The Sing-Off: It Ain’t Your Elitist Grandpa’s A Cappella

“I’m fighting for this girl on the battlefield of love”

Post number 650. Honestly, I should’ve gotten here about 4 years ago. I mean, I was supposed to write something daily, and I started in 2003. That said, I just don’t know how to stick to personal deadlines. In any case, I have a bit more time on my hands these days, so I’m gonna try to post something – anything, on a more regular schedule, even if it’s dreck. This is a special post not just because it’s number 650, or because it’s a birthday post. No, this post is special because we’re going to talk about something near and dear to me: a cappella, namely The Sing Off.

The Sing Off was an NBC Special where 6 a cappella groups from across North America competed for a $100,000 Sony recording contract. Hosted by Nick Lachey, the show aired over 4 consecutive nights, with the winner chosen by phone-in votes, and announced the next week. The groups were a mix of collegiate and semi-pro groups, judged by Boyz II Men member Shawn Stockman, Pussycat Doll Nicole Scherzinger, and the darling of collegiate music himself, Ben Folds.

When the show was first announced, it was marketed as a mix between Glee and High School Musical. Since those have been pretty big hits in pop culture, it was clever marketing for the show to hitch its wagon to those properties. That said, a cappella is a different sort of beast. It’s not musical theatre and it’s not all song and dance. To be honest, I wasn’t really looking forward to the show, as I wasn’t sure if it would give America a fair representation of “a cappella”.

Plainly stated, “a cappella” means “without accompaniment”. It’s not necessarily a style, as a cappella can be choral, barbershop, coed, single gender, etc. For anyone who just happened to stumble upon this site, I sang a cappella in college, in an all-male group called Last Call (all Cornell a cappella groups have drinking themes – except for the religious ones). We toured the East Coast, we recorded albums, and we won second place in the International Competition of Collegiate A Cappella. Bottom line: I’ve done my time in a cappella, so I had a pretty good understanding of the medium. My question, though, was whether Middle America would have a better understanding once The Sing Off completed its run. Ultimately, I hoped that the answer would be “yes”. I understand there are people out there who’ll never “get it”. Hell, my own mom constantly tried to get me to quit because “so, what’s the big deal that you don’t use instruments? You need to study!” I stuck with it because I took it seriously, and I hoped that the show would also take it as seriously.

Let’s take a look at the groups being represented:

Eliminated in Episode 1:

Solo – your standard coed group of inner city kids who banded together because music’s more fun than jail. Considering they said they’d only been together about 13 weeks, they weren’t horrible, but they weren’t good either. As with all of these shows, they had a sob story – a couple of them had been in jail, they all faced inner city hardship, blah, blah. Their video intro even showed them rehearsing on the city bus (I swear, ever since that Coke commercial with Tyrese, people seem to think R&B and public transportation go together like peanut butter and jelly!). The only thing missing was a Michele Pfeiffer cameo. Unfortunately for Solo, they only got one shot at the spotlight. Singing Jason Derullo’s “Whatcha Say”, they presented the vocal equivalent of a car wreck. Honestly, if they were an all-male group, they might’ve been better, as it was the female singers throwing them off. The song choice did them in. Why sing a song that’s auto-tuned to death? You can’t replicate that with the human voice.

Face – you know that “band” that your dad’s in with the rest of his bowling buddies? Well, then you already know Face. An all-male group from Boulder, CO, Face preferred to be called a “vocal band”. Now, a little sidebar: most groups that prefer “vocal band” are the same ones that are ashamed of the connotations associated with a cappella. If you’re so edgy, pick up a damn electric guitar and get out of my auditorium! Anyway, they thought themselves to be some real hardcore rockers. Sob story alert: they weren’t just a group – they were family. This was proven by the fact that one member’s wife couldn’t have children, so another member’s wife acted as a surrogate. All that group love still didn’t stop their rendition of “Livin’ On A Prayer” from sucking.

Eliminated in Episode 2:

Noteworthy – an all female collegiate group from Brigham Young University, these spunky little ladies like to entertain the world by sharing their faith through the gift of music. They even had cute little fauxhawks, just to show us that those Golden Plates didn’t say anything about making fashion statements. It was a bit audacious when they sang Aretha’s “Think”, but I let it go. Later, they performed Coldplay’s “Viva La Vida” and “Hold On”, by Wilson Phillips. Here’s the thing with Noteworthy – they weren’t bad at all, but they weren’t great. I’ve heard this many times over the years, but they suffered from the same thing that happens to a lot of female a cappella: due to the lack of a lower register, it renders most arrangements boring and shrill. It’s great when a female group can get a few singers down into a baritone range, but most just end up screeching at you, which is what happened here. They took it in stride, though, and seemed to have a good attitude about the whole thing.

