Thousands of comments flooded IU freshman Lena Apolskis’ TikTok on Sept. 16.
"What in the 'Pitch Perfect' is going on?"
"Do they do weddings?"
"Close enough. Welcome back Treblemakers."
The TikTok video, which has amassed over 31 million views, features members of Another Round, IU’s all-male a cappella group, serenading Apolskis’ friend with R&B singer Jeremih’s hit song, “Birthday Sex.”
Within a week of Apolskis posting her TikTok, Another Round had received over 100 booking inquiries. Currently, the group performs an estimated 10 birthday events per week at dorms, apartments and sorority houses around campus.
“I feel like they definitely deserve the hype because I feel like they did a really good job,” Apolskis said. “It was definitely entertaining and fun. And our friend was definitely really surprised, and she loved it.”
IU sophomore Jamie Davis, junior Chaitan Grewal and senior Bailey Jackson Reese are members of Another Round and said they never expected Apolskis’ video to garner so much attention online.
“I wouldn’t say that that video itself deserved to go viral, but I think some sort of video of ours was bound to go viral at some point,” Davis, the group’s assistant business director, said. “It’s just funny that it was that one.”
With the rise in popularity, Another Round has been booked and busy. While the group performed at dorms and apartments before the viral video, they typically only had one or two each week.
On Sept. 22, Another Round posted a TikTok video promising four free winter show tickets to whoever’s TikTok of them performing gets the most views from Sept. 21 to Dec. 10.
“That’s kind of where we’re trying to filter all this towards is our shows that we have, because that’s a big showcase of who we are as a group, not just one-minute songs and clips and stuff like that,” Grewal, Another Round's music director, said. “Really trying to get people in those seats.”
Reese, the social media manager, said that, in a way, everyone in Another Round is finally living the dream, especially when the members first arrive at the event they were booked for and see the amount of people excited to watch them perform.
“It feels like we made it just by so many people being excited to see us,” Reese said. “That never leaves, really. It’s like two, three times a night we would get that experience and that’s another reason to come back again the next day.”
After Apolskis’ video, an influx of TikTok videos were posted, all documenting Another Round’s performances. A majority of the comments on those videos compared Another Round to the Treblemakers, a fictional collegiate male a cappella group from the 2012 comedy “Pitch Perfect.”
“We strive to do a lot of our songs like them because people recognize those songs the most,” Grewal said. “But we’ll still put our own spins on it and change the lyrics a little bit, so we try and make it our own.”
Embracing the comparison, Another Round will perform a “Pitch Perfect”-themed gig at 8:30 p.m. Oct. 24 at Merrill Hall alongside Ladies First, IU’s all-female a cappella group. The two groups will sing songs from “Pitch Perfect” and its 2015 sequel. Tickets to the two-hour show cost $8.
Following the combined gig, Another Round has a winter show at 8 p.m. Dec. 12 at the Buskirk-Chumley Theater. Ticket information will be available closer to the show date. For more information about upcoming performances, visit their website.
While singing in an a cappella group is a collegiate hobby for jazz voice major Reese and guitar performance major Grewal, they both plan to pursue music professionally after graduation.
“This is the group where I learned to sing bass and I learned percussion and I learned how to arrange; this group taught me the majority of what I hope to be doing professionally,” Reese said. “Whether that is going on tour with a bunch of other guys or going on tour alone or being stuck in a studio booth, that’s where I want to be in the future and I owe a large majority to this group.”
Grewal agreed, noting that ideally, he would prefer to perform with a band and said it is always enjoyable to share music with both the audience and the people on stage.
Local live music happening around town Oct. 6-12.
“Half the fun of this group is being able to look over the people across from you and know that they know the music just as well as you, and you can play off their energy and kind of elevate that performance even more,” Reese said.
While finance major Davis’ career plans are not as solidified, he said he will always try to keep music in his life.
“The teamwork aspect of singing in a cappella is very important in all aspects of life and learning how to work with people especially when things get stressful and you don’t know a note or you need help with something, anything like that,” Davis said. “Teamwork is in all aspects of your life, so I’ll take that with me and try and sing as much as I can.”
