing her as an "alto soprano." Mitch Grassi (pronounced Grah'-see, emphasis on the first syllable), the clean shaven dark-haired guy who keeps singing "One more time," is a natural contratenor with a range of just over six octaves. Shawn Stockman, of Boyz II Men, said Mitch has "one of the prettiest voices I have ever heard in my life." Mitch moves seamlessly between chest voice, mixed voice, and head voice, and all the other members of Pentatonix agree that he's their best singer. Avi (pronounced Ah'-vee, emphasis on the first syllable) Kaplan, bearded white guy, is a lyric bass. Avi is an operatically trained basso profundo (his lowest notes have blown out speakers in live performances), but his range extends upward to about the middle of a normal tenor range. Avi is also the only member of Pentatonix who is no longer with the band; he resigned in 2017 for a variety of personal reasons, but he's since gone on to have a very successful solo career. I highly recommend subscribing to his UA-cam channel: youtube.com/@AviKaplanMusic The fifth member of Pentatonix is the black guy wearing the visor: Kevin Olusola (pronounced Oh-loosh"-oh-luh', primary emphasis on the second syllable, secondary emphasis on the fourth syllable), beatboxer extraordinaire. Somewhere there may be a better beatboxer than Kevin, but if so I've never encountered him or her. Kevin is generally too busy being the entire percussion section to sing, but when he does sing he has a lovely tenor voice that occasionally dips into the uppermost reaches of baritone, and he's known for the beauty of his falsetto. He's also a pretty good rapper. Kevin has perfect pitch. He began piano lessons at age 4, cello at age 6, and alto saxophone at age 10. He beatboxes while playing the cello, a technique he calls "celloboxing." He performed at Carnegie Hall twice when he was a teenager, once on saxophone and once on cello. He graduated from Yale in 2011 with a pre-med major and had been accepted to Yale Medical School before he decided to become a professional beatboxer instead of a brilliant surgeon. He speaks five languages fluently: English, French, Spanish, German, and Mandarin Chinese. He's one of the kindest people in the world, and when he laughs he makes the whole planet seem like a brighter place. Not in this video: Matt Sallee (pronounced Suh-lee', emphasis on the second syllable), lyric bass. It's hard to be sure just what Matt's range is, because it's still growing. To find his current range I recommend listening to a recent live stream of "Hallelujah," though you should probably watch their official video of "Hallelujah" first so you can hear what it sounded like with Avi singing the second verse. You can find the recording with Matt 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, and it will blow you away. His lowest notes don't blow out speakers (though they may do so in a year or two), but on the high end he reaches the upper end of a tenor range. I believe he has the largest range of any member of Pentatonix, past or present.
Pentatonix is amazing musically, and they are the sweetest people. My daughter, who is right in PTX's age cohort, teases me by calling them "your other children." I prefer them to the other a capella groups for their musicality, emotional intelligence, complex and beautiful arranging, and theatricality. ETA: suggestions for other videos to cover - La La Latch (for sophistication of arrangement), Imagine (for its beautiful, anthemic vision), The Sound of Silence (introducing Matt Sallee, their bass since the end of 2017, and for the group's emotional tour de force), and Happy Now (one of their originals, with an inspiring message about not letting the past drag you down).
Glad you did PTX (with more than 20 million subs). Subbed for more. Just a suggestion, do their most popular Hallelujah (over 732 million views) next to draw in the Pentaholics. To get more reach in searches get the hashtags in the title too.. Good job. Once you become a Pentaholic you'll be glad to know they tour the world (last in Belgium 7/5/2023)
Thank you so much! And as it happens Hallelujah was actually the reaction i recorded next. And that one is coming to the channel later tonight. Would love to see them live one day. Should be a great night out.
🔥🔥🔥🥶 .. okay Saeed ... get ready for a massive roller-coaster 🎢 ride !! You stepped into the full triad ... Home Free --- Voiceplay --- & Pentatonix. You will find when you research that Pentatonix is the Gold standard for acupella. You will get dozens of recommendations.... here is my suggestion to start with.. 1- Evolution of Music 2 - Wizard Of Aaahs ..get ready , it is amazing ... believe me.
There is a totally unplugged version on UA-cam performed in Kevin's (the beat boxer) living room. It's unmixed It sounds the same. All their studio stuff sounds the same live.
Welp, subscribed for the PTX Rabbit hole. Amazing Grace, Hallelujah, Sing, The Prayer, Imagine, Love Again, just a few to get you going :) Keep up the good work!
I’ve watched your Guy Sebastian reactions. They were great and I really love Guy. But…my real passion is Pentatonix. I’m so glad that you’re doing them, believe me you will be doing more and you will not regret it. Welcome to the rabbit hole. 🤗💋🥰 subscribed for more. Both Pentatonix and Guy Sebastian. I don’t know if you’ve done any yet, but Disturbed is another favorite of mine.
You would probably enjoy the "private performance" video of this song. The five of them, off-mic, in a quiet room, recorded on a fan's phone: ua-cam.com/video/tw4YCsHXKgI/v-deo.html Because they're off-mic the balance is off - Kevin's beatboxing isn't quite loud enough - but other than that it's the same.
new here from ireland. please react to pentatonix songs. new rules. sing. a kiss from a rose. love again. gold. la la latch. cheer leader. rather be. shallow. perfect. can you feel the love tonight. pompeii.
