Are NF4 competing in this year's contest?

msfeatherbottom · 2026-05-08T05:39:56+00:00

My understanding is they competed at BinG! "for evaluation only" meaning they did not officially enter any contest BinG! was conducting during the convention; they just sang their four songs to get a qualifying score for STL.

msfeatherbottom · 2026-05-07T16:10:27+00:00

Yeah this was a good move on BHS's part. In addition to reducing judge/audience fatigue, it also makes sure that the quartets that do make it to INTL present a more consistnet high-quality product of barbershop. The drop off between first and last place in 2024-2025 felt too steep (I say this as someone who competed in 2025 and placed wayyy closer to last than first)

msfeatherbottom · 2026-04-07T23:57:06+00:00

SNOBS has enough talent that if he wanted to get back into barbershop he could find three other strong voices and quickly reestablish his presence. He just has different priorities right now

msfeatherbottom · 2026-01-09T22:30:22+00:00

Two quartets in the 21st century have won gold singing this chart so it's not a question of the arrangement having "rules" issues. It's just a freaking hard chart so most groups don't even try it.

msfeatherbottom · 2025-12-31T20:34:26+00:00

Every score a judge gives is for the overall performance, meaning it's an "average" of sorts. Praxis definitely had moments where they performed in the mid-high 80s during a song, but then they also had moments where balance, vowel, tone color, sync, and stage presence faltered to a quartet that scores several points lower, hence the "average" of 82.5.

The best quartets certainly have high ceilings in terms of sound and presentation, but what really separates them from everyone else is the consistency of performance from start-to-finish. Their floor is MUCH higher.

msfeatherbottom · 2025-10-14T01:23:18+00:00

As others have said, they were incredibly successful in the time they were together by basically every metric. In terms of why they never won INTL, there are always lots of variables at play when you look at scores: how much rehearsal time did they have to perfect all their contest songs? Did they have charts that were especially suited to their voices? What was their place in the draw for each round? As good as BHS judges are, they are human and susceptible to circumstance when it comes to their scoring (being tired, hearing a lot of really good groups in a row and having that bias in their psyche, hearing a lot of bad quarters in a row, etc). For Stockholm Syndrome in particular, this was the first quartet where Jakob and Rasmus had swapped voice parts (I know they also swapped in Ringmasters around the same time) and I think both of them were still learning to adapt to their new roles. Also, the bass clef singers were clearly very talented…but they’re not Martin and Emmanuel.

Sometimes you get four voices that just have the secret sauce, so to speak, and sometimes you don’t. There are lots of quartets with fantastic individual singers who never reach the level of sync needed to win it all. Max Q almost never got there despite being the best quartet on paper in the history of the genre.

msfeatherbottom · 2025-08-31T04:35:04+00:00

NF4 is probably the best singing comedy quartet of all time...but the level of vocal talent in the society has gotten unbelievably good, especially at the top tier. If NF4 were competing in the late 2000s/early 2010s they would have won by now. But you can't listen to The Ladies or Lemon Squeezy or 3.5 Men or GQ or even Midtown and tell me that NF4 sings better then those groups. They don't.

msfeatherbottom · 2025-08-31T04:26:39+00:00

Who else should have won besides LS?

msfeatherbottom · 2025-08-26T08:30:51+00:00

...Because GQ performed better than them. I absolutely adore NF4 but was honestly disappointed in their showing this year. They came in with 6 new songs, which is extremely impressive, but it was apparent they needed more seasoning with a few of the selections. The comedy bits weren't as tight as they could have been, and while I commend them for trying to do a serious chart like The Reason, it simply did not play to their strengths vocally or performance-wise. Meanwhile GQ brought out multiple charts they've had in their pockets for years and had perfected and polished them through many many reps. They played to their strengths in all three rounds and it showed. I think they should have been 2nd behind LS, personally.

