Home Free started in Mankato, Minnesota back in 2000 as just a hobby for the five band members. The group struggled to find a permanent lead tenor until they met Austin Brown who worked on a cruise ship as a featured singer. Home Free and Austin met and he told the group that if there ever was a spot open in their band he would be interested in taking it. When their lead tenor moved away, they called Brown and he became their lead tenor. They entered the Sing-off and competed against many talented groups but they took the gold. Before performing their last song on the show, they got to meet season three’s winner, Pentatonix, who gave them a couple of tips on how to steal the show. “You just have to feel it,” says Scott Hoying, one of three lead singers in the group, “Don’t think about anything other than what it feels like to be out on that stage living your dream.” Pentatonix lived out their dream on the same stage on Season three of The Sing-Off and ended up revolutionizing the way the world sees acapella music.

Pentatonix started with Kristie Maldonado, Scott Hoying, and Mitch Grassi when they were still in high school. The trio entered a contest hosted by Glee and even though they didn’t win, their video gained popularity on YouTube and eventually was noticed by Avi Kaplan, who was well known in the acapella community. Kaplan then proceeded to join the vocal band as the lead base. Kevin Olusola was contacted after the group found him on YouTube through a mutual friend “celloboxing” which is the art of beatboxing and playing the cello at the same time. Pentatonix got their name from the pentatonic scale which consists of five notes per octave. Hoying says it symbolizes their group. Week after week on the Sing-off, Pentatonix never failed to amaze the judges and wow the crowd. They were the youngest and the smallest group on the show in Season three but it didn’t stop them from taking the glory and the fame. Although the group is done with the Sing-off, they are just on their way to rising fame. With hundreds of millions of views on YouTube, sold out concerts in the United States and the UK, and their most recent album, Pentatonix Volume. 2, on the top ten on the Billboard, Pentatonix has changed the way everyone thinks about acapella music.

So here’s the real question: how do you sing contemporary a cappella with a group?  Well instead of leaning on drums or the guitar or the piano, an acapella artist has to lean on their other group members and rely on themselves to keep pitch and harmonize with the group. An acapella group must also know basic music theory, know how to sing with a click, and, most importantly, enjoy singing and hanging out with the group not just as artists but as friends. Friendship is an important part of a cappella music. Think of it this way: If someone is playing on a football team where everyone hates each other, the team isn’t going to perform very well because the team will bring those messy feelings onto the field, therefore hindering their ability to play to their fullest potential. If the team starts to bond and know each other better, they will perform better on game day. Same goes with acapella. Both Home Free and Pentatonix are friends on and off the stage. Mitch Grassi and Scott Hoying host a YouTube channel together and the group as a whole goes on vacations together to bond and work on music. People at home watching them perform through the TV screen can’t deny the compassion between the group when they are harmonizing together.

Acapella is the future of music. With shows like the Sing-off popping out hot new groups like Pentatonix and Home Free and Hollywood producing blockbusters like Pitch Perfect, it’s no wonder that acapella is on the rise. It’s hip, it’s fun, and, as the Bella Barden’s would say, aca-awesome.