The Sing-Off China – Competition Episode 05

Bracket A and bracket B finally meet! Welcome to The Sing-Off China, episode 5.

For the opening number, the top 8 groups bring us 庾澄庆 Harlem Yu’s 《快乐颂》 (Kuai Le Song / Happy Song), arranged by 彭祖容 Jo Jo Pang. The song, as you can guess, is about being happy.  It’s not my favorite song in the world, but it sounds fine as an opening group number.

Once again, our host is 赵屹鸥 (Zhao Yi Ou), and our judges are:

• 韦唯 (Wei Wei) – The female judge. Well-known Chinese diva.
• 谷峰 (Gu Feng) – Judge on the very left. Known for his jazz and vocal imitations of instruments
• 黄伟文 (Huang Wei Wen, English name: Wyman Wong) – The bald judge in the blue shirt. Well-known Cantonese pop lyricist.
• 赖家庆 (Lai Jia Qing) – Judge on the very right. Professor of Music. He’s subbing in for Tan Yi Zhe tonight.

In addition to the four main judges, the show has also brought in a panel of 7 special judges. They’ve all had experience judging other Chinese reality singing competitions (such as Super Girl and Super Boy), and they are:

• 春晓 (Chun Xiao) – TV host.
• 伍洲彤 (Wu Zhou Tong) – Radio DJ.
• 朱桦(Zhu Hua) – Talented mainland singer.
• 高晓松 (Gao Xiao Song) – Songwriter and music producer.
• 丁薇 (Ding Wei) – Mainland singer-songwriter.
• 黑楠 (Hei Nan) – Music producer.
• 影子 (Ying Zi / SHADOW) – Classically trained singer.

Also sitting in the audience is a group of editors from various newspapers and blogs. These people will vote alongside the judges later on in the competition to decide on the elimination.

This episode’s format is very different from what we’ve seen thus far. In the first round, it will be bracket A directly against bracket B. Each group in bracket A will “duel” with a group in bracket B. The winner of the duel will earn a point for their team/bracket. At the end of the round, the bracket with the higher number of points will advance. [I’m not a huge fan of this format. Yes, it’s more exciting to have the two brackets compete as teams, but at the same time, a weaker group can take advantage of the format and advance due to being in the winning bracket.]

As a reminder, the groups in bracket A are: MICappella, New Sounds Have Arrived, Hey Boy, and Strong Voice. The groups in bracket B are: Voices Out of Control, Sirens, Freeman, and Dreamers.

The groups will each hold up the name of the group they want to compete with. If two groups mutually choose each another, then the match is set.

The pairs are:

• Pair 1: 新声驾到 (Xin Sheng Jia Dao / New Sounds Have Arrived) vs. 梦想家 (Meng Xiang Jia / Dreamers)
• Pair 2: Hey Boy vs. 人声失控 (Ren Sheng Shi Kong / Voices Out of Control)
• Pair 3: 壮声 (Zhuang Sheng / Strong Voice) vs. 自由人 (Zi You Ren / Freeman)
• Pair 4: 麦克疯 (Mai Ke Feng / MICappella) vs. 蓝色警报 (Lan Se Jing Bao / Sirens Vocal Band)

[I think these are actually very good matches. Though if I were New Sounds, I probably would have picked Voices Out of Control, rather than Dreamers.]

First round of performances:

1) 梦想家 (Meng Xiang Jia / Dreamers)

• Intro package – Group leader is talking about how people often ask him, “What’s the point of being a good singer?” He concludes that singing well isn’t as good as having good looks. Having good looks isn’t as good as having a tragic backstory, and having a tragic backstory isn’t as good as having connections. One of the girls talks about how she comes from a family of musicians and how they didn’t want her to become one as well. She also talks about losing hair thanks to the stress of songwriting. Everyone is basically talking about the difference between the ideal and reality when it comes to music.
• Performance – 杭天琪 Hang Tian Qi’s 《黄土高坡》 (Huang Tu Gao Po / Loess Plateau). It’s about living on the Loess Plateau.
• My thoughts – Wow. What a cool arrangement! Really really fantastic stuff going on. One thing I didn’t really like was the soloist’s phrasing at times. He was too staccato in the first verse. I understand it was a stylistic choice, but I thought he clipped the words a little too short. The other thing is I thought the ending was a little abrupt. I wasn’t expecting it to end so early. I didn’t even realize that was the end at first; I thought maybe it was another fake out.
• Judges’ comments – Wei Wei: You surprised us yet again today. You brought together two different styles and made it sound very harmonically diverse. The chord change at the ending was particularly good. Wyman: Of all the times I’ve heard you sing, today was the most touching. Wu Zhou Tong: Most people think a cappella is just a way of performing, but listening to you took me to a different place. Gao Xiao Song: You said you lose hair over songwriting. Well, you lose hair regardless. Wyman writes lyrics, and all his hair is gone.
• Post-performance comments – The girl takes a moment to address her musician parents via camera. She says that her parents used to say she was a bad singer, but now she’s standing on the stage because of her singing. She says she will continue to work hard and asks them to support her.

2)  新声驾到 (Xin Sheng Jia Dao / New Sounds Have Arrived)

• Intro package – One of the guys is talking about his rebellious childhood and how he didn’t like to study. That changed when he started studying music.
• Performance – Justin Bieber’s “Baby” (with Britney Spears’ “…Baby One More Time” as the intro)
• My thoughts – The intro was a nice touch, especially since they sang Pentatonix’s Britney Spears medley a while back. The performance was decent, but there were definitely intonation issues. This song choice was fine, and the arrangement had some nice moments. Problem is… it wasn’t anything special, especially when compared to Dreamers’ performance. It’s something that would suit the earlier episodes but probably not a top 8 kind of performance.
• Judges’ comments – Wei Wei: You distracted me with the flowers. I don’t know what to say now. SHADOW: Since I didn’t get flowers, you can probably imagine what my critique is. I used to be in a choir, and it can be a very happy feeling when you all harmonize together. You may have been too happy, and that may have affected your performance. Gao Xiao Song: What grade are you? [College freshmen.] Well, if you’re still at this level by the time you’re sophomores, then that’s not good. Work on the intonation before giving flowers.
• Post-performance comments – The host asked the guy how long it’s been since he’s seen his mother. He says it’s been half a year. The host tells him his parents are in the audience, and they all get really emotional.

Judges’ Decision: Chun Xiao, Wu Zhou Tong, and SHADOW vote for New Sounds. Everyone else votes for Dreamers. Dreamers win 8-3.

Bracket A: 0. Bracket B: 1.