Oh, asking us for suggestions is going to lead to a HUGE list! As others have stated, Avi is no longer with PTX (since 2017). He is one of my favorite solo artists. If you look into Avi Kaplan's music (I will recommend "The First Place I Go" because it is a great song and it has been awhile since I have seen anyone react to it), you will find that his personal style is very different from the group's more pop-centric sound. I will recommend "Say Something" by PTX so that you can get a dose of their emotional side and a taste of Kevin"s cello playing (an occasional treat to see him beatbox, play cello, and sing all in the same song). For a Matt (as bass) era song, I would suggest their cover of "When the Party's Over" - also an emotional one. Be advised, if you react to Pentatonix, you will likely run into issues with copyright at some point (not copyright strikes, just blocks). The issues are usually with the video only. Making the video translucent and/or placing some text over the screen seems to work for most reactors when this happens. Welcome to the PTX and acapella journey!
Just a heads up warning. UA-cam is notorious for giving strikes on Pentatonix videos. Bluing, putting stamp over the video and pausing helps, and they almost always get resolved, but it can mean not releasing a video that day that you thought you were going to.
Thank you for letting me know! This video was blocked for 2 days. And also the next 2 video's 😅. Now i know i should probably blur the video. Thanks again!
Subbed for more PTX. Just fyi Avi left the group in 2017 and was replaced with Matt. That is the only memeber change. It truely was a tragedy as Matt isn't much of a bass or a singer imo. That being said I do like the second half of Amazing Grace. Anything with Avi in it is good. Avi was my favorite. Now Kevin is because he is so super talented. Not just in music but he speaks several languages and was premed at Harvard. You should check out his version of Down on his channel, just search Kevin O. Down from Pentatonix. You do have to pause with them or the video can very easily get blocked. Cant wait for more!
![Kevin can do that too?!? [Pentatonix Reaction to Kiss From A Rose Live Performance Video]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/BxT_vbNj4PM/mqdefault.jpg)
Grammy well deserved …. Still blows me away
100% deserved. So good!
First Grammy of three, filmed in a closet in the apartment Avi and Kevin shared. Put together on the kitchen counter. Spent $400 on basic.
They also do this song for a Make A Wish fan. No microphones or anything EXCEPT their voices and they produce the same reverb and edits live by themselves.
Welcome to PTX and the Pentaholics base
Not true, but close.
It was recorded in the closet when the studio fell through at the last minute. The video was shot in the kitchen, but by a professional videography team. The pros edited it... I think the whole "edited by them" thing comes from the "couch video" era where their very earliest videos (Moves Like Jagger, for instance) were recorded on Mitch's iPad. The budget for things like makeup and those contacts was $400 but they spent much more than that on the actual filming and editing.
There's a behind the scenes writeup, with photos, from Fifgen Films on a lighting and photography blog that's pretty easy to find.
Heck, they do it live in most of their pop/originals concerts! I saw them do it this past summer.
Welcome to the PTX rabbithole. The Prayer, Bohemian Rhapsody, their "Evolution of.." series, Sound of Silence, and Imagine are some of my personal favorites.
Thank you so much. I have done some of these already and will do many more.
This song won them their first (of three!) Grammys. It's a deep rabbit hole and we'll gladly dive into it with you. I saw them in concert a number of years ago and they sound exactly the same. And that's one of their criteria for doing a song - they have to be able to sing it live and have it sound the same. Like Home Free, they do upgrades, not covers. Anything you choose to do next will be great but don't neglect to do some of their originals, like Run to You as Avi mentioned.
seconded
I will add Run to You to my list. Thanks so much!
Popspring 2016 is a live performance thar includes 3 original songs as well as Evolution of Michael Jackson if you'd like to check out a live performance. Hallelujah is their most viewed video, I think. It's the first time I ever saw them ever in life was this past summer, so I suppose I was living under a rock somewhere. I was instantly a Mitchell Grassi Superfan. Speaking of Suoer, Scott and Mitch have a channel on UA-cam called Superfruit in which they share a piece of their life, personality, and comedic relief. They also sing Mashups and cover some songs and have a few originals of their own. They do an excellent rendition of Nicki Minaj and Beyonce Feeling Myself, Katy Perry's Rise is a collab. Cool story to that particular song, so you may want to Google it or let someone comment about it . I would now bit duty calls. I subscribed fast for your PTX reactions.
Pentatonix "The Prayer" is incredibly beautiful.
Will add it to my list. Thank you.
And now, PTX! So glad I subbed for Ren and now I get Pentatonix! An abundance of riches 😊 The G.O.A.T of acapella groups. Great reaction! Thank you.
Thank you for joining me on this adventure! Looking forward to explore more.
Pentatonix and Ren, two of my favorites!!😁💙 Thanks!
The super crazy thing is the also sing this live. There is a video of them performing this in a backroom for a small group recorded on someone's phone. No in-ears, mics,tuning...just the 5 of them singing something originally created primarily by machines.
That is amazing!
This is just as fabulous live. I was bopping around to this in their European tour last year……absolutely amazing x
Glad you got to see them live. I can imagine it was a fun night out
You mentioned seeing Avi do a song w Home Free, so to clarify. PTX was formed by a group of friends+ to compete in 2011 on the Sing Off. They won. The next year, Home Free competed and won. At some point after that, Avi did a "guest appearance" for one song with Home Free. Avi remained with PTX until 2017, when he left PTX due to personal reasons. From 2017/8, the PTX bass has been Matt. PTX continues to lead the way in the modern a capella "movement."
Thank you for this background. I am learning so much.
