Kirstin Maldonado of Pentatonix remembers her calling her bandmate Kevin Olusola in a light panic as she set up her new home studio as the group was quarantined earlier this year.
“I was,” Kevin, I have this, this and this. What cables am I missing? What do I need? What am I doing? Like, what’s going on? ” She remembers now and laughs.
Eventually Maldonado got her studio together, and she and Olusola – along with the other three members of Pentatonix: Mitch Grassi, Scott Hoying and Matt Sallee – dived into recording their new covers EP, with appropriate title back home.
The six-song project, which was released on June 24, includes the group taking the Billie Eilish’s “When the Party’s Over,” The Weeknd’s “Blinding Lights” and Dua Lipa’s “Break My Heart”, and returned as a wish for the group to return to get to their “roots,” Olusola says.
“We said, ‘You know what, we still want to have some fun in a tumultuous time like this,'” Olusola told the Billboard Pop Shop Podcast (listen below). “So let’s go back to our roots. Let’s do some covers we’m excited about, songs we’re interested in.”
De back home project will make fans disappear when Pentatonix plots the release of their upcoming original songs (“we’re really proud of them,” Maldonado says) as well as a new holiday album.
Crystal albums are nothing new for the breeding group, as the three-time Grammy Award winners have listed five top 10 albums on the Billboard 200 with holiday projects, including the no. 1 of 2017. A Christmas of Pentatonix. The act hit the top 10 in 2019 The Best of Pentatonix Christmas.
In total, Pentatonix has released 10 top 10 albums on the Billboard 200, twice no. 1 achieved – with both A Christmas of Pentatonix and the release of the group’s 2015 self-titled, which was also the act’s first album of almost entirely original material.
Below are some highlights from Maldonado and Olusola’s conversation with the Pop Shop Podcast.
About how the back home EP come together:
Kevin: We did most of the recording at our own homes. And that’s kind of what the concept brought up. We said, ‘you know what, we still want to have some fun in a tumultuous time like this.’ So, let’s go back to our roots. Let’s do some covers that we’re excited about, songs that we’re interested in. … And the nice thing is that the label (RCA Records) gave us a recording budget so that each of us could have a recording studio at our home. That (we) learn how to use Pro Tools and Logic and continue on YouTube and play. Kirstie, remember you texted me or called me, ‘hey, how does this work? uh … ‘
Kirstin: Well, because Kevin travels with a small mini-studio on tour. So, if he ever has ideas for songs or covers, he works on them along the way. And so I knew Kevin would have the best spirit to help me in the beginning. I was like, ‘Kevin, I have this, this and this. What cables am I missing? What do I need? What am I doing? Like, what’s going on? ‘(Laughs.) But it was really rewarding. I think we just had one song (before back home) before everything happened in quarantine, how we normally (recorded songs). And then the rest of them were done individually at our homes.
But it was very cool, because it was not like there was a focal producer in the room to tell you exactly how to do it. You had to listen to yourself and follow yourself and make yourself sound the way you want to sound. There is a sense of pride that goes with it. More pride in your work because you are the one who needs to make sure it is of the quality you want. That, it has been just as frustrating to just, you know, work it out, but it has also been just as rewarding.
After listening to artists, they discuss:
Kirstin: I feel like in the beginning of our career, when YouTube was a huge thing at first, we heard more from the artists because it was such a new platform to make music and covers. But Kevin just heard from Billie Eilish’s team, no?
Kevin: Oh yes, yes, yes! One of my friends works for (Finnish’s brother) Finneas. (He) played the music for Finneas, and he said ‘oh my goh.’ And then he showed it to Billie and she loved it, which was super fun …
After receiving Eilish’s stamp of approval:
Kevin: It’s very cool. Very cool.
Kirstin: That’s great! I know, that’s … I’m geekin ‘. I love her. I mean, I love her and Finneas …
About how the group has new original songs along the way:
Kevin: Before the quarantine began, we had original (non-cover) numbers ready which we were excited about. We are proud of. And we are excited to think about how we can start releasing these songs in the world …
Kirstin: Of course, we’ve always been on the road and thinking, and so if you come up with an album, and then we have all these tours in a row, you can tour with that music, to promote that music. And since COVID, we no longer have that ability. That, it’s about creating a different marketing plan. Because of these originals, we are really proud of them. And we’ve only had one original album in the past. But even from there, you know, we were like little babies. We were so nervous to go into every writing session. And I actually feel like now, as human beings, and as what we as a group have come and been through, and just how we have grown, just in these last nine years – it all really comes to life and being shown in this original album. So, we are just trying to tackle it in the best way it can be for times like this. And we are just as ready to let it go. We want it to come out forever, but of course we want it to have good enough support, and the right thought and planning behind it. That, that’s everyone’s the delay. (Laughs.) We know we’re always plagued.
Planning for a new holiday album:
Kirstin: … We’re talking and ending the conversations about original music, which we hope to get some of that before anything related to Christmas. But we will definitely do a Christmas album this year. I feel like, especially this year, that love and that fun, and that feeling of bringing everyone together is really necessary. And so I feel like our Christmas album could be really special this year. We did so much, I guess we did not really expect to do maybe a gigantic (album). But I think I’m looking forward to what we can do to bring kind of people through how we have in the past.
In addition to the Pentatonix interview, Pop Shop hosts Jason and Keith discuss how Harry Styles recorded his first No. 1 single on the Billboard Hot 100 with “Watermelon Sugar,” which led to the track’s coronation on the tally, and Styles’ watershed year with his Fine Line album and the singles “Adore You” and “Watermelon Sugar.”
De Billboard Pop Shop Podcast is your one-stop shop for all the things that come up Billboard‘s weekly charts. You can always count on a lively discussion about the latest pop news, funny chart stats and stories, new music, and guest interviews with music stars and people from the world of pop. Casual pop fans and chart junkies can hear BillboardThe senior director of charts Keith Caulfield and senior director, music, Jason Lipshutz every week on the podcast, which can be streamed on Billboard.com as download in Apple Podcasts as your favorite podcast provider. (Click here to listen to the previous edition of the show on Billboard.com.)
