‘The Sing-Off’ video: Street Corner Renaissance sings One Direction’s ‘What Makes You Beautiful’

Tomorrow night at 9:00 p.m. Eastern time following “The Voice’s” final five performance show, you are going to have an opportunity to see ten vocal groups from around the country square off in “The Sing-Off’s” latest season. This is an opportunity to hear truly innovative covers of songs, where the voices are the only instrument that can be used.

In the video below, you can hear what may be one of the most surprising covers in Street Corner Renaissance’s version of “What Makes You Beautiful” from One Direction. This group has a serious old-school soul vibe to it, so to hear them suddenly bust out a cover of an extremely modern song is somewhat surprising. But, they completely do it justice! The vocals are spot on, and the harmonies are great. It’s also different enough from the original that we really don’t think of it as One Direction all over again.

The only part of the new season that is still a mystery to us is whether or not Jewel is going to be a capable addition to the what was previously the best judging panel on any singing competition. She’s taking the place of Sara Bareilles, who is probably off celebrating getting a surprise Album of the Year Grammy nomination. Jewel does bring at least some singing-show experience courtesy of both “Nashville Star” and the short-lived “Platinum Hit,” so she should fit in here rather nicely. She probably doesn’t have as much experience in this sort of vocal performance as Shawn Stockman or Ben Folds, but we never got the impression that Bareilles or Nicole Scherzinger (who was the original female judge on the panel) did, either.

What do you think about this performance? Share your thoughts below! Also, click here to read some more “Sing-Off” news. We’re going to have a full review of the premiere at that link after it airs.

Photo: NBC