They made that video in a closet and won their first Grammy Award
That is amazing!
Sub'd for more PTX. Deep rabbit hole. Best a capella group ever.
Thank you so much! Excited for this journey.
Subbed for more PTX reactions.
More incoming! Thank you so much and have a wonderful day.
Yes! More PTX!
Definitely more coming! Thanks for being here.
I love it when you pause. Some people try to talk while the video is going on and I can't hear them over the video. I have seen them live twice and boy are they energetic! I just subbed. Mitch, their high tenor singer is standing in the back on the left. Scott, the baritone with an INCREDIBLE range, is in the middle back, Kirstie (rhymes with thirsty) is in the back right. As you mentioned Avi is in front on the left, and their beatboxer, singer, and cello player is Kevin in the front next to Avi. I look forward to more of your Pentatonix aka PTX reactions.
Thank you so much for subscribing and sharing this. More PTX coming and also Avi Kaplan solo music.
Where Pentatonix came from:
Kirstin, Mitch, and Scott all grew up in Arlington, Texas. (I believe that Kirstin prefers that only personal friends use her nickname, though there's some disagreement on this point.) All of them were involved with community musical theater as children, and Mitch met both Scott and Kirstin there (separately) when he was still a pre-teen, and became friends with each of them. However, Scott and Kirstin didn't meet each other until they were fourteen and in the same high school class. All three were choir geeks (duh), and they quickly became best friends in high school.
There was some kind of singing contest to meet the stars of _"Glee,"_ and the three of them wanted to enter, so they formed a trio which they named "The Trio." (I know; not very imaginative. They're somewhat better with that now.) They lost the contest, but they kept The Trio together anyway; they performed at school functions and occasionally on local television. Pentaholics still refer to these three as "the trio," and the trio is the heart of Pentatonix.
Kirstin and Scott were a year ahead of Mitch; they graduated in 2010, when Mitch was still in eleventh grade, and both went away for their freshman year of college. Scott went to the University of Southern Califonia, and Kirstin went to the University of Oklahoma with a full ride scholarship.
Scott is a very outgoing person, so he immediately began looking around for extracurricular activities where he could meet people and make new friends, and he found an award-winning a cappella group named SoCal VoCals, which he joined. While there he met Ben Bram, who at the time was a coach on NBC's a cappella competition show named _"The Sing-Off."_ A cappella groups would audition for the show, and those that passed appeared throughout the season. There was a panel of three judges, all professional musicians, who would give their reactions to each performance. Along the way some groups would be eliminated, narrowing the field, and at the end of the season viewers would be invited to vote on a winner. The winning group would receive $200,000 and a recording contract with Epic, a minor subsidiary of Sony, the show's sponsor.
Scott was intrigued. He thought The Trio could be competitive, and if they could get a recording contract they could have a career doing what they most loved, with the people they most loved. So he talked to Kirstin, who thought his idea had promise, and at the end of their first year of college the two of them headed back to Arlington to be there for Mitch's graduation and to talk with Mitch about Scott's idea.
Meanwhile, back in Arlington Mitch had been having a very difficult year. His best friends weren't there, and as an out-of-the-closet young gay man with an unusually high voice he was being seriously bullied. And unfortunately, since the bullying was ostensibly for his voice he was quickly developing the notion that there was something wrong with his voice and that no one would want to hear him sing. So when Scott presented his idea Mitch was on board; it was a way to get away from the bullies. He had doubts about his ability to carry his weight in the group, because of the bullying, but he was willing to try and if Scott and Kirstin said they could win, well, maybe they could.
So with everyone agreed, Scott called Ben Bram to find out how to arrange for an audition, and this is where they met their first setback. _"The Sing-Off"_ had a size requirement; the minimum size allowed was five. The Trio needed two new members and a new name. They were stumped.
Ben suggested that they'd profit from adding a rhythm section: a bass and a beatboxer, and he knew the perfect person to recommend for the bass, a guy named Avi Kaplan. They talked to Avi, and he was very interested, so that took care of the bass, but where to find the beatboxer? Ben didn't have any suggestions. So in desperation they typed "beatboxer" into a UA-cam search box and the first hit they got was a black guy playing a classical piece on the cello and beatboxing at the same time. And all of them said, "Wow! He's the one! How can we get in touch with him?"
They were in luck. At the time UA-cam had something called UA-cam messages, which would allow private messages between members (now discontinued), so they sent Kevin a private message: "Hey! We really love your stuff, and we wonder if you'd be interested in flying across the country to join four strangers to audition for an a cappella competition show on television?" And Kevin messaged them back: "Normally I'd be there in a heart beat; I love a cappella and have been in a cappella groups before. But right now I'm studying for my final exams for my pre-med major from Yale." Oh. That sounded pretty definite; better keep looking. So they kept looking, and they found someone, but he was no Kevin Olusola. Oh well; you work with what you have.
And two weeks later Kevin messaged them again: "Good news! I just graduated. If the gig's still open I can fly out." He arrived the day before their audition. Mitch had to skip his graduation ceremony to attend the audition. But even with just a day of rehearsal they still passed the audition; they were in.
Oh, yes, the name. Pentatonix is named for the pentatonic scale, which has five (penta) tones just as Pentatonix has five (Penta) singers. In other words, it's a fancier way of saying they're now "The Quintet." 😂
Pentatonix appeared throughout season three of _"The Sing-Off,"_ and eventually won. All those performances are available on UA-cam and are well worth watching, preferably in order so you can see how they grew throughout the season. Some of them are as good as anything they've done since (which is saying a lot) and are only available in those old videos.
