How did a group of childhood friends go on to create an a cappella group that
became an international sensation with a cameo in "Pitch Perfect 2"?
Find out as we do a deep dive on Pentatonix!
It's easy to wonder how Pentatonix started. How did five immensely talented singers
find each other? They didn't hold open auditions like college groups,
and they weren't thrown together by Simon Cowell like One Direction or Fifth Harmony.
Pentatonix began long before they were competing on NBC.
Kirstin Maldonado, Scott Hoying,
and Mitch Grassi have known each other since childhood. Hoying told entertainment.ie,
"Three of us grew up together, so we've been best friends our whole lives."
The group met their original bass, Avi Kaplan, through a mutual friend,
but still needed a fifth member to compete on "The Sing-Off."
YouTube has served Pentatonix well throughout its career, beginning
with a video of Kevin Olusola celloboxing that went viral. The group contacted him,
and though he initially turned down the offer, he was later convinced to join. This gave the
group enough members to officially compete on "The Sing-Off." All five members met and
rehearsed just one day before their audition, and the rest was history.
Scott Hoying is no stranger to competition shows. The one who initially gathered his
friends to audition for "The Sing-Off," Hoying's first stint on reality television happened years
ago when he competed on "Star Search" in 2004. Hoying took to Twitter to reminisce over his
time on the show with fellow competitor and "American Idol" alum David Archuleta.
After his time on competition shows, Hoying skyrocketed to fame and helped the group
transition from performing covers to writing original music. He told Cincinnati Magazine,
"Finally, we were like, 'Wait, this is the moment.' We've won a Grammy, we've had a platinum,
we've done a hundred covers. Now it's time to become a true artist and write our own music,"
Throughout the group's career,
fans have designated Hoying as the unofficial lead singer. Regardless,
he gives his group members the credit they deserve for their talent and efforts. In his own words,
"What's so awesome about Pentatonix is that every single member contributes to every song,
so Pentatonix becomes the star instead of the lead singer."
Music has always been a big part of Kirstin Maldonado's life.
The soprano for Pentatonix, Maldonado began voice lessons and community theatre
when she was eight years old. She went on to major in Musical Theatre
Performance at the University of Oklahoma with hopes of one day starring on Broadway.
Maldonado's childhood friend Scott Hoying asked her to join his a cappella group to
audition for "The Sing-Off," which she obviously accepted. The singer has since
released music as a solo artist, along with the work she does for Pentatonix.
Maldonado's childhood dream came true, too. In 2018,
she made her Broadway debut as Lauren in "Kinky Boots." She told Playbill,
"I've dreamed of being on Broadway since I was a little girl,
so it's really exciting to fulfill my two dreams."
"I am just so excited to be
in the show, on Broadway! I just — it's something I always wanted to do."
Music isn't Mitch Grassi's only passion. He's also got an affinity for fashion,
which he discovered through the internet. He told The Cut,
"The internet was my gateway into the world. It was my way of finding culture."
In the same interview, he shared his love for one fashion house in particular – Balenciaga — and
he ended it by stating his desire to collaborate with a designer one day.
Following this interview, Grassi was given the opportunity to work with Balenciaga by having
his voice featured in a Twitter campaign. When speaking of his two passions, he said,
"I always have the fashion in mind when I am writing the music,
because to me they go hand-in-hand."
Pentatonix began with Avi Kaplan as their bass. But in 2017, Kaplan announced his departure,
citing difficulty keeping up with the fast pace of the group as his reason for leaving.
The split was amicable, though. In a video, he stated,
"All the things that we've accomplished, all the music that we've made, and the people that we've
touched with that music, it far surpasses anything I could have dreamed for my life."
Kaplan continued making music when he left. The singer released an album in 2020,
which touched on the struggles he faced when he left the group. He told Billboard,
"I had just left a very successful career, and in general I had a lot
of hurt and a lot of healing to do, so that's where a lot of it came from."
After Avi Kaplan departed, Pentatonix searched for a fifth member to round out their arrangements.
The bass who joined them is Matt Sallee, a former member of a Berklee College of Music
a cappella group called Pitch Slapped. Sallee first joined Pentatonix for the 2017 holiday
season and eventually became a permanent member. He expressed his excitement on Instagram, saying,
"I'm so blessed and humbled to work with a group of people I
have looked up to for such a long time. Dreams do come true people!"
