At the end of last year, Pentatonix seemed to have succeeded in doing the best cross over ever seen in music. Not just because, technically, there was no music, but the cross over from being an a capella cover group to an an original a capella group had hardly been done before and for PTX, it was a definite success.
Their album competed with Demi Lovato's album for the top spot on Billboard's album chart - which PTX won – and, around the same time, PTX got recognized for their songwriting as well by inking a publishing deal. 2016 couldn't have looked more promising, before it had even started. But holding on to the success with their own original songs has proven to be a little more difficult than initially thought. After "Can't Sleep Love", the group's been releasing cover songs again. Was the world not ready for the switch after all? Well, Forbes actually mentioned in an article that PTX is having a hard time getting radio airplay, which seems to be the last missing piece of the puzzle. They hope their new single will change all that by teaming up with a singer, who’s known to blast out of your radio speakers. In the meantime, on YouTube, they are still attracting millions of views. The latest PTX YouTube upload is their duet with Jason Derulo, who decided to get dressed for the occasion (he stripped bare in his last video). The song is a cover of an a capella song, "If I ever fall in love", originally by R&B group Shai.
PTX and Jason added some high notes and beat boxing to the track, as well as more layers of vocals, because Shai were a four member group. The PTX version is still compelling to listen to, but the vocal stacking, thick sound does make it lose some of its original simplistic charm.
It is the thing that makes PTX stand out from other a capella acts. They always add original touches to their vocal arrangements, making any song their own. For many artists now, it's considered a compliment when PTX covers you. Preceding Shai was Meghan Trainor (PTX covered “No”), who has been quoted to say she had “chills all over”, when she heard it. That would be the usual effect that PTX has me too.
I saw them live in concert last year and had no idea what to expect from a concert without instruments. It was amazing though (read my review). I could hardly believe it, when they mentioned a record company had actually dropped them after The Sing Off. That company clearly had no idea there’s something about PTX that is so captivating, they are able to take a capella to places never seen before.
