The Sing-Off: It's Delightful, It's Delicious, It's Delilah

What am I doing recapping “The Sing-Off”?!

I have someone in my own household who is incredibly knowledgeable when it comes to music, has a great ear (two, actually) and was in a collegiate acapella group for FOUR YEARS.

So consider this both my first recap for the third season of “The Sing-Off” AND the start of my campaign to shame my girlfriend Erica into breaking this show down.

Before we get to the musical performances, I want to welcome new judge Sara Bareilles into the fold. Even though female judges on reality shows apparently have a chip installed into their brains that forces them to do stuff like blather on about contestant’s “journeys” or comment on their looks, I found Bareilles to be a major upgrade from Nicole Scherzinger, who mostly found new and unexciting ways to say nothing. (At least she looked fantastic in HD.)

Bareilles, on the other hand, managed to slip in specific and helpful criticism despite the fact that she was visibly and endearing nervous during her first night on the job. (What was that about Cat’s Pajamas’ “huge package”?)

Last night, eight of this season’s 16 groups performed, with two sorry sacks being sent home by the end of the two-hour premiere.

If Erica were here, she’d tell you all about how much she HATED the fact that two of these poor groups barely had the chance to unpack their bags before being unceremoniously dumped. I, on the other hand, am perfectly ok never seeing the Fannin Family again. (Sorry…but it’s true.)

Let’s get to the evening’s first batch of performances, featuring (in order of appearance) The Yellow Jackets, Fanning Family, Afro-Blue and Delilah.

The Yellow Jackets: The group (which is not from Georgia Tech, as I assumed, but from the University of Rochester in New York) performed “Wavin’ Flag”, more commonly known as the most recent “World Cup song.” (At least if you live outside the U.S. and care about soccer.)

With their bright yellow blazers and flag-assisted choreography, the Yellow Jackets were certainly near the top of the leader board last night when it came to flair and style. Their soloists were strong (especially that particularly angelic tenor), but I think they can make some improvements as a group. As Ben Folds pointed out, their tempo fluctuated a few times. I don’t think they were at their best last night, but I look forward to watching them try to get there.

Fannin Family: To be honest, I was a little creeped out by them during their brief bit in the opening group performance of Pink’s “Perfect.” Got a bit of a “Children of the Corn” vibe. That’s why I wasn’t surprised to learn that this group is comprised of siblings. It was equally unsurprising to learn that these siblings’ voices blend excellently together. Despite being led by a strong performance from their 14-year-old soloist, I found their arrangement of Selena Gomez’s “Who Says” to be too sleepy and everything about their performance was the opposite of dynamic.

Afro-Blue: This group (who performed Corrine Bailey Rae’s “Put Your Records On”) is just cool. Their soloist set a relaxed, self-assured tone and their bassist was insane. This group from traditionally black Howard University was my favorite group from the first batch. I mean, they’ve even got a token white girl! I know Afro-Blue is proud of their jazzy vibe, but I look forward to seeing how they interpret something a little more upbeat.

Delilah: All-female acapella groups have it tough. The fact of the matter is their basses (and other singers who comprise the bottom end) can’t go as low as guys, so their sound often winds up being tinny and a little irritating. (Do you think it's an accident that all-male groups have won the first two years?)

I don’t know if that’ll be Delilah’s downfall down the line, but last night the group dealt with that problem by featuring an astonishing solo from singer Amy and an interesting re-working of a super-popular (overplayed) song, Bruno Mars’ “Grenade.” This super group — comprised of former Sing-Off castoffs — is definitely a cut above the other all-girl groups we’ve seen on this show. (If Erica were here, she’d tell you how annoyed she is that people who’ve already been on this show got another chance to resurface and possibly robbed a new, deserving group of a spot.)

Afro-Blue and Delilah easily advanced and the Yellow Jackets edged past the Fannin Family, who clearly were not ready for prime time. (As evidenced by their messy swan song performance of “Tomorrow.”)

The next four contenders, in order of appearance were Urban Method, Cat’s Pajamas, Kinfolk 9 and Vocal Point.

Urban Method: I don’t think I’m breaking news here by saying that acapella is inherently dorky and cheesy, so I can appreciate the fact that this Denver group is trying to set itself apart with an “edgier” style. However, I think Urban Method takes itself WAY too seriously. They got off to a strong, dramatic start, and their lead singer/rapper Mykal DOES have some star quality, but I don’t think their arrangement really had anything special. The background singing wasn’t strong enough to support this performance when the singing and rapping parts came together in the end, which made things sound like a bit of a jumbled mess. Luckily, their vocal percussionist and bass helped pick up the pieces.

Cat’s Pajamas: This all-male group is pretty much exactly what most people would imagine of if you mentioned acapella music to them. Unfortunately, I don’t mean that as a compliment.

Their professionalism and polish on “Some Kind of Wonderful” is admirable, but they came off WAY too cheesy and I just didn’t see enough evidence to suggest they’d be able to do something vastly different or interesting. Oh well, at least they have those 200 shows per night (Ben!), I mean per year in Branson, Missouri. Also, why was their swan song (“Bye Bye Love”) better than their actual performance? (And somebody get their poor, overworked VP/bassist a glass of water.)

Kinfolk 9: Once I got over how terrible lead singer Moi Navarra’s hair is, I was mostly able to enjoy this group’s musical stylings on OneRepublic’s “Secrets.” Kinfolk 9 appear to be a collection of struggling musicians who assembled as a group to win this show. There was also a strong emphasis on artistry in their pre-performance package. Maybe I was influenced by their slightly pretentious pre-performance package, but I detected more than a hint of unease and desperation in Moi’s performance when I watched him, despite the fact that he actually sounded really good. (Or maybe I was just predisposed to disliking him because of his stupid hair and his stupid clothes…you’re a dad, Moi…dress like a grown up!) Maybe next time they perform, I’ll close my eyes and just listen. (Which reminds me…open your eyes when you sing, Moi!)

(If Erica were here, she’d point out that the reason the background singers didn’t gel very well is probably because they have a bunch of soloists trying to blend.)

Vocal Point: The final group of the evening (from BYU) delivered what was probably the most entertaining performance from both a visual AND musical standpoint. Like the Yellow Jackets before them, Vocal Point brought the bright blazers (and the punny!), but also brought a sense of joy to the stage without sacrificing any of their musical chops. That first modulation was sickly smooth. (The judge say “modulation”…I yell out, “key change!”)

So what’d you think of this episode? Is Ben Folds the best reality competition show judge? (Honestly…who’s better?) Will I ever NOT think of soft rock radio station mainstay Delilah (“De-lye-laaahhh”) when I see this group of girls perform? Is Nick Lacey human or an animatronic puppet programmed to robotically deliver terrible puns? (For the record, I think there’s a decent host buried in there somewhere…Lachey shows potential when he goes off script like he did when he accidentally interrupted Ben for a bit.)

Finally, do you think either Fannin Family or Cat’s Pajamas got a raw deal? (I’m ok with both eliminations.)