Pentatonix: Season 3 Champs

[Sharpie66]

99,000!  That's terrific.

 

I just saw them on Today--they got some really good facetime, and sang "Santa Clause Is Coming to Town," "Hark! The Herald Angels Sing," and "That's Christmas to Me" ("Hark!" was the singout to commercial on both of their appearances).  They were color-coordinated in blue, and the mic balance was spot-on, which is always good to hear when they perform. 

[Kromm]

99,000!  That's terrific.

 

I just saw them on Today--they got some really good facetime, and sang "Santa Clause Is Coming to Town," "Hark! The Herald Angels Sing," and "That's Christmas to Me" ("Hark!" was the singout to commercial on both of their appearances).  They were color-coordinated in blue, and the mic balance was spot-on, which is always good to hear when they perform. 

 

Actually their mikes on TV are almost NEVER balanced right.  Someone on Today maybe learned from their previous appearances, because I agree that's about as good as they've ever sounded on TV (other than on The Sing-Off).

 

Better news, they didn't simply stick them on the part of the show where all they could interact with were the two drunks.

 

 

EDIT - Wait, okay later in the day, here's a longer clip with BOTH of the Today segments (not just the first one). So we get to see the previously mentioned two drunks after all about halfway through..  the video quality is crap on this one though.:

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yITXHSN6oHM

Edited November 27, 2014 by Kromm

[SrPab]

HK & KLG?

Better news, they didn't simply stick them on the part of the show where all they could interact with were the two drunks.

Edited November 26, 2014 by SrPab-PTV

[Kromm]

HK & KLG?

is there another pair of drunks on the show besides them?

[Sharpie66]

The Yahoo news article talking about the new Billboard chart said something that made my eyes bug out: "This is the highest chart ranking to date for Pentatonix. The a capella vocal group may well wind up with a Grammy nomination for Best New Artist next week."

!!!!!!!!!!

https://www.yahoo.com/music/christmas-in-november-three-holiday-albums-in-the-103653802546.html

ETA: FYI, PTXmas is up to #4 on Billboard's Holiday Albums chart.

Edited November 27, 2014 by Sharpie66

[Kromm]

The Yahoo news article talking about the new Billboard chart said something that made my eyes bug out: "This is the highest chart ranking to date for Pentatonix. The a capella vocal group may well wind up with a Grammy nomination for Best New Artist next week."

!!!!!!!!!!

https://www.yahoo.com/music/christmas-in-november-three-holiday-albums-in-the-103653802546.html

I don't see this Paul Grein person having any inside track on Grammy nominations.  

 

He may just be going by the fact that they got a Best New Music Group nomination for the fairly low influence "New Now Next" Awards.  But honestly in a year with the likes of Iggy Azalea, Sam Smith, Meghan Trainor, Charli XCX, etc. who all had big pop song success, I'm skeptical they'd slot in Pentatonix with that--who's success is a bit quieter and more about recognizing that the big traditional media isn't the only outlet for music anymore.  Maybe NEXT year, after Billboard's chart changes have had time to prove stuff to people, but this year I don't see it.  

 

As for the OTHER Grammy categories, I wonder if the Grammys would even know where to slot them.  The Best Pop Duo/Group Performance would seem to be the best fit--its a new category ONLY around since 2012 so it doesn't have quite the traction on it where who gets in it might seem pre-determined, although my guess is that whoever winds up in it is going to lose to the Jessie J/Nicki Minaj/Ariana Grande trio (I also expect Izzy Azalea & Charlie XCX's "Fancy" to be there too, Ariana Grande & Iggy Azalea for "Problem", and maybe even that Clean Bandit song with Jess Glynne, even though it didn't chart that high in the US).  So again, maybe the category might be too packed with big names for PTX to be squeezed in there.  The Grammys has dropped a lot of categories in the past few years, so there's not as much to choose from.

