`SING IT ON,' EDGE
REALITY SERIES ‘SING IT ON’ FOLLOWS STUDENTS TO A CAPPELLA CHAMPIONSHIPS
The reckless ambition. The backstabbing. The betrayals.
Oh, no, I can hear you whispering in horror, dear reader.
Another story on a cappella groups.
How can this terrifying threat to our nation's youth be quashed?
For as the rather innocuously titled “Sing It On” (an unscripted series from the obscure yet powerful documentarian who answers to the apt name of “John Legend”) reveals, thousands of college students across the country fall prey to the siren song of wouldbe stardom and lyrical fellowship.
This series follows four gangs, I mean, groups — two right here in Massachusetts! — as they make their way to the big stage of the ICCA — the International Championship of Collegiate A Cappella.
S#ARP Attitude is an all-female group at the University of Massachusetts Amherst who boast about how they empower each other. The group is still hurting from the loss of their resident beat boxer, Linnea, who left to join the rival group on campus, the Hexachords — just to be with her boyfriend, snaps one.
Apparently that girl didn't read the memo on sisterhood.
With the Hexachords, Linnea defends herself — the Hexachords are more real, plus she gets to be with her boyfriend, Xander, so there.
So, maybe she got the memo and didn't care.
The Hexachords, a group with but six members, haze their two newest recruits with a prank involving Post-It notes and an innocent parked car.
Meanwhile, at the University of Maryland, the Faux Paz struggle with the loss of all their female members but one. They want at least four more to compete at ICCA — but wait — one of those auditioning apparently wants to date the cute president, David.
“There's literally no room for faux-cest,” snaps one disapproving member.
The round of mostly uninspiring female singers is interrupted by somebody named Brandon, who, to my untrained reporter's eye, kind of looks like a guy.
“I'm all for drama. I like breaking boundaries, but dude! Just no. Out the door,” a veteran says.
Can they really crush one singer's dreams simply because of the body he was born into?
Meanwhile, at the Ivy League University of Pennsylvania, the group Off the Beat plots strategy, but two seniors spend as much time tangling with each other. Jasmine is all business. Rohan will do anything to get that trophy and feels he deserves a solo.
Jasmine dismisses Rohan, saying he “coasts on his charm and his hair and his eyebrows.”
Well, they are impressive eyebrows.
To be fair to her, Rohan acts as if he's above certain things — like learning melodies or lyrics, which you might think would be important in an a cappella group.
Later, two of the groups meet in a bar — and it's just like a showdown between the Bloods and the Crips — that is, if they sang karaoke. “It's aca-on, now,” one vows. Mamas, don't let your babies sing in the shower.
They just might end up on national television.