3) Hey Boy

• Intro package – The group leader, Luo Wu, is from rural China. He sometimes has financial issues, but his pride won’t let him accept charity money from others. His father watched an episode of The Sing-Off and is extremely proud of him. They will do their best to show their music to the rest of the country.
• Performance – 《康定情歌》 (Kang Ding Qing Ge / A love song of Kangding). This is a folk song about Kangdang, a city in the Sichuan province.
• My thoughts – I really liked this arrangement. I thought the various extended chords really gave this song a different feel. Problem is those chords are also hard to tune, and that was very apparent in this performance. I think more dynamics and phrasing would have also helped; I was expecting more swells in certain places. I do hope they keep this in their repertoire; it has a lot of potential.
• Judges’ comments – Lai Jia Qing: You’ve grown a lot throughout this competition. You started out with your Chinese folk style, and now you’ve started incorporating elements of contemporary a cappella. Today was your best performance yet. Chun Xiao: You feel very uniform and cohesive, but you still sound very much like a school choir. You’re in the process of improving, and I hope in the future you focus more on the details of your voicings. Gao Xiao Song: Please keep the feeling of youthful hormones. Hei Nan: Disagree. What’s the point of hormones if they adversely affect their performance? Gao Xiao Song: If you have perfect intonation and no hormones, then there’s no meaning. [I guess basically they’re debating feeling (hormones) vs. pitch.]

4) 人声失控 (Ren Sheng Shi Kong / Voices Out of Control)

• Intro package – They once did a gig where they had to dress as half-male/half-female. They really didn’t want to do it, but they didn’t want to turn down the money. They also asked to sing one of their own a cappella songs afterwards. It felt really embarrassing, but they were happy to get the money. They treated their teacher to dinner afterwards, and the teacher told them not to accept such a gig in the future. This is the opportunity they’ve been looking for – the chance to prove themselves.
• Performance – Wham!’s “Last Christmas”
• My thoughts – This is a really odd song choice. There’s nothing particularly special about this song, so I have no idea why they picked it. It was a good idea to go with something slower though; it shows contrast. Unfortunately, that also made the intonation issues even more apparent.
• Judges’ comments – Gu Feng: I’m really happy to see you simplifying some things, such as snapping your fingers instead of VP. I’ve heard you several times now, and for the most part, you stick to triads. It was nice to hear chord extensions in the solo. It felt like you were finally graduating from high school. Wu Zhou Tong: When the audience is watching you, why do they like you? You’re not extremely good looking, and your sound isn’t overly amazing. I think they want to see your facial expressions. In this last performance, you seemed a bit subdued or as though you were not enjoying the song as much. You want to bring everyone into your performance with your expressions.

Judges’ decision: Hey Boy wins.

Bracket A: 1. Bracket B: 1.

5) 自由人 (Zi You Ren / Freeman)

• Intro package – The group leader is very strict and blunt. He’s the foundation of the group.
• Performance – Boyz II Men’s “Thank You”
• My thoughts – Whoa. I had hoped Freeman would do something different this week, but I was not expecting this. Great arrangement and awesome sound as usual. The only thing that I was a little unsure on (and this is a matter of taste) was the soloist. He sounded fine, but he doesn’t quite have the smooth R&B kind of voice that I was looking for.
• Judges’ comments – Wei Wei: I was moved. I didn’t expect to hear something like this from you. You did a great job with this R&B kind of feel. Gu Feng: After hearing the soloist, I can only say I think he looks too white. Gao Xiao Song: Proud to have you as music teachers. Wu Zhou Tong: I just want to know how such a low sound comes out of such a skinny and tall body. [He says he used to yell a lot when his voice first started to change.] Ding Wei: In many singing competitions, I see lots of people who love singing but don’t really understand music or love music. But you love singing, you love music, and you have great musical training.

6) 壮声 (Zhuang Sheng / Strong Voice)

• Intro package – One of their group members is particularly unique and kind of lives in his own world. For some reason, he just sticks out. He jokes about he has the worst temper, so any person who wants to be in Strong Voice will have to be able to handle his temper.
• Performance – 李玉刚 Li Yu Gang’s 《新贵妃醉酒》 (Xin Gui Fei Zui Jiu / Drunken Concubine). The song is a fusion of Peking opera and pop music. The lyrics are about the complicated love between the emperor and the concubine.
• My thoughts – I loved this performance until the Peking opera part. The arrangement was so wonderfully done in the beginning that I could almost overlook the pitch problems. The first soloist actually sounded more convincing than the original singer because his phrasing and sound are a lot more pop. He also added more emotions to the solo. However, once they got to the Peking opera part, it just started falling apart, and most of the issues lie with the second soloist. You can tell that he doesn’t have the Peking opera training that the chorus required, and on top of that, his pitch was all over the place. It’s really sad because the song started out so nicely.
• Judges’ comments – Wei Wei: I’m speechless. Wyman: When you started out with Lady Gaga, I knew you were going to push boundaries. I think you could have gone ever further with your acting. No need to be shy or afraid. Chun Xiao:  They have a grassroots feel. It’s very nice and unique. SHADOW: It may be that not a lot of people like you… [The guy responds: I don’t care if people like me.] You didn’t let me finish… But I like you. You have the traits of an actor, and I think you should move towards musicals.

Judges’ decision – SHADOW and Lai Jia Qing vote for Strong Voice while everyone else votes for Freeman. Freeman wins 9-2.

Bracket A: 1. Bracket B: 2.

7) 麦克疯 (Mai Ke Feng / MICappella)

• Intro package – Peter Huang is their founder. He used to hate music when he was little. He was very much an athlete, but he had an injury while he was running. Luckily, there’s music.
• Performance – 方大同 Khalil Fong’s “Love Song”
• My thoughts – Oh man, Khalil Fong’s songs are hard to pull off. The chords in the beginning are not easy, and they weren’t locked. Throughout the performance, there were other occasions where that happened. The soloist Peter sounded good but not great when compared to the original singer. One thing to work on is his runs/ad libs. The main problem with a song like this is that it requires a lot of precision, which wasn’t quite there.
• Post-performance comments – The host asks about why Peter is soloing when he’s usually the VP. Peter says he wanted to get off of his comfortable sofa and sing a song of love to everyone.
• Judges’ comments – Lai Jia Qing: We were surprised by how well Peter did with singing R&B. Peter, sing more and do less VP. Wei Wei: I was surprised that you started out lying down. Singing while lying down is very hard, especially when you’re trying to sing in tune. Zhu Hua: I like your musicality. I love your phrasing and your dynamics.

8) 蓝色警报 (Lan Se Jing Bao / Sirens Vocal Band)

• Intro package – Their group member Qing Ting is one of their newest members. As the competition was approaching, her progress was not as fast as the others’, and they were considering changing members. She had to try her best to stay in the group. Another problem was their VP who couldn’t attend their earlier rehearsals due to grad school stuff. He was having a hard time syncing with the rest of the group. They will try their best.
• Performance – 潘安邦 Pan An Bang’s 《外婆的澎湖湾》 (Wai Po De Peng Hu Wan / Grandma’s Penghu Bay). It’s basically about the beauty of one’s childhood.
• My thoughts – This is cute. It’s a very creative arrangement of a very simple childhood song. I especially love the jazz interlude, and the beach sound effects are cool. The only thing I have to say is that this isn’t drastically different from anything we’ve already seen from Sirens. It should be enough to get them through this week, but perhaps in later weeks, it may be time to take some more risks – maybe do a ballad or a song with a little more intensity.
• Judges’ comments – Lai Jia Qing: I’m very familiar with Sirens. They’re also so smiley, confident, and genuine. You can’t let Qing Ting go; her smile is too important. Wyman: I want to believe Qing Ting is smiling somewhere.
• Post-performance comments – They talk about how the VP is still in grad school and thus can only arrive one day before their performances. The host asks them why they haven’t replaced him, and they say they would be Sirens without him.

