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Singing Off: Season Four of The Sing Off Premieres, Features the acoUstiKats

by:CMTomlin12/10/13
rs_560x360-131210091442-1024.The-Sing-Off-WWK-jmd-121013_copy For starters, everyone, if you were wondering if The Sing Off is a new thing, it's not -- even though NBC is hyping it as "from the network which brought you The Voice." This is Season Four of the a capella singing competition -- though NBC has never really put this kind of promotion behind it in the past -- and this season it's personal as it features our very own University of Kentucky acoUstiKats. The season kicked off Monday night with a big long two-hour premiere, and since this thing isn't going to recap itself, I suppose we'd better get started. The proceedings start with an all-team, in-unison a capella version of “Some Nights” by fun., which I think we can all agree cements the end of the “Some Nights” run. It then segues into “We Are Young,” also by the same band and which officially ended its run two years ago. This is our official introduction to the teams. Everyone’s turnt way up for this, their screen debuts, and one team — “Element” — even brings sparklers to the occasion, which might be dangerous on such a crowded stage. The fun. doesn’t stop there, and the medley concludes with “Carry On.” And then the medley’s over, because that’s all the famous songs by fun., and the one with fun.’s lead singer and Pink doesn’t count. Host Nick Lachey announces that The Sing Off celebrates the greatest a capella teams in the entire world, but no other countries are represented here, unless you count Puerto Rico as a country, which we will see later that the team from Puerto Rico perhaps does. The judges are introduced — Ben Folds, Boyz II Men’s Shawn Stockman and folk warbler Jewel. Previous judge Sara Bareilles is nowhere to be found, almost certainly and single-handedly destroyed by Jewel’s relentless Alaskan fist. Jewel mentions her “snaggle tooth,” which no one has mentioned since “Who Will Save Your Soul” came out in 1995. Still, you can’t say anything that bad about Jewel. She seems like okay people. She's certainly aging well. The first group, “Vocal Rush” from Oakland, California, is introduced. One member tells the camera that most people consider Oakland to be a scary place, but I’m not sure people really consider Oakland much of anything at all. They take the stage to perform “Bottom of the River” by Delta Rae, and I’m immediately aware that I won’t be a good judge of the tune, as I’ve never heard “Bottom of the River” by Delta Rae. It opens with a lot of stomping and a lot of red pants, but once they hit the groove a shot of the judges all looking impressed signifies to me that Vocal Rush must be doing Delta Rae proud. The bridge of the song, which includes a lot of stepping and kneeslapping and clapping, turns out to be the finale and then the song’s over. Nick Lachey rushes up to remind everyone that there’s no band up there(!), because he’s been charged by producers with making sure everyone knows just how unique this competition is and that it’s totally different from The Voice, you guys. Seriously. The judges are all complimentary, and Jewel is adorable. Next up is the touring vocal group “Home Free,” who are standing chin deep in a corn field as they inform us that “nobody else” is doing a capella country music, which I’m not sure is entirely true. I’d have to imagine that someone is, somewhere. But let’s let Home Free have their thing. There are a lot of shots of them at a county fair, which serves to establish them as fun/slightly creepy. They take on “Cruise” by Florida Georgia Line. One of these guys looks so disconcertingly like Kevin Smith that it’s uncanny.  Nick Lachey heads up to talk to them in that particular Nick Lachey cadence, which reads something like this: “That sounded GREAT, now let’s see what the JUDGES have to say about HOME FREE.” He speaks every sentence with this exact inflection. The judges are all very impressed. Oh Jewel, you’re a delight! A production package on the “Princeton Footnotes” is up next in which they describe themselves as a “fun loving group,” even though everyone else might describe them as “huge nerds.” They seem like the kind of guys who probably stroll through campus singing and imagining that everyone finds them to be simply wonderful. Their song is “Trouble” by Taylor Swift, and it’s pretty fun, even if 80% of the group looks like varying clones of the same person. Someone in the crowd has a sign saying “Footnotes Rock the Boat!”, which I’m not sure makes any sense. What? What boat? What boat are these white, privileged Ivy League troubadours rocking? Shawn Stockman gives them props, the always technical Ben Folds gives them a couple of musical notes (GET IT?) and Jewel talks about the bass progression. Nick Lachey arrives back to introduce us to the Puerto Rican group “Calle Sol,” which apparently means “Sun Streaked.” Calle Sol only, apparently, performs in their native Puerto Rico against a picturesque ocean backdrop. One of their members claims that Calle Sol represents ALL Latino countries (you’re not technically one of those, Puerto Rico!). They sing “Pon de Replay” by Rihanna with a muy caliente salsa thing going on, cranking up the latin influences. Nick says they’re “bringing the heat to the stage,” which was the second entry listed on the “Latino music clichés list” that someone gave him during the break (the first was “Well that was spicy!”). The judges are happy with it. In case you haven’t noticed by now, this is not one of those “mean