The Sing-Off: Season 3

Is it just me, or is anyone else excited about this? I watch a lot of the "reality competition" type shows because I'm kind of a sucker for them, but I realize that most of them are pretty crappy. This one, though, is great, and I'm pretty thrilled that they've expanded it and given it an actual full season instead of being a short holiday fill-in. I've been going back and listening to songs from last season, and they really are fantastic, especially the big group numbers (you really do forget that they're not using instruments). The judging panel is excellent too. They all have credibility and know what they're talking about (especially now that they've replaced the most useless member of the panel, Nicole Scherzinger, with Sara Bareilles), and would actually point out things that I, the uneducated viewer, wouldn't notice. It's kind of great.

 

If you haven't caught the previous seasons, this is what you missed out on:

 

 

 

Haha, you guys covered my other favorites from last year. That performance of Landslide...so killer. I could listen to that girl sing forever.

 

I was a little disappointed with the season opener. The group performance felt a lot more disjointed than any of last years', and I thought there was only one really stand-out group.

 

The star group was Delilah. They absolutely killed it. Really strong lead vocal, and they didn't suffer at all from being all-female (though we'll see if that rears its head later in the season).

 

 

Nobody else really stood out to me. I liked the Yellowjackets, and I think they showed several potential strong leads. I liked the vibe of Afro-Blue, but wasn't a fan of their lead. Urban Method and their "rap-apella" need to go away as quickly as possible.

 

I'll give Bareilles a break because it was her first show, but she was pretty useless as a judge.

I love how that short snippet from Committed made it abundantly clear that nobody on the show this year is on their level (at least not that we've seen so far).

 

I'm a little disappointed that Messiah's Men went home. Their performance wasn't great overall, but man, when they hit those really deep, low notes...so good.

That's a shame, cause I'm really digging them. I thought "Whataya Want From Me" was fantastic. Love the way it slowly built from one person to the whole group.

 

I agree about the opening number, definitely the best one so far this year. Felt a lot more cohesive than the last 2. The first one I've felt was up to par with last year.

 

I was really surprised to find myself digging Urban Method this week, since I aggressively disliked them last week. I think the rapping just puts me off. I loved "Just Can't Get Enough" up to the point where the rap came in, it just holds no appeal. Now, I'm not a huge fan of rap, so I can't tell if the problem is my preference or if he's just not a very good rapper, but I kind of lean to the latter. "Dance To The Music" was tons of fun though. If they would just cut out the rapping (and I know they won't), I could really get behind them.

 

Vocal Point reminds me of On The Rocks from last year, they're much smaller, but they have that same willingness to be goofy. They're just a lot of fun to watch.

 

Sad to see Kinfolk 9 leave after that great performance of "Let It Be".

 

Can we talk about how phenomenal Pentatonix are, because they are SO good. I said at the beginning that I didn't see a truly great group this year, but I rescind that now. They've got easily the best bass & rhythm section of any group I've seen on the show. They do arrangements that I've never really heard before, and their breakdowns are just sick.

 

 

Their Britney Spears medley tonight was really, really good, much better than a medley of Britney Spears songs has any right to be. I think they're definitely the favorite right now.

Pentatonix on "Dog Days Are Over"...So good. I would absolutely buy their album or go to their show. Amazing.

I actually agree on Urban Method, they really did a good job tonight. Honestly, I think the problem is just that Mike really isn't a good rapper. I think he gets a pass because it's a novelty, but he just doesn't seem to have great flow. It never feels natural and smooth with him like it does with really good rappers.

Loved the Queen reprise from the Aires, with Michael holding that note so long that the other guys were like "um...what do we do?"