[SrPab]

I don't follow music awards shows (or for film, stage, and tv). Is there precedent for the governing body/nominating committee/whatever to take an activist or progressive stance every once in awhile--and possibly nominate PTX just to see what would happen? Good publicity is good; bad publicity is good. No publicity is bad.

[Kromm]

I don't follow music awards shows (or for film, stage, and tv). Is there precedent for the governing body/nominating committee/whatever to take an activist or progressive stance every once in awhile--and possibly nominate PTX just to see what would happen? Good publicity is good; bad publicity is good. No publicity is bad.

The Grammys aren't nominated by some central committee.  They're nominated by the entire National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences membership--which apparently is like 18,000 people.

 

Best New Artist, at the very least, isn't going to have any surprises on it.  Some of the smaller categories have some kind of culling down process from a bigger list, but the big categories is just the 5 most nominated.

Edited November 27, 2014 by Kromm

[Sharpie66]

My biggest "what the hell were they THINKING?!" Best New Artist award winner was the year when Elvis Costello lost out to Starlight Vocal Band...

[bjork]

If Pentatonix ever gets nominated for Best New Artist, it'll probably be for the 2016 show, given they release a full length album of mostly original compositions. They only released their first full length album right after the 2015 cutoff and I'm not sure that a Christmas album is enough to appeal to Grammy voters. Also, if this list is to be believed, RCA didn't submit any material from them this time.
 
I taped the Macy's Thanksgiving parade and not only did Pentatonix look awesome and sound decent despite the unfavorable weather, there was a high school band from New York that performed a version of their Daft Punk medley.
 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2CBah_E6R1E

[Sharpie66]

At what point of the parade did they show up? I watched it off the dvr on fast forward, and completely missed them.

Oh, and I saw this interviw with Scott and Mitch with an Irish website, and they mentioned that PTX had actually been dropped by their original label when they went with Madison Gate: http://entertainment.ie/music/news/Interview-Entertainmentie-speaks-to-US-a-cappella-group-Pentatonix/317164.htm

Edited November 28, 2014 by Sharpie66

[Kromm]

I taped the Macy's Thanksgiving parade and not only did Pentatonix look awesome and sound decent despite the unfavorable weather, there was a high school band from New York that performed a version of their Daft Punk medley.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2CBah_E6R1E

The problem with analyzing any singer on these parade floats is that typically the artists aren't aren't singing live (or if they are, they're being overdubbed while they sing by their recorded track).  It would actually be a huge exception to the usual rule if that was actually PTX live (although if you look at them they ARE singing--that just doesn't mean their mikes are actually turned on and being pumped through the speakers to the crowd). I dunno, because they've proven how will they sing live in the past I'd like to hope that might actually be them totally live.  But I'm skeptical--although in this case not because of the sound quality, which we know they can often reach almost like that, but because it just wouldn't BE what the parade does usually (and it's hardly their fault in that case, because you don't say "no" to NBC/Macy's telling you that you have to do it a certain way).

 

For example, at first I was really trying to figure out if Idina Menzel (the other person we'd love to assume was live) was or not.  Clearly there's a recorded track with the other singers at the very least, but the mystery was if she was as well.  Then by around halfway through this it becomes plum obvious she's lipsyncing (and doing an oddly horrible job of it).  Again, no blame.  I recall hearing that they aren't really given a choice about this.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=18qYFlC2WeI

Or.. the poor Vamps.  Look how bad their lipsyncing is.  Likely they've never even tried it before.

 

 

American Authors probably has the record here.  At the beginning the guy's mouth isn't even open and his mike is miles away from his head when his part is singing and he only remembers what he's supposed to do halfway through.  I feel sorry for the unjustified flack they're probably already taking for this.  If anyone failed here it's whatever parade lipsyncing coaches NBC and Macy's must have (they GOTTA exist after so many years of it being done this way) who don't seem to have helped any of these people look convincing.

