I don’t know about you, but more often than not, I look at the sheer amount of musical genres out there, and realise that I’m not across a lot of them than the average joe on the street is probably…then again, I’m probably a case that is different from most. Since early childhood, I was a sheltered individual, due to my premature birth way back when I was born. Throughout primary (and high) school, I listened to a fair amount of CCM, and it was only during the later high school years and well into my university days, that I started to branch out into music that was different from what I was used to. I started to hear the veins and streams of pop, rock, more mainstream music, and the deep, dark crevices of the misunderstood country music as well. If I am to be completely and utterly honest, my blog post journey that I started to undertake last year was as unique and different and new to me as I’m sure it was to all of you. I opened up the can of worms which is mainstream music; and realised that it wasn’t as bad or as evil as what people may have said it was. I dived deep into the punk-pop of Avril Lavigne, while also taking a stab at looking at the underrated rock group Lifehouse, while I was stretched in the challenging genre of opera-pop through artist Josh Groban, while I took a trip through the ages and tried to have a handle on artists like Phil Collins and Bryan Adams. Irish group The Corrs was a curveball in the form of Irish music, in a good way, and who can’t say and smile that Michael Buble, though his albums are littered and full of covers, is as relevant now more than ever today, in this time where familiar songs from yesteryear will trump over anything that is new? As I’ve reflected upon what this year of exploring new musical genres and new artists that I haven’t listen to, well, ever; I’ve found one thing to be true, which is this: acapella music doesn’t get much credit as it should. And for me, I don’t think I’ve delved into that genre enough to say that I’m all across it as I know that I can be…until now that is. While I do acknowledge that acapella, if done right, is considered, alongside other uniquely difficult genres in opera and rap, to be one of the hardest genres of music known to man at the moment; acapella for me is all about the harmonies, and what I’ve heard over the years, from this and that, hadn’t impressed me- that was until I heard Penatonix a few years ago, with their renditions of Christmas classic (and some hymnals) songs. While I can still concede that acapella as a genre can still be hit-and-miss, this group of 5 (borne out of the third season of NBC’s The Sing Off- a singing competition purely around the form of acapella music) has completely blown everyone out of the water with stellar performances and great harmonies, as Pentatonix continues to reign supreme amongst artists and bands whose craft it is to create acapella music.

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