I agree. Oh Holy Night is the best song they have done which is saying something. All of their songs are fantastic but that is the best in my opinion. It knocked The Prayer to a close 2nd for me.
Every single time I watch someone react to this video I start hysterically laughing when Kevin hits the cello/high note combo. Everyone is blown away. 😂❤
You're one of the few reactors who recognizes, or least mentions, the Kirstie/Mitch blending secret sauce and I love ya for it. I think it's a once in a generation pairing and one of the things that makes PTX so special. Btw, I've seen it mentioned that KO can be seen using a foot switch to trigger different effects on the cello. He was a member of the Yale Orchestra cello section for two years and placed 2nd in a Yo Yo Ma competition.
I agree about the Kirstie/Mitch blending. It’s one of the reasons that a female voice does not stick out like a sore thumb among 4 male voices, IMO. Plus, all of them have such incredible range, they can blend on the scale, wherever that may be.
I swore he played piano at 12 yrs old at Carnegie. Was it not piano? My memory is so bad. He can play numerous instruments but he's a grandmaster at sax, piano and cello, is that correct?
@@Anjalena I just checked Wikipedia. I was SURE that when I checked it before it said sax and cello, but you're at least half right; it's piano and sax. The dates aren't given, however. When he was 12 "he was selected as the principal saxophonist of the United States Collegiate Wind Band and toured Europe during the summer for three weeks"; I suspect that's where you got 12 years old from.
@@margretrosenberg420 I used to follow them in a pretty major way when Avi was still in the group. Kind of broke my heart when he left and I had a hard time watching them for a long time. But I do remember getting information from somewhere and I feel like it was either the Netflix special On My Way Home or possibly videos on KO's channel. As I recall he has a series of like three or four videos where he talks about his journey that led him to Pentatonix. I have a pretty bad memory though so I really can't say where I got it from. Thanks so much for double-checking for me. I really appreciate it. Also I like your username. It's literally two and a half minutes right now from 4:20 a.m. *time to wake n bake*
@@Anjalena 😄As far as I knew my username was simply MargretRosenberg, that being my name. TH-cam added the 420 for its own obscure reasons; I don't even try to understand the algorithm at this point.
...on two different instruments. Once on the cello, and once on the saxophone. The sax performance is on TH-cam (it's a segment from the PBS show From the Top, and his interview after the performance is interesting as well. He turned down acceptances from Penn and Stanford!
At the end, you need to watch both of their videos that came up. The recorded Pure Imagination/Christmas Time is Here the same day in that studio. An O Holy Night is mind blowing.
Yes Kevin is super super talented. He came second it a competition to be trained under Yo Yo Ma. His cello playing is phenomenal. He also play saxaphone, is a fantastic songwriter speaks several languages including Mandarin and was Pre-med at Yale! He is the only person in the world (that we know of!) who 'cello-boxes' i.e. plays cello and beatboxes at the same time. Plus, as you saw here, he is an incredible singer too! If you want to see him doing all these things, watch his cover of Marian Hill's 'Down' on his channel. It's unbelievable
His channel is : K.O. Kevin Olusola. Kevin's been playing cello since he was 8 yrs old and has twice played at Carnegie Hall...once on the cello and once on the sax.
Kirstie's solo line is in the original song, it's very faint but it's there. Kevin is a freaking genius, musically and otherwise. Amazing self discipline and faith that informs his life in every way. I admire them all, but Kevin - he's outstanding.
Kevin's 5th. Links are out there. Live cut from one of their Christmas concerts. You have to react to our boy completely off the cuff and owning a stage. Also talks about his background.
Kevin appeared on the NPR high school concert program playing sax. Yo-Yo Ma has said he's one of the best cellists of his generation. And knowing Yo-Yo personally, that's great praise.
sir, there are SO many recordings #PTX has done with Matt having a solo. the Grinch song comes to mind, one of the first I believe, and Simon and Garfunkel's Sound of Silence is another.
KO is about the most amazing artist I’ve ever listened to! If you didn’t notice, except when he’s playing the solo, he’s beatboxing at the same time! The man is a phenom!
Kevin has perfect pitch. He began piano lessons at age 4, cello at age 6, and alto saxophone at age 10. He beatboxes while playing the cello, a technique he calls "celloboxing." He performed at Carnegie Hall twice when he was a teenager, once on saxophone and once on cello. He graduated from Yale in 2011 with a pre-med major and had been accepted to Yale Medical School before he decided to become a professional beatboxer instead of a brilliant surgeon. He speaks five languages fluently: English, French, Spanish, German, and Mandarin Chinese. He's one of the kindest people in the world, and when he laughs he makes the whole planet seem like a brighter place. And someday I would dearly love to have a conversation with him; I have a whole list of questions I'd like to ask. Think about this for a moment. After Pentatonix won _The Sing-Off,_ won that recording contract they'd wanted so badly, only to have their hopes dashed by Epic reneging on the contract, what kept them together? Kevin had already been accepted to Yale Medical School before he'd graduated with that pre-med major just a few months before. It would have been a piece of cake for him to go to medical school, become the brilliant surgeon he'd originally intended to be. But he didn't. He'd thrown in his lot with three remarkable teenagers and a bass and he was completely committed. He stuck with them theough the hard times, when it would have been easy for him to leave, but if he'd left that would have been the end of the dream; Pentatonix would have been no more. And that is something that Kevin would never do. It is totally outside of Kevin's character to betray a friend, even when it's the logical thing to do, and even when most people wouldn't see it as a betrayal at all.
