The baritone is Scott, the guy who started the song. He also sings bass and some tenor. The bass, Avi, sang his solo in a tenor range. Avi sang bass on the first verse and baritone solo on the second verse while Scott sang baritone solo on the first verse and bass on the second verse. They switched, as they often do. The black guy has a high tenor voice. Mitch is one of a very few singers worldwide with a range of over 7 octaves. He can sing higher that any female soprano you've ever heard. Since it's Christmas I recommend you listen to "Oh Come All Ye Faithful", then "Daft Punk" to see how versatile they are. They have almost 8 billion views on their RU-vid videos. If you react to a couple of dozen of their songs you'll understand why.
Great reaction. This is a three-time Grammy winning group that have been going for 12 years now. There's a massive catalogue of cover ( which are actually upgrades, owing to their unique arrangements and ability to turn songs you were fed up with or hated into pieces you love) and originals. Members are: 1st singer: Scott Hoying, baritone. Scott has, like everyone in the group, a massive vocal range and covers the bassline when the bass singer has a verse or the lead. 2nd singer: Avi Kaplan, basso profundo. Avi is an opera trained bass with a wonderful warm, deep voice that melts hearts. Avi left the group in2017 and was replaced by Matt Sallee, another great addition to the group with really lovely vocals. 3rd singer: Kirstin (Kirstie) Maldonado, mezzo soprano. Kirstie has a beutiful tone and great belting abilities. She's also something of a chameleon...changing her hair colour and style frequently along with her make-up. 4th singer: Mitch Grassi is a natural countertenor ...rare vocals for a man. Mitch's range is from baritone to soprano and beyond when he finally uses his falsetto ( which is rare). Like Kirstie, he's a chameleon... constantly changing his hair and his weight. 5th member: Kevin Olusola, beatboxer, tenor cellist. Kevin is actually the genius of the group. He is a world class beatboxer, plays cello at concert levels and has an exquisite tenor voice with a very impressive falsetto. Kevin speaks Mandarin and several other languages and passed his Pre-Med exams at Yale just before joining the group. He often helps write songs with members of the group. There are several brand new songs the group released in the past two months that are really spectacular and worth a reaction...not that any previous song weren't: Kiss From A Rose ( Seal cover) Pure Imagination/Christmas Time is Here ( a blending of two children's songs ) The just released VEVO live version is just as stunning as the music video is, so play either/both O Holy Night ( the official music video) Please Santa Please ( an original written by Kirstie, Kevin and one other songwriter)
The black guy, Kevin, is not being left out. He is the Beatboxer, and the second singer, Avi, is the bass. They are the rhythm section of this band so they don’t get to sing leads much. They provide the foundation for the three main vocalists, Scott, Kirstin, and Mitch. When Avi is singing lead, Scott, the first singer, takes over the bass line.
You can say black without being racist, and he is not the bass. He is the beatbox. The bass is “Jesus “. He just happens to be Jewish as well. PTX owns Christmas, they don’t just cover the songs, they remake and retool them. Mitch is the guy who surprised you with his tone and register. That surprise is called a Mitch-slap, it will get better still. Pentatonix is definitely the class of the genre, they have 3 Grammys and 5 nominations. The latest is for the Holidays Around the World album. I’ll subscribe for more PTX.
They do a live version of this song in a Christmas special, and they sound exactly the same. Watch their video of “making of Evergreen “, and it shows behind scenes of their process and recording. It’s amazing. Kevin, the beatboxer, is also a world class cellist, and plays it in several of their videos, such as “Kiss From A Rose”, “Havana”, “Say Something”, “Over The River”….
You can see a live version here m.youtube.com/watch?v=. If u cannot get through just type the title n put live The dark guy is Kevin Olusola is a beatboxer. He can sing like a tenor but is normally providing the beats. They sing in many genres, not only Christmas songs and also write their own music Try watching Daft Punk Medley, 90s medley, Bohemian Rhapsody. There are more than 200 to choose from. The blonde guy is the baritone
Really enjoyed your reaction. As someone who was late to the Pentatonix Party, I hope you'll give them more of a look. Especially the Non Christmas songs. You won't be disappointed in the investment of time. And you'll get your answer to the Baritone as well as why 1 member of the group didn't have a solo...but is so vital to this group. Once again, great reaction 👍
You really need to watch their most recent holiday videos! Kiss From A Rose 🌹 is phenomenal! Pure Imagination/It's Christmas Time is absolutely dreamy. And O Holy Night will take you to the Heavens! The only change they've had in 12 years is their original bass ("Jesus") left in 2017 due to family health reasons & now has a successful solo career. He was replaced by Matt who is in their videos from 2017 to present. Everyone else is the same, even though they change hair styles & colors quite often. Pentatonix OWNS Christmas! They definitely do not produce boring versions of ANY Christmas songs!