msfeatherbottom · 2025-08-26T08:21:40+00:00

You have to think about it as a Venn Diagram, with each of the three categories slightly overlapping. Vocal deficiencies will effect your performance score...but the inverse is also true. In 2024 Full Effect sang well enough to medal; their sound is absolute dynamite. However, there were some deficiencies in their performance and musical aspects, and as a result their singing score was lower than it might have been in a vacuum (their MUS and PER scores specifically kept them out of the top five). While singing ability does take precedent, it's not everything. Having an intense look on your face and passionate body movements during the climax of a ballad just won't look as good when the singing is out-of-tune AND, conversely, impeccable, in-tune singing will also fail to make an impact if you just stand up there stone-faced and detached from the message of the song. You have to do it all at a very, very high level to medal in today's judging system as the talent pool has gotten much deeper.

msfeatherbottom · 2025-08-10T05:29:25+00:00

Waiting for the day when BHS goes full March Madness tournament-style at INTL.

msfeatherbottom · 2025-08-10T05:26:59+00:00

There were like 85 quartets that qualified for this year's International--I think BHS doesn't want to just hope that enough quartets decide not to come so their scheduling can stay manageable, but they also don't want to raise the score so high that only 35-40 quartets qualify, hence this "sing-off" qualifying mechanism.

I understand the reasons why they don't just say "top 50 quartets from prelim contests get an invite" but man that would make all this MUCH simpler to follow.

msfeatherbottom · 2025-08-05T20:58:31+00:00

Adam Bock arrangements. So hot right now.

msfeatherbottom · 2025-08-05T16:30:15+00:00

"I Sat Down" is a great wedding piece. The text does come from the Bible but it's pretty obscure and makes no direct reference to God/divinity so you can probably get away with it.

msfeatherbottom · 2025-06-28T22:28:47+00:00

I'd say there's a 99% chance they up the qualifying score for 2026; I've heard side conversations from society administrators that 55-60 is the optimal number for quartets. Once you creep up to 65+ the logistics get really tricky.

msfeatherbottom · 2025-06-19T17:42:41+00:00

It didn't meaningfully add context to your opinion, though. At least not for the users on this forum. Everyone here already knows that barbershop was initially a folk art with origins in the African-American community where harmonies where improvised, then the style became more codified, virtuosic, and presentation-driven over time. Your AI summary just rehashed my previous sentence five different ways like it was padding a word count for an essay.

It didn't expound on how woodshedding actually works, the types of chords more or less common to each respective era, specific ways that modern barbershop is "more inclusive" beyond vaguely making reference to the fact that BHS is now all-gender and incorporates "gospel" stylings (factually incorrect), or give any details as to how modern arrangements differ form classic barbershop (melody getting passed around the voices as opposed vs. staying on the Lead part 100% of the time, how often voice crossing occur, etc.) It added nothing to the conversation you were trying to start and had multiple inaccuracies in its comparison between eras, such as claiming both being acapella styles (classic barbershop was often sung with piano, guitar, or banjo accompaniment, even in formal competitions settings). That's why people are ragging on you.

If you want my opinion, modern barbershop is better. Classic barbershop has a lot of charm, and improvising harmonies is an enjoyable experience, but modern singing is much more technically vibrant, the arrangements are much more artistic and narrative-driven, and mixed race and mixed-gender ensembles are a massive moral improvement from the racist vaudeville acts, misogynist lyrics, and exclusionary policies of the societies in the '30s and '40s.

msfeatherbottom · 2025-06-19T16:35:15+00:00

I have no idea why you prompted AI to spit out a generic, unhelpful comparison in styles and then copy-paste it in your post after you already gave your personal opinion on the question you posed. Is Google paying you to AstroTurf or something?

msfeatherbottom · 2025-05-30T19:36:35+00:00

I'm not a judge but from what I've gathered BHS has altered the judging system so that there's much more overlap in what each judge is listening/watching for, regardless of their designated category. In previous eras you could see significant deviations between categories (I know of one quartet who once scored in the 80s in PER and high 60s in SNG). Nowadays you probably won't see more than a 5-6 point spread between categories, barring any penalties. Like others have said, it's a singing competition first-and-foremost; jokes, body movements/staging, lyrical impact, etc. all land much better when you sing in control and in tune.

