From 3-time Grammy Award-winning vocal group, Pentatonix – a bouncy, popping “Deck The Halls” from their holiday album, Christmas. Continue reading “Christmas Music: Pentatonix ‘Deck The Halls’”
Christmas Music: Pentatonix ‘Deck The Halls’
Christmas Music: Pentatonix “God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen”
I love this almost-military take on the classic Christmas tune, “God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen,” from Grammy Award winners Pentatonix – A Pentatonix Christmas.
News Round-Up: October 25, 2019
Brett Miles & Alex Abramov
• KIT212: Kenneth’s weekly gay rag roundup finds the gays gearing up for Halloween • Variety: Colin Firth and Stanley Tucci will play a gay couple on a road trip in Supernova, a romantic, modern love story that “follows two people who are bound together by their love for each other but being pushed apart by the situation they find themselves in.” • New Music: 3-time Grammy Award-winning vocal group Pentatonix drops this lovely cover of the Beach Boys’ “God Only Knows” from their new Best of Pentatonix Christmas album. While a Beach Boys song may not immediately ring Christmas bells in your head, ever since the tune was used in the closing credits of the uber-romantic Love Actually (2003), folks consider it a holiday-appropriate tune. I find the new version refreshing & sweet. Hit play below.
Pentatonix Covers “Waving Through A Window” From DEAR EVAN HANSEN
Grammy Award winning vocal group Pentatonix serves up their take on “Waving Through a Window” from the hit Broadway musical Dear Evan Hansen.
The multi-platinum selling group has dipped its toes in the Broadway catalogue a few times.
Band member Kirsten Maldonado joined the Broadway cast of Kinky Boots last year alongside Scissor Sister frontman Jake Shears. The fab five also recorded a track for the concept album of Finding Neverland, and they also dropped by the Wicked 15th anniversary special on NBC.
The song has been covered by several pop stars since Dear Evan Hansen’s debut, including Katy Perry and Rachel Tucker.
Christmas Music: Pentatonix “O Come All Ye Faithful”
From the awesome holiday CD – A Pentatonix Christmas.
If you don’t like this, you may be dead.
Love, love, love this.
New Music: Kirstin “Bad Weather”
Loving the new music video, “Bad Weather,” from Kirstin Maldonado’s debut EP, L•O•V•E.
Going by the moniker ‘kirstin’ on this solo venture, the singer/songwriter thinks of the track as “the anthem for everyone.”
“I always see people being really shitty on social media and just hate on each other whether it’s because of who they love or who they identify as or people being just so dumb or mean or hateful for no reason,” Maldonado recently told HuffPost.
Speaking as a Mexican-American LGBT ally whose Pentatonix band mates are queer pop artists Mitch Grassi and Scott Hoying, she adds, “It’s important to accept yourself and believe in who you are and not let all that hateful talk bring you down and ruin how special each person is.”
The video pairs cyber-bullying and messages of hate (“faggot,” “slut,” “why don’t you die”) against a backdrop of stormy, turbulent weather.
Maldonado says the song is a meditation on her own life experiences and perspective gained from watching how others treat her friends.
And speaking of friends, yes, she is still a member of 3-time Grammy Award winning group Pentatonix. Like Hoying and Grassi, who have their own side gig as SuperfruitAnd speaking of friends, yes, she is still a member of 3-time Grammy Award winning group Pentatonix. Like Hoying and Grassi, who have their own side gig as Superfruit, kirstin says her musical tastes are broader than the a cappella/pop sounds of Pentatonix.
“I love being able to fulfill such a huge and special part of myself with Pentatonix,” she says, “But there is still so much more to me that, honestly, people don’t get to see because we’re in a group.”
We see you, kirstin, and we definitely like what we see.
kirstin’s R&B/pop debut EP L•O•V•E is available at all digital download outlets.
Watch “Bad Weather” below.
Pentatonix Covers Robyn’s “Dancing On My Own”
Pentatonix‘ latest musical gem is this cover of Robyn’s “Dancing On My Own.”
Feels like the song holds a personal meaning for the quartet as this is the first music released by Pentatonix since member Avi Kaplan announced his decision to “step back” from the group.
New Music: Kirstin “Break A Little” (Acoustic)
Kirstin Maldonado of triple Grammy Award-winning a cappella group Pentatonix shares this lovely acoustic version of her current single, “Break A Little,” from her debut solo EP L O V E, now available on iTunes.
Maldonado goes by the single name Kirstin for her solo projects, and she also departs a bit from the sound of her hit singing group. Whereas Pentatonix creates in a millennial-inspired a cappella space, Kirstin’s solo sound embraces a decidedly electronic-pop mode.
That said, while I really enjoy her EDM-pop inspired version of “Break A Little,” (recently performed live on The Today Show) I was struck by the open, breezy acoustic version here.
The acoustic music video was shot at the Shadowland Foundation – a non-profit organization dedicated to educating children of all ages about wolves and their contribution to the environment.
Kirstin, a native of Fort Worth, Texas, (my hometown, by the way) began singing at just 8 years old, and hit the big time when she teamed up with her fellow Pentatonix members to compete to great acclaim on the 2011 season of The Sing-Off.
It was just last year she began spinning off to solo side-gigs which has now culminated in the release of L O V E.
The official music video can be found here.
Out Music: Superfruit “Imaginary Parties”
Superfruit—a side gig for Pentatonix stars Mitch Grassi and Scott Hoying—have released the first part of their new EP, Future Friends.
Speaking to OUT, Grassi explained Superfruit’s electro-funk departure from Pentatonix thusly: “Superfruit is a little more raunchy. It’s a little less G-Rated. With Superfruit, it’s a little more gay-friendly and a lot more open, more sexual, more liberated.”
Check the track’s music video below, produced in color washed environments that perfectly complement the song’s pop-y electronic production.
Go to imaginary parties in our make believe Ferrari
Baby let’s get fresh I know we know how
Music Video: Pentatonix “Bohemian Rhapsody”
Well, of course, Grammy Award winning acapella group Pentatonix would finally get around to recording their own awesome version of “Bohemian Rhapsody.”
And, of course, it’s just what you want it to be.
Perfect button for this freaky Friday at the end of a crazy week.
Bounce, bobble and bliss out with the Pents below.
