‘Just Sing’ Hits the High Notes of College A Cappella

Pitch Perfect was the surprise comedy franchise of the 2010s. In retrospect it probably shouldn’t have been, since the movie’s depiction of competitive college a capella music groups is an almost perfect chronological successor to the surprise comedy franchise of the 2000s, High School Musical. Kids love to sing. And for a more documentary perspective of how that works, Just Sing has just come out: a feature length presentation about the actual competitive college a capella group, the SoCal VoCals, on their quest to win the 2023 International Championship of Collegiate A Cappella (ICCA).

It’s always fascinating to hear what kids like about seemingly silly contemporary culture, and the SoCal VoCals have plenty to say. While they cite Pitch Perfect as an influence, probably the most interesting aspect of why they like these competitions is that they emphasize curatorial creativity. There’s more to winning than just singing without accompaniment. They have to be genuinely creative. It was a surprise to me, for example, that far from show tunes standards, in the first of their three big competitions, the SoCal VoCals elect for a Spanish-language song in the first round, then an old protest song in the second one.

There’s a lot of craft at play in these performances, and from what we see in the judges’ room, the means by which the winners are selected can hinge on some fairly pedantic interpretations. In scoring an arrangement, the judges may be impressed with its technical strengths, but mark it down because said arrangement doesn’t really play well to the strengths of the group. Far from being indistinguishable cogs in a musical machine, the SoCal VolCals each have individual strengths as singers, and their collaboration is designed to develop a musical number that maximizes those quirks.

Just Sing ★★★★ (4/5 stars)
Directed by: Angelique Molina, Abraham Troen
Written by: Miles Coleman, Sarah Thomson
Starring: Mateo Gonzales, Sam Avila, Jillian Batt
Running time: 93 minutes

The minimalist nature of a capella itself, with its reliance on the voice crafts a lot of what goes on with these performances. As does the fact that these are broke college students chasing their dreams. The production simply does not have the budget to provide anything more elaborate than a stylish repertoire of sweatshirts, but you’d be surprised how far that stylish repertoire of sweatshirts can go to sell a musical number.

Supposedly participation in these a capella performances can serve as a stepping stone to Broadway, although Just Sing doesn’t directly demonstrate this as much as I would have liked. In one sense this is appropriate, since the college students themselves don’t really have much more firsthand information than we do. They’re relying on the word of alumni, as well as their own tough experiences trying to break out as musical performers as teenagers. Their sheer earnestness is sweet and occasionally brutal. It’s ironic that of all the profiled group members, the gay kid from North Dakota seems the most well-adjusted, because he knows what he has to do — there just aren’t that many musical theater opportunities in Bismarck! His biggest anxiety is not really knowing what to make of hookup culture in Los Angeles, which is pretty light stuff compared to another performer’s dad suffering from PTSD.

I might have preferred that broader perspective, though, to give context to what we are shown, as without it Just Sing is too much of a feel-good movie focused on personal stories rather than giving a sense of how this kind of organized a capella works. But, even in this absence of context, the documentary does move rather than manipulate the audience; our sympathies are earned, not pandered to.

The story of the SoCal VoCals is compelling, not because they’re being encouraged, but because they are hellbent on being the best performers they can be even when they’re discouraged. You want to tell them that their work is incredible regardless of whether or not they win. But you also know that, deep down, the only reason their work is so incredible is because they are always trying so hard to do better.