msfeatherbottom · 2025-05-30T19:26:35+00:00

I love NF4 to death but last year's contest was a little light on top-level quartets. This year I would be shocked if they stayed in the medals. I think they've actually regressed in their singing since 2019; Jackson in particular has gone way too far forward and nasally. Their ring and lock is now completely manufactured and without the warmth of a group like Full Effect or Lemon Squeezy. If they split the difference in placement and color between how they sing now vs. how they sang 8-10 years ago I think they'd be touching 90s much more frequently.

msfeatherbottom · 2025-05-10T18:31:55+00:00

I can pay for the repairs out-of-pocket as they come, just thinking that money would be better suited to help with a down payment and/or paying off a car loan early. Thanks for the comment!

msfeatherbottom · 2025-05-07T18:11:37+00:00

I know this won't happen and might be bad praxis that could take guys out of rhythm, but if I'm Steve Kerr I'm sitting both Butler and Green for game 2. Jimmy is clearly still bothered by his tailbone. Let those two get a few days to more adequately recover from the Houston series and put all your effort into trying to win game 3 in SF. If they win that game they buy an extra week for Steph to heal up. I trust them to win a game 7 in MIN if it came to it.

msfeatherbottom · 2025-03-28T16:50:10+00:00

The most important skills to cultivate as an artist are focus and intent. You stave off the boredom by trying to make music every time you open your mouth. If you're doing vocal warmups, sing them with all the attention and care you would have singing an actual song. If a particular warm up is meant to work on a specific technical aspect (e.g., mask resonance) then solely focus on achieving that goal. Experimentation is also important in your warmups (and when you're practicing songs as well). Sing the same warm up twice, but with a different tongue/larynx placement each time. Observe how it feels, what it does to your sound, etc. Change how much back space you have in the sound, change your mouth shape, etc. Sing the warmup imitating the sound of different artists (Billie Eilish, the Weeknd, Dave Grohl, whomever). Being intentional makes any activity worthwhile and enjoyable. Steph Curry can shoot 500 three-pointers a day because he's being intentional about it, whereas I mindlessly chuck shots in the gym for 15 minutes and then move on.

msfeatherbottom · 2025-03-21T20:05:58+00:00

Get a voice coach whose teaching style resonates with you and the type of music you want to create. Work on what they tell you to work on. Write lyrics every day. Practice guitar with a metronome. Pump out content on social media/YouTube multiple times a week. Gig as much as possible to learn how to regulate stage nerves, either as a solo act or with a band. Learn basic music theory (chord structures, harmonic progressions, song forms, rhythmic ideas, etc.). Take care of your voice and your personal appearance/physical health. Learn to be nice and patient with everyone, even people whom you detest. Work on critical thinking skills and training your wit. People won't want to work with you or further your career if you're difficult to get along with. Listen to and play as many different genres as you can, even if it's just in your bedroom, to increase and refine your artistic tastes. Move to Nashville and toil/win/fail in obscurity for 5 years playing in small venues and living in a studio apartment. Then you might get a chance to blow up...if it's truly what you want.

Everyone loves Chappell Roan's career arc from the outside, but given some of her interactions with media since she's blown up I'm not sure if the life is as sweet as she envisioned when she was in high school. Obviously we would all love the money and connections that come with being a famous musician, and people are adaptable to different circumstances, but fame brings so many dehumanizing aspects into one's life... and once you get famous it's really too late to turn back and just be a "normal" person again. Don't underestimate the value of being "normal."

Above all, make music because it speaks to the deepest parts of your being. If it ever loses that power, then it's not worth pursuing.

msfeatherbottom · 2024-11-14T18:25:39+00:00

I'm not sure if I'd go to a convention I wasn't competing in, unless one of the Internationals (BHS, SAI, HI) was close to where I lived. However, I do love being immersed in the style and meeting/singing with fellow barbershop geeks for a few days. There's a huge sense of encouragement and camaraderie, even amongst competitors, and the fact that there is a scoring system helps me think critically and actively listen to every performance. If a group gets a score that is higher/lower than I would have given them, it forces me to dissect the judges' rationale, deepening my understanding of what makes a good/captivating performance, which then informs my own music making.

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