TV Review Pages

Monday, December 21, 2009

The Sing-Off: Nota Wins the A Cappella Contest

Puerto Rican group Nota won a $100,000 prize recording contract tonight on NBC's "The Sing-Off". The a cappella singing contest comes on the heels of FOX's incredibly popular series "Glee", based on a high school glee club.

The contest was squashed into one week of programing to fill the Christmas gap on NBC. The two hour finale was impressive. Musical guests Natasha Bedingfield and Bobby McFerrin taught the young singers how it's done. Especially Bobby McFerrin. What he did was simply amazing. Boys II Men also performed, as did all the judges (a new thing that can stop anytime).

The a cappella singing competition started with six groups and was quickly whittled down to the obvious top two (plus an extra one for drama). Hosted robotically by Nick Lachey (who also jumped in to sing in the finale) I actually hope there is another a capella competition. While these groups were all good, I've heard much better.

All the groups had their highlights and proved why they were there, there were no real train wrecks (except by wardrobe). The judges were Shawn Stockman (Boys II Men), Nicole (Pussy Cat Dolls, does it really matter which one) and the nerdy hotness that is Ben Folds (Ben Fold Five).

The judges took care of axing the obviously outclassed acts and left the viewing audience of text voters to pick between Nota, Beelzebubs and Voices of Lee. Nota and the Bubs were the fan favorites from the start. Voices of Lee were good, but not that good. VoL left "The Sing-Off" in third place.

Before the Voices of Lee left, Bobby McFerrin put on a show within a show. This was a class, a lesson from a master. You could see the kids all tentative at first waiting for his instructions as he led them through an improv of a cappella voices. Like a maestro leading his orchestra he led them to some of the most incredible sounds. Even the students looked surprised at what he got them to do.

In the end it was Nota that took home the big prize on "The Sing-Off". NBC had all but dubbed them the winners in the promos before any of the shows aired. Nota's version of "Down" by J-Shawn (who joined them on the finale) will likely by on any release they have.

I leave you with a glimpse of the master:

Bobby McFerrin ~ "Drive"

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