judge” shows. It’s all about encouragement on The Sing Off. Also, it’s the holidays. No one wants to hear they’re a terrible a capella singing group on the holidays. “Street Corner Renaissance” is the next group up, and their production package reveals they’re a bunch of older gents literally standing on a street corner. So it’s not just a clever name. These guys are pretty lively. They perform an early Motown take on One Direction’s “What Makes You Beautiful,” and kill it. There’s something really fun about this, and they’re the first group yet that I can see going far with a distinct thing going on. Shawn Stockman gets out of his seat to hug them and Ben calls them “honest.” That’s a good way to describe them. Also: “old.” At the halfway point, the judges are ready to send one group of the first fleet of five home. Or, as Nick Lachey puts it, “the JUDGES will now select TWO groups to BATTLE it out to avoid ELIMINATION.” Street Corner Renaissance, Vocal Rush and Home Free all make it through but Calle Sol and The Princeton Footnotes have to stand up there and face the music (GET IT?). The Princeton Footnotes, it’s revealed, will have to sing in a finale at the end of the show to see if they can stay. Moving on, let’s meet Dallas’ “Ten,” who have backed up many famous acts in the past. Their thing is gospel, and they are fairly new as far as a capella groups go. In fact, this is their first time singing on stage together ever. Great screening process, The Sing Off! In case you were wondering, in this fourth season of the show, it’s very clear that if you are in an a capella group at all you stand a very good chance of getting on this show. They perform Chaka Khan’s “Tell Me Something Good,” which is a great song, but their version is sort of screamy. Shawn Stockman and Ben Folds are both cool with them but think they have a couple of flaws, and then Jewel comes in to be wonderful. I don’t know why anyone would ever let this lady live in her car, as it’s well-established she did when she was a young Alaskan musician. Shame on you, Alaska! This young lady is enchanting! Next is the all-female group “Element.” They’re “different” because they’re an “all-female musical group,” even though I could name five thousand all-female musical groups right now without having to stop and think. Nice try, Element. I wasn’t born yesterday. They perform “Burn” by Ellie Goulding. It’s very theatrical, and looks like a theater show of some sort. They sound good together, and Nick Lachey steps in to announce they’re going to check in with their “periodic table of judges.” That joke doesn’t even make any sense, even if the group IS called Element. Everyone is very complementary and no one calls them “boron.” See, I can make element jokes too, Lachey. It’s super-easy; I didn’t even have to think about that one. Here comes Orlando’s “Voiceplay,” who work at Universal Orlando Resorts. They have one girl in their group and her name is “Honey Larochelle.” Riiiiight. They perform Pitbull’s “Feel This Moment.” They’re good enough, I guess, but they’re kind of meh to me. The lack of judge enthusiasm seems like the judges agree. If I were categorizing their sound, I’d probably call it Universal-Studios-Theme-Park-A-Capella-Group-ish. Next, let’s meet LA’s Filipino-based group “Filharmonic,” who say they’re inspired by “the music of the nineties.” Oh, I hope they perform something by Sugar Ray or Paula Cole! But no such luck as they take on “Treasure” by Bruno Mars, which is decidedly not from the nineties, so Filharmonic lied to us.  They do have a good energy to them, even if they’re a little boy-band-esque. It’s the kind of act that you could really see working for a certain demographic in spades. Ben Folds looks like he realizes this. The judges are all really impressed with their personality and energy. Nick Lachey comes back in to call them “Motown-Manila,” which I’m not sure is funny or offensive or neither or both. Hey, I know about these next guys! It’s the acoUsticKats, from Kentucky! For future Sing Off reference, in case you need to be able to tell these guys apart from Calle Sol, just look for the capitalized U and K in their name (it's like a secret hint that they're from UK!). Lachey says they can be found “swooning the ladies,” which I’m pretty sure is a pretty egregious misuse of the word “swooning,” but that’s neither here nor there because they make a huge splash with “Blurred Lines.” Look at that audience! These guys are “swooning the ladies!” And the judges, apparently. Ben calls it “fun” and “infectious,” Stockman and his immaculately-manicured moustache thinks they’re great and Jewel “giggled.” Nice work. And now the last five groups wait to see who’s last. Filharmonic, Ten, acoUstiKats breeze through, leaving Element and Voiceplay in the bottom two, where one of the two will “battle” the Princeton Footnotes. The bottom group is Voiceplay. The finale is weird as the two teams sing back and forth, which is something that I guess worked on The Voice and so they’re employing that here. Still, it’s pretty fun and The Princeton Footnotes probably have more creative spark for a long-run competition like this, but Voiceplay was better and the Footnotes go home. Probably better for our boys in the long run anyway. There’s only room for one cocksure college-campus a capella group around here. Or as Lachey might say: “Only one of these groups can make the grade,” because that would be the most terribly unoriginal pun for this scenario. Good luck, acoUstiKats. We’re all counting on you.

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