What makes Pentatonix’s ‘Hallelujah’ great? An analysis.

After bagging another award at the 58th Grammys, Pentatonix dropped their third Christmas album titled A Pentatonix Christmas. The biggest track on it is probably a cover of Leonard Cohen’s most famous Hallelujah. Not long after its release, the music video made its rounds on social media, complete with stunning cinematography and impeccable styling.

The song and video has been featured on platforms such as Time.com, billboard.com, and Mashable. I was minutely concerned when I saw the song on the track list. There is no shortage of great arrangements and recordings of Hallelujah on YouTube, a cappella or not. But after listening to it, it is safe to say that Pentatonix retains its streak of bringing epicness to its covers. Thinking back, we are after all talking about the group that revolutionised Little Drummer Boy and Mary, Did You Know. So what was it about their Hallelujah that got us raving? Here’s a personal analysis with my humble knowledge. I hope it comes off as more than a mere description.
[Caution: It may get technical.]

For this analysis, the song will be split into six sections, titled A to F. Timings of each section have been listed.

Section A (0:00 – 0:53)

The basic form of Hallelujah may be broken down into a simple verse-and-chorus, with text to each verse different from the previous, similar to that of Amazing Grace. This would pose a difficulty for arrangers to keep the song interesting as it goes on. A popular approach to this would be to utilise the technique of ‘layering’, which basically means adding layers of voices or parts as the song progresses. It is also ideal to start with as little as possible, providing more room for expansion. Pentatonix starts with nothing but Scott Hoying’s solo, then adding long hums from the third line of the verse.

Pentatonix retained the classic word-painting in this song in lines ‘well it goes like this the fourth the fifth’ and ‘the minor fall the major lift’, where ‘fourth’ and ‘fifth’ is sung on chords IV (Eb) and V (F) respectively. Also, ‘minor’ on the minor VI (Gm) chord and ‘major’ on the major IV (Eb) chord.

The addition of voices on the syllabi ‘lu’ and ‘jah’ in the chorus not only defines the harmony, but also keeps our ears interested with the constant alternating between one and five voices. It further supports the pendulum motion of the melody.

Section B (0:54 – 1:49)

A two-bar instrumental section succeeds the first chorus. This instrumental serves as accompaniment to the second verse, in which Avi Kaplan doubles as lead and bass, though the bass may be covered by Scott. On top of the new rhythmic interest in the accompaniment, the change in timbre of the solo voice gives this section a different character. A change in the syllabus in the accompaniment from the brief ‘ooh’ to ‘ah’ gives the overall sound more resonance and intensity, and aids the build up to the chorus with mild aggression.

A nifty tonicization into the relative minor occurs on ‘drew the hallelujah’ right before the chorus, which acts as a temporal rest-stop before proceeding. This was also executed in the first verse and will occur in the subsequent verses.

The chorus here is a copy of the first, but with Avi as the lead. Another feature would be Mitch Grassi’s 4-3 suspension of Bb to A in the quasi cadential 6/4 (Bb 6/4, but just Bb in this case) to the dominant chord (F) on the final ‘hallelujah’ of the chorus. It provides a subtle tension-and-release before the conclusive perfect cadence. These harmonic details are better felt than heard. It is a passive way of drawing attention from the ear.

Section C (1:50 – 2:45)

A point to take note would be that the last note of the melody from the previous chorus ends on the first bar of the instrumental. The same two-bar instrumental is heard but with an addition of the body percussion by Kevin Olusola. Kirstin Maldonado leads this section. Much like our eyes, our ears are attracted to motion. In this case, the motion of sound is created by the ‘stomps’ and ‘claps’ by Kevin.

The verse takes a whole new accompaniment in this section. It consists of long harmony notes in the background with the occasional harmonisation of the melody tastefully done. The song grows in intensity as the melody approaches the higher range of Kirstin’s voice, giving it belt-quality. A downward motion on ‘ha-lle’ brings us back to the calm in the chorus where echoes of ‘hallelujah’ can be heard by the supporting voices after the lead. This section ends on the final syllabus ‘jah’ but not on the tonic note.

Section D (2:46 – 3:33)

Surprise! The instrumental which precedes each verse is taken out from this section. In fact, everything is taken out, leaving Mitch with the final verse. This is reminiscent of Pentatonix’s performance of Dog Days Are Over during their time at The Sing-Off. The accompaniment joins a few bars later but with little movements, reducing distraction from the ethereal quality of Mitch’s voice. At this point, we would have heard leads from all four vocalists. This keeps the song fresh despite the similar melody and format in every section. The pensive chorus in this section is a classic Pentatonix build-up before the climactic end. This is done with a unison part in the vocals and a steady pulsating by the bass and percussion.

Section E (3:34 – 4:05)

This is without a doubt the highest point in the song. It consists of two choruses as opposed to the verse-chorus format of previous sections. The first chorus is almost in plain homophony, with Scott belting and exhibiting his soulful voice.

The second chorus has Kirstin, Mitch, and Scott singing in triads with each ‘hallelujah’ going higher than the previous. Avi is left to echo the higher voices with his own line before joining them in a culminating chord V (F). Kirstin embellishes the melody towards the end with a note of anticipation, decorated with an upper auxiliary (Bb-C-D-C).

This section also brings back the hemiola of two ‘stomps’ against the triplet subdivision of the beat by Kevin, which was first introduced in Section C. It gives the song a stable drive.

Section F (4:06 – 4:30)

Surprise (again)! Not quite the expected ending to the last phrase of the final chorus. What we hear is a deceptive IV (Eb) chord as opposed to the expected I (Bb) or VI (Gm). Instead of a perfect or interrupted cadence, this section is a repeat of the chorus but without the first ‘hallelujah’. The rest of the section is hummed, giving the overall sound a better blend. This brings back the calm in the beginning.

Mitch does it again with a 9-8 suspension followed by a lower auxiliary (F-Eb-D-Eb) in the third phrase, then a final 4-3 as mentioned in Section B. The song finishes with a conclusive perfect cadence executed with a falling fifth in Avi’s bass to a Bb1, the lowest note in the entire song. Throughout the song, Avi has executed numerous octave leaps which enhanced the effect of the build-ups.

Theory and analysis aside, this arrangement and recording is also made great with the high proficiency in singing by the members of Pentatonix. They have proven once again how versatile the voice can be as compared to conventional instruments.