The Sing-Off Review: The Best of Yesterday and Today

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Who made what grade on The Sing-Off this week? Let's get right to it...

Pentatonix Performs

Round One: Today's Hits
Deltones - "Edge of Glory" - The team had trouble with arrangements and choreography. The stress even kicked in with one girl causing drama by getting sick. The group had a strong opening, but the song's elements were really made for multiple part harmonies. There were some moments in the chorus where some parts in the background weren't the best and the lead vocals had moments of trouble when notes couldn't be sustained. My Grade: B-

Pentatonix (pictured) - "Your Love is My Drug" - The group really wanted to remix the song and I was afraid when I heard elements of dubstep in the package. When they performed I had to laugh at the faux-Ke$ha. I'm not sure the arrangement was the best because the falsetto sounded funny. The bridge and afterwards was the best. I actually didn't mind the dubstep interlude because it wasn't aggressive. My Grade: B+

The Collective - "Rocketeer" - The new group decided to practice in a hot tub, soon Rachel had laryngitis and the group was in shambles before the performance. The lead started off wobbly, but Rachel's vocals didn't give out on her too much. She squeaked occasionally, but I wasn't sure if that was her regularly. She lost it by the end of the song and then tried to over-compensate by singing harder, which is one of the worst things to do as a vocalist. The song ended up boring and predictable. My Grade: B

North Shore - "The Lazy Song" - The band was having trouble competing with the young'uns since they haven't listened to the radio in years. I like the band's couch arrangement, but the whistling was a bit weak. The arrangement was faithful to the original, but still had the doo-wop elements that matched North Shore. There was a minor element of the embarrassing uncle at a wedding, but you couldn't help but smiling. My Grade: B+

Dartmouth Aires - "Animal" - Michael had to leave for home for a few days which left Brandon stuck with the solo. Sadly, he didn't know the lyrics in the beginning. It was probably the easiest for this group since this was on Glee. That the background vocals were out-singing the lead. The last chorus to the end was the best part of the performance, outside of watching the other singers lightly petting Brandon. My Grade: B-

Sonos - "Viva La Vida" - The group continues to complain about missing their pedals and the lack of a bassist if Chris sang solo. This left one of the women to do the bass line. The jazzier arrangement worked better for a'capella and allowed all five voices to blend well. The bass female showed some weakness on the low end, but kudos for her for hitting those notes. They still haven't reinvented the wheel, but also put their five vocals to their highest potential. My Grade: B

Round Two: 60s Hits
Pentatonix - "Piece of My Heart" - The Bob Marley-esque arrangement was an interesting take but by losing the rock edge of Janice Joplin, the song lost a little bit of soul. The saxophone solo was silly and a waste of time. The choreography was lackluster and the ending was just decent. My Grade: B.

Deltones - "You Can't Hurry Love" - I thought it was funny that when you move the guys off-stage, the group looks like any of the all-female groups. The lead vocals were thin and didn't have the Motown soul. I'm still not sure why it looked like Russell Hantz from Survivor was one of the performers in the back, but again their choreography was a bit too simplistic. My Grade: C+

North Shore - "Unchained Melody" - North Shore had the upper hand and was basically balanced out by being given a song that didn't have Doo-Wop roots originally. It was interesting to see that their clothes didn't change at all. The vocal strength of the group was amazing and the falsetto didn't disappoint. My Grade: A-

The Collective - "Hold On, I'm Coming" - The group benefitted from a song with a lot of parts so that the song sounded full with all the voices integrated. The church-y ending was great and the one guy's falsetto seemed to last hours. My Grade: B+

Sonos - "I Want You Back" - The group had the challenge of matching the Jackson 5 and their slowing down of the song disappointed me. A group with more people could have worked with better parts to represent each of the Jackson 5. The group compensated with some of the best choreography of the night. My Grade: C+

Dartmouth Aires - "Pinball Wizard" - How were you supposed to transform a song that was like seven minutes long into about 1:30? The group did a good job both trying to represent a pinball machine, but they continued to point out that Michael is their best lead vocalist. My Grade: B

After both rounds, the six teams were under the pressure of elimination. North Shore, the Dartmouth Aires, Penatonix, and the Deltones were all safe. The bottom two were Sonos (lacked effects pedals) and The Collective (;acked arrangement skills). The Collective was saved, which meant the judges really thought the Jackson 5 rendition was too far from the original.

They sang off with "It's so Hard to Say Goodbye to Yesterday," which just embarrassed Shawn. While it was weird hearing females on the vocal parts, it was generally weak.

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Reviews Quotes

Yea, thanks. And by thanks I mean, thank you for deciding that I should age, grow old, and probably die from a paper cut. Oh yea, and that I'll never get to do magic again. Because I'm perfect now! Did Professor Lipson tell you? I'm perfectly normal, and we all know magic doesn't come from normal so thank you for deciding that without me.

Julia

"You bring home two bands of hippie murderers…"

Homer