So, they'd won _"The Sing-Off,"_ complete with recording contract. Time to move to California permanently and begin recording. And a week later Epic reneged on the contract, saying that they didn't know how to market a cappella. But at this point Pentatonix weren't willing to give up; they WANTED that career they'd been working toward. So they pooled their winnings and lived frugally. The four men shared two apartments, to cut down on expenses. They arranged music and rehearsed every day, and when they had a song ready they used their iPhones to record themselves anywhere they could find good acoustics, and sometimes in places with acoustics that were just okay. And they posted to UA-cam. Their fans from _"The Sing-Off"_ quickly found them there, and subscribed, and they began to get more views and more subscribers, and to pick up a few patrons. In fact, they were going viral. And Sony noticed, and approached them with an offer: Perhaps Pentatonix would like a recording contract with Madison Gate, another minor subsidiary? Hmmm. 🤔 Would they like a recording contract? Might have to think about that, for a second or two. Darn right they'd like a recording contract!
And then came "Daft Punk Medley," and Pentatonix won their first Grammy. And again, Sony took notice, and approached Pentatonix: "We've been thinking about it and we believe you might find a better fit with our flagship label, RCA. Are you interested?" They've been with RCA ever since. They go on tours world wide and perform to sold-out venues. They put out at LEAST one album a year, frequently more. One has gone Gold and one has gone Platinum twice. They have three Grammys and recently received a star on Hollywood's Walk of Fame. And they are the only a cappella band to have won so much as ONE Grammy, or to be represented on the Walk of Fame.
What a journey! Thank you for taking the time to share this.
@@SaeedReacts. I make the same comments frequently, with minor tweeks depending on what a reactor says, so I just keep them in text files on my tablet so I can copy-and-paste. 😉
Fun to find your first PTX reaction, Saeed ~ Enjoyed it, Thanks!
This was a lot of fun. Thanks for watching.
Oh yes, they do this live… even still as their fans require it.
Love that!
I'm here for your PTX journey down the rabbit hole, enjoy my friend you won't be disappointed...
Thank you so much, John! Excited for this journey.
New sub here. Welcome to the rabbit hole of ptx there wont disappoint you. Will enjoy coming on this journey with you 😊
Thank you so much for subscribing. Excited for this journey.
May I recommend their 90's Dance Medley, Hallelujah, Evolution of Michael Jackson and Evolution of Ariana Grande to start with. Subbed for more Pentatonix and welcome to the PTX rabbit hole.
I recorded a reaction to Hallelujah and 90's medley. Coming soon. Will add the others to my list. Thanks so much for subscribing and have a wonderful day.
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. No dates YET!
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".
Thank you for taking the time to share this. I love learning about the members. I did record a reaction to the 90's medley and thought i noticed the autotune in the Cher part, but i figured it was for the reason you said. Thanks again and have a wonderful day.
@@SaeedReacts. There is a bit of hyperbole in the previous post. Most official music videos or album tracks have the industry standard tools for pop music: this includes but not limited to compression, high/low pass filters, multi-tracking, pitch correction, etc. This does not mean they aren't amazingly talented and in their live performances you can see that clearly too. But to say there is no autotune isnt correct (Ed Boyer their mixer clearly states in interviews he uses pitch correction like melodyne)
And as for the "they never release something they cant reproduce live" has caveats of things like they will use clap/body percussion backing tracks for certain songs (like if they do i saw three ships live), or they adjust the arrangement for live (like in the prayer there are parts where you can easily hear Kirstin singing the main melody and a different background harmony at the same time.) This is not a bad thing as sometimes this "altered" version for a live performance can be even more fun, but thats subjective.
They are an amazing group and its a great rabbit hole to go down. have fun
Alan you are a great Pentaholic. Greetings from South Africa
I don't know about PTX's tour schedule this year, but Avi Kaplan (the bass, left the group in 2017 and now has a thriving solo career) is doing a short European tour this September. While he did play Leuven on his 2022 tour, as well as Utrecht, Netherlands, this time around the closest he'll be to you is Amsterdam on September 9 at Melkweg Oz. Having been to 5 of his concerts (3 in 2019 and 2 in 2022), I can assure you that a trip would be more than worth it. His solo work (about 90% of which is original) is amazing.
Leuven is only 1 hour away from where i live! Amsterdam is pretty close too, i often visit the city. Thanks for sharing this.
I'm so happy you found PTX! Thank you so much for reacting to them. Their level of talent is unmatched. Please go down this rabbit hole! I'll be back for every PTX reaction you do!
PTX Suggestions: Hallelujah, Live version of Hallelujah from their Christmas special, The Sound of Silence, Bohemian Rhapsody, 90's Dance Medley, The Prayer, Amazing Grace, O Holy Night (absolutely stunning), Mad World, and so many more!
PTX Originals to check out: "Love Again", "Sing" and "Run to You".
Thank you so much for beinh here and the suggestions. I recorded a reaction to Hallelujah, but it was the video. And 90's medley as well that was so much fun, i grew up in the 90's.
This was their first Grammy. Their other 2 Grammy's were Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy and Jolene with Dolly Parton, so definitely check those out. Say Something is amazing, Bohemian Rhapsody and Hallelujah, O Come All Ye Faithful. I prefer the older stuff with Avi but they have amazing songs with Matt too, Amazing Grace, Come Along, Happy Now....
