It wasn’t a surprise. We knew the a capella group, Pentatonix, were going to be at the American Music Awards and they would pay tribute to Star Wars and John Williams as part of the promo for Episode VII, coming out in December. What most didn’t know was that it was going to sound so incredible, backed up by a full symphony orchestra, also presented by Harrison Ford himself. And they even cosplayed it!
Take a look!
https://youtu.be/Fv6mB5ZS3MI?t=42s
Pentatonix, formed by Scott Hoying, Mitch Grassi, Kirstin Maldonado, Avi Kaplan and Kevin Olusola, recently released a self-titled album, featuring their first original songs, including “Can’t Sleep Love”, “Misbehavin’” and “Sing”. I’m obsessed with them, and they seem to have impressed everybody else since becoming popular after winning the Sing-Off a capella group TV competition, only four years ago, and developing their own cover songs on their Youtube channel. Pentatonix essentially helped bring a capella to the limelight as a “cool” genre of music, along with Glee and Pitch Perfect (with even a cameo performance in its sequel).
.@PTXofficial’s “Can’t Sleep Love” is the 1st a cappella since ’93: In The Still of the Night (@BoyzIIMen) & If I Ever Fall In Love (Shai).
— American Top 40 (@AmericanTop40) November 21, 2015
In the past, they have been praised by Beyoncé -for their “Evolution of Beyoncé” medley- Lorde and Gotye. This year they won a Grammy and released a documentary filmed during the North American leg of their “On My Way Home” tour (which took them across Europe and the Southeast of Asia, as well), while composing and recording their latest album. They also opened up for Kelly Clarkson on her “Piece by Piece” tour.
Last night, Pentatonix got quite a huge reaction from the audience, with a standing ovation, and also from fellow performers and presenters.
How AMAZING was the #starwarsAMAs tribute by #PTXonAMAs !??! #JLoAMAs
— Jennifer Lopez (@JLo) November 23, 2015
Before the performance, we were presented with a scene from the movie (which I skipped, because I still want to be surprised). I can safely say that we’re already sold on Star Wars: The Force Awakens and don’t need to see anything else from the movie before it’s released, but this was a favorite among all the promotional materials that have been coming out.