 

Edited November 28, 2014 by Kromm

[Kromm]

Okay, just to counter the above post a bit, apparently being part of the Macy's family isn't just forced lipsyncing for PTX.  That's what they had to do TODAY. Yesterday Macy's had them in Atlanta, Georgia on their behalf (apparently Macy's hosts a Tree Lighting there) and PTX seemed to have a huge (and clearly actually live singing) role there.

 

That said, what's the deal with all the empty seats at that Atlanta tree lighting?  I mean if it's big enough to televise, it's weird they couldn't even fill the seats.

[SrPab]

You take the good, you take the bad. You take them both and there you have...
 
If the link works for you, check out the latest (Nov. 28) FB status update from Ben Bram regarding a "glowing" review by the NYT of TCTM. Then peruse the comments. It could be considered click-bait, but the image is of the review as it appeared in the paper edition. Personally, I gave TCTM a glowing credit card review--and not just because I like "relentless shimmery treacle".

Edited November 29, 2014 by SrPab-PTV

[Kromm]

Well the review is confusing autotune with normal production mixing.  Only the uninformed/militant fans would try and claim the PTX albums don't mix their voices and do some basic cleanup, but that reviewer seems to think that's autotune.

[Sharpie66]

I can't see that page, darnit! Oh, well.

Something I just found out-- "Mary, Did You Know?" is #26 on Billboard's Hot 100 chart.

[bjork]

At what point of the parade did they show up? I watched it off the dvr on fast forward, and completely missed them.

Oh, and I saw this interviw with Scott and Mitch with an Irish website, and they mentioned that PTX had actually been dropped by their original label when they went with Madison Gate: http://entertainment.ie/music/news/Interview-Entertainmentie-speaks-to-US-a-cappella-group-Pentatonix/317164.htm

 

I was watching old videos and Scott said they were signed to Epic (the video was taken on December 9, 2011). 

 

I can't see that page, darnit! Oh, well.

Something I just found out-- "Mary, Did You Know?" is #26 on Billboard's Hot 100 chart.

NY Times link

[debbydeb]

Wow. They are pulling Taylor Swift numbers with their christmas album:

http://headlineplanet.com/home/2014/12/02/report-taylor-swifts-1989-wins-sales-race-pentatonix-sells-200k/

[Sharpie66]

That is really amazing.

FYI: The song "That's Christmas to Me" was written by Katy Lou Clark and Penny Lea Clark of the bluegrass trio Purple Hulls.

I really wish PTX would put the album credits on their website for all of us who just download from iTunes.

[Kromm]

Wow. They are pulling Taylor Swift numbers with their christmas album:

http://headlineplanet.com/home/2014/12/02/report-taylor-swifts-1989-wins-sales-race-pentatonix-sells-200k/

I wonder if its that streaming counts (1500 song streams = 1 album sale) provision helping out a ton.  I mean I know their Christmas stuff sells VERY well (because not only do the regular PTX fans buy it but also non-fans looking for new Christmas music), but this is taking them WELL into mainstream numbers.  Which is only shocking when you think about the fact that they STILL as far as I know don't get much traditional radio airplay.  So the push to buy the album is coming from in-store ads, tons of TV they're doing... and I bet repeated plays of online video and audio streams.

 

Unless someone knows... have the commercial radio stations that switch over to Holiday music in November been playing PTX? Have we been hearing them in our cars or no?

[Kromm]

==================================================================

 

Also, an interesting article:  How Pentatonix Built a Social Media Powerhouse

[bjork]

I wonder if its that streaming counts (1500 song streams = 1 album sale) provision helping out a ton.  I mean I know their Christmas stuff sells VERY well (because not only do the regular PTX fans buy it but also non-fans looking for new Christmas music), but this is taking them WELL into mainstream numbers.  Which is only shocking when you think about the fact that they STILL as far as I know don't get much traditional radio airplay.  So the push to buy the album is coming from in-store ads, tons of TV they're doing... and I bet repeated plays of online video and audio streams.

 

Unless someone knows... have the commercial radio stations that switch over to Holiday music in November been playing PTX? Have we been hearing them in our cars or no?

