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"Los Angeles-based group Kinfolk 9 brought something new to The Sing-Off with their diverse and adventurous sound, which combined elements of rock, jazz and pop all in one.  During Monday night&amp;#039;s show, Kinfolk 9 chose The Beatles&amp;#039; &amp;#039;Let It Be&amp;#039; as their 1960s track, while a rendition of Jessie J&amp;#039;s &amp;#039;Price Tag&amp;#039; was their pick from current hits. Unfortunately, the performances failed to impress the judges and they were eliminated from the competition.  Kinfolk 9 group member Jenilee Reyes spoke to Digital Spy about the group&amp;#039;s time on The Sing-Off and their plans for the future. You said previously that you really felt