So many interesting titles that i want to dive into. Thank you.
ah yes. my first loves before ren, and i still love them . huge, huge catalog of diverse songs and not a bummer in the bunch. they also don't put out anything they can't sing live on stage. they are also the nicest human beings, just like ren. not a diva in the bunch. looking so forward to your dive into the pentatonix world, as you are very easy and charismatic to listen to. I am also amazed how people from europe can speak multiple languages fluently.few of we americans can do that.
Looking forward to it. You are right, easy to listen to and so much fun. And Thanks for the kind words!
They won their first of 4 grammys for this.. :) and they have a star on the hollywood walk of fame. Keep heading down the rabbit hole. They are PHENOMENAL!
Well deserved!
Since this was their first Grammy win, they still perform it live in concert and it's always a treat. You are correct, that is Avi Kaplan. FYI Avi left Pentatonix in 2017 and was replaced by Matt Sallee, so as you go through the catalog, you will see them both. Most reactors start with this, Hallelujah (their most watched UA-cam video), and Bohemian Rhapsody. They still perform those two as well, due to the popularity - Bohemian Rhapsody is often their encore. I think it would be interesting for you as a new reactor to the band to maybe jump ahead to the recent Vevo Live performance of their cover of Kiss From a Rose, because then you will have seen where they started and where they are now, but honestly, throw a dart at their catalog, whatever you land on, they won't let you down. They have an extensive collection of covers, original songs, collaborations, evolution videos (medleys), a huge Christmas catalog, and they all have some fantastic solo work on the side that will give you insight into them as individual artists, [and then there is Sup3rfruit, the vlog/humor/parody/serious musical collaboration of Scott Hoying (white blonde, here), and Mitch Grassi (dark hair, higher vocals, here) mostly from the years when they were roommates]. Oh, and since I didn't mention them individually yet, the beatboxer (cello-boxer)/tenor is Kevin Olusola, and the Mezzo Soprano is Kirstin (Kirstie rhymes with thirsty) Maldonado. Throw a dart! Trust me, and welcome to PTX! Subbed for more!
Thank you so much for taking the time to write this. As it happens i recorded my reaction to Hallelujah and should be up on the channel later tonight. Excited for much more Pentatonix.
Thanks for taking the dive into Pentatonix. Some of my favourites include: The Prayer, Hallelujah, O Holy Night, Imagine, Sound of Silence, and Amazing Grace (My Chains are Gone). I hope you will enjoy these as well!
Thank you so much for watching and these recommendations. Looking forward to them.
@@SaeedReacts. I forgot one of their more upbeat songs, Problem (Ariana Grande Cover) from their Avi Kaplan days.
I think they have been to Europe every year since 2014. So keep an eye out for their tour schedule. They are just as good live.
Subscribed for more PTX. Recommend their original of Happy Now.
EXCELLENT song!
Thank you! More PTX coming and i will add your recommendation to my list.
Hey Saeed, I know my comment is 9mo late, but I found your channel a couple months ago and am wrking my way back thru the reactions. I saw PTX in concert last summer and they were just as amazing live as they are recorded. Tbh, I only started listening to their music about 3yrs ago even though they have been around for yrs. Great reaction ❤
I've seen them do this live - they don't miss a beat, but the video itself is a work of art. They have done a number of mashups you will enjoy. Evolution of Michael Jackson, of Ariana Grande, 90's Dance Medley - so many great songs.
I have recorded a reaction to 90's medley which was so much fun! I will check out the others as well. Thank you!
To this day, Pentatonix is the only a cappella band to have ever won a Grammy, except they've actually won THREE Grammys. They're also the only a cappella band to have a star on Hollywood's Walk of Fame.
Their first Grammy was for Best Arrangement Instrumental Or A Cappella, for "Daft Punk Medley." Before "Daft Punk Medley," that category did not exist; it was just Best Instrumental Arrangement. It was so obvious to the members of the Recording Academy that "Daft Punk" was Grammy-worthy that they expanded a category just so they could nominate it!
Their second Grammy was in the same category, for "Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy," from Tchaikovsky's "Nutcracker Suite." Note that the song has no words, but Pentatonix performed it entirely by voice. (Old joke: Critic: "A song with no words performed by a band with no instruments? Impossible!" Pentatonix: "Here. Hold my Grammy while I demonstrate.")
Because both of those Grammys were for the innovative arrangements, they were shared with Ben Bram, who is almost always listed as an arranger on their music (Ben is sometimes referred to by pentaholics as "the sixth member of Pentatonix").
Their third Grammy was for Best Country Duo/Group Performance, for their collaboration with Dolly Parton on "Jolene." For obvious reasons that Grammy was shared with Dolly Parton - it was the first time she won a Grammy for "Jolene," which I find astonishing. Pentatonix says that their collaboration with Dolly is still the most enjoyable collaboration they've ever done. They were all starry-eyed, expecting that they would simply be supplying the harmony for Dolly, and she was very down to earth, treated them as equals, and insisted that Scott do the solo on one of the verses.
In the opinion of most pentaholics, they should have won a fourth Grammy for "The Prayer," but somebody at RCA dropped the ball and didn't submit it in time. They were nominated for "Evergreen" (their 2021 Christmas album, which is where they published "The Prayer") in the category Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album, but lost to Michael Bublé's album "Higher." And this year "Holidays Around the World" (their 2022 Christmas album) was nominated for Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album but lost out to Laufey's album "Bewitched." Because all three of their Grammys are for songs they published while Avi was still with them, Matt is the only member of Pentatonix to have no Grammys, which is a crying shame.