Judges’ decision: Gu Feng, Wei Wei, Zhu Hua, and Ding Wei vote for MICappella. Wyman, Lai Jia Qing, Chun Xia, Wu Zhou Tong, Gao Xiao Song, Hei Nan, and SHADOW vote for Sirens. Sirens win 7-4.

Bracket A: 1. Bracket B: 3. Bracket B wins, so the 4 groups in bracket B get to advance.

In round two, the 4 groups in bracket A will divide into pairs and compete. The better group in each pair will advance, leaving the remaining 2 groups as the bottom 2. The bottom 2 will then each sing another song.

The pairs are: Hey Boy vs. MICappella and Strong Voice vs. New Sounds.

Second round of performances:

1) Hey Boy

• Performance – 宋祖英 Song Zu Ying’s 《大地飞歌》 (Da Di Fei Ge / Flying Song) [apb. 蚂蚁组合 (Ma Yi Zu He / Ant Group)] The song is about the beauty of nature.
• My thoughts – Another great arrangement. The intonation on this is better.
• Judges’ thoughts – Wei Wei: Since you’re called Hey Boy, I think you should have brought a more masculine feel to this song. You did last time with “La Mei Zi.”

2) 麦克疯 (Mai Ke Feng / MICappella)

• Performance – Linkin Park’s “Faint” / 蔡依林 Jolin Tsai’s 《舞娘》 (Wu Niang / Dancing Diva)
• My thoughts – What a cool mashup! I really like the intensity; it shows a different side of MICappella. The breakdown was awesome with a nice lip buzz going.
• Judges’ thoughts – Gu Feng: Of all the songs that we’ve heard, this was the most fusion kind of song. You really incorporated everyone’s strengths, and it was very much like a great stir-fry.

Judges’ decisions: The judges unanimously vote for MICappella.

3) 壮声 (Zhuang Sheng / Strong Voice)

• Performance – 花儿乐队 The Flowers’ 《穷开心》 (Qiong Kai Xin / Happy for No Reason)
• My thoughts – LOL. This is great! This kind of style (peppy and very Chinese) seems like it would be hard to pull off, and they just do a fantastic job. I’m impressed.
• Judges’ comments – Wei Wei: You really picked the right song this time. I never imagined you could take such a hickish song and make it sound so good.

4) 新声驾到 (Xin Sheng Jia Dao / New Sounds Have Arrived)

• Performance – 小虎队 Little Tigers’ 《青苹果乐园》 (Qing Ping Guo Le Yuan / Green Apple Paradise). It’s a Chinese cover of a Japanese song called “What’s Your Name” by少年队.
• My thoughts – Same thoughts as “Baby.” It’s fine but nothing special. This isn’t going to win when compared to Strong Voice’s performance.
• Judges’ comments – Wyman: I think some groups can only handle one new song per week, and if they were to sing two new songs, it would be a bit hard. Compared to your first song, this song sounded like you didn’t have enough time to practice. Zhu Hua: I thought this song better fit your capabilities. Your performance had a lot of energy; it just needed more musical complexities.  Hei Nan: I like your fresh sound.

Judges’ decision: Strong Voice wins 8-3.

The bottom two perform.

1) Hey Boy

• Performance – 张杰 Zhang Jie’s 《看月亮爬上来》 (Kan Yue Liang Pa Shang Lai / Watch the Moon Rise). It’s about watching the moon with your loved one.
• My thoughts – This is not good. It seems that two new songs per week (not including the group number) are Hey Boy’s limit.

2) 新声驾到 (Xin Sheng Jia Dao / New Sounds Have Arrived)

• Performance – Marvin Gaye’s “Let’s Get It On” [apb. Pentatonix]
• My thoughts – Uh. It’s kind of awkward watching these guys sing this song.

Judges’ Decision: Lai Jia Qing, Gu Feng, Zhu Hua, Gao Xiao Song, Ding Wei, and Hei Nan vote for Hey Boy. Wei Wei, Wyman, Chun Xiao, Wu Zhou Tong, and SHADOW vote for New Sounds. The 11 judges are 6-5 in favor of Hey Boy. Now the 10 editors will submit their votes, and they vote 7:3 in favor of Hey Boy. The overall vote is 13-8 in favor of Hey Boy.

The boys of New Sounds are going home. The group representative says they’ve done very well for a group that’s only four months old, and their only regret is that they can’t continue the journey with their new friends. They also want to thank their teachers in Freeman. Their swan song is 张震岳 A-Yue Chang’s 《再见》 (Zai Jian / Goodbye).

[Me: Keep singing! For a four month old group, you guys are quite awesome. Study those Pentatonix arrangements. Learn from them, and develop an arranging style that suits your group.]

The top 7 are: Dreamers, Freeman, Sirens, Voices Out of Control, MICappella, Strong Voice,and Hey Boy.

How do you feel about our top 7? Do you have any predictions for next week?

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The Sing-Off China – Competition Episode 02

Thank you to everyone who read and/or commented on my recap of episode 1. Now it’s time for episode 2!

The opening group number is 张雨生 Tom Chang’s 《我的未来不是梦》 (Wo De Wei Lai Bu Shi Meng / My Future is Not a Dream). The bass sounds a bit off in the first verse, but it all comes together in the chorus. This is very tastefully arranged, such that it works well for a large group number and puts the focus on the soloists. A nice performance from our top 6 in bracket A.

Our host for the evening is once again Mr. 赵屹鸥 (Zhao Yi  Ou), and our judges are:

• 韦唯 (Wei Wei) – The female judge. Well-known Chinese diva
• 谷峰 (Gu Feng) – Judge in the grey shirt on the very left. Known for his jazz and vocal imitations of instruments.
• 谭伊哲 (Tan Yi Zhe) – Judge in the white shirt and black jacket on the very right. Music producer.
• Deke Sharon – The godfather of contemporary a cappella and producer for the U.S. version of The Sing-Off.

Among the 6 groups, only 4 will advance. The show tonight consists of 2 rounds. In the 1st round, the groups will be divided into 3 pairs. After both groups in a pair have performed, judges will either advance one group or ask both groups to wait. At the end of the first round when all three pairs have performed, one group will be eliminated.