Eliminated in Episode 3:

Maxx Factor – a female barbershop quartet from Baltimore, MD, these ladies were AMAZING. No doubt about it, I think they did wonders for the representation of a cappella, as well as barbershop. The only reason they were eliminated this early was that barbershop can be somewhat limiting, and can only take you so far. For their first song, they did ABBA’s “Dancing Queen” in a 4-part harmony that blew me away. Next, they totally reinvented Taylor Swift’s “Love Story”, putting a more mature spin on it so that it seemed like it was about a woman looking back on her teenage years. Next, they tackled Amy Winehouse’s “Rehab”, which was a bit of a stretch, but still fun. Where they fell apart was their Beach Boys medley, as their blend was just off. I’m not sure if it was nerves, lack of practice, or if they just threw the whole damn thing. I don’t think anyone thought much of them at the beginning, but they continued to wow the crowd. If not for that bad medley, they definitely would’ve made the finals. Do I think they should’ve won? No. I had another favorite in mind.

The SoCals – The SoCals are an alumni group from the University of Southern California. While in undergrad, they were all members of the USC SoCal VoCals. I have to interject here that I was already biased against them. Call me a hater, but I just don’t like alumni groups. Maybe it’s my own fall from grace as I had to face the real world after my graduation, where I was forced to grow the fuck up, and I wish they had been faced with the same thing. That said, they weren’t a bad group by any stretch of the imagination. Also, if the producers wanted to draw parallels to Glee, then this was the group most likely to drive home that point. The problem with alum groups is that the members never necessarily sang with each other previously. Sure, they were all originally members of the VoCals, but that doesn’t mean they were all the same year, or in the same iteration of that group. As a result, the blend just wasn’t there. I feel that they’re all good singers, and I’m sure good soloists in their own right, but they didn’t really have the group mesh down. They even had the lamest sob story – one of the blondes had some bullshit gastrointestinal disorder that interfered with her voice. I know, sounds janky to me, too, but I guess they’re fortunate they didn’t have any real problems in their lives. I’m not going to list their songs because they were all basically the same. Their main soloists consisted of a guy who looked just like Mark from Rent, and a Jewish chick who looked like Julie Kavner, the voice of Marge Simpson. I felt like “Mark” treated the whole thing like his own personal audition, as he knew he was talented. I won’t be surprised when he gets hired in a traveling cast of Grease. They were talented, but not very memorable, and didn’t gel as a group. At the end of the day, that lack of personality is what brought them down.

The Finalists:

Voices of Lee – a coed collegiate group from Lee University, a small Christian college in Tennessee. Oh, Voices of Lee! I really don’t know how they made it as far as they did. As with the SoCals, they really lacked personality, and I really hated on their whole gumdrop Christian college story. Ya know why? Because their video bio showed them playing in leaves and visiting the malt shop! Also, they paired the kids off racially in those videos, as I’m sure there’s no interracial dating at Lee. But I digress, they just weren’t great. I was telling Lindsay that they were the type of group that we’d see at a competition and try to figure out which of the girls we were gonna try to bang at the after party. Their main soloist girl was the only memorable thing about them. She had a nice voice, with a peppering of Southern accent, like a beauty pageant contestant. At the end of the day, though, they just weren’t winners. I have to give them credit for hanging in there, and they weren’t bad. Again, they just weren’t GREAT like the other finalists, NOTA and the Tufts Beelzebubs. I also thought it was kinda off that they didn’t thank God in their final speech. I mean, they clung to the whole devout thing throughout the competition, yet they forgot their savior when He didn’t come through for them. Tsk, tsk, Voices of Lee!

