Pentatonix is American a cappella group formed in 2011. The group is characterized by their pop-style arrangements with vocal harmonies, riffing, percussion, basslines and sometimes beatboxing. The group most commonly records covers of famous songs and Christmas carols. The group's YouTube channel currently has over 18 million subscribers and 4 billion views. Since their inception, they have sold nearly 10 million albums worldwide and have won three Grammy awards.
History with the Macy's Parade[]
Pentatonix made their Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade debut in the 2014 Parade. The a cappella group appeared and performed on Homewood Suites by Hilton's "On The Roll Again" float. The group of Avi Kaplan, Scott Hoying, Kirstie Maldonado, Mitch Grassi and Kevin Olusola performed a rendition of "Santa Claus Is Coming To Town", from their holiday album That's Christmas to Me.
The group returned to the Parade's line of march in the 2018 Parade, now waving to the crowd from Entenmann's "Everyone's Favorite Bake Shop" float. Akin to their previous performance, they would perform a song, "Where Are You, Christmas?" from their recently-released holiday album which was titled Christmas is Here!.
Pentatonix made its third and most recent appearance in the reimagined 2020 Parade, celebrating the holidays from Hallmark Channel's "Heartwarming Holiday Countdown" float. When asked about what their Parade performance may look like, member Scott Hoying commented "I know we're not we're not, like, going to be going around the block. They're not doing the whole parade thing. It's just, like, all in front of Macy's."
"And I think we actually -- I don't know this for sure, but I think we just walk out, perform and then walk off," Scott laughed. "I think that's it. So, yeah, it's a lot different because of COVID this year for sure."
Pentatonix would perform a song from the classic musical The Sound of Music, "My Favorite Things", which had been released in the group's 2020 holiday album, We Need a Little Christmas.
The group will make its fourth appearance in 2023 on Kinder’s Fantasy Chocolate Factory float.