My oldies station switched to Holiday and I've heard them play Little Drummer Boy and Mary, Did You Know?, but I'm in Texas, so it could be a hometown favorite effect.

Also, they've announced new tour dates for February and March. They've upgraded in venue size.

[Kromm]

Also, they've announced new tour dates for February and March. They've upgraded in venue size.

It would be interesting to check the seat capacities of the venues on their last US tour and these dates.  Because I recall some pretty decent sized venues on the last one. In fact, I think I see some of the same venues (the Orpheum in Minneapolis, the Chicago Theater, and The Fox in Oakland I think maybe were all on their last tour).

 

One problem is that beyond a certain sized venue, their show may not play as well. 

[Sharpie66]

The Headline Planet article does mention that the Billboard numbers are going to be significantly different from theirs just due to their new metric.

[Sharpie66]

This Music Times article lists actual record sales figures for last week: http://www.musictimes.com/articles/18470/20141203/taylor-swift-pentatonix-eminem-rule-billboard-200-regardless-lists-unfortunate.htm

 

Pentatonix sold 217,000 albums, and the article says, "Expect sales to keep up as we get deeper into the Christmas season."

[SrPab]

From that Music Times article: "Eminem and Shady Records didn't need Thanksgiving parade exposure to push sales up. Shady XV moved 138,000 actual copies thanks in part to the additional disc of "greatest hits" from the label over the years."

 

And PTX is neither Taylor Swift nor Eminem. So for them to hang in there with the big girls and big boys is, to me, peachy with a side of keen.

Edited December 3, 2014 by SrPab-PTV

[Sharpie66]

This article has some numbers:

 

"Dominating the charts, Pentatonix's That's Christmas To Me has become the biggest holiday album of the season.  The album is currently #2 on the Billboard 200 with over 227,000 total album equivalent units and marks a chart high for the group. They are also #1 on the Digital Albums Chart as well as #1 on the Holiday Album Chart for the 6th consecutive week.  The album has sold over 405,000 albums in the US to date. That's Christmas To Me is currently #1 on Amazon's CD and Digital Best Sellers list as well as Top 3 on iTunes Main Albums Chart. On Spotify, the album is currently in the Top 10 on the Spotify top album list in the US.  Additionally, the album peaked at #1 on iTunes in over 10 countries including the US, Canada and Norway.

"Their first holiday release PTXMAS (2013) continues at #5 Billboard's Holiday Albums Chart causing for 2 albums in the Top 5 on the chart. PTXMAS also lands in the Top 10 on Amazon's CD Best Sellers List and #2 on iTunes Holiday Chart."

 

ETA: Just saw this:

 

https://www.yahoo.com/music/pentatonix-has-the-highest-charting-christmas-104256396166.html

 

Pentatonix Has the Highest-Charting Christmas Album by a Group Since 1962

 

"Pentatonix's That’s Christmas To Me jumps from #3 to #2 its sixth week on The Billboard 200.  It’s the highest-charting Christmas album by a group or duo since Mitch Miller & The Gang topped the chart with Holiday Sing Along With Mitch in January 1962. That was the sing-a-long ensemble’s second holiday album to reach #1, following Christmas Sing-Along With Mitch in 1958.

 

"By climbing to #2 this week, That’s Christmas To Me pulls ahead of Mannheim Steamroller's highest-charting Christmas album, 1995's Christmas In The Aire, which reached #3. Two albums by TV “groups” also reached #3:  Glee Cast's Glee: The Music, The Christmas Album (in 2010) and The Robertsons's Duck The Halls: A Robertson Family Christmas (last year).

 

"Seven other groups or duos have landed top 10 albums since 1955. Working backwards, they are Lady Antebellum, *NSYNC, Hanson, New Kids on the Block, the Mormon Tabernacle Choir, the Robert Shaw Chorale and Fred Waring & The Pennsylvanians. (Unfortunately, Christmas albums weren’t allowed on The Billboard 200 from 1963 to 1973, which helps explain the gap between New Kids and the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. I believe Scrooge was the Chart Director at the time.)..."

