Pentatonix
Bohemian Rhapsody
Written by Freddie Mercury
Arranged by Pentatonix and Ben Bram
Original Video: https://youtu.be/ojRj2JK5oCI
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Not sure if anyone else has come over here to comment but Mitch was only using the megaphone so people would know immediately visually who was doing the guitar sounds. In live shows he does it just with his voice and a microphone with zero effects on it. Someone asked him in a zoom during covid how they could learn to do that. He said umm watch guitar videos I guess, but then he ended up saying , “I don’t know I just winged it.” Brian May the lead guitarist for queen posted the video with one word, “Enjoy”. That pretty high praise. You all noticed a couple of the Easter eggs in the video such a the panning, but they did a lot of things to really honor queen. One was when you saw the sky and Mitch was doing the second guitar solo, that was a nod to Brian May who has a PHD in Astrophysics. The other important thing is they waited 5 years to do this bc they knew they had to get it just right. Usually after the verbally arrange things it is put into sheet music and they practice from that.
I think one of their most impressive feats was putting an EP out during the height of COVID. They all had recording equipment delivered to their house and everyone but Kevin had to learn how to use it. Kevin is literally a genius savant. He graduates premed from Yale with a degree in Eastern Asian studies. Kevin recorded a cover of “down” by Marion Hill that will blow your mind. Even if you don’t do a reaction to it, please watch it. I think most fun next video for you guys would be “Can you feel the love tonight?” bc there are either 3 or 4 key changes in there and Scott actually wanted to throw one more in. Sorry for such a long comment. I could go on for days about them. One more thing they each have huge vocal ranges. If you do hallelujah please do it live from the evergreen tour. It’s on their PTX official you tube page. Matt does it a little differently and I love it.
Thanks for reading all of this. I hope it helps you in you PENTATONIX rabbit hole. Great reaction!!! I don’t usually write comments like this on a reaction that is not superb!! Can’t wait for the next one!!22
THANK YOU for Al of this great information Lexy!! We’re actually posting Hallelujah (live) this week 🙂 We can’t wait to hear more from them as well.
Pentatonix refers to themselves as a band; I think it’s okay for you to do so as well.
Pentatonix loves Queen, and they love “Bohemian Rhapsody,” so they always wanted to cover this song, but they feared that they couldn’t do it justice, so they decided to wait until they were sure they were ready. That took them five years, but it was worth the wait – they were definitely ready.
In the early days of Pentatonix, after Epic reneged on the recording contract Pentatonix had “won” on _The Sing-Off,_ Pentatonix started posting to YouTube; it was the only way they COULD publish their music. A lot of those early YouTube videos show the five of them sitting on a couch, with the trio (Mitch, Kirstie, and Scott) on the back of the couch and Kevin and Avi on the seat in front of them, just five very young people singing their hearts out, making their dream come true. Note that this is the configuration we see them in at the beginning and end of “Bohemian Rhapsody,” which is one reason the couch needs to move – it’s taking Pentatonix (and us) on a trip down Memory Lane.
The more important reason the couch moves is that it’s standing in for the car in _Wayne’s World,_ where Wayne and Garth introduced a whole new generation to the genius of Queen by putting a tape of “Bohemian Rhapsody” into the car’s tape player.
The couch was motorized, and not very well balanced. (Note that when they’re sitting on it their feet don’t quite reach the ground. The little curtain thing on the bottom was added to hide the motor.) It kept trying to tip over during the filming and actually managed to throw Kevin off at one point. There was a small platform attached to the back so that Kirstie could climb on the couch from behind – Scott, being a foot taller than Kirstie, didn’t need it.
When Mitch lies down on the couch, singing “Too late, My time has come,” they’re refering to Freddie Mercury’s death (the foreshadowing was, of course, unintentional on Freddie’s part; there’s no way he could have known). The other four are walking next to the couch to serve as his pall bearers.
Many people think the megaphone is distorting Mitch’s voice to make him sound more like an electric guitar, but it actually has nothing to do with it. The megaphone wasn’t turned on, and couldn’t have distorted Mitch’s voice even if it had been – it was just a megaphone. The electric guitar is all Mitch. Mitch happened to see the megaphone lying around on the set and thought it would make a cool prop, so it’s been confusing people ever since.
