Pentatonix: Can A Cappella’s Superstars Finally Break Pop’s Ceiling?

Those more attuned to traditional metrics took notice last December, when That’s Christmas to Me reached Number Two on the U.S. album chart, landing ahead of Eminem’s ShadyXV comp and outselling every album short of Taylor Swift’s unstoppable 1989. A few weeks earlier, it even briefly dethroned Swift from the top of the iTunes’ list of most downloaded LPs. “That was a moment,” says Olusola. “We had just done the Macy’s Day Parade, we were in a private jet to Atlanta, and found out that it passed her. That’s [when we knew] the days of covers were over for us.”

Still, both the group and their new label acknowledge that transitioning to original material will be a challenge. “Finding an a cappella hit song is like a needle in a haystack,” says RCA president Tom Corson. “It hasn’t been done since, like, Bobby McFerrin’s ‘Don’t Worry Be Happy.’ A true and pure a cappella record is a unicorn.”

Pentatonix will be studying under Kelly Clarkson when they open her summer tour, but they’ve already earned a valuable education from their years spent dissecting and rearranging the Top 40. “It revealed the formula of pop songs and why they work and what doesn’t work,” says Grassi, the Iggy Azalea to Hoying’s Ariana Grande when they sing “Problem.” “The artists who can play to their brand, like Taylor Swift, are artists who know their artistry so well to be able to connect to so many people. I think we’ve figured that out to an extent, but we haven’t fine-tuned it yet.”

Scoring a radio hit might seem out of order – or even anachronistic – for a group that has already gone platinum, won a Grammy and sold out the Theater at Madison Square Garden. But getting airplay remains a personal goal for all its members. “We’re competing against the stigma that a cappella can’t be successful,” says Hoying. “Major labels and radio would be like, ‘A cappella is gimmicky, it will never be a real thing.’ Now we’re like, ‘It’s going to be a real thing – watch!'”