Edited December 3, 2014 by Sharpie66

[Kromm]

To be fair, it's probably a misleading statistic, because I think FAR more Christmas/Holiday product comes from solo artists than groups.  And that probably includes a lot of product where a single headliner teams up with different co-singers on each track (a fairly common thing for guys like Tony Bennett, Rod Stewart, Willie Nelson, etc.)

[takalotti]

Finally got around to watching their video for That's Christmas to Me.

Oh. My. God. That was the cutest thing I've ever seen. From the first clip of Scott, I was awwing right away and became so giddy with excitement waiting for the others, which did not disappoint.

[SrPab]

There's always YouTube: PTX performance at Rockefeller Center, 2014.

 

My local NBC affiliate only broadcast the second hour of the event...so I only got to watch them perform "Santa Claus Is Coming To Town". The above contains "Sleigh Ride" [sorry, Sharpie66] and "Santa Claus Is Coming To Town". If the first hour was broadcast on any NBC affiliate in the tri-state area, can someone chime in with what their other performance was, pleaseandthankyou.

 

ETA: Billboard validates the earlier Music Times and Yahoo articles posted upthread.

Edited December 4, 2014 by SrPab-PTV

[Kromm]

Did this get missed being posted here?  It's like 2 days old now.  It's also kind of weird!

 

So Avi is General Zod.  And Mitch is... Freddie Mercury maybe?

[Sharpie66]

Definitely a Queen homage to that video. I love it, especially since it makes something holiday-ish seem pretty dark. A nice contrast to their light and fluffy video for White Winter Hymnal, which if you listen to the lyrics, is pretty disturbing!

 

The fact that the Rockefeller thing was actually two hours long makes sense since I was worried after reading their tweet that the show was going to start at 7:00 pm (EST) that I was going to miss the first hour on tv--turns out that NBC only showed the second hour. Thanks for posting the link to the full show, SrPab-PTV! I'll watch it when I get home tonight. (Yes, even "Sleigh Ride", even though I skipped it in the car on my drive here this morning!!)

Edited December 4, 2014 by Sharpie66

[Kromm]

I love it, especially since it makes something holiday-ish seem pretty dark. 

Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy has always been kind of creepy at the very least IMO, if not dark. I think Tchaikovsky intended it to be.

I will say this.  A lot of Pentatonix song arrangements seem to be redone at school and other local community plays and stuff like that (when you search YouTube randomly for "Pentatonix" you tend to find a ton of those).  This particular arrangement of Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy as a five-part harmony (or maybe its four parts if you don't count the beatbox--how DO we describe this?  Four parts plus a beatboxer, I suppose...)?  I'll bet we see videos popping up on YouTube in the next few weeks of people doing it for their local Christmas plays and celebrations. Well.. if they can find a decent bass (which is probably harder to find than a beatboxer).

Edited December 4, 2014 by Kromm

[SrPab]

I'm sorry...but I thought the entirety of TCTM is supposed to be "relentless shimmery treacle"?

 

As far as PTX homages go, I'd rather see vids of people cooperating/collaborating and singing together (no matter how unfortunate the output) than people shooting each other to death or choke-holding to death. /just venting; don't mind me.

 

A lot of groups (whether of the slap-dash variety or not) would seem like they'd suffer without a good-to-great low end and/or rhythm section should they tackle a PTX arrangement as-is. Of course, groups that leave out bass parts or beatboxing--while still claiming to be inspired by PTX--will usually get some side-eye from me...unless they throw in some vocal distractions (for good or ill).

 

ETA: Sharpie66, the link above regarding the Rockefeller Center performance is not of the full show--just the two numbers from PTX. There may now be other YT vids of all or parts of the telecast, but the one above came from ptxnewsandstuff.