Wow! Thank you for this backstory. I really like learning about all this.
HUGE Pentaholic here. I'm so excited that you're diving into them now too. Now you've got the trifecta of acapella groups! They tour all the time. You probably can catch them sometime this summer, if you want. Now you need to react to "The Prayer or "Hallelujah" next.(both original videos) They're not a religious group but their 'religious' songs are gorgeous and moving. They are fun, serious, uber creative, and have a ton of Christmas songs too. Also some originals. Check out the others before you do the originals. You WILL find that you have to blur the screen when reacting to them. Sony is amazingly strict and even anal about copyright issues. We all know that, accept blurred images, and have the ability to see the originals on our own whenever we want. We're here for your reaction to them and what you're seeing. So, please CYA and blur the screen. It might take a lot of blurring. It's OK! Great reaction, love that you see how talented they are. Can't wait to see more PTX. THANKS!!
Thank you for taking the time to write thid comment. And letting me know about blurring the video. This one did get blocked when i uploaded it. Will see how the dispute turns out. Will keep that in mind for future videos. I have recorded reaction to Hallellujah and 90's Medley that should go up this week.
Great to see a new rector to Pentatonix ( PTX)!! Yes, we generally like reactors pausing a piece to comment. It's good to hear on the spot commentary and questions...and besides...it helps foil the blocking algorithms. Always a plus!!
Members are;
Dark -haired guy in the sweater...Mitch Grassi, countertenor with a really wonderful, ethereal, high-pitched voice. Changes his looks often, so reactors don't always recognize him.
Guy with the white hair and eyebrows ( not his normal hair colour).... is Scott Hoying, baritone. Scott, like all the group, has a huge vocal range and can go low enough to take over the bass when the bass is singing a verse or has lead. His falsetto is just as amazing.
Girl with the blue and silver make-up.... Kirstin ( Kirstie) Maldonado, alto-soprano. Massive range and great belting abilities and is like Mitch in her constantly changing looks
Guy that seems to be naked...Avi Kaplan, basso profundo. He's blown speakers with his voice. He's an opera trained bass with a lovely warm deep voice and a massive vocal range like everyone else in the group does.
Guy in the cool goggles...Kevin Olusola, beatboxer, tenor, cellist. Kevin rarely sings a verse, but does help with backing vocals when not actively beatboxing. He's the genius of the group. He was studying to be a doctor ( had just graduated Pre-Med at Yale) when Scott called and invited him to join the group. Kevin plays both sax and cello at concert levels, speaks several languages, including Mandarin, helps a LOT with songwriting and arrangements.
Avi left the group amicably in 2017 and now is enjoying a solo career. Matt Sallee joined them in 2018 and has been a really wonderful addition.
Suggestions:
Sound of Silence, Love Again ( original), Imagine, Evolution of Michael Jackson, Coffee In Bed ( original), Be My Eyes ( original), Shallow, Bohemian Rhapsody.
Thank you for watching and taking the time for sharing. So many talents together. And Kevin speaks mandarin among other languages? That is impressive!
@@SaeedReacts. , Yup! He'd planned on living in China once he'd become a doc. He did spend about 18 months there before entering Yale.
Oh...Mitch, Kirstie and Scott grew up together in Arlington Texas. Knew each other separately until they entered high school and all three became an item, eventually forming a group...The Trio ...in high school. There's videos somewhere of a couple of numbers they did for the school events.
Avi Kaplan was the original bass singer, but he left in 2017 and Matt Sallee is the current bass. Scott is the very tall man who had the white hair in this video - Kevin is the beat boxer, he also sings and plays Cello, Kirstin is a mezzo soprano I believe - and Mitch is the angel with the very high voice.
Thank you for sharing this!
Ive seen them live 3 times. Even better!
That must have been great.
Just subscribed more Pentatonix please
Thank you so much! Definitely more Pentatonix coming. Want to explore more, this was so good.
Welcome to the PTX rabbit hole! I understand that they are able to do this just as impressively live. There are so many incredible PTX videos to choose from! Their covers and originals and Christmas songs are all so perfect! A couple of my faves are Can't Hold Us, New Rules x Are You That Somebody, and Kiss From A Rose.
Thank you! I am excited to tumble down this rabbit hole.
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" (the official video, with Avi)
• "Hallelujah" ( a recent live performance, with Matt: ua-cam.com/video/FqphhPapkoc/v-deo.htmlsi=tC6Ew07JGeQKQvDL )
• "Imagine" (the official video)
• "Sound of Silence"
• "Run To You" (an original, written by Avi and Kevin)
• "Happy Now" (another original)
• "O Come All Ye Faithful"
• "O Holy Night" (they did a totally new recording for their 2023 Christmas album; you can find the official video here: ua-cam.com/video/ReJAU2mXm8w/v-deo.htmlsi=upj2Q3vLqigVEtgm )
• "The Prayer"
• "Bohemian Rhapsody"
• "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
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.
Thank you for all these suggestions. Looking forward to them. A reaction to Hallelujah should go up later tonight.
The Petatonix rabbit hole will be a wild experience. Anything from their huge library will not disappoint. You will probably become a fellow Pentaholic in no time, I am looking forward to you reacting to more PTX.
Thank you! More PTX reactions coming. I am having a blast with their music and video's.
Saw them in concert back in November here in Evansville, Indiana for their Holiday tour. Kevin the beatboxer’s parents live just over the state line in Kentucky. I’m hoping they come back during the non-holiday time and do their other covers and the original stuff.