The group was just as honored to have Sallee join. In an interview with Popsugar, Scott Hoying said,
"We haven't even needed to give him that much advice because he was just
born to do this ... I feel like we really hit the jackpot with him."
When he's not performing with Pentatonix,
Sallee is performing with his praise and worship group, Expression 58.
In addition to his stellar beatboxing skills, Kevin Olusola is an accomplished
classical musician. He has won international prizes, been featured in elite publications,
and covered popular songs on his cello for a number one album.
In a conversation about his unique work on the cello, he told Yamaha,
"I think this is the beginning of a different sound I'm trying to popularize."
While attending Yale University, he was a member of the Yale Symphony Orchestra,
where he developed his celloboxing. He also credits his time at Yale as
a period where he was able to grow as an artist and a person.
"Yale was an opportunity for me to just explore."
In a Yale Symphony Orchestra interview, he said,
"I'm thankful for the roots that I have to Yale in terms of just being really open minded about the
way you can do things, because I think had I not had that, and thought there was only
one way of doing things, then I think I would have never sought these other opportunities."
Everyone in Pentatonix fully supports the other members in their endeavors outside the
group. From Broadway performances to praise and worship groups, the Pentatonix members remain
busy when they're not singing a cappella. Scott Hoying told Paper,
"We've always had a rule. Since everyone has their own solo project, even from the very beginning,
our rule has been that everyone can do whatever they want but, Pentatonix always comes first."
For Hoying and fellow member Mitch Grassi, doing what they want takes form as a group
called Superfruit. The two friends began filming videos for YouTube showcasing
their relationship and noticed their singing was performing better than any
other content they were creating. From that observation, Superfruit was born.
The two are not only longtime friends and band members — they were a couple
for a short time. And though they're not romantically involved anymore,
they maintain a very close friendship. Grassi told Billboard,
"It's just nonstop words and catchphrases and inside jokes
one after another and we're constantly laughing."
Less than a year after Pentatonix won "The Sing-Off," the movie "Pitch Perfect" hit theaters,
giving audiences a satirical look inside the world of college a cappella singing. As Pentatonix rose
to international fame, they became an obvious choice for a cameo in "Pitch Perfect 2."
Following a Twitter campaign and a pitch from "The Sing-Off" arranger Deke Sharon,
the "Pitch Perfect 2" producers gave the group a spot in the film.
They appeared as a group competing against The Barden Bellas.
Pentatonix was thrilled to join the movie, telling Entertainment Weekly they were happy
to sing something stylistically similar to their arrangements on "The Sing-Off."
When discussing the performance, which the group kept under wraps, Mitch Grassi said,
"It was kind of fun to go back where we started and do it up a bit cheesier than usual."
If you couldn't tell from their resumes and non-singing projects,
the Pentatonix members are artists in the truest sense of the word.
They've helped make a cappella mainstream, arranged dozens of covers, written their own
music, and have even taken foreign language lessons to perfect their song performances.
To cover the track "Papaoutai," Pentatonix sought the expertise of a French teacher to help them
better understand the language and improve their singing. The group detailed the struggles they
faced during their lessons to Entertainment Weekly, noting the language's difficulty.
Their artistic endeavors have undoubtedly made them better musicians,
but these opportunities have also helped them grow as people,
and as friends. When discussing the band's relationship, Kevin Olusola said,
"Now that we understand each other so well,
we understand how to make things work because we know each person's dynamic and character."
If your only frame of reference for a cappella life post-college is The Tonehangers performing
"Booty Wurk" in "Pitch Perfect," it's easy to wonder how anyone can make a living performing
music without instruments. The members of Pentatonix have proven that it's not
only possible to make a living, but you can become a multimillionaire doing it.
According to Celebrity Net Worth, the group collectively has an estimated net
worth of $40 million, with the four remaining original members boasting $8 million each.
It's not reported how the $40 million is divided among the singers, but they've supposedly earned
it through their album sales, national and international tours, YouTube engagement,
and televised Christmas specials, among other money-making opportunities. As individuals,
the group members are likely earning more through their aforementioned
side gigs. After being dropped from their record label, the group got the last laugh.
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