Edited December 4, 2014 by SrPab-PTV

[Sharpie66]

I was just looking at the Billboard charts, and apparently this is the first week that they've had the Holiday 100 (aka, the Singles) chart up for the season. Last year, PTX's "Little Drummer Boy" knocked Mariah Carey's "All I Want for Christmas Is You" off of the #1 spot for the first time since it debuted back in 1994, but only for one week before Mariah returned to her #1 spot. Well, this week, "Mary, Did You Know?" is #1, and Ariana Grande's "Santa Tell Me" is #2, and Mariah is #3.

 

"Mary" is at #60 on the Hot 100 chart, down from #26 last week.

[SrPab]

You made me curious enough to check out other Billboard charts, so I looked at the Artist 100: "The week's most popular artists across all genres, ranked by album and track sales as measured by Nielsen BDS, radio airplay audience impressions[!] as measured by Nielsen BDS, streaming activity data from online music sources tracked by Nielsen BDS and fan interaction on social networking sites as compiled by Next Big Sound"

 

PTX is #2 (#3 last week) on the Artist 100 chart behind you-know-who. That social media powerhouse article Kromm linked to above has to be a huge factor because I just don't think they get a lot of radio airplay--even over the Thanksgiving/Christmas season. I think their social media strategy drives streaming activity and (digital) album/track sales.

 

The little (a cappella) engine that could: PTX is punching above their weight class in terms of mindshare and buzz, and new media is a big reason why. Of course, it helps that they're good at what they do, too. ;-)

Edited December 4, 2014 by SrPab-PTV

[Sharpie66]

The Washington Post's Style blog has a decent intro to PTX article: Who are the Pentatonix and why is their Christmas album so popular? (I don't think the headline writer ever read the article itself, because the article writer never once refers to them as "The Pentatonix"!)

 

It includes a nice shout-out to The Sing-Off:

 

"Pentatonix (a quintet made up of vocalists Scott Hoying, Mitch Grassi, Avi Kaplan and Kirstie Maldonado, along with beatboxer Kevin Olusola) broke through on NBC’s criminally under-appreciated “The Sing-Off.” The show is an a cappella singing competition beloved by a niche viewership, but it rarely makes the cut for a full season pickup. For three years, “The Sing-Off” was a limited run series in December — this year, it’s simply been reduced to a two-hour special airing this month."

[Kromm]

The Washington Post's Style blog has a decent intro to PTX article: Who are the Pentatonix and why is their Christmas album so popular? (I don't think the headline writer ever read the article itself, because the article writer never once refers to them as "The Pentatonix"!)

"The Pentatonix".  That's some Diane Sawyer-like shit right there.

[debbydeb]

A trending topic on twitter was #ptxgoesgold

I didn't know what it meant until I saw that their TCTM just got gold certification for shifting 500k albums, with the potential to go platinum by the end of the christmas season.

A lot happened in a month.

[Sharpie66]

I was just wondering what the different designations were--thanks!! I knew 1 million was platinum, otherwise, nada.

[SrPab]

57th Grammy Awards - Best Arrangement, Instrumental or A Cappella: "Daft Punk" by all members of PTX, and Ben Bram. Scroll down as it's listed as #62 in the list.

 

I have no idea what their chances are to actually win it...but I'm so excited for them!

Edited December 5, 2014 by SrPab-PTV

[Sharpie66]

Woohoo!

[Kromm]

57th Grammy Awards - Best Arrangement, Instrumental or A Cappella: "Daft Punk" by all members of PTX, and Ben Bram. Scroll down as it's listed as #62 in the list.

 

I have no idea what their chances are to actually win it...but I'm so excited for them!

I imagine it depends greatly on who votes on that award--the general National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences membership, or some expert subgroup of some type.  I know that kind of thing varies between different awards and I don't recall where The Grammys falls on this, and if they distinguish between major categories and minor ones (which to be frank, this is).

 

It's my vague impression that the nominations might be what a subgroup might handle (to determine if the entry is even valid for the category at the very least) and the actual award voting maybe the full membership--and if that's the case it might be good news because they have far more mass appeal than those other nominees (and better news yet for them, the other nominees are standards, not Classical music--if they were Classical--which seem to be Category #61 instead then they'd be facing a real uphill battle because people have a bias towards assuming Classical is more worthy of reward).