Do cool you got to see them live. Hope you get to see them again!
They are the best a cappella group (imho). They expand people idea of what a cappella is. You can find videos of them doing this live in concert or at private performances.
Excited to explore more. This was amazing.
Didnt know this was your first ever listening to them. So I subscribed on your 2nd one. Keep it up. I dont say every reaction must be pentatonix but regularly please as they have such a lot of songs and every single one is terrific. Greetings from South Africa
Thank you again for watching and subscribing. One more PTX reaction coming later today.
The members of Pentatonix:
In this video we have:
Scott Hoying, lyric baritone. Scott is the guy with white hair and eyebrows; normally he's blond but he'd recently decided to bleach his hair when they made this. Scott's range begins somewhere in the middle of a normal bass range and extends up through a normal tenor range. When Pentatonix's bass has a solo Scott can and does take over the bass's harmony line.
Kirstin (also called Kirstie, which rhymes with thirsty) Maldonado, the only woman in Pentatonix. Kirstin can sing anything from a low alto through a high soprano, and she has fantastic whistle notes on top of that. Recently Pentatonix has begun describing her as an "alto soprano."
Mitch Grassi (pronounced Grah'-see, emphasis on the first syllable), the clean shaven dark-haired guy who keeps singing "One more time," is a natural contratenor with a range of just over six octaves. Shawn Stockman, of Boyz II Men, said Mitch has "one of the prettiest voices I have ever heard in my life." Mitch moves seamlessly between chest voice, mixed voice, and head voice, and all the other members of Pentatonix agree that he's their best singer.
Avi (pronounced Ah'-vee, emphasis on the first syllable) Kaplan, bearded white guy, is a lyric bass. Avi is an operatically trained basso profundo (his lowest notes have blown out speakers in live performances), but his range extends upward to about the middle of a normal tenor range. Avi is also the only member of Pentatonix who is no longer with the band; he resigned in 2017 for a variety of personal reasons, but he's since gone on to have a very successful solo career. I highly recommend subscribing to his UA-cam channel: youtube.com/@AviKaplanMusic
The fifth member of Pentatonix is the black guy wearing the visor: Kevin Olusola (pronounced Oh-loosh"-oh-luh', primary emphasis on the second syllable, secondary emphasis on the fourth syllable), beatboxer extraordinaire. Somewhere there may be a better beatboxer than Kevin, but if so I've never encountered him or her. Kevin is generally too busy being the entire percussion section to sing, but when he does sing he has a lovely tenor voice that occasionally dips into the uppermost reaches of baritone, and he's known for the beauty of his falsetto. He's also a pretty good rapper. Kevin has perfect pitch. He began piano lessons at age 4, cello at age 6, and alto saxophone at age 10. He beatboxes while playing the cello, a technique he calls "celloboxing." He performed at Carnegie Hall twice when he was a teenager, once on saxophone and once on cello. He graduated from Yale in 2011 with a pre-med major and had been accepted to Yale Medical School before he decided to become a professional beatboxer instead of a brilliant surgeon. He speaks five languages fluently: English, French, Spanish, German, and Mandarin Chinese. He's one of the kindest people in the world, and when he laughs he makes the whole planet seem like a brighter place.
Not in this video: Matt Sallee (pronounced Suh-lee', emphasis on the second syllable), lyric bass. It's hard to be sure just what Matt's range is, because it's still growing. To find his current range I recommend listening to a recent live stream of "Hallelujah," though you should probably watch their official video of "Hallelujah" first so you can hear what it sounded like with Avi singing the second verse. You can find the recording with Matt 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, and it will blow you away. His lowest notes don't blow out speakers (though they may do so in a year or two), but on the high end he reaches the upper end of a tenor range. I believe he has the largest range of any member of Pentatonix, past or present.
Thank you for sharing some backstory. I did record a reaction to the official Hallelujah video. That reaction should go up soon.
@@SaeedReacts. I'll look for it.
You have to watch Hallelujah and Amazing Grace. On of my favorites is Say Something.
Reaction to Hallelujah is coming later tonight. Will check out the others. Thank you!
Pentatonix is amazing musically, and they are the sweetest people. My daughter, who is right in PTX's age cohort, teases me by calling them "your other children." I prefer them to the other a capella groups for their musicality, emotional intelligence, complex and beautiful arranging, and theatricality. ETA: suggestions for other videos to cover - La La Latch (for sophistication of arrangement), Imagine (for its beautiful, anthemic vision), The Sound of Silence (introducing Matt Sallee, their bass since the end of 2017, and for the group's emotional tour de force), and Happy Now (one of their originals, with an inspiring message about not letting the past drag you down).
Thank you for sharing that. They are so good. Looking forward to your recommendations.
Awesome Reaction -- More Please!
Thank you so much! Will explore many more songs by Pentatonix.
Glad you did PTX (with more than 20 million subs). Subbed for more. Just a suggestion, do their most popular Hallelujah (over 732 million views) next to draw in the Pentaholics. To get more reach in searches get the hashtags in the title too.. Good job. Once you become a Pentaholic you'll be glad to know they tour the world (last in Belgium 7/5/2023)
Thank you so much! And as it happens Hallelujah was actually the reaction i recorded next. And that one is coming to the channel later tonight. Would love to see them live one day. Should be a great night out.
Have subbed to follow your pentatonix journey... ❤
Thanks so much. Excited to continue this journey.
