A cappella competition show The Sing-Off premiered its third season on Monday night, returning Ben Folds and Boys II Men’s Shawn Stockman at the judges table with Jewel stepping in for Sara Bareilles.

Sing-Off Group A Performances Recap

Vocal Rush, comprised of the youngest contestants of the night, kicked off the fourth season of The Sing Off with Delta Rae’s "Bottom of the River." The judges were in agreement that the troupe showed a maturity beyond their years, and their stepping proved they had the moves to go far.

Country group Home Free sang Florida Georgia Line & Nelly’s “Cruise.” It was a good but not great performance. The judges and host Nick Lachey, however, were happy to hear a rare number by a country a cappella group.

Next up were the Princeton Footnotes, who have both the fashion sense and energy of The Warblers on show choir show Glee. They took on “I Knew You Were Trouble” by Taylor Swift. It was a dynamic performance that at times seemed to get away from them. Jewel said the basses needed to do a better job of grounding the song.

Singing Rihanna’s “Pon de Replay” was Puerto Rican group Calle Sol. The judges were impressed by both their dancing and the percussion provided by the group’s two men. The choice of song was definitely unique for the competition, and was executed reasonably well.

The final group in Group A was the Street Corner Renaissance, who put a Motown spin on One Direction’s “What Makes You Beautiful.” The inspired performance got Sean out of his seat and up on stage to give the men hugs.

After some deliberation, the judges nominated the Princeton Footnotes to compete in the sing-off to fight to remain in the competition.

Sing Off Group B Performances Recap

Starting off Group B was TEN. They took on Chaka Khan’s “Tell Me Something Good.” A number of the members possessed incredibly powerful voices, and took turns on lead vocals. TEN proved to be undeniably talented with the bluesy number.

All girl troupe Element sang “Burn” by Ellie Goulding. They started strong, but didn’t end stronger, which the judges said made for a rather flat performance. Without any men in the group, their range is limited – something they’ll have to compensate for if they’re to continue in the competition.

VoicePlay gave arguably the weakest performance of the night, with neither the male nor the female lead vocalist hitting their notes in Pitbull and Christina Aguilera’s “Feel This Moment.” Overall, the performance was dull.

The Filharmonic, a group of charismatic male Filipino vocalists, gave a lively performance of Bruno Mars’ “Treasure.” Their dance moves and stage presence were only second to their impressive vocal chops.

Lastly, the University of Kentucky group acoUstiKats sang Robin Thicke’s “Blurred Lines.” Expectations were low that the college boys would succeed in pulling off the hit track, with Sean saying he predicted it would be an “acousti-catastrophe.” However, their hip action and power singers impressed both the audience and judges.

After all the Group B performances were completed, the judges put VoicePlay up for elimination.

Ultimate Sing-Off

The Princeton Footnotes and VoicePlay groups’ sing-off was to ‘NSYNC’s “Bye, Bye, Bye.” Although the Footnotes appeared to take the early lead, a few last minute runs by VoicePlay gave them the edge leading into the judges' final choice. In the end, VoicePlay was selected to move on, while the Ivy-leagers got the boot.

The Sing-Off airs Mondays on NBC at 9/8c.

– Chelsea Regan

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