If I had my way during this season of The Sing-Off, Street Corner Renaissance would have been among the finalists of this season’s a cappella competition. Alas, that wasn’t to be as they were eliminated earlier in the competition, but the final three groups were a solid ensemble of excellent vocalists, so it’s hard to complain about how things went down. Watch the video of the winning moment below to see which group took home the grand prize.
From the start of the season, I was pulling for Street Corner Renaissance and Home Free, so one of my favorite groups did win in the end. The country singers earned the Sony recording contract and cash prize… and probably the chance to return for next season’s finale, assuming The Sing-Off returns.
The great thing about The Sing-Off, besides the emphasis on a cappella music obviously, is that it’s a shorter format, America doesn’t vote, and there aren’t any drawn-out results episodes. In each episode, the groups perform, the judges decide and eliminate. Lather, rinse, repeat. Sure, that takes away America’s say in how the competition plays out, but the judges do a fine, knowledgable job of making their choices. And it keeps this competition moving without viewers having to invest added time to their busy schedules by watching bloated results episodes that take an hour (or longer) to reveal the eliminated act. This format keeps the focus on the performances.
Last night’s finale did just that, including the final groups performances and some fun "filler" for our entertainment. Home Free won, but that was just one highlight of the episode. Another was getting to see Nick Lachey duet with Jewel…
They’re so pretty. Also really talented. But we’re getting ahead of ourselves. The episode actually started with an ensemble performance of “Man in the Mirror,” which brought all the competing groups back:
Later, Shawn Stockman demonstrated his still-amazing vocal skills by singing “Joyful Joyful” with Ten:
Was anyone else a little disappointed that they didn’t include the rap verse? Or am I the only one who’s watched that Sister Act 2 scene too many times?
It wasn’t all filler though, as entertaining as that filler was. There were the mentioned final performances. Here’s the one that won the competition for Home Free:
I don’t consider myself a big country music fan — enough so that I’ll admit to not being familiar with the song these guys sang — but “I Want Crazy” was another great demonstration of how Home Free was able to represent the genre in this a cappella competition. So as much as I liked Ten and Vocal Rush, I’m really happy these guys won.
You can check out the other performances, including Nick Lachey’s song with 98 Degrees at NBC’s YouTube channel.