🔥🔥🔥🥶 .. okay Saeed ... get ready for a massive roller-coaster 🎢 ride !! You stepped into the full triad ... Home Free --- Voiceplay --- & Pentatonix. You will find when you research that Pentatonix is the Gold standard for acupella. You will get dozens of recommendations.... here is my suggestion to start with..
1- Evolution of Music
2 - Wizard Of Aaahs
..get ready , it is amazing ... believe me.
Excited to explore more. I have recorded reactions to Hallelujah and 90's medley. And i will add your recommendations to my list.
Check them out covering “amazing grace”
Will add it to my list. Thanks!
they do perform this song live
Hi, just found your PTX-reaction and of course I subscribed for more🎧
Thank you so much. More PTX reactions coming. Have a great day
Great reaction!
Subbed for more PTX!!
Thank you so much! More PTX reactions coming.
There is a totally unplugged version on UA-cam performed in Kevin's (the beat boxer) living room. It's unmixed
It sounds the same. All their studio stuff sounds the same live.
That is amazing. Will have to check that one out at some point. Thanks.
Welp, subscribed for the PTX Rabbit hole. Amazing Grace, Hallelujah, Sing, The Prayer, Imagine, Love Again, just a few to get you going :) Keep up the good work!
Thanks so much! I have a reaction to Hallelujah and will write the others down.
@SaeedReacts. just watched that one as well! Excited for the journey!
I’ve watched your Guy Sebastian reactions. They were great and I really love Guy. But…my real passion is Pentatonix. I’m so glad that you’re doing them, believe me you will be doing more and you will not regret it. Welcome to the rabbit hole. 🤗💋🥰 subscribed for more. Both Pentatonix and Guy Sebastian. I don’t know if you’ve done any yet, but Disturbed is another favorite of mine.
Thank you so much! Havent done Disturbed yet, but i will add them to my list.
Welcome to the rabbit hole of PTX! Subbed for more. There are so many great ones but be sure to see Kiss From A Rose - live
Thank you so much! Will add your recommendation to my list.
Nice reaction! Have fun!
Thank you! Excited for more.
I just subbed for more PTX!
Thank you so much! Recorded a few more PTX reactions that are coming to the channel this week.
You would probably enjoy the "private performance" video of this song. The five of them, off-mic, in a quiet room, recorded on a fan's phone: ua-cam.com/video/tw4YCsHXKgI/v-deo.html Because they're off-mic the balance is off - Kevin's beatboxing isn't quite loud enough - but other than that it's the same.
I will have a look and listen. Thank you!
new subscriber here for more Pentatonix
Thank you so much. One more reaction to Pentatonix coming later tonight.
new here from ireland. please react to pentatonix songs. new rules. sing. a kiss from a rose. love again. gold. la la latch. cheer leader. rather be. shallow. perfect. can you feel the love tonight. pompeii.
Will add all those to my list. Thank you for being here. ❤️
Subscribing for PTX reactions!
Thank you! I am recording some more as we speak. Have a great day.
Oh, asking us for suggestions is going to lead to a HUGE list! As others have stated, Avi is no longer with PTX (since 2017). He is one of my favorite solo artists. If you look into Avi Kaplan's music (I will recommend "The First Place I Go" because it is a great song and it has been awhile since I have seen anyone react to it), you will find that his personal style is very different from the group's more pop-centric sound. I will recommend "Say Something" by PTX so that you can get a dose of their emotional side and a taste of Kevin"s cello playing (an occasional treat to see him beatbox, play cello, and sing all in the same song). For a Matt (as bass) era song, I would suggest their cover of "When the Party's Over" - also an emotional one. Be advised, if you react to Pentatonix, you will likely run into issues with copyright at some point (not copyright strikes, just blocks). The issues are usually with the video only. Making the video translucent and/or placing some text over the screen seems to work for most reactors when this happens. Welcome to the PTX and acapella journey!
Looking forward to more! I have already got a little taste of the blocking, so thanks for the advice on the blurring. Will do that.
Imagine cover by PTX is amazing.
Excited for that one!
@@SaeedReacts.This one hits the feels every time.
Just a heads up warning. UA-cam is notorious for giving strikes on Pentatonix videos. Bluing, putting stamp over the video and pausing helps, and they almost always get resolved, but it can mean not releasing a video that day that you thought you were going to.
Thank you for letting me know! This video was blocked for 2 days. And also the next 2 video's 😅. Now i know i should probably blur the video. Thanks again!
Subbed for more PTX. Just fyi Avi left the group in 2017 and was replaced with Matt. That is the only memeber change. It truely was a tragedy as Matt isn't much of a bass or a singer imo. That being said I do like the second half of Amazing Grace. Anything with Avi in it is good. Avi was my favorite. Now Kevin is because he is so super talented. Not just in music but he speaks several languages and was premed at Harvard. You should check out his version of Down on his channel, just search Kevin O. Down from Pentatonix. You do have to pause with them or the video can very easily get blocked. Cant wait for more!
Thank you for subscribing and taking the time to comment. Looking forward to get to know all of them better and their music.
You gotta watch Kiss From A Rose by then
I will add it to my list. Thanks!
A little tip, if you can, use a filter and do more stops or you’ll be blocked for copyright
Thanks for the tip. I am going to try that, because these videos were blocked before i put them on "public".
Home free and voice play are great, but ptx honestly makes them look amateur
I am enjoying exploring music from all these groups. Looking forward to discover more Pentatonix.