Avi Kaplan is a master at expressing emotion. Check out his newest solo release “Healing” also in his baritone range. For his bass, you’ll want to listen to his most popular solo “Change on the Rise”.
Kevin is NEVER left out. He is doing his job as a beatboxer. He does sing occasionally, "Mary Did You Know?" and "The Prayer" and John Lennon's Imagine will show you each of their talents individually and collectively as the "Wall of Sound" Pentatonix would not exist without Kevin. He plays the Cello while Beatboxing. He even switches to singing and back to beatboxing. Kevin graduated Pre-med from Yale, speaks Mandarin fluently, and he has performed at Carnegie Hall before he joined PTX. You said you were talking about Pentatonix with your friends a few weeks ago but clearly you don't know much including their names. Avi Kaplan is the base, Opera trained and known to blow out speakers. He left the group on good terms in 2017 and has his own career. I have no idea why you think this video features mainly Scott and Kirstin when 4 members each get their own verse. They have 7+ Chistmas albums and their own Original songs as well.
When Mitch started singing, you leaned in to the screen the same way I did when I first saw this video (My first PTX experience), I was like "is that a dude?!" 😂
They won 3 Grammys out of 4 nominations. I can't recall an acapella group winning any Grammys. They are that good. PTX is very very good covering songs. Check out " Amazing Grace" & The Prayer " " O Holy Night " " Daft Punk " " 90's Medley" and more.
Please check out The Prayer, and then check out the recording of evergreen to see their recording process. But they have a bunch of new stuff. You’ll change your mind about their Christmas music, they have 8 Christmas albums so far.
The black guy is the beat boxer in this song. You can’t beatbox and sing at the same time. The blond is the baritone. “Jesus” is the bass. The girl is mezzo soprano. The one in the hat is a counter tenor and the black guy is a tenor when he sings.
@@traceyanderson7489 Kevin actually does some speaking mixed with beatboxing in their cover of "Problem". You can see it in the official video and in a live radio performance that's out on RU-vid. It's pretty incredible!
Many have said that Avi looks like Jesus. Kevin is the beat boxer, not the baritone. His singing voice is tenor. The bass is Avi/Jesus. Scott the blond guy is a baritone, but filled in the base while Avi sang a slightly higher solo. Sometimes Kevin does sing a bit, but he's needed for all the supporting instrumental sounds. Sometimes he even plays cello while beat boxing.
That explains I understand he is needed for the instrumental sounds yeah. Just did not want someone to be left out. Acapella is completly new to me in that sense
A brief history of Pentatonix 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 RU-vid, 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 RU-vid 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 RU-vid), 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 RU-vid, 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 ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-lDxIfwfCmQE.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".
The blonde guy with the first lead is the baritone. Sometimes bass and often tenor. Scott Hoying. The second lead in the beanie cap is the bass. Avi Kaplan. A bona fide low, strong, velvety bass. They don't need a bass guitar. Kirstie Maldonado is the mezzo soprano. Same voice type as most of the Disney princess singers. Mitch Grassi is the very high tenor with a very balanced tone. He also gets down into low tenor quite easily. Kevin Olusola is the beatboxer. He sings backing quite often, but is usually too busy laying down percussion to do many leads. He has other tricks. Keep an eye out. He is really busy on their Daft Punk medley. After mid-2017, the have a new bass in Matt Sallee. They did a very good cover of Radioactive with Lindsey Stirling. Mary Did You Know is excellent if you are doing any catch-up Christmas music reactions. For one of their upbeat early originals, try "Sing!". Or a dark, smooth, 5 part original "Run To You". They use instruments on a few songs, but mostly not. Any instruments used are clearly shown in the video.