If you rewatch it, notice that when Scott first comes in, watch Mitch & Kirstie immediately adjust their ear pieces - loud! :) I love this rendition of this song (which was never one of my favorites before) and appreciate your commentary. Great reaction - and I like how you acknowledge everyone's contribution - Matt in O Holy Night is stellar and in Amazing Grace and Sound of Silence! I just love the tone of Matt's voice! Want to be even more impressed? There are live videos of Kevin during their most recent tour where he does Kevin's Fifth (his modern take on Beethoven's Fifth).
Kirstin - All right boys...voices and cello up Mitch - LoOove remains - MiniMitchSlap Scott - Blue Eyed Soul Dragon Drive-by Matt - Renames song 'Falsetto from a Bass' Kevin - "Hold my bow".. "BaaaaBYY!!!!".. Olusolagasm
When Scott makes his entrance, both Mitch and Kirstie simultaneously reach up to their in-ear monitors and make some kind of adjustment. It's something I don't think I've ever seen before. Kirstie adjusts her IEM quite a bit (once or twice a song, usually) during live concerts, but Mitch usually doesn't do much with his. Two videos with good Matt solos are Sound of Silence and their recent O Holy Night. You've reacted to Sound of Silence, where Matt sings a verse as lead; in O Holy Night, he (and Kirstie) kind of steal the show for me, he has a verse on his own again and he really makes it count! This arrangement is a little bit of a throwback for me - Kirstie spends almost all of her time providing harmony for the others, with only a short solo of her own. But she's really the glue that holds the song together - even though she isn't in the lead, you can hear her throughout, and the song wouldn't be the same without her. It reminds me of the early days of PTX, when she didn't really like to be in the lead and preferred a more background role. A question that comes up in interviews all the time is "Who can sing higher?" It's a little bit up-in-the-air, but both Kirstie and Mitch have said that Kevin (in his falsetto) can reach the higher notes.
@@Badger77722 After analysis that rivals the “Zapruder film,” I think that Mitch and Kirsten pulled the IEMs, respectively, from their left ears. Another element that leads to the authenticity of it being “Live” is when, after Matt and Scott trade the lead, and Mitch comes in with “Baby, I compare you…” Mitch’s mic level was probably still on his BGV settings for that first syllable.
@@VictorHernandezVH1 No idea what Mitch and Kirstin did with their IEMs, although pulling them this early in the song seems a little weird to me (but not being a singer, I have no idea). I suspected that they either switched to hear each other, since they're both singing harmony with each other now that Scott's in the lead, or just turned down the volume if they were tuned to Scott.
@@Badger77722 Not Right AND Left ears. Just left. The right ear would still have their monitor feed. But if Scott's initial level overpowered everything else, they wouldn't have been able to hear themselves. Which was remedied by removing the left. I have no idea why it was the left ear IEM they removed. But it was immediate, and their mechanics were identical. I have 100% certainty they have repeatedly practiced contingency plans for anything that could go wrong. "The show must go on."
@@Badger77722 If Kirstin does anything with her IEMS, it may be adjusting their physical placement which dramatically affects the frequencies heard. All audio adjustments are executed by the audio engineer(s.) Even the positioning in the ear should be rock-solid. At this level of equipment, IEMs come with a prescription that has to be filled by an audiologist where they take a cast of your ear so that each person's IEMs are custom fit to their specific ears. (It's pretty cool.) Now it's not all that uncommon to see singers drape their IEMs on their neck like an untied bow-tie. That's the sign of an audio engineer failing to provide what the singer either wants or needs.
Kevin is amazing and thankfully had amazing parents who recognized his talents and started him in piano lessons when he was something like 4 years old. I believe that he added the cello at around 10 years old to his repertoire and don't know when he started to play the saxophone. There's a recording out there of him as a teenager playing the sax in Carnegie Hall. It's worth a watch and one that not a lot of PTX fans get to see very often.
Great reaction! About Kevin's Celloboxing....you really need to look at Kevin's 5th. It is a live performance and awesome. Scott opens by how they found Kevin, and Kevin gives some of his background before his performance, playing the Cello and Beatboxing simultaneously. Think you would really enjoy it!
Expect to see more of Matt going forward. He was already good enough for Pentatonix in 2017, but lately his range seems to be growing larger by the day. I believe he has the largest range of any member of Pentatonix, past or present, and _it's still growing!_ They recorded "O Holy Night" for one of their earliest Christmas albums, but when they wanted to put it on their 2023 Christmas album they decided they had to re-record it, to take full advantage of Matt's voice. From that album, I think "Kiss From a Rose," "O Holy Night," and "Pure Imagination / Christmas Time is Here" are all possibilities for a Grammy next year.
I recently had the extreme pleasure to see them live in December for their Christmas concert, and they performed this song towards the end. The guitar sounds are him playing it on cello. He was found by pentatonix performing cello-boxing online. He is an amazing cellist and saxophonist and won different contests with each instrument. Please listen to some of Kevin's solo stuff under his alias of KO.
Yeah, Kevin. He is something special. Finished med school and joined a band as a beat boxer. I wonder if there were any awkward moments around the family table.😍🤣😎
The Matt/Kevin powerhouse is featured in “New Rules/ Are you Somebody” mash up. I solidified my love for Matt in “The Sound of Silence” and if you really want to see a KO showcase class of excellence watch his “Down” solo cover. Thank you for your insightful reaction!
Kevin is a Beast! Wish he and Eddie Van Halen could have played together just once. Kevin might be an advanced human from the future sent back to show us our potential. Or Kevin could be the Da Vinci of our time. Kevin is such a true genius and a musical genius. He has so many talents in him I can't believe he hasn't self-combusted. Can play multiple instruments, sing, beatbox, write, compose, speaks multiple languages, perfect pitch, as if that wasn't enough, he was pre-med at Yale. He is also a humble and wonderful human. Maybe when peace. he is done making music, he can become a Nobel Laureate after curing cancer and brokering world peace.
As I saw in another comment that he came in second in a yo yo mah competition. He has also been highly praised by Yo Yo Mah as well. I think he did tour with an orchestra between the audition for the sing off and when the show started. It was on a podcast where he was talking about how that was for one of the signs he felt God was sending him that he wanted him to do music instead of being a doctor.
One suggestion only…. “Kevin’s Fifth” Live Version. This man is so talented, and that is not even using a strong enough word for him. “Kevin’s Fifth” will give you a big and huge glimpse into our KO’s world. He is one of those over the top talented people, not just in the music world but in his life as well. So humble, real and kind. You will not regret it, especially with your instrument and music background. ✌🏻
Kevin's Fifth. Kevin's Fifth. Kevin's Fifth. You want to see more of just how talented he is with a cello, watch Kevin's Fifth. He plays 3 pieces so you get an idea of his technique, his instrumental voice and his creativity. Kevin is a Grandmaster of 3 instruments including cello.
Awesome reaction you focus on things many don’t and it adds so much. This is an incredible performance and you hel me understand why it’s so awesome. Thank you for your talent.
Wait a minute, you haven’t really heard Matt?? Have you done the new ‘Oh Holy Night’!? If you haven’t, you better BUCKLE THE HELL UP. He absolutely murdered, buried, then dug up and resurrected his solo in it. I’m not joking dude, it’s like nothing I’ve ever heard!!
Guitar effect is likely the cello. If u have not seen yet watch Kevin’s solo video “Down”. He does looping but also does the cello as well and you can see firsthand how he makes it sound like an electric guitar.
I would love for you to react to PTX O Holy Night. The season may have passed, but this upgrade has no season. P.S. You said you wanted to hear Matt??? He is featured in this one and it leaves me absolutely speechless.
You should check out Kevin Olusola Down. It’s absolutely incredible, he plays Cello, cello beatboxes, beatboxes and sings. A must watch to see just how gifted this man is!!
As @bethphillips9693 mentions, Kirstie's countermelody is in the original song, but it's nowhere near as prominent. And Seal's version sounds to me like "If I should fall," whiile Kirstie's (I think) is "If I should die." But what I really want to point out, Shawka, comes right after Kirstin's solo. If you watch Kevin closely shortly after 15:27, you can see his toe touch a pedal. I think that's the key to the mystery: for this unique performance, there must be some looping/layering of Kevin's part, because he clearly can't do that high string effect that you noticed at the same time as his main cello part AND his beatboxing. They pulled out all the stops on this performance (which is different from the one on the album), and brought us a surreal piece of music that even a loyalist like me will admit might not be fully reproducible in a strictly live rendition.
I agree with the other comments about O Holy Night. You HAVE to react to it. It really is the best thing I have ever heard them do. It is better than Kiss From A Rose. And you know that song was kick ass!!! Another song/performance you need to react to is Kevin doing what Kevin does best... playing his cello while beat boxing. It is a LIVE performance during one of their concerts. It is so good and I think you will love it. The talent he has is just mind-blowing. It is called Kevin's Fifth. Here is the link to KEVIN'S FIFTH th-cam.com/video/DbCasvcNx78/w-d-xo.htmlsi=bwZFDKE8MdwZnBXG Hope you are doing well. Great reaction as always. Thanks for that. Please react to these 2 songs. I promise you will love them. Sending you love from Texas!!❤❤
PTX will always be my favorite but I just heard you comment on bell tones, and for bell tones you really need to hear The Bass Gang! Especially the ones arranged by their youngest member Marwan Ayman. Love what you do, keep it up! 😊
Kevin is EPIC !!!!! This is really a song that highlights his extraordinary talents. And Yes that was Kevin SINGING that "BABY" in those high notes. EPIC !!!! That's all I can say. If you think this was incredible, you MUST check out "The Kevin Show/ Kevin's Fifth" video. He will blow your mind, blow your socks off, blow out out of the water and ...
You can tell this is live, for nothing else than Mitch and Kirstie yanking their in ear pieces out when Scott lets out with "baby". Kevin more or less invented "cello boxing" and this is a great example of this skill.
@@jlelliotton I guarantee you that move where they smoothly pull out their “Left” In Ear Monitors was a moved they practiced in case of a situation like this. Another testament to the authenticity of it being “Live” is when Mitch takes over the “Baby, I compare you to a…” we can only faintly hear Mitch on the first syllable of “Baby.” I’m guessing Mitch’s mic was still at his BGV level, and then was immediately set to his “Lead” levels.
Fantastic reaction! You notice so many nuances. You’ll really enjoy “Kevin’s Fifth” from last year’s Christmas and Summer tours, and Kevin and Matt’s new version of the PTX Grammy winning “Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy” they performed on the Christmas tour this year. Videos are available for both and I’d love your reaction!
I have come to discover that as long as I can see all of the singing in the same frame, I can discern each of their voices easily, otherwise I get lost.
Yes, the counter-melody is in Seal's original. I'd like to point out how at one point in the cello solo the BGVs stop and simultaneously lower their mics and defer to Kevin. IMHO it's a sign of their utmost respect for Kevin.
There are several videos out there with Kevin by himself, playing and singing. He’s incredibly talented. Just think Scott found him by typing in beatboxer into Google in 2011. Talk about fate bringing people together. You should watch the short film of them recording their Evergreen album. Kevin plays a big part in their arrangements as well as percussion.
Kevin's bowing does change when he adds in the beatboxing. I don't know if it's to accommodate doing two things at once, or if it's just the way he wants it to sound. It's still fantastic, whichever it is.
It’s an electric cello so the guitar sounds WERE generated by and through the cello. He has played and placed in International competition…Yo Yo Ma’s competition,
I believe it’s Kevin playing it on the cello, but he has it on a loop. If you watch him when you hear the guitar effect he is actually playing something else. Just my opinion.
Yeah..The high swooping sound effect is so cool. It has to be pre-recorded and initiated at unique times for emphasis. Also the drumming crescendo just prior to the big Bay Baeh looks either pre-recorded or maybe Matt is doing it live.
I believe Kevin's e-cello solo was not improvised as it matches the studio recording. But, if you do want so see Kevin improvise on the cello he did so with Jacob Szekely at a Creative Strings festival they are playing Isn't She Lovely by Stevie Wonder th-cam.com/video/bqvm0oWUmdw/w-d-xo.html
So this is Kevin's electric cello, which (IIRC) he calls "Mr. Carter." In most of the other videos where he plays (Say Something and Radioactive, for a couple of examples), he's playing his orchestral cello, which he calls Beyoncé. And yes, the electric guitar sound was probably from the cello. I don't know how familiar you are with this instrument. One of the most prominent uses of electric cello in recent years was the main theme from Wonder Woman (2017), featuring cellist Tina Guo: th-cam.com/video/tI2ASp0f7GU/w-d-xo.html (A duet with her and Kevin would be beyond awesome.). ETA: Also check out the recent live fan recording (albeit a good-quality one) of "Kevin's Fifth" from one of Pentatonix' live concerts.
If you wanna see Matt featured again, O Holy Night is a MUST WATCH! Might also be one of, if not THE best thing they've done.
Yes you MUST react to O Holy Night!
I have to agree with this comment! I know Christmas is past, but you should not have to wait for a whole year to witness that MASTERPIECE! ❤
I agree. Oh Holy Night is the best song they have done which is saying something. All of their songs are fantastic but that is the best in my opinion. It knocked The Prayer to a close 2nd for me.
Absolutely the best arrangement of theirs to date, IMO. It left me speechless.
YESSSSSSS!!
Every single time I watch someone react to this video I start hysterically laughing when Kevin hits the cello/high note combo. Everyone is blown away. 😂❤
You're one of the few reactors who recognizes, or least mentions, the Kirstie/Mitch blending secret sauce and I love ya for it. I think it's a once in a generation pairing and one of the things that makes PTX so special. Btw, I've seen it mentioned that KO can be seen using a foot switch to trigger different effects on the cello. He was a member of the Yale Orchestra cello section for two years and placed 2nd in a Yo Yo Ma competition.
So good!
I agree about the Kirstie/Mitch blending. It’s one of the reasons that a female voice does not stick out like a sore thumb among 4 male voices, IMO. Plus, all of them have such incredible range, they can blend on the scale, wherever that may be.
Kevin is exceptional at everything he does, while Mitch is the one I’m drawn to the most, Kevin is the most talented of all of them. In my opinion.
Kevin performed twice (that I know of) at Carnegie Hall, as a soloist in cello and saxophone. I believe as a teenager. He is a musical phenom!
Exactly right. Pentatonix wasn't even a gleam in Scott's eye when Kevin performed at Carnegie Hall.
I swore he played piano at 12 yrs old at Carnegie. Was it not piano? My memory is so bad. He can play numerous instruments but he's a grandmaster at sax, piano and cello, is that correct?
@@Anjalena I just checked Wikipedia. I was SURE that when I checked it before it said sax and cello, but you're at least half right; it's piano and sax. The dates aren't given, however.
When he was 12 "he was selected as the principal saxophonist of the United States Collegiate Wind Band and toured Europe during the summer for three weeks"; I suspect that's where you got 12 years old from.
@@margretrosenberg420 I used to follow them in a pretty major way when Avi was still in the group. Kind of broke my heart when he left and I had a hard time watching them for a long time. But I do remember getting information from somewhere and I feel like it was either the Netflix special On My Way Home or possibly videos on KO's channel. As I recall he has a series of like three or four videos where he talks about his journey that led him to Pentatonix. I have a pretty bad memory though so I really can't say where I got it from. Thanks so much for double-checking for me. I really appreciate it. Also I like your username. It's literally two and a half minutes right now from 4:20 a.m. *time to wake n bake*
@@Anjalena 😄As far as I knew my username was simply MargretRosenberg, that being my name. TH-cam added the 420 for its own obscure reasons; I don't even try to understand the algorithm at this point.
Kevin soloed at Carnage Hall as a teen. True enigma.
...on two different instruments. Once on the cello, and once on the saxophone. The sax performance is on TH-cam (it's a segment from the PBS show From the Top, and his interview after the performance is interesting as well. He turned down acceptances from Penn and Stanford!
At the end, you need to watch both of their videos that came up. The recorded Pure Imagination/Christmas Time is Here the same day in that studio. An O Holy Night is mind blowing.
KO is amazing. Check out Kevin’s 5th. Amazing. Thanks for a great review.
Yes Kevin is super super talented. He came second it a competition to be trained under Yo Yo Ma. His cello playing is phenomenal. He also play saxaphone, is a fantastic songwriter speaks several languages including Mandarin and was Pre-med at Yale! He is the only person in the world (that we know of!) who 'cello-boxes' i.e. plays cello and beatboxes at the same time. Plus, as you saw here, he is an incredible singer too! If you want to see him doing all these things, watch his cover of Marian Hill's 'Down' on his channel. It's unbelievable
His channel is : K.O. Kevin Olusola.
Kevin's been playing cello since he was 8 yrs old and has twice played at Carnegie Hall...once on the cello and once on the sax.
Yep Kevin is phenomenal and super humble and sweet. All of PTX is really. I love them so much.
You think Kevinis great in this one (and he is). You should take a listen to Kevin's 5th. It will blow your socks off.
Kirstie's solo line is in the original song, it's very faint but it's there. Kevin is a freaking genius, musically and otherwise. Amazing self discipline and faith that informs his life in every way. I admire them all, but Kevin - he's outstanding.
Kevin's 5th. Links are out there. Live cut from one of their Christmas concerts. You have to react to our boy completely off the cuff and owning a stage. Also talks about his background.
It's amazing for sure!!
Highly recommend you listen to and react to Kevin’s fifth. It’s live and you will be floored🎉
I am so glad you mentioned Kirstie. To me she carries most of the song from the back. Love her ❤
Kevin appeared on the NPR high school concert program playing sax. Yo-Yo Ma has said he's one of the best cellists of his generation. And knowing Yo-Yo personally, that's great praise.
I agree 100%. O Holy Night is literally breathtaking. Matt and Kirstie especially. O Holy Night should win a Grammy.
sir, there are SO many recordings #PTX has done with Matt having a solo. the Grinch song comes to mind, one of the first I believe, and Simon and Garfunkel's Sound of Silence is another.
KO is about the most amazing artist I’ve ever listened to! If you didn’t notice, except when he’s playing the solo, he’s beatboxing at the same time! The man is a phenom!
Kevin has perfect pitch. He began piano lessons at age 4, cello at age 6, and alto saxophone at age 10. He beatboxes while playing the cello, a technique he calls "celloboxing." He performed at Carnegie Hall twice when he was a teenager, once on saxophone and once on cello. He graduated from Yale in 2011 with a pre-med major and had been accepted to Yale Medical School before he decided to become a professional beatboxer instead of a brilliant surgeon. He speaks five languages fluently: English, French, Spanish, German, and Mandarin Chinese. He's one of the kindest people in the world, and when he laughs he makes the whole planet seem like a brighter place. And someday I would dearly love to have a conversation with him; I have a whole list of questions I'd like to ask.
Think about this for a moment. After Pentatonix won _The Sing-Off,_ won that recording contract they'd wanted so badly, only to have their hopes dashed by Epic reneging on the contract, what kept them together?
Kevin had already been accepted to Yale Medical School before he'd graduated with that pre-med major just a few months before. It would have been a piece of cake for him to go to medical school, become the brilliant surgeon he'd originally intended to be. But he didn't. He'd thrown in his lot with three remarkable teenagers and a bass and he was completely committed. He stuck with them theough the hard times, when it would have been easy for him to leave, but if he'd left that would have been the end of the dream; Pentatonix would have been no more. And that is something that Kevin would never do. It is totally outside of Kevin's character to betray a friend, even when it's the logical thing to do, and even when most people wouldn't see it as a betrayal at all.
I was wrong. Kevin's Carnegie Hall performances were on piano and saxophone, not sax and cello.
Their sound has matured so much. Babytonix will always be with us and be loved and appreciated. However, their new sound is just amazing.
If you rewatch it, notice that when Scott first comes in, watch Mitch & Kirstie immediately adjust their ear pieces - loud! :) I love this rendition of this song (which was never one of my favorites before) and appreciate your commentary. Great reaction - and I like how you acknowledge everyone's contribution - Matt in O Holy Night is stellar and in Amazing Grace and Sound of Silence! I just love the tone of Matt's voice! Want to be even more impressed? There are live videos of Kevin during their most recent tour where he does Kevin's Fifth (his modern take on Beethoven's Fifth).
Thank you so much!
Check out Kevin's original Renegade and be prepared to beblown away
Kevin’s perfect pitch is just *chef’s kiss* so so talented
Kevin was using an adaptive foot pedal that had the sounds prerecorded. You can see it when they pan out. Plus, it’s an electric cello.
Kirstin - All right boys...voices and cello up
Mitch - LoOove remains - MiniMitchSlap
Scott - Blue Eyed Soul Dragon Drive-by
Matt - Renames song 'Falsetto from a Bass'
Kevin - "Hold my bow".. "BaaaaBYY!!!!".. Olusolagasm
If you'd like to see more of Kevin's magic, check out his cover of DOWN. You're welcome!❤
When Scott makes his entrance, both Mitch and Kirstie simultaneously reach up to their in-ear monitors and make some kind of adjustment. It's something I don't think I've ever seen before. Kirstie adjusts her IEM quite a bit (once or twice a song, usually) during live concerts, but Mitch usually doesn't do much with his.
Two videos with good Matt solos are Sound of Silence and their recent O Holy Night. You've reacted to Sound of Silence, where Matt sings a verse as lead; in O Holy Night, he (and Kirstie) kind of steal the show for me, he has a verse on his own again and he really makes it count!
This arrangement is a little bit of a throwback for me - Kirstie spends almost all of her time providing harmony for the others, with only a short solo of her own. But she's really the glue that holds the song together - even though she isn't in the lead, you can hear her throughout, and the song wouldn't be the same without her. It reminds me of the early days of PTX, when she didn't really like to be in the lead and preferred a more background role.
A question that comes up in interviews all the time is "Who can sing higher?" It's a little bit up-in-the-air, but both Kirstie and Mitch have said that Kevin (in his falsetto) can reach the higher notes.
@@Badger77722
After analysis that rivals the “Zapruder film,” I think that Mitch and Kirsten pulled the IEMs, respectively, from their left ears.
Another element that leads to the authenticity of it being “Live” is when, after Matt and Scott trade the lead, and Mitch comes in with “Baby, I compare you…” Mitch’s mic level was probably still on his BGV settings for that first syllable.
@@VictorHernandezVH1 No idea what Mitch and Kirstin did with their IEMs, although pulling them this early in the song seems a little weird to me (but not being a singer, I have no idea). I suspected that they either switched to hear each other, since they're both singing harmony with each other now that Scott's in the lead, or just turned down the volume if they were tuned to Scott.
@@Badger77722
Not Right AND Left ears. Just left. The right ear would still have their monitor feed. But if Scott's initial level overpowered everything else, they wouldn't have been able to hear themselves. Which was remedied by removing the left.
I have no idea why it was the left ear IEM they removed. But it was immediate, and their mechanics were identical.
I have 100% certainty they have repeatedly practiced contingency plans for anything that could go wrong.
"The show must go on."
@@Badger77722
If Kirstin does anything with her IEMS, it may be adjusting their physical placement which dramatically affects the frequencies heard. All audio adjustments are executed by the audio engineer(s.) Even the positioning in the ear should be rock-solid. At this level of equipment, IEMs come with a prescription that has to be filled by an audiologist where they take a cast of your ear so that each person's IEMs are custom fit to their specific ears.
(It's pretty cool.)
Now it's not all that uncommon to see singers drape their IEMs on their neck like an untied bow-tie. That's the sign of an audio engineer failing to provide what the singer either wants or needs.
O Holy Night will knock you out of your chair!!
Kevin is amazing and thankfully had amazing parents who recognized his talents and started him in piano lessons when he was something like 4 years old. I believe that he added the cello at around 10 years old to his repertoire and don't know when he started to play the saxophone. There's a recording out there of him as a teenager playing the sax in Carnegie Hall. It's worth a watch and one that not a lot of PTX fans get to see very often.
Great reaction! About Kevin's Celloboxing....you really need to look at Kevin's 5th. It is a live performance and awesome. Scott opens by how they found Kevin, and Kevin gives some of his background before his performance, playing the Cello and Beatboxing simultaneously. Think you would really enjoy it!
I will check it out
Yes do. You will be amazed
Expect to see more of Matt going forward. He was already good enough for Pentatonix in 2017, but lately his range seems to be growing larger by the day. I believe he has the largest range of any member of Pentatonix, past or present, and _it's still growing!_
They recorded "O Holy Night" for one of their earliest Christmas albums, but when they wanted to put it on their 2023 Christmas album they decided they had to re-record it, to take full advantage of Matt's voice. From that album, I think "Kiss From a Rose," "O Holy Night," and "Pure Imagination / Christmas Time is Here" are all possibilities for a Grammy next year.
I recently had the extreme pleasure to see them live in December for their Christmas concert, and they performed this song towards the end. The guitar sounds are him playing it on cello. He was found by pentatonix performing cello-boxing online. He is an amazing cellist and saxophonist and won different contests with each instrument. Please listen to some of Kevin's solo stuff under his alias of KO.
Yeah, Kevin. He is something special. Finished med school and joined a band as a beat boxer. I wonder if there were any awkward moments around the family table.😍🤣😎
Kevin plays cello in Shallow and Say Something also.
Dang, was going to take trash out after checking this out. I may have to pause it. sooo good reaction!!
Thank you!
that counter measure is on the kiss from a rose from the batman movie.
The song was originally released on his 2nd studio album titled “Seal.”
Not to be confused with his debut album titled “Seal.”
The Matt/Kevin powerhouse is featured in “New Rules/ Are you Somebody” mash up. I solidified my love for Matt in “The Sound of Silence” and if you really want to see a KO showcase class of excellence watch his “Down” solo cover. Thank you for your insightful reaction!
The guitar sound was Kevin on cello. You should hear his Kevin's 5th. Kevin produced & directed the whole thing. Matt plays drum for him.😊
Kevin is a Beast!
Wish he and Eddie Van Halen could have played together just once.
Kevin might be an advanced human from the future sent back to show us our potential. Or Kevin could be the Da Vinci of our time. Kevin is such a true genius and a musical genius. He has so many talents in him I can't believe he hasn't self-combusted. Can play multiple instruments, sing, beatbox, write, compose, speaks multiple languages, perfect pitch, as if that wasn't enough, he was pre-med at Yale. He is also a humble and wonderful human.
Maybe when peace. he is done making music, he can become a Nobel Laureate after curing cancer and brokering world peace.
That moment you expect a Mitch Slap but get knocked into a different dimension by Kevin.
Saw them live last summer. Amazing! Simply put, Kevinis a genius!!
As I saw in another comment that he came in second in a yo yo mah competition. He has also been highly praised by Yo Yo Mah as well. I think he did tour with an orchestra between the audition for the sing off and when the show started. It was on a podcast where he was talking about how that was for one of the signs he felt God was sending him that he wanted him to do music instead of being a doctor.
You need to watch “Kevin’s Fifth” performance from their live concert …he and Matt just go off. The most recent one from this past fall was excellent.
If you ever get to hear PTX live, Kevin showcases his virtuouso in "Kevin's Fifth". You won't believe how good he is.
One suggestion only…. “Kevin’s Fifth” Live Version. This man is so talented, and that is not even using a strong enough word for him. “Kevin’s Fifth” will give you a big and huge glimpse into our KO’s world. He is one of those over the top talented people, not just in the music world but in his life as well. So humble, real and kind. You will not regret it, especially with your instrument and music background. ✌🏻
Kevin's Fifth.
Kevin's Fifth.
Kevin's Fifth.
You want to see more of just how talented he is with a cello, watch Kevin's Fifth. He plays 3 pieces so you get an idea of his technique, his instrumental voice and his creativity. Kevin is a Grandmaster of 3 instruments including cello.
@@Anjalena
Hear! Hear!
Awesome reaction you focus on things many don’t and it adds so much. This is an incredible performance and you hel me understand why it’s so awesome. Thank you for your talent.
Awesome thank you!
No problem I come from an instrumental family with 2 PhD music majors as brothers. French horn and conducting. @@ShawkaReacts
Kevin played cello at Carnegie Hall while still in high school.
Wait a minute, you haven’t really heard Matt?? Have you done the new ‘Oh Holy Night’!? If you haven’t, you better BUCKLE THE HELL UP. He absolutely murdered, buried, then dug up and resurrected his solo in it. I’m not joking dude, it’s like nothing I’ve ever heard!!
Guitar effect is likely the cello. If u have not seen yet watch Kevin’s solo video “Down”. He does looping but also does the cello as well and you can see firsthand how he makes it sound like an electric guitar.
watch Oh Holy night- Matt is amazing in it!
By the way I absolutely love your reactions.
Glad you like them!
Matt sings a great part in
The Sound Of Silence
Please react to it
Watch the video closely and you can see Kevin kick a box to switch to guitar 🌺
I would love for you to react to PTX O Holy Night. The season may have passed, but this upgrade has no season. P.S. You said you wanted to hear Matt??? He is featured in this one and it leaves me absolutely speechless.
You gotta listen to Down by Kevin he does looping and everything live and I think you'd enjoy it
You should check out Kevin Olusola Down. It’s absolutely incredible, he plays Cello, cello beatboxes, beatboxes and sings. A must watch to see just how gifted this man is!!
Sublime.
Kevin played sax at carnagie hall as a 17 year old, at a show for talented children, its on you tube
As @bethphillips9693 mentions, Kirstie's countermelody is in the original song, but it's nowhere near as prominent. And Seal's version sounds to me like "If I should fall," whiile Kirstie's (I think) is "If I should die." But what I really want to point out, Shawka, comes right after Kirstin's solo. If you watch Kevin closely shortly after 15:27, you can see his toe touch a pedal. I think that's the key to the mystery: for this unique performance, there must be some looping/layering of Kevin's part, because he clearly can't do that high string effect that you noticed at the same time as his main cello part AND his beatboxing. They pulled out all the stops on this performance (which is different from the one on the album), and brought us a surreal piece of music that even a loyalist like me will admit might not be fully reproducible in a strictly live rendition.
Great reaction! Thank you for all of the additional insight.
I agree with the other comments about O Holy Night. You HAVE to react to it. It really is the best thing I have ever heard them do. It is better than Kiss From A Rose. And you know that song was kick ass!!!
Another song/performance you need to react to is Kevin doing what Kevin does best... playing his cello while beat boxing. It is a LIVE performance during one of their concerts. It is so good and I think you will love it. The talent he has is just mind-blowing. It is called Kevin's Fifth.
Here is the link to
KEVIN'S FIFTH
th-cam.com/video/DbCasvcNx78/w-d-xo.htmlsi=bwZFDKE8MdwZnBXG
Hope you are doing well. Great reaction as always. Thanks for that. Please react to these 2 songs. I promise you will love them.
Sending you love from Texas!!❤❤
PTX will always be my favorite but I just heard you comment on bell tones, and for bell tones you really need to hear The Bass Gang! Especially the ones arranged by their youngest member Marwan Ayman. Love what you do, keep it up! 😊
Kevin is EPIC !!!!! This is really a song that highlights his extraordinary talents. And Yes that was Kevin SINGING that "BABY" in those high notes. EPIC !!!! That's all I can say. If you think this was incredible, you MUST check out "The Kevin Show/ Kevin's Fifth" video. He will blow your mind, blow your socks off, blow out out of the water and ...
You can tell this is live, for nothing else than Mitch and Kirstie yanking their in ear pieces out when Scott lets out with "baby". Kevin more or less invented "cello boxing" and this is a great example of this skill.
@@jlelliotton
I guarantee you that move where they smoothly pull out their “Left” In Ear Monitors was a moved they practiced in case of a situation like this.
Another testament to the authenticity of it being “Live” is when Mitch takes over the “Baby, I compare you to a…” we can only faintly hear Mitch on the first syllable of “Baby.” I’m guessing Mitch’s mic was still at his BGV level, and then was immediately set to his “Lead” levels.
Please check out Kevin's Fifth. You will be blessed.
Fantastic reaction! You notice so many nuances. You’ll really enjoy “Kevin’s Fifth” from last year’s Christmas and Summer tours, and Kevin and Matt’s new version of the PTX Grammy winning “Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy” they performed on the Christmas tour this year. Videos are available for both and I’d love your reaction!
Thank you so much!
Great analysis. I just subscribed!
Thanks and welcome!
I have come to discover that as long as I can see all of the singing in the same frame, I can discern each of their voices easily, otherwise I get lost.
Kevin is beatboxing during Scott's solo
This also is a live performance from the Vevo Studios.
@@lindaosmon5224
Thanks, but we’re the choir.
Yes, the counter-melody is in Seal's original.
I'd like to point out how at one point in the cello solo the BGVs stop and simultaneously lower their mics and defer to Kevin. IMHO it's a sign of their utmost respect for Kevin.
He has distortion on his cello like you’d put on a guitar. He also has prerecorded cello loops that he utilizes.
There are several videos out there with Kevin by himself, playing and singing. He’s incredibly talented. Just think Scott found him by typing in beatboxer into Google in 2011. Talk about fate bringing people together.
You should watch the short film of them recording their Evergreen album. Kevin plays a big part in their arrangements as well as percussion.
Great reaction 😊
Glad you enjoyed!
Kevin has a pedal for the guitar sound on the cello.
That’s his electric cello. He’s played Carnegie Hall.
you can check out Matt in Your a Mean one Mr. Grinch... Matt takes the lead
Kevin is a classically trained Cellist, he has in his early years played with Yo Yo Ma
Watch Kevin's fifth! He's so talented
PTX all grown up!!!
Kevin's bowing does change when he adds in the beatboxing. I don't know if it's to accommodate doing two things at once, or if it's just the way he wants it to sound. It's still fantastic, whichever it is.
Recommend their new version of O Holy Name. Epic!😮
You, excellent. Music perfect (even though I wish that Kirsties mic had been upped sooner in her solo.)
You need to see Kevin's fifth from their live performance
It’s an electric cello so the guitar sounds WERE generated by and through the cello. He has played and placed in International competition…Yo Yo Ma’s competition,
watch Kevins's 5th by Pentatonix the is a PHD doctor - Scott gives some back round of Kevin joining the group
If you REALLY want hear Kevin on the cello, listen to his solo "Renegade".
I believe it’s Kevin playing it on the cello, but he has it on a loop. If you watch him when you hear the guitar effect he is actually playing something else. Just my opinion.
Yeah..The high swooping sound effect is so cool. It has to be pre-recorded and initiated at unique times for emphasis. Also the drumming crescendo just prior to the big Bay Baeh looks either pre-recorded or maybe Matt is doing it live.
Watch KO’s version of “Down”!
I believe Kevin's e-cello solo was not improvised as it matches the studio recording. But, if you do want so see Kevin improvise on the cello he did so with Jacob Szekely at a Creative Strings festival they are playing Isn't She Lovely by Stevie Wonder th-cam.com/video/bqvm0oWUmdw/w-d-xo.html
You MUST watch Kevin's solo stuff!!! Kevin's Fifth!
So this is Kevin's electric cello, which (IIRC) he calls "Mr. Carter." In most of the other videos where he plays (Say Something and Radioactive, for a couple of examples), he's playing his orchestral cello, which he calls Beyoncé. And yes, the electric guitar sound was probably from the cello. I don't know how familiar you are with this instrument. One of the most prominent uses of electric cello in recent years was the main theme from Wonder Woman (2017), featuring cellist Tina Guo: th-cam.com/video/tI2ASp0f7GU/w-d-xo.html (A duet with her and Kevin would be beyond awesome.). ETA: Also check out the recent live fan recording (albeit a good-quality one) of "Kevin's Fifth" from one of Pentatonix' live concerts.
Listen to their rendition of queen bohemian rhapsody
They fake a reverb on one song.😊
Watch Kevin's 5th since you love instruments ❤
Kevin is known as a celloboxer!!
You want a chellogasim, should watch Kevin do his "Kevin's 5th" it will knock your socks off!
Kevin does a bunch of solo work which you might enjoy…tremendously.
If you want to see extraordinary talent watch Keven and Matt do “Dance of the sugar plum fairy REIMAGINED” you will be blown away
This ls a live performance. 😊
The bit that Kirstie performs before Kevin's cello solo: th-cam.com/video/yivLt9cTaio/w-d-xo.htmlsi=ekvCwYCOuCWSJ7mQ&t=152