The Christmas Beat Goes on for Pentatonix

Every third week of October for the past several years Pentatonix has debuted a new Christmas single. This year is no different. But this Christmas single features just four singers — an odd thing for a group whose name is based on “five”. The song is a traditional Christmas carol — Away in a Manger — performed respectfully in Pentatonix’ untraditional style.

And yes, it’s great:

But there is more than a new Christmas song to announce to America’s biggest selling Christmas group of the past five years.

First, there’s the new NBC Christmas television special scheduled for Monday, November 27th on NBC called “A Very Pentatonix Christmas”. The one-hour television event will feature a duet with Oscar, Golden Globe, Screen Actors Guild, BAFTA and Grammy Award-winner Jennifer Hudson. Also slated to appear are Jay Leno and 13-year-old “America’s Got Talent” winner Darci Lynne Farmer. Other guest stars will be announced in coming weeks.

But of bigger and more permanent news is that Pentatonix was not slated to remain a quartet — so that video above may be a rare collector in the years ahead. Pentatonix adding a new singer, Matt Sallee, to the group, supposedly to replace the departed Avi Kaplan, the original bass voice that left the group over the summer.

For Christmas fans Pentatonix has been a godsend to Christmas music in recent years. Though Milennials, whose belief in Christ or the traditional Christmas is quite unknown, the group has provided a fresh and entertain return to many Christmas classics over the years and judging by the numbers of albums sold the public loves it.

“Away in a Manger” is a classic, American written Christmas hymn dating back to the 1860s.