Tufts Beelzebubs – an all-male group from Tufts University, the Beelzebubs are part of a 47-year tradition. When it comes to all-male a cappella, these guys are as good as it gets. Ask anyone in the know, and they will tell you that the ‘Bubs are among the Top 3 groups in the country. They’re just that damn good. I have nothing but respect for them, as I watch them and I can see how they influenced my own group, as they’re great at singing but, more importantly, it’s clear that they’re having fun while singing. I can’t tell you how important it is to make your audience aware of the fact that you’re having fun onstage. You engage them, and they feel like they’re a part of the experience. The Bubs were SO good on the show that it really wasn’t even a competition. They never really had an “off” song, and they were clearly the favorites of the audience. Here’s why The Bubs didn’t win: as good as they were, they were a great a cappella group. Here me out. Sure, the point of the competition was to showcase great a cappella, but I think Sony Music realizes that the concept only has legs to take it so far. Would the public really want to go down to Target and buy an album by The Bubs? Plus, half of the magic of the Bubs is watching them. In Last Call, we always thought that the listener could tell if you’re smiling while recording, but that just wouldn’t be enough when it comes to The Bubs – you’d have to see them to fully experience them. I also feel that giving a contract to a collegiate group, with a fluctuating roster, would be a legal quagmire. A couple of groups out there have professional contracts, but do you just sign the active membership? Do you sign The Bubs as a group, and the contract goes to whoever’s in the group once the paperwork’s signed? At the end of the day, we all know that the Bubs SHOULD have won, but they didn’t. No, that honor went to the next group:

NOTA – an all-male group from Puerto Rico, I really didn’t think much of them when I first saw them. They were heavily featured in the commercials for the show, yet they were always singing “Down”, by Jay Sean, which I felt was a weak arrangement when translated to a cappella. When it came down to it, though, they were just a bunch of nice guys with a great sound. Their blend was amazing, and they were like a modern day Rockapella, when it came to the lush backgrounds in the arrangements of their other songs. Their signature, though it got old fast, was when they would “mexicate” (copyright williambrucewest.com, 2009) their songs. What do I mean by that? Well, they’d be singing “Down”, and in the middle, they would break it down with vocal trumpets and a fast-paced meringue interlude. As Paula might say, “they really took the songs and made them their own”. The beauty of NOTA was that they took the a cappella ball and ran with it. Ultimately, the goal of a cappella is to make the listener forget that there are no instruments involved. With this is mind, a great a cappella group should ALSO be a great singing group, instruments or no. The Bubs were an amazing a cappella group, but NOTA was a great group overall. The Bubs were a group I’d love to go see, while NOTA’s a group I’d love to hear on the radio. Just like Boyz II Men, they could have a career as an a cappella group, or an R&B vocal group. They’re the group that Sony could get the most mileage out of, so they’re the group that ultimately had to win.

Before wrapping up, it’s only fair that I touch on the judges for the show:

Ben Folds – when you’re a white kid in a liberal arts school, you’re forced to choose your musical savior during orientation. Will you have Dave Matthews on repeat, or will you be rocking out to Ben Folds’s “Kate”? As every coed group in America has covered “Brick”, it’s only natural that Ben Folds have a hand in the judging. He’s a lot less hip than you’d believe, though. I made the comment that he’s what you would get if you mixed Jack Tripper with Mr Furley. That said, he was good in the role and I hope comes back should there be a second season. I still think he should’ve sung “Brick”, the BEST song about teenage pregnancy, with the Christian group. That would’ve been legendary.

Nicole Scherzinger – currently of the Pussycat Dolls, formerly of Eden’s Crush, Nicole knows all about group dynamics. That said, she never really seemed comfortable in her role as a judge. It was unknown what her link to the “a cappella world” was, and it was as if she had studied other female judges from reality shows. The first night, she was Paula. The second night, she was Lil Mama. By night three, she was Paula Lite, which is where she remained. If the show is renewed, she’s the most expendable. Hell, might as well get Ellen in that chair, too. I’d love to hear her take on the groups.

Shawn Stockman – of Boyz II Men fame, Shawn was probably the most enlightening judge, as he’d been where most of the groups were coming from. Prior to the show, I’d only known him as “the tall guy from Boyz II Men”. You know, the one who wasn’t “nerd with glasses”, “dude with the cane”, or “the one who was bangin’ Brandy back in the day”. Not only do I want every outfit in his closet, he gave some great advice, and he was clearly moved by each and every performance. His only low point was the “reunion” of Boyz II Men on the finale, as they were hitting some pretty rough notes. Not his fault, though – it’s just clear that you need a bass when you’re singing 4 part harmony.

So, did The Sing Off meet my expectations? It not only met them, but it surpassed them. The spectrum of groups represented shattered a lot of preconceived notions about a cappella, as the world saw that barbershop can be cool, Mormons can rock out, and Puerto Ricans love the Bee Gees. I loved the show, and the ratings seem to show that America loved the show, too. All of the groups worked hard, and it’s not like you can really “win” at a cappella. That said, the most marketable group won, and I look forward to hearing more from NOTA. Still think my rendition of “Lean On Me” was better, though :p