Christmas songs are over done but their song arrangements are truly unique - Oh Holy Night is probably the most jaw dropping, but Oh Come, All Ye Faithful and I Saw Three Ships are good ones to see their range then listen to Kiss From A Rose. Also, their version of Amazing Grace gives me chills every time I hear it.
Eventually You'll get it if you watch more videos. Pentatonix is a fantastic band/group. Thank you for your reaction. Millions wait each year for their Christmas albums to hit YT. They are their best sellers and always a twist or two on arrangments. If you watch O Come All Ye Faithful you will see what I mean. Not your same ole Carols. Subbed for more Pentatonix aka PTX. Happy Holidays to you and yours!
Everything ptx records they can reproduce live. They once did an unmixed version of daft punk medley in Kevin's livingroom. Amazing. Try their version of the prayer.
I think you are confusing "bass" with "baritone" vocal ranges, as that would make a lot of sense given the timing/content of your comments/captions. For male singers, the vocal ranges from low-to-high are bass, baritone, tenor. For female singers, the same ranges (low-to-high) are contralto/alto, mezzo soprano, soprano. Avi Kaplan, the man you compared to Jesus (you're not the first to make that comparison, BTW!), is the bass - he's an opera trained basso profundo (deep bass), but sang his solo in his higher range (as a baritone, basically). Scott Hoying, the blonde man who started the song, is the baritone, but he covers the bass line when Avi is singing a solo. Mitch Grassi, the tenor (big round hat), is considered a high tenor or countertenor, which is the highest range for a male singer. A countertenor's range is generally about the same as a female alto, but Mitch can get up into the soprano range - he and Kirstin Maldonado, who is a mezzo soprano, can pretty much sing in the same range, and their voices can be difficult to tell apart. Kevin Olusola, the only member who didn't have a vocal solo in this video, is a tenor when he sings, but he's usually busy beatboxing to provide the percussion for the song. Like all of their official videos, the audio portion of this was the studio version recorded previously. They are "lip-synching" to that recording for the filming of the video. But like most of the a cappella groups doing videos, they actually do sing the parts as they are filmed, but that audio isn't recorded. That's so that their movements - lips, mouth, tongue (yes, you can see that occasionally!), breathing, all match up to what they were doing when they actually recorded the audio tracks in the studio. There are any number of videos of Pentatonix performing this (or any other of their songs) live - one of the best for this song is from a Christmas TV special they did in front of a small studio audience a short time after this was filmed - link: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-haFHrfmfHbc.html
Avi Kaplan, the second soloist is Jewish so you are spot on as to his looks. He is a classically/operatically trained basso profundo, but he has a nice 5 octave range, so can often sound like a baritone but his voice is a bit weighted. A bit heavier.
That is the actual sound being used. Kevin Olusola is their beatboxer and if you watch the live performance of Hallelujah he will blow your sox off because Pentatonix makes a point of not doing anything in a music video that they cannot perform live.
Sorry this is so long. One thing to remember is that 3 members have a 5 octave range, I don't know about Kevin, because he doesn't sing that much (I do prefer his normal tenor voice to his falsetto, but what do I know), that leaves Mitch, our boy Mitch has at least a 6.5 octave, and probably more, but he refuses to let others know his true top or bottom note. Part of that is he's afraid he'll hurt his voice, which I can understand. If the bass singer has a solo, Scott (the blonde) covers the bass part. Everyone can cover several parts. There has only been one personal change that was in 2017, Avi Kaplan the bass singer left for various reasons, mainly the touring schedule was too much for him, as he needed to be home more, and Matt Salee came on board. The face most people make when they hear Mitch's voice is called a Mitch Slap. their record company is stupid when it comes to copyright issues. But most reactors I have heard from (about 25-30 or so) have found they copyright the video more than the audio, so if you will make the video more transparent, or blacked out and place some text over it (your name, Pentatonix, “covered with text for copyright”, a logo just anything, and then pause now and then to talk, it will help to keep from getting blocked. With their label and YT nothing is guaranteed, but from what the other reactors have said, this things create an 80%-90% improvement, at least you meet all the written rules, unless the reviewer is having a bad day. Kevin the beatboxer does not sing very often, his passion is beatboxing, and he prefers not to sing. Even though he has a good voice, and probably the widest vocal range, and is pitch perfect. You asked about the stomping and slapping, he actually invented a "stomp pad", and and a "slap pad", which he uses to make the sounds more realistic and add volume, rather than use electronic sounds. Hallejuah Live ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-haFHrfmfHbc.html You really need to listen to some of the PTX Christmas stuff, it's not' your mama's Christmas music, but stays true to the original, I would start with Oh come all ye faithful, Oh, yeah almost forgot, you mentioned Mitch's falsetto, there was no falsetto, that is actually his lower register, he still has about 2.5 octaves higher he can go naturally. Other than those things, I enjoyed the reaction, and will be back.