The pairings will be the following:

• Pair 1: 壮声 (Zhuang Sheng / Strong Voice) vs 麦克疯 (Mai Ke Feng / MICappella) – Wei Wei: I think these two groups have a lot of experience, so it will be like a fight between the pros.
• Pair 2: ET vs 新声驾到 (Xin Sheng Jia Dao / New Sounds Have Arrived) – Wei Wei: They’re both full of youth and energy. They bring a teen idol kind of vibe.
• Pair 3: Hey Boy vs 山麻雀 (Shan Ma Que / Russet Sparrow)

For the 2nd round, they’ve invited 21 choir conductors and music directors to help them decide on the final elimination. More on the 2nd round format later.

Here we go. Round 1:

1) 壮声 (Zhuang Sheng / Strong Voice)

• Intro package – They’re performing a snippet of 陶喆 David Tao’s 《沙滩》 (Sha Tan / Beach). It sounds promising. They’ve been living together for the past few months, and that has really helped the group’s blend and cohesiveness. They’ve started paying even more attention to the details, and their sound has matured.
• Performance – 凤凰传奇 Phoenix Legend’s 《月亮之上》 (Yue Liang Zhi Shang / On the Moon). The song is about someone missing and waiting for a loved one.
• My thoughts – Ooh, great song choice. I’ve always been a fan of songs that mixed pop music elements with more traditional Chinese styles. I liked the way they arranged the intro. Lots of nice chords. The female soloist is a little weak when compared to the original soloist, but generally, she sounds fine, except on a few of the higher notes. I didn’t like the guy on the folk singing part. I feel like this kind of singing requires more control and technique whereas he just sounded like he was screaming. The rapping was pretty good – good flow and very confident sounding. I would have liked a nice crescendo into that final section. Ooh, vocal erhu – very nice! Overall, this was great. Good song choice, good arrangement, and good performance.
• Judges’ comments – Deke: This is the sound that I flew 4000 miles to hear – the marriage of traditional Mongolian folk songs and American hip hop, erhu and rap and a cappella. Tan Yi Zhe: This song was such a huge hit. Your a cappella version gave this song a brand new feel. I love you guys!

2) 麦克疯 (Mai Ke Feng / MICappella)

• Intro package – They’re in this competition to make new friends and to share their music. Girl: “My voice tends to be quiet, so when we’re singing together, I need to make myself sing louder. We need to improve our choreography.” They spend a lot of time practicing things over and over again.
• Performance – 陶喆 David Tao’s 《月亮代表谁的心》 (Yue Liang Dai Biao Shui De Xin / Whose Heart Does the Moon Represent). The song is about a lover asking “How deeply do you love me?” and the person replying “My love is very real. The moon represents my heart.” The chorus is derived from 邓丽君 Teresa Teng’s classic 《月亮代表我的心》 (Yue Liang Dai Biao Wo De Xin / The Moon Represents My Heart).
• My thoughts – Very nice arrangement. The chords are not quite locking into place at some spots; I think the problem lies in the upper voices. The vocal erhu felt a little unnecessary/gimmicky. The last chorus sounded fantastic! Now, since MICappella is directly competing with Strong Voice, I’d say they probably lost the duel due to song choice. Strong Voice picked a more “epic” sounding song (and pulled it off), which made MICappella’s choice seem a lot more low key.
• Judges’ comments – Wei Wei: When compared with Strong Voice, your group seemed weaker with regards to song choice and arrangement. [Me: Well, song choice greatly affects how the song itself is arranged…] The girl in your group [not sure which one she’s referring to] really knows how to sing. Why didn’t you have her sing as well? Gu Feng: Speaking of the soloist, you did vocal erhu as well, but I can tell you’ve never played erhu before. The girl from Strong Voice was even worse (at pretending to play erhu). Nobody plays erhu with their left hand like that. Let’s have the two erhu’s duel. My opinion is that if you’re performing in a group and you’re going to imitate an instrument like the erhu, then you want to call attention to yourself by mimicking the actions of playing that instrument, and you want to do that accurately.

Judges’ Decision: They have not heard enough, so both groups will wait and see.

3) ET

• Intro package – The group is having some fun bantering – making fun of each other, calling each other crazy, etc. We’ll do our best in each round
• Performance – Gotye’s “Somebody That I Used to Know” [apb. Pentatonix]
• My thoughts – Another Pentatonix arrangement, so I can only talk about execution. The intro is sounding really really good. It sounds like there are few intonation issues in the bass, especially when he goes low right before the chorus. Other than that, the performance is nice. It’s hard to say anything else since I’ve already heard the Pentatonix version…
• Post-performance comments – Host: How many of you have experienced what this song is about? ET: … Host: How many of you have dated?
• Judges’ comments – Deke: You guys remind me so much of Pentatonix. [Me: lol!] You brought a lot of power and strength to the song. The beginning was captivating and captivating and then you lost the song a bit. It all began to fall apart a little bit, but you had passion, which is the most important part. I want to especially point out you, Ke Da. The solo you performed was so much more mature than your years. Beautiful voice. Can you sing a little more for us? [Ke Da then sings a snippet of 徐若瑄 Vivian Hsu’s 《爱笑的眼睛》 (Ai Xiao De Yan Jing / Smiling Eyes)] Wei Wei: I really liked that you finally started expressing your emotions (through song).

4) 新声驾到 (Xin Sheng Jia Dao / New Sounds Have Arrived)

• Intro package – The group says they’re a little shaky when it comes to the basics – intonation and rhythm. Our musical style is a bit like our personality – very powerful. They’re working really hard every day, and even though they’re a new group, they believe they can go far. [Note: I forgot to mention last time that their group name is a play on words. 新声 (xin sheng / new sounds) has the same pronunciation as 新生 (xin sheng / freshmen). Since they’re a group of freshmen, the host gets to make some puns with that.]
• Performance – The Buggles’ “Video Killed the Radio Star” [apb. Pentatonix]
• My thoughts – Another Pentatonix arrangement. Oh, and Pentatonix choreography. I’m hearing intonation issues in the tenor part. The soloist was decent, and the performance was fine. Once again, it’s hard to critique when I’ve already seen the Pentatonix version.
• Judges’ comments – Gu Feng: I feel you’ve improved a lot in just a week. You had a lot of groove changes – fast and slow. Very impressive. Tan Yi Zhe: I like you guys. I must give you a standing ovations. Deke: You remind me of the Beatles. They were silly, and they were young. Then they grew up and changed music history. Keep going. That’s only 3 months? That’s amazing.

The host asks ET: “What do you have that New Sounds doesn’t have?” ET: “Passion.” New Sounds: “Wrong. Sorry man. We have passion too.” Then they proceed to talk about silly things they have that ET doesn’t have.

Judges’ decision: New Sounds, you just formed 3 months ago. You need more time to get better, so we want to give you more time to practice. You get to advance. ET has to wait.

