- 5 weeks ago
What You Don't Know About Pentatonix
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00:00How did a group of childhood friends go on to create an acapella group that became an
00:04international sensation with a cameo in Pitch Perfect 2? Find out as we do a deep dive on
00:10Pentatonix.
00:12It's easy to wonder how Pentatonix started. How did five immensely talented singers find
00:17each other? They didn't hold open auditions like college groups, and they weren't thrown
00:21together by Simon Cowell like One Direction or Fifth Harmony. Pentatonix began long before
00:26they were competing on NBC. Kirsten Maldonado, Scott Hoying, and Mitch Grossi have known each
00:32other since childhood. Hoying told Entertainment.ie,
00:35Three of us grew up together, so we've been best friends our whole lives.
00:38The group met their original bass, Avi Kaplan, through a mutual friend,
00:42but still needed a fifth member to compete on the sing-off.
00:45YouTube has served Pentatonix well throughout its career, beginning with a video of Kevin
00:50Olushala cello boxing that went viral. The group contacted him, and though he initially turned
00:55down the offer, he was later convinced to join. This gave the group enough members to officially
01:00compete on the sing-off. All five members met and rehearsed just one day before their audition,
01:04and the rest was history.
01:07Scott Hoying is no stranger to competition shows. The one who initially gathered his
01:11friends to audition for the sing-off, Hoying's first stint on reality television happened years
01:16ago when he competed on Star Search in 2004. Hoying took to Twitter to reminisce over his time on the
01:21show with fellow competitor and American Idol alum David Artuleta. After his time on competition
01:26shows, Hoying skyrocketed to fame and helped the group transition from performing covers to writing
01:31original music. He told Cincinnati Magazine,
01:34"'Finally, we were like, wait, this is the moment. We've won a Grammy, we've had a platinum,
01:38we've done a hundred covers. Now it's time to become a true artist and write our own music.'"
01:43Throughout the group's career, fans have designated Hoying as the unofficial lead singer. Regardless,
01:48he gives his group members the credit they deserve for their talent and efforts. In his own words,
01:52"'What's so awesome about Pentatonix is that every single member contributes to every song,
01:56so Pentatonix becomes the star instead of the lead singer.'"
02:01Music has always been a big part of Kirsten Maldonado's life. The soprano for Pentatonix,
02:05Maldonado began voice lessons and community theater when she was eight years old. She went on to major in
02:10musical theater performance at the University of Oklahoma with hopes of one day starring on Broadway.
02:15Maldonado's childhood friend Scott Hoying asked her to join his acapella group to audition for the
02:20sing-off, which she obviously accepted. The singer has since released music as a solo artist,
02:25along with the work she does for Pentatonix. Maldonado's childhood dream came true, too.
02:30In 2018, she made her Broadway debut as Lauren in Kinky Boots. She told Playbill,
02:35"'I've dreamed of being on Broadway since I was a little girl,
02:37so it's really exciting to fulfill my two dreams.'"
02:40"'I'm just so excited to be in the show on Broadway. It's something I always wanted to do.'"
02:46Music isn't Mitch Grassi's only passion. He's also got an affinity for fashion,
02:51which he discovered through the internet. He told The Cut,
02:53"'The internet was my gateway into the world. It was my way of finding culture.'"
02:57In the same interview, he shared his love for one fashion house in particular,
03:01Balenciaga, and he ended it by stating his desire to collaborate with a designer one day.
03:06Following this interview, Grassi was given the opportunity to work with Balenciaga by having his
03:10voice featured in a Twitter campaign. When speaking of his two passions, he said,
03:14"'I always have the fashion in mind when I'm writing the music, because to me they go hand in hand.'"
03:20Pentatonix began with Avi Kaplan as their base, but in 2017, Kaplan announced his departure,
03:26citing difficulty keeping up with the fast pace of the group as his reason for leaving. The split
03:30was amicable, though. In a video, he stated,
03:33"'All the things that we've accomplished, all the music that we've made, and the people that
03:36we've touched with that music — it far surpasses anything I could have dreamed for my life.'"
03:41Kaplan continued making music when he left. The singer released an album in 2020,
03:45which touched on the struggles he faced when he left the group. He told Billboard,
03:49"'I had just left a very successful career, and in general I had a lot of hurt and a lot of
03:54healing to do, so that's where a lot of it came from.'"
03:57After Avi Kaplan departed, Pentatonix searched for a fifth member to round out their arrangements.
04:02The bass who joined them is Matt Salee, a former member of a Berklee College of Music
04:07acapella group called Pitch Slapped. Salee first joined Pentatonix for the 2017 holiday season and
04:13eventually became a permanent member. He expressed his excitement on Instagram, saying,
04:17"'I'm so blessed and humbled to work with a group of people I have looked up to for such a long time.