 

The one caveat is I bet if they win as arrangers I doubt that they'll be able to call Pentatonix "a Grammy winner" in their press.  Because arrangers are individuals, not a sum entity--notice they are listed all by name versus categories that are about performers.

 

And yeah. not really surprised they didn't get a Best New Artist nomination.  It was a reach--the industry only sort-of suspected their potential sales power from last year this time.  And if you go by the other nominees, the benchmark seems to be based around LPs (what an antiquated concept), since pretty much all of the nominees have EPs, as PTX does, going back years.

[SrPab]

This may not be as significant as a gold record certification or Grammy nom, but...Pentatonix Tops Holiday Songs & Album Charts.

Edited December 5, 2014 by SrPab-PTV

[Sharpie66]

FYI, they will be on Entertainment Tonight tonight (Friday), with a "day in the life of PTX" piece.

ETA: Awww, Nick Lachey and the Dartmouth Aires both tweeted congrats on their Grammy nom.

ETA2: The ET piece was filmed the day that they shot the "That's Christmas to Me" video and then performed at the Roxy that night. A good promo piece for the album, including a mention of the Grammy nom in the intro.

Edited December 6, 2014 by Sharpie66

[debbydeb]

The Acappella academy website has been updated! there's now an Academy for u-18 and Retreat for 18+

How fun! I hope the academy continues to flourish.

[Kromm]

[Sharpie66]

Thanks for that video!

Headline Planet has readjusted their estimate for this week's album chart, so PTX is solidly in second with 175,000 albums sold.

http://headlineplanet.com/home/2014/12/07/taylor-swifts-1989-takes-sales-lead-pentatonix-stays-hot-2/

"Pentatonix, however, has much to celebrate. On track to repeat at #2--and with a sales total in the vicinity of 200,000--the a capella group's "That's Christmas to Me" is reigning as both the the season's biggest holiday album and one of the holiday season's biggest holiday albums, period. The group's music has long been selling respectably, but its commercial appeal has ascended to a new level in conjunction with the 2014 holiday season."

[Kromm]

They just tweeted a few minutes ago that they'll be performing at this year's Kennedy Center Honors.  Those are in tribute to other artists (I bet they're really regretting the Bill Cosby one they did a few years ago), so I wonder which artist's tribute PTX will be performing in (and what song they'll be covering).  

 

The two musicians in this year's nominees are Al Green and Sting (along with Tom Hanks, Lily Tomlin, and Ballerina Patricia McBride).   The taping actually appears to be tonight (so they must have been holding back the announcement--but it explains why they were at Tyson's Corner, a shopping mall in Northern Virginia, performing on Friday, since Mall appearances are starting to get to be small potatoes for them).  The broadcast will be December 30th (I believe it's always on CBS).

 

Ack, actually which artist and which song is driving me buggy now that I think about it.  We've actually got three artist possibilities (Al Green, a Sting solo career song, and The Police), and I'm trying to wrap my mind around acapella versions of songs by ANY of those.  Maybe "How Can You Mend A Broken Heart" (which is actually a Bee Gee's song Green covered, but it's arguably Green's most successful song).  Or maybe Sting's "Fragile" (which has a big instrumental part, but I can just see it being taken out).

Edited December 7, 2014 by Kromm

[Sharpie66]

Wow, what a year this has been for them! I was joking with a co-worker who I hooked on PTX, "Watch, they'll be playing the White House next!" Um, pretty close...

The Chicago Sun-Times reviewed 12 new Christmas albums--TCTM got the best review (tied with Seth McFarlane), 3 1/2 stars out of 4 (the rest were 3 stars or less; Home Free only got 1 1/2, ouch!): http://entertainment.suntimes.com/music/pentatonix-darius-rucker-reviews-12-new-christmas-albums-2014/

"

Edited December 8, 2014 by Sharpie66