5) 山麻雀 (Shan Ma Que / Russet Sparrow)

• Intro package – They’re actually a 7-member group. Their 7th member couldn’t come because she was worried about possibly being fired from her job. They spend a lot of time memorizing their movements while also focusing on their facial expressions.
• Performance – 《勒浪特》 (Le Lang Te). The song is about being happy and expressing that happiness.
• My thoughts – Like I said last time, I know nothing about this kind of music. That said, I think they sound great, and they have amazing voices. I’m really glad that they’re in the competition representing China’s ethnic folk music. Unfortunately, I don’t see them going too far in the competition simply because this show tends to favor contemporary a cappella.
• Post-performance comments  – Host: You’ve shown us great Lisu ethnic music, dance, and outfits. Have you also learned things from other groups like rap, bass, or beatbox? Shan Ma Que: Yes, MICappella taught us a little bit. [demonstrates] [Me: Awwww. Adorable!]
• Judges’ comments – Deke: Ladies, you warm my heart. In America, Shangri-La is a dream place. Now I know what exists in Shangri-La. Wei Wei: I have to say you are my favorite. You really epitomize what a cappella means. You’re great.

6) Hey Boy

• Intro package – One of the guys is talking about how he used to have rhythm issues and how taking a music class helped. The guys are practicing hard and when one of the guys says “That’s good enough,” another guy says “No, it needs to be the best.”
• Performance – 宋祖英 Song Zu Ying’s 《辣妹子》 (La Mei Zi / Spicy (Feisty) Girl). It’s considered a Hunan folk song and is about a feisty girl who’s not afraid of spicy peppers.
• My thoughts – Inventive arrangement. Hm, pitch is a little off at times. The guy in mostly red had a shaky solo line. I like these guys a lot, and I’m curious to see what they’ll do next.
• Judges’ comments – Tan Yi Zhe: Before this, you lacked a bit of diversity, but today with your staging, harmony, counter melody, and musical structure, you did it all. I like you guys! Gu Feng: Originally you had a very cute unsophisticated/hickish kind of feel. [Me: Not the best translation. It’s not really intended to be an insult.] But today I heard a walking bass and a Michael Jackson kind of feel. It surprised me and made me forget any weaknesses in your performance.

Judges’ Decision: Both groups will have to wait and see.

Only one group (New Sounds) has advanced. One group will be eliminated before the remaining 4 move onto round 2. Those 4 are MICappella, Hey Boy, Shan Ma Que, and Strong Voice.

ET is going home. They talk about how being on The Sing-Off is a dream come true, and they wish the best of luck to all the other groups. Their swan song is Steppenwolf’s “Born to Be Wild” [apb. Pentatonix].

[Me: ET, I hope you continue singing together. I give you a lot of crap about using Pentatonix’s arrangements, but it takes talent to pull off those arrangements. Use what you’ve learned from them to develop your own sound and to apply that to Chinese music.]

In round 2, the remaining 4 will each perform once, and then the judges (and I guess choir directors) will decide the 3 groups that get to advance.

Round 2:

1) 壮声 (Zhuang Sheng / Strong Voice)

• Performance – 凤飞飞 Feng Fei Fei’s 《爱你在心口难开》 (Ai Ni Zai Xin Kou Nan Kai / Loving You is Hard to Say). It’s a Chinese cover of The Crickets’s “More Than I Can Say.”
• My thoughts – The first verse of this sounds like Committed’s arrangement of “Every Breath You Take.” The “bew bew bew” line in the second chorus was a bit distracting. The last chord of the second chorus was really nice, but the cutoff was messy, which reduced its effectiveness. Overall, good performance.
• Judges’ comments – Gu Feng: Even though you altered the feel in the middle of the song, your groove stayed consistent throughout. I hope the next time you sing such an old classic, you bring even more new ideas to the table.

2) 麦克疯 (Mai Ke Feng / MICappella)

• Performance – 五月天 Mayday’s 《志明与春娇》 (Zhi Ming Yu Chun Jiao / Zhi Ming and Chun Jiao). It’s a Taiwanese dialect song about a guy breaking up with a girl who has fallen out of love with him.
• My thoughts – I like how this was arranged. The awesome bass line and VP provide the groove while the other parts focus on the harmonic texture. That collective step before the chorus repetition was really cool because if you’re going to repeat the chorus several times, then you really need to make it interesting somehow for the audience.  The soloist sounded a little weak on the first verse, but once he got to the chorus, it was great. His falsetto also had a few rough spots. I absolutely love their VP though.
• Judges’ comments – Wei Wei: Everyone did their role very well. You took such a simple melody and made it sound so rich and yet not overly complex. You gave us a lot of passion.

3) 山麻雀 (Shan Ma Que / Russet Sparrow)

• Performance – 才旦卓玛 Cai Dan Zhuo Ma’s 《再唱山歌给党听》 (Zai Chang Shan Ge Gei Gang Ting / Sing Another Song for the [Communist] Party)
• My thoughts – I preferred their first song.
• Judges’ comments – Wei Wei: This was my favorite song in preschool/kindergarten, and it was the song that led me towards my path as a singer. I think your key was a little low. This is usually a solo song. I think if you were to sing it right, you would need a really bright sound, but none of you went into that range.

4) Hey Boy

• Performance – 《嘿 妹妹》 (Hei Mei Mei / Hey Younger Sister). I think the song is singing about the innocence of youth. I could be wrong, so correct me if I am.
• My thoughts – I think this is my least favorite Hey Boy performance thus far. I think I like it best when they combine elements of contemporary a cappella with their sound. That’s a personal preference though. That last bell chord was a nice surprise.
• Judges’ comments – Tan Yi Zhe: You’re very good at playing to your strengths.  Other people have really strong beatbox whereas you just used it at the end. It was very tasteful and effective. Your tenor has great pitch.

Now the judges will advance two groups, leaving the other two groups to compete for the last spot. The first to advance is MICappella. According to the judges, MICappella didn’t meet their expectations in round 1 but did so in round 2. Strong Voice is also advancing, which means the bottom 2 are Hey Boy and Shan Ma Que. The bottom will each perform one more song. Then the 21 choir directors and the 4 judges will vote on who to save.

1) Hey Boy

• Performance – Beyond’s 《海阔天空》 (Hai Kuo Tian Kong / Boundless Oceans Vast Skies). The song is about following your dreams and ideals.
• My thoughts – This is an epic-ish song, which means it’s generally hard to do it justice. You really need a good arrangement and soloist. I don’t think Hey Boy had that. The arrangement wasn’t horrible, but there were questionable moments like the “doo doo doo” quarter notes in the first verse. The soloist sounded hesitant for some reason (he’s usually great), and that’s a no-no for this song. Maybe the guys were feeling very emotional or nervous because they were in the bottom 2, and that affected their performance?

2) 山麻雀 (Shan Ma Que / Russet Sparrow)

• Performance – 李娜 Li Na’s 《青藏高原》 (Qing Zang Gao Yuan / The Tibetan Plateau). This is a very very popular folk song about the Tibetan Plateau.
• My thoughts – They sound great (especially that soloist!) on this although they’re not as together rhythm-wise as they can be.

