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.

Going Gaga or Cuckoo

Lady Gaga is no unfamiliar name. The dance-pop singer of ‘Poker Face’ and ‘Bad Romance’ broke into the industry with hits that got us raving. Not only did she empower the minorities with her music, the meat don-er turned heads and inspired many with her quirky and eccentric looks on the red carpet.

Lady Gaga had us convinced of her obsession with popularity. How blatant is she with The Fame (2008) and The Fame Monster (2009), let alone Applause, a tribute to fame. She wants it. She wants it fast.

Gaga was one of the few icons who opened up our minds to accept fireworks bursting out of Katy Perry’s jiggles, and Nicki Minaj’s outrageous “buns, hun”. Her propagation of liberalism had the world on its toes, reacting instantaneously to the coming out of personalities such as Ellen Page, Tom Daley and Connor Franta, just to name a few.

Pew pew pew!

Some people want fame for the sake of having it. But recently taking a turn in music, many questioned Gaga’s motive with fame. Being a smart marketer, Gaga seized every opportunity of an audience to leave trails of her artistic nuances, right from the start when she released Just Dance. At her peak, the singer had a grand plan; she wanted to give birth to her artistic preferences during her Fame Monster era. Why did you think she slid out of a vagina (one of her set pieces) during her Monster Ball Tour? However, Artpop was too ideal, in her vision, for the public to digest. By attempting to infuse art back into pop (reverse Warholian), she may have indirectly reversed her fame.

Released in 2013, Artpop is likened to a premature baby. The era of dance-pop remains current with the rise of Calvin Harris and David Guetta. Gaga contributed an extensive bit to the beats that got crowds raving, but Applause just didn’t make the cut. Then came Cheek to Cheek, a duo album with legend Tony Bennett, which had people wondering who actually benefitted from the collaboration. I may not be convinced of this genre existing in her blood. Are you?

“What’s going on?” is my question to the producers of the 87th Academy Awards the moment Lady Gaga was on stage. One who had us grooving to ‘Just Dance’ was going to do a medley from a Broadway musical? Given her popularity, the performance was definitely going to generate buzz regardless of the quality of the performance. And it did.

She might have been a promoter of classical musical theatre and jazz all along and is only using this medium of popular culture to put out what she really feel is art. She is a free artiste. Don’t even start on the Warhol and nudity.

Was this arrangement of her Oscars performance the icing on her cake of musical development? Intentional, it was. She awed us, once again. This time, not with her antiques but her vocal talent. In fact, she casted her net to the critics of musical theatre on top of her existing audience. Stephen Sondheim might have been displeased, but Julie Andrews thanked her by name. Even Meryl Streep gave her a standing ovation.

Now, should we be surprised at her delivery? I say yes. Some claim that with her accolades, it should be deduced that she should be capable of anything. Gaga may have demonstrated versatility with the variation of categories in which she has won Grammys, but she has not done a musical number publicly prior to Hollywood’s biggest night. Heck, I will be surprised when I hear my favourite artistes perform songs from their album live because there could be different interpretations of the same material. All the more I would be intrigued when one does something out of their usual artistic boundary. It may be 2015, a lot has been done, a lot has been seen and yet, we continually seek new ideas and revolutions.

Of course, any successful performance is not without effort and hard work. Lady Gaga’s dedication shone through her voice as she puts behind her attention-seeking wardrobe and theatrics.

In hindsight, Lady Gaga is after all, an award-winning drop-out of NYU’s musical theatre faculty. While she’s still hanging in our minds, shall we just talk about her dishwashing gloves? Maybe these would help polish her throne for her to sit on top, again.