The Sing-Off Season 3: Current Hits & '60s Favorites (Episode 4)

written by AL
DAM NATION, Contributor

This week the contestants dealt with sickness, stress, and family emergencies, but you wouldn't have been able to tell from their performances. There were some inventive takes on songs old and new, as well as some songs that were near-perfect covers. It's too bad they only get two minutes or less for each song, because in some cases it'd be great to hear a full version.

Group Performance: Rhythm of Love by Plain White T's.

Here are my song ratings!

CURRENT HITS

The Deltones 

The Edge Of Glory
They did Lady Gaga justice. The lead singer did a great job but I wished she had a little more "edge" to her voice. This group was a little pitchy but they built their crescendos well. They also did a pretty good job imitating the synth sounds. 8/10

Pentatonix

Your Love Is My Drug
This was crazy good. At first, I wasn't sure about the melody they put on the verses, but then they came out strong on the bridge and the way they mimicked computerized sounds right after that was unbelievable! Their performance was really fun to watch. 9.5/10

The Collective

Rocketeer
This was pretty chill. The groove was laid back and they kept it flowing the whole song. I loved the soloists, and I felt the backing vocals here were really warm and inviting. 9/10

Northern Shore

Lazy Song
This was cute. Bouncy. I loved how they began the song on couches. These guys brought a lot of personality and humor to the stage. 8/10

Dartmouth Aires

Animal
Pretty good. The soloist strained a bit on the top and the bottom, but he brought enough intensity and edge to make the song work, and his group backed him up well. I particularly liked that they reigned it in on the quiter spots, it gave them room to build. 8/10

Sonos

Viva La Vida
Without their pedals and without a proper bass, this group had some issues to overcome. Their sound was spread really thin in some spots, but they made due with the voices they had. It was a solid effort that ended up sounding pretty good. 8/10

'60s FAVORITES

Pentatonix

Piece of My Heart
The judges applauded their remix of this Janis Joplin song. I thought it sounded ok, but I wasn't really feeling it. It just didn't sound '60s to me, which is the only thing I really want from this portion of the competition. Definitely one of Pentatonix's weakest performances so far. 7/10

The Deltones

You Can't Hurry Love
What The Supremes did with only three members, The Deltones couldn't match with fifteen. Nothing about this song or performance really stood out to me. It stayed on one level and didn't really go anywhere. This group is good, but they seem to lack the confidence or star quality of some of the other groups. I'm not sure they'll continue to make the cut. 6/10

North Shore 

Unchained Melody
This performance was so smooth it actually gave me the shivers, multiple times. Of course Northern Shore would master the 60s category. They were totally faithful to the original song, which worked for me; although, the judges might have liked them to put their own spin on it. 9.5/10

The Collective

Hold On I'm Comin
This was pretty good, especially for such a straightforward song. The Collective sang the hell out of it. Especially the one guy who hit that really long high note. 8/10

Sonos

I Want You Back
This was a very odd performance. They arranged the song to fit their 'adult contemporary' style which kind of drained it of the original's fun and playfulness. They even changed the key from major to minor which just killed it (in a bad way). 4/10

Dartmouth Aires

Pinball Wizard
This group's theatricality was through the roof! And then the judges reminded me that this song was from a musical. Whatever they sing, these guys bring a lot of energy and intensity to their performances. This was a lot of fun. 9/10

This week's elimination was Sonos. It was pretty easy to see coming with their pretentious attitudes and the way they pandered to the judges with their song choices. One of them had already sung "I Want You Back" with Sara in college, and for their Swan Song they sang "It's So Hard to Say Goodbye to Yesterday" by Boyz II Men. It was hard to tell what Shawn thought of that because he was hiding his face. In any case, I was not sorry to see them go.

Next week: the two brackets merge and the remaining 10 groups perform their  "guilty pleasures."