During the “Bismillah” argument, note that Scott, whose range includes both bass and tenor registers, is actually singing along with both the high and low sides of the argument. Scott has said that this rapid switching is the hardest part of the song for him.
When the camera pans up to show us the starry night sky during Mitch’s second guitar solo, it’s meant as a tribute to Queen’s lead guitarist, Brian May, who has a doctorate in astrophysics.
The four shooting stars honor the four members of Queen.
When the camera pans back down to show Pentatonix lying on the couch together it’s meant to recall the cover art for Queen’s “Sheer Heart Attack” album.
Kevin and Mitch are both singing that last “Any way the wind blows.” Note that this completes it; EVERY member of Pentatonix had an opportunity to play Freddie Mercury in “Bohemian Rhapsody,” yet another dream come true.
And when this official video was first released, Brian May posted a link to it on all his social media accounts with the comment: “Enjoy.”
Wow! Thank you for all of this information – we are learning a lot as we go and appreciate your taking the time to comment 🙂
There are numerous live videos from concerts floating around where you can see who is doing what – there is also a Behind the Scenes video where you can see how they make the video.
I think you would really enjoy their Recording of Evergreen (behind the scenes in the studio ) but imho you should do more PTX to truly appreciate it. Evergreen is a Christmas album so now that the holidays are getting closer, maybe react to some of their holiday stuff first. So much to choose from! I’m sure others will recommend the best links from some of their live Christmas tours.
The recording of Evergreen is on our voting list to do next (on the YouTube channel)! Hopefully, it gets selected – sounds pretty cool 🙂
Thank you for the suggestion, and you are very welcome!
A few things, the couch represents in the early days of PTX, they did not have money to shoot their video’s, so they just sat on a couch in someone living room to record. Now, when Brian May (now Sir Dr. Brian May) saw this the day after it was released, he liked it so much he shared it on all of his social media, with just one word “Enjoy”. That is high praise from Sir Dr. May.
Mitch does not use the megaphone in real life, it was just a prop so people had something to look at that would draw their eyes where the group wanted them. When you see the night sky that was to pay homage to Brian May, who is now an astrophysics. The 4 shooting stars pay homage to the original., band members. BTW, Queen has never been able to do this live completely. They way they layered in the video of themselves in the video, they just had to run off-stage, and show the opera part on a screen, then come back on screen and finish the song. PTX did it completely, and they do it live.
I’m going to suggest you next react to PTX The Prayer.
VERY cool information!!
I just forgot when they fell into the “cuddle pile” at the end, that was to pay homage to the Sheer Heartache album.
Live Version https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nMFPsouaum0&list=RDnMFPsouaum0&start_radio=1
Bohemian Rhapsody behind the scenes https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q8ugJnIG_Lk
Most of the comments before have said much of what there is to say. I only want to add that if you want to hear Mitch and Scott’s amazing vocal ranges, I would suggest their Superfruit (that’s what they call themselves when on their own without the rest of PTX) video for Defying Gravity. It’s truly astonishing. Thanks for posting this here so we didn’t miss it.
I think all the things upon which I was going to comment, have been covered by other commenters: Megaphone just a prop; Brian May a fan of PTX and this video; The making of Evergreen doc, The Superfruit rabbit hole.
My only additions to this are:
* If you want undeniable proof that there is nothing they cannot do, consider reacting to their “Daft Punk” medley (they won their first Grammy for that video) and “Can’t Hold Us”videos sooner rather than later. You will not be disappointed.
*Truth be told,, you probably won’t be disappointed in anything in their catalog. 🙂
* Avi Kaplan (the bass in this song/video) is now a solo artist, and his stuff is another awesome rabbit hole unto itself.
* I came here for the reaction but stayed for your delightful combo of expertise, joy, and sarcasm (not necessarily in that order). Never change. Stay golden, Pony Boys. <3
Thank you Kristi! We just posted a poll on YouTube to see what song to do next and Daft Punk seems to be the clear winner so far! Looking forward to seeing it. thank you for taking the time to comment 🙂