The 21 choir directors are voting. Most of them are saying that they love Shan Man Que and that their song has touched them. However, it is still a competition, so they have to go with Hey Boy. The voting result is: Hey Boy – 18, Shan Ma Que – 3.

Judges’ Votes

• Gu Feng: I was touched by the purity of your sound and your personalities. I hope you go back and teach some of that beatboxing to your kids. I vote for Shan Ma Que.
• Deke: [to Shan Ma Que] From the way you sang the last two songs and told us you were not expecting to still be here. And the look in your eyes, I can tell the three mothers are ready to be home with their children. And when I look at Hey Boy, I see the future. I see a cappella with the tradition of China and the future of global music coming together. And for this reason, I’d like to give another chance to Hey Boy.
• Wei Wei: [to Shan Ma Que] You already knew what the result would be, and yet you remain so happy and satisfied while watching the other group. This time your sound was what it should be. It touched me. But you already know that I can’t vote for you, my favorite group.
• Tan Yi Zhe: Shan Ma Que has the most consistent pitch in the competition. They just don’t know (contemporary/western) harmony. If they had teachers working with them on harmony and music theory, they would beat their competition. I vote for them.

So the final vote is: Hey Boy – 20, Shan Ma Que – 5. Hey Boy is advancing while Shan Ma Que is heading home.

Shan Ma Que thanks everyone and says this was a great experience. They loved making new friends and also getting to meet Wei Wei in person.  Wei Wei then goes on stage and hugs them. Finally for their swan song, they’re singing 《欢迎你来到香格里拉》 (Huan Ying Ni Lai Dao Xiang Ge Li La / Welcome to Shangri-La).

[Me: Shan Ma Que, keep singing and smiling! I loved your presence on this show.]

The 4 groups from Bracket 8 entering the Top 8 are: Strong Voice, MICappella, New Sounds, and Hey Boy.

Next week, we get to meet the second bracket of 8 groups!

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The Sing-Off China – Competition Episode 01

As someone who was in an East Asian a cappella group in college and someone who continues to arrange and record Chinese a cappella, I was ecstatic when I found out that China would be making its own version of “The Sing-Off”. I’m normally not much of a blogger, but since it seems that quite a few non-Chinese speakers are tuning in to the show, I thought it would be beneficial to provide some general comments and translations for each new episode.

So here we go. The Sing Off清唱团 (pronounced “Qing Chang Tuan” and literally means “a cappella group”) competition episode 1.

(In the wake of NBC canceling the US version, how lovely and bittersweet it is to hear that same old theme song and to see those lights and group boxes…)

Our host for the show is 赵屹鸥 (pronounced “Zhao Yi Ou”). [Note: Unlike in Western cultures, Chinese naming conventions are such that the last name comes first and is generally the first character (though there are some two character last names). Thus, in the case of our lovely host, 赵 (Zhao) is his last name, and 屹鸥 (Yi Ou) is his first name.]  He welcomes everyone to The Sing-Off and tells them that they are in for an unbelievable musical experience because 1) all sounds will be made by the human voice, 2) this kind of music is all about group work, and 3) they’ve brought together 16 of the best Chinese a cappella groups.

Now for the judges:

• 韦唯 (Wei Wei) – The female judge. She is a well-known Chinese diva, and some have even dubbed her as “the Chinese Whitney Houston.”  For more information, check out her wiki page. According to the host, she usually never appears on any reality competition shows. Wei Wei says she was intrigued by the idea of a cappella, the idea that all sounds are made by the human voice.
• 黄伟文 (Huang Wei Wen, English name: Wyman Wong) – The bald judge in the blue jacket and bow tie. He’s a well-known lyricist from Hong Kong and has written lyrics for Cantonese pop stars such as Eason Chan and Joey Yung. (His native dialect is probably Cantonese since he has a Cantonese accent when he speaks Mandarin Chinese.) He jokes that since these shows usually have three judges, he’s probably the extra fourth one. He says that he’s probably in charge of critiquing the lesser important aspects and that he represents the viewpoints of the audience.
• 谷峰 (Gu Feng) – Judge in the blue shirt on the very left. He has been called China’s best jazz singer and drummer. He is also known for his vocal imitations of instruments such as the erhu (Chinese stringed instrument) and various percussion instruments. When it comes to music, he’s a self-described perfectionist.
• 谭伊哲 (Tan Yi Zhe) – Judge in the white shirt and black jacket on the very right. He is a music producer from mainland China and has worked with singers including Wei Wei, Karen Mok, and Chris Lee. He loves the group aspect of a cappella, especially since much of pop music revolves around solo artists these days.

The first round of 8 groups bring us the theme song 《唱在一起》(Chang Zai Yi Qi / Sing Together) [composed by: 科尔沁夫 (Ke Er Qin Fu), lyrics by: judge 谭伊哲 (Tan Yi Zhe)].

Among the 8 groups, only 6 will move onto the next round. After each group’s first performance, the judges will critique and decide whether the group moves on or has to wait. The judges can only advance 3 groups based on their first performance. After all 8 groups have performed, one will be eliminated, and the remaining 4 will perform another song. The judges will then pick the 3 groups they liked best.

First round of performances:

1) 蚂蚁人声乐团 (Ma Yi Ren Sheng Yue Tuan / Ant Vocal Group)

• Intro package – They’re singing a snippet of 庾澄庆 Harlem Yu’s 情非得已 (Qing Fei De Yi / Can’t Help Falling in Love). They’re all about youth and beauty. They love their group leader, and he refers to his group members collectively as ants. They hope that someday a cappella would be as widespread as apples.
• Performance –  TV theme song medley: 周华健Emil Chau’s 《难念的经》 (Nan Nian De Jing / Difficult Scripture) , 罗文 Roman Tam and 甄妮 Jenny Tseng’s 《铁血丹心》 (Tie Xue Dan Xin / Iron Blood, Loyal Heart), 许镜清 Xu Jing Qing 《西游记》 (Xi You Ji / Journey to the West), 叶丽仪 Frances Yip’s 《上海滩》 (Shanghai Tan / Shanghai Bund), 左宏元 Zuo Hong Yuan and 张慧清 Zhang Hui Qing’s 《渡情》 (Du Qing / Love on a Boat?), 动力火车 Power Station’s 《当》 (Dang / When), 刘欢 Liu Huan 《好汉歌》 (Hao Han Ge / A Song to Tough Guys).
• My thoughts – They crammed way too many songs into one medley. Thus, it seemed more about the novelty factor than the musical aspect. Their sound was a little too thin for many of the songs. I think it was probably an arrangement issue (seemed too top heavy) and the lack of a true bass/too high of a bass line. The soloists were pretty decent (especially considering the range of songs), and the staging seemed pretty good.
• Judges’ comments – Wei Wei: I applaud them for being the first group; there’s so much pressure. I liked their creativity, and I was really impressed with their Cantonese songs. Gu Feng: It was very creative but too busy. There were too many songs, and it’s like if you had several dishes but could only try a small taste of each. Wyman: It felt like when I ate spaghetti in Japan. Usually, if I heard a medley like that, I would have turned off the TV, but when you have non-native Cantonese speakers singing an a cappella medley of these theme songs, it all became very interesting. I anticipate your future performances.
• Judges’ decision – Wait and see.