Kevin, the beatboxer does sing, but not a lot since they need his beats. When he does sing, he actually has the highest voice of the group - including Kirstin - according to the Members of the band. You might want to watch their live recording of this song from 2016 Christmas concert, I believe. They have newer live recordings of this with the new bass, Matt. They are very much a Christmas band however 2 of their 3 Grammy awards are not for Christmas music; one for Daft Punk and one for a country song, Jolene, sang with Dolly Parton. Their 3rd Grammy was for Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairies, a Christmas song. They were nominated for their Christmas album, Evergreen, last year, but didn't win. This year they are nominated for their album Christmas Around the World (their 2022 album) which hopefully they will win for, and we are all hoping they will be nominated and win for at least 3 or 4 of their new releases on this year's Greatest Hits album. But whether Christmas or not, their music is amazing. You might try Kiss From a Rose, the live vevo released earlier this month.
Scott Hoying (blonda killen): Baryton Avi Kaplan (Jesus): Basstämma Kirstin Maldonado: Mezzosopran Mitch Grassi: Tenor Kevin Olusola: Beatbox, Tenor. Anledningen till att han inte sjunger så ofta är att ingen annan kan ersätta honom på beatbox, han spelar också cello (han gör det bl.a. i deras version av "Shallow". Avi slutade, på god fot, för några år sedan för att ha sin egen karriär och ersatts av Matt Sallee som bas. Denna låten är fantastisk, en annan av deras jullåtar som är riktigt bra är "The Prayer", "Mary, did you know?" (i denna har Kevin ett stycke där du kan höra hans tenorstämma) och de har också gjort en kul variant på Whams "Last Christmas" (och man kan lyssna på den utan att förlora Whammageddon). Som Svensk bör du också lyssna på Sabatons "Christmas Truce", det är en fantastisk sång med Jul-tema baserat på den spontana vapenvilan som uppstod under första värlsdskriget 1914, väl värd att lägga din tid på.
These guys are not 'a-typical' vocalists. People almost always get their voice classications wrong upon first hearing them perform. They all have ultra, unique ranges of 4 to 7 octaves except, of course, Jesus, the bass man, and Kevin, the beat-boxer, cellist, pianist, saxophonist and falsetto extraordinaire. And oh yeah, Kevin is also a non-practicing physician. When Jesus has a solo to perform in his baritone range, Scott, the tall blonde stallion takes over the bass line and you would never know it. And just so you know, Jesus is no longer with the group. He left about 7 years ago for personal and family reasons. He was replaced by a gentleman by the name of Matt Sallee. Matt is great and adds a lot of charm and charisma to the group. He is also an awesome drummer. So welcome to the Pentatonix rabbit hole. ❤❤
@@JennThePandaa that’s true. Although because this is their most popular song it is blocked often. The tricks I’ve seen used is pausing more and giving more commentary, but also sometimes blurring the video or putting text over the video helps.
The only one that didn't have a solo is the beatboxer. Scott the tall blonde is what you might call a baritone, the one with the big hat is Mitch he's the tenor , the one with the beanie and the beard is Avi the bass, and the girl is Kristen. It's funny you say Avi looks a little like Jesus because he is actually Jewish
Hey Richard, appreciated you bringing Jenn up to speed on the names of the Pentatonix members. Just one thing: It isn’t Kristen, it’s Kirstin and she is often referred as Kirstie (rhymes with “thirsty”.
he wasn't being left out, he made as much a contribution to the beauty of this performance as they all did. you've got a bit of a small closed mind and perhaps if you cannot put a little more effort into reacting without snap judgments then find other things that do interest you.