04:22Dreams do come true, people.'"
04:24The group was just as honored to have Salee join. In an interview with PopSugar, Scott Hoying said,
04:29"'We haven't even needed to give him that much advice because he was just born to do this. I
04:33feel like we really hit the jackpot with him.'"
04:35When he's not performing with Pentatonix, Salee is performing with his praise and worship group,
04:39Expression 58.
04:41In addition to his stellar beatboxing skills, Kevin Olushala is an accomplished classical musician.
04:47He has won international prizes, been featured in elite publications,
04:51and covered popular songs on his cello for a number one album. In a conversation about his
04:55unique work on the cello, he told Yamaha,
04:58"'I think this is the beginning of a different sound I'm trying to popularize.'"
05:01While attending Yale University, he was a member of the Yale Symphony Orchestra,
05:05where he developed his cello boxing. He also credits his time at Yale as a
05:08period where he was able to grow as an artist — and a person.
05:12"'Yale was an opportunity for me to just explore.'"
05:16In a Yale Symphony Orchestra interview, he said,
05:18"'I'm thankful for the roots that I have to Yale in terms of just being really open-minded
05:22about the way you can do things, because I think had I not had that and thought there was only one
05:27way of doing things, then I think I would have never sought these other opportunities.'"
05:32Everyone in Pentatonix fully supports the other members in their endeavors outside the group.
05:36From Broadway performances to praise and worship groups, the Pentatonix members remain
05:41busy when they're not singing a cappella. Scott Hoying told Paper,
05:44"'We've always had a rule. Since everyone has their own solo project,
05:48even from the very beginning, our rule has been that everyone can do whatever they want,
05:52but Pentatonix always comes first.'" For Hoying and fellow member Mitch Grassi,
05:56doing what they want takes form as a group called Superfruit. The two friends began filming videos
06:01for YouTube showcasing their relationship and noticed their singing was performing better
06:05than any other content they were creating. From that observation, Superfruit was born.
06:10The two are not only longtime friends and band members — they were a couple for a short time.
06:14And though they're not romantically involved anymore, they maintain a very close friendship.
06:18Grassi told Billboard,
06:20"'It's just nonstop words and catchphrases and inside jokes one after another and we're constantly
06:25laughing.'"
06:26Less than a year after Pentatonix won the sing-off, the movie Pitch Perfect hit theaters,
06:30giving audiences a satirical look inside the world of college a cappella singing. As Pentatonix
06:35rose to international fame, they became an obvious choice for a cameo in Pitch Perfect 2.
06:40Following a Twitter campaign and a pitch from the sing-off arranger Deke Sharon,
06:45the Pitch Perfect 2 producers gave the group a spot in the film. They appeared as a group competing
06:49against the Bard and Bellas. Pentatonix was thrilled to join the movie, telling Entertainment
06:54Weekly they were happy to sing something stylistically similar to their arrangements
06:58on the sing-off. When discussing the performance, which the group kept under wraps, Mitch Grassi said,
07:02"'It was kind of fun to go back where we started and do it up a bit cheesier than usual.'"
07:07If you couldn't tell from their resumes and non-singing projects, the Pentatonix members
07:12are artists in the truest sense of the word. They've helped make a cappella mainstream,
07:17arranged dozens of covers, written their own music, and have even taken foreign language lessons
07:22to perfect their song performances. To cover the track Papa Ute, Pentatonix sought the expertise of
07:28a French teacher to help them better understand the language and improve their singing. The group
07:32detailed the struggles they faced during their lessons to Entertainment Weekly, noting the language's
07:36difficulty. Their artistic endeavors have undoubtedly made them better musicians,
07:40but these opportunities have also helped them grow as people — and as friends.
07:44When discussing the band's relationship, Kevin Alushala said,
07:47"'Now that we understand each other so well, we understand how to make things work,
07:51because we know each person's dynamic and character.'"
07:54If your only frame of reference for a cappella life post-college is the tone hangers performing
07:59booty work in Pitch Perfect, it's easy to wonder how anyone can make a living performing music
08:04without instruments. The members of Pentatonix have proven that it's not only possible to make a
08:08living, but you can become a multimillionaire doing it. According to Celebrity Net Worth,
08:13the group collectively has an estimated net worth of $40 million, with the four remaining original
08:18members boasting $8 million each. It's not reported how the $40 million is divided among the singers,
08:24but they've supposedly earned it through their album sales, national and international tours,
08:28YouTube engagement, and televised Christmas specials, among other money-making opportunities.
08:33As individuals, the group members are likely earning more through their aforementioned
08:38side gigs. After being dropped from their record label, the group got the last laugh.
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