2) 壮声 (Zhuang Sheng / Strong Voice)

• Intro package – They’re comparing their group members to various Chinese pop stars; they have an A-Mei Chang, a JJ Lin, an Eva Huang, a Greeny Wu, and a David Tao.
• Performance – Lady Gaga’s “Born This Way” [apb. Peter Hollens]
• My thoughts – I’m biased against this since this isn’t their own arrangement… It’s Tom Anderson’s. I’m guessing they transcribed it from Peter Hollens’ video. The performance isn’t bad though there are some tuning and rhythm issues. They’re not really hitting those descending arpeggios/bell chords. Bass and VP are decent.  (Also, is that Mr. Vocal Blog (Florian Städtler) in the audience?)
• Post-performance comments – They quit their full-time jobs to sing a cappella. One of the guys became a part-time food delivery boy.
• Judges’ comments – Tan Yi Zhe: You guys are too good. Bass and VP are phenomenal. Gu Feng: I loved the Bass and VP as well. Give us a special demonstration please. Wyman: Let’s talk about your clothing. Maybe you could all wear the same thing on stage and then halfway through the performance, take off a layer to reveal your individual styles.
• Judges’ decision – Advance.

3) 新声驾到 (Xin Sheng Jia Dao / New Sounds Have Arrived)

• Intro package – They are all freshmen from Beijing Contemporary Music Academy, and they just started this group about 3 months ago. They need music like they need food.
• Performance – Tank’s 《城里的月光》(Cheng Li De Yue Guang / Moonlight in the City), opb. 许美静 Xu Mei Jing – The song is about separated lovers. It’s about thinking of the other person who’s under the same night sky and hoping to reunite someday.
• My thoughts – The first verse sounded really promising, but after that, the chords became rather bland. The arrangement also could have used more rhythmic complexity. The performance is pretty good for a new group though.
• Judges’ comments – Wyman: I liked their feeling of camaraderie and brotherhood. Tan Yi Zhe: If I were to produce something for you, it’d probably be a teen musical tv drama. Wei Wei: It sounded very good at first, but then it got a little boring.
• Judges’ decision – Wait and see.

4) 麦克风 (Mai Ke Feng / MICappella)

• Intro package – They’re a group from Singapore that focuses on Chinese music. Most groups in Singapore sing English songs, but since MICappella group members speak Chinese, they wanted to try out Chinese a cappella and inspire others to do so as well.
• Performance – 卢广仲 Crowd Lu’s “OH YEAH” – translated lyrics courtesy of the Northwestern Treblemakers who also recorded an a cappella version of this song
• My thoughts – I’ve heard MICappella’s studio version, so I wasn’t surprised that I loved their performance… I love their arrangement and their sound, so I’m not going to nitpick the performance.
• Post-performance comments – Since their Chinese name includes the word 疯 (which means crazy/wild), the host was like “it seems there’s a method to their madness.” At first, they’re sitting in the chairs. On the outside, they’re not moving, but on the inside… That’s called smoldering. Then at the end, it was “totally crazy.”
• Judges’ comments – Wei Wei: When you came off the stage, you practically swept me off my chair. I really love your VP; he was so into it. Gu Feng: He’s the best VP we’ve seen thus far. He has so many different sounds with both the drum set and other percussion instruments. Host: Could you show me again? <VP demo time> Wyman: Your performance is so professional. It almost doesn’t seem like a competition to you. When you’re too professional, you don’t have the feeling of nervousness and anxiousness associated with being a competitor.
• Judges’ decision – Wei Wei: Because they’re so professional, our expectations for them are also higher. We want to see them perform again. Wait and see. [Me: BOO.]

5) 山麻雀 (Shan Ma Que / Russet Sparrow)

• Intro package – They’re a group of six women from Shangri-La. They sing Lisu ethnic and Tibetan folk songs. They want more people to experience Lisu culture. One of the women has never seen the sea before. They sing a snippet of 郑绪岚 Zheng Xu Lan’s 《大海啊故乡》 (Da Hai A Gu Xiang / The Sea, Homeland).
• Performance – 《木刮斗》 (Mu Gua Dou) – Not sure what the song title means. According to the running subtitle, the song is about how after measures combating poverty have been implemented and the homeland has taken on a new appearance, the people are very happy.
• My thoughts – I don’t know anything about Chinese folk music, so I can’t really critique this.
• Post-performance comments – Host: This is their first time venturing out from their homeland. They’re nervous. How many of you are mothers? Do you miss your children? Will one of you speak to your children through the camera? One of the mothers: Baby, Mama has come to the big city and seen lots of tall buildings. Mama misses you. One day, Mama will bring you here, let you see the tall buildings yourself, and buy you lots of toys.
• Judges’ comments – Wei Wei: As an ethnic minority myself, I’ve really been looking forward to seeing representation from our various ethnic minority groups. I was really touched by your performance, and it brought me back to my childhood when I first heard a folk song. Wyman: It’s as though I was trying to pick an outfit for a hip party, and among my grandfather’s old clothes, I found the best and the coolest outfit.
• Judges’ decision – Advance.

6) 小鬼人声乐团 (Xiao Gui Ren Sheng Yue Tuan / Little Devils Vocal Group)

• Intro package – Little Devils self describe themselves as funny, free, real, silly, and happy. They’ve been around for 3 years, and they mainly sing classical music. (They used to be a choir.)
• Performance – 《命运贝多芬》 (Ming Yun Bei Duo Fen / Destiny Beethoven) – derived from Beethoven’s 5th symphony
• My thoughts – Eek. Intonation. Classical music is pretty unforgiving when it comes to pitch.
• Judges’ comments – Tan Yi Zhe: I really liked the tall guy in the back. His eyes are small but during the performance, his eyes were wide open and looked bigger than everyone else’s. I want to write you guys a musical. Gu Feng: You’re pretty impressive considering how hard classical music is. But I can tell that you don’t feel super connected to classical music, so if you want to get further in this competition, you should pick music that you feel a greater connection to.
• Judges’ decision – Wait and see.

7) ET

• Intro package – They’re telling us about the different planets they’re from. Everyone has strong personalities, so there are occasional arguments. A group is not just about singing together but also about living together.
• Performance – Katy Perry’s “E.T.” [apb. Pentatonix]
• My thoughts – They’re called ET… 4 guys, 1 girl. Reminds me of Pentatonix. Oh look, they’re singing Pentatonix’s arrangement of “E.T.” I can’t judge this seriously. It doesn’t sound bad, so obviously they have talent. But it’s not their arrangement, so I can’t help but compare them to Pentatonix…
• Judges’ comments – Tan Yi Zhe: The girl is a really really important part of your group, and her pitch is great. Wyman: If you want to sound like an American or British group, then your English pronunciation needs to be really good. You sounded like a Japanese/Korean group singing English. Wei Wei: I liked how you said it wasn’t just about singing together but also living together.
• Judges’ decision – Wait and see.

