Oh man. I had no idea that video existed. OK I retract my previous statement -- THAT makes the most sense now, haha. Pretty good arrangment too, love what they did with the solo section. Though I imagine if they do end up doing that song they'll re-arrange it a bit, mostly 'cause that one is from 2008, and I'm sure they have almost all new members by now.
And one last rumination on all things Vocal Point. I feel bad for Ben. The two songs he sang lead on were the most criticized, but neither were his fault. He just shouldn't have sang on Ain't Too Proud, and IMO he had a great lead on I'll Be Missing You, and most of the issues were with background harmonies if I recall correctly. And the criticism for that one bugged me, as the judges mentioned the tuning issues as a result of *gasp* emotionally tapping into the song. THEN their next performance was a fun, slick a cappella clinic, and Ben (Folds this time!) said "You're back," Which to me, reallllly sent a mixed message when you consider why they were eliminated. It seemed that other groups got more a free pass for problems from tapping into the song than VP when they did theirs.
And I have to bring this up too, haha. Shawn Stockman posted this on his accesshollywood blog. And I don't like it.
***"Case in "point", Vocal Point is an amazing group of guys from Provo, Utah that nailed predominantly EVERY performance! They were creative, fun to watch and the girls loved them. My only issue -- if you even want to call it that -- is their "front man" spot.
You really didn't have a stand out one or two guys who would have been the "face" of the group. Their cohesiveness was their gift and their curse, because to me there wasn't a person that distinctive from the unit! With all that being said, I still feel they have a shot at being amazing recording artists and performers. But if you compare them to the other groups in the competition, I think you will understand what it is I mean"***
First off, I don't even think that's true. McKay and Jake are both fantastic leads with great (and distinct!) voices, and nailed everything they did. Secondly, it shows more confusing ambiguity from the judges, as it seemed half the time they wanted groups to show "depth on the benches" and now apparently they boot a group for having too much depth, despite the fact they have stand-out leads? Do not like. For what it's worth, they are my second most-downloaded group, and their stage energy absolutely translates to the audio experience.
And on the subject of comparing them to other groups on the show for reference, as Shawn says, who are Urban Method's stand-out leads? Myke is their "frontman" and he's not even a singer. And I know you feel despite everything that Urban are among the top 4 in terms of selling records, but I have to disagree, only if not for the facts that the internet produces, haha: They have the least amount of followers on twitter among the top groups and groups that have been eliminated before them and least amount of youtube views. And more importantly, their songs are among the least downloaded on itunes, again even compared to groups already eliminated. That just doesn't scream "popularity" to me, though I guess if they were marketed correctly it could work.
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But seriously, how is Urban Method still on? Again, hip-hop week showed other groups can do what they do just as well, but they (Urban) have never shown the opposite, which is pretty damn important for this type of show. I feel like they are getting a free pass as far as harmonies and singing arrangements go (coincidence that maybe their two best songs both feature next to no chord progressions in their original melodies? I think not). I was shocked Ben was the only one to even mention harmony issues in their first song this past week. Why is this? I thought the pitch issues were very evident and that was while watching the TV broadcast after the mix has been spruced up a bit. They looked uncomfortable just to be, well... singing. I'm starting to go crazy and am maybe wondering that the fact that their founder (I forget which one he is. Tony?) is close friends with a main producer of the show and they sang in an a cappella group together way back is why they're still around (though I don't realllly think that). But I'm at a loss, and now have this (irrational?) fear of them winning it all.
Oh and it kinda seemed in my last post I wanted VP over MatA (fD!), but really, UM, is who I thought should've been gone. Or even A-B, who are coasting off previous performances, and pedigree rather than execution. I really hope they have a good showing next week. It's long overdue.
And sorry for another long-ass, long-winded post, haha.