8) Hey Boy

• Intro package – They’re all from the same school in Hunan. They’re singing 宋祖英 Song Zu Yin’s 《辣妹子》 (La Mei Zi / Spicy [meaning: Feisty] Girl). The group leader talks about how some people prefer singing songs from other countries rather than singing Chinese songs and how he doesn’t care for that. He hopes that in the future, there will be more focus on Chinese style music rather than copying Western pop music. [Me: I’m curious why their group name is Hey Boy then…]
• Performance – 《等到花儿开满山野》 (Deng Dao Hua Er Kai Man Shan Ye / Wait Until Flowers Bloom All Over the Mountain) – Song is about a boy waiting for his dream girl to appear.
• My thoughts – I like their unique sound. I really liked the middle section although I think a few different chords would have made it even better.
• Judges’ comments – Tan Yi Zhe: Their audio and visual presentation felt very different to me. The soloist had a really bright timbre. Wei Wei: Body movements were great. The body rhythm was different than the rhythm of the song. I’ve only seen this kind of quality in Michael Jackson. [Me: Lol what?]
• Judges’ decision – Wait and see.

Since the judges only advanced 2 groups so far, they get to advance one more, and that’s MICappella [Me: Ohh Yeahhh!]

As for the group going home, it’s the Little Devils. The group representative says they actually haven’t been singing a cappella for very long. [Me: I guess the 3 year thing was about their old choir?] They’ve met so many awesome people and learned so many new things via The Sing-Off. She thanks their group leader and their teacher. Their swan song is 《夜曲》 (Ye Qu / Nocturne) [I’m not familiar with the song, so I have no idea who the composer is. My guess is Chopin?].

Second round of performances:

1) 蚂蚁人声乐团 (Ma Yi Ren Sheng Yue Tuan / Ant Vocal Group)

• Performance – F.I.R’s 《我们的爱》 (Wo Men De Ai / Our Love) – The song is about someone who’s having a hard time letting go after a breakup.
• My thoughts – Ack, intonation. The bass line is really not working for this song. The chorus of this song is supposed to be very emotional and powerful, and the arrangement is really not bringing that out.
• Judges’ thoughts – Wei Wei: That was not the best song choice. I didn’t really hear anything new.

2) 新声驾到 (Xin Sheng Jia Dao / New Sounds Have Arrived)

• Performance – Britney Spears Medley (“Oops!.. I Did It Again” / “Toxic” / “Hold It Against Me”) [apb. Pentatonix]
• My thoughts – This is sounding really good… But oddly familiar. Oh wait. Another Pentatonix arrangement. Gah. The execution is pretty good – still can’t compare with the original though. The soloists aren’t great, but I suppose they’re passable.
• Judges’ thoughts – Tan Yi Zhe: Your performance was so incredibly cool. I was moving with you the entire time. Near the end, the beatboxer did a really low bass sound; could you show that? [VP demonstration] [Me: I’m guessing that was lip buzz?] Wei Wei: That was amazing. You left it all on that stage.

3) ET

• Performance – Lady Gaga, ft. Beyonce – “Telephone” [apb. Pentatonix]
• My thoughts – Hm, which Pentatonix song are they going to sing now? Oh, “Telephone”… Lovely. So are they going to sing Pentatonix arrangements during their entire run on the show?
• Judges’ comments – Gu Feng: Even though we often imitate instruments with our voices, most people still feel there’s an invisible wall between singing and playing instruments. Even though you mostly sing dance music, you could include a little something like [imitates a horn] to give the audience a little shock. [Me: I don’t quite understand what he means by this…]

4) Hey Boy

• Performance – 叶启田 Ye Qi Tian’s 《爱拼才会赢》 (Ai Pin Cai Hui Ying / You Must Work Hard In Order to Win) – Taiwanese/Hokkien dialect song
• My thoughts – I liked this better than their first performance. I thought the arrangement was more interesting/contemporary-sounding, but that was probably made necessary by the song choice.
• Judges’ comments – Wyman: You’re the music world’s Shaolin monks. After hearing this, I really wanted to do kung fu and drink wine.

New Sounds, Hey Boy, and ET advance to the next round, which means Ant Vocal Group is going home. The group representative says even though they can’t continue in the competition, they’re still going to continue working hard and singing together. Their swan song is 汪峰 Wang Feng’s 《飞得更高》 (Fei De Geng Gao / Fly Even Higher). They hope that the other groups can “fly even higher.”

——————–

Some general thoughts on my part… I’m really not liking the use of other people’s arrangements on this show. I understand that Chinese a cappella is a new thing, and one of the best ways to learn/get better is to transcribe and sing other people’s arrangements. I also understand that not all groups arrange their own stuff, especially in the course of this competition. But it’s one thing to have someone else arrange a song for you; it’s another thing to have someone’s recording of the arrangement from which you can just directly learn how to imitate. Just look at the big difference between New Sounds’ two performances. Their first performance was a song that I assumed they arranged themselves, and their second performance was a Pentatonix arrangement. These guys are music students! Shouldn’t they be able to apply some of what they’ve learned from transcribing a Pentatonix song to their own arrangements? I’m also hoping that in future episodes, groups will sing more Chinese songs. I tuned in to hear Chinese a cappella, not covers of a cappella covers of English songs.

ETA: After some discussion with Deke, I realized that I was a bit harsh on these groups. Given that it’s the first ever episode of The Sing-Off China, it’s understandable that most groups are extremely nervous, and so it would be wise to stick to something in their repertoire that they are extremely comfortable with, even if it’s originally a Pentatonix or Tom Anderson arrangement. These are not easy arrangements, and if we’re just talking about the execution aspect, their performances have been good. The talent is there, and I’m looking forward to seeing their growth. [Big picture-wise, the general public is now being exposed to (and hopefully inspired by) arrangements from the greats, and that is a very good thing for the future of Chinese a cappella.]

To further clarify my thoughts on the Chinese vs English songs thing… I’m not against groups singing English songs; I’d just rather hear them sing Chinese ones. Any English song that they’d be inclined to cover is most likely a mainstream hit, and those songs usually have multiple a cappella versions already. Also, most of their English pronunciation isn’t great, and there’s generally not enough enunciation, which tends to bother me more than the actual pronunciation aspect. Anyways, Deke says there will be more Chinese music in future episodes, so I’m really looking to hearing how these groups reinvent some of my favorite songs.

——————–

Next week, we’ll see the second bracket of 8 the top 6 in bracket A compete for 4 spots! [Thanks for the correction, Deke!]

Feel free to leave any comments or questions, and let me know if you want anything else translated.  Also, since I’m familiar with a lot of the original Chinese songs, I probably have a different perspective than someone who doesn’t know the source material, and I would love to hear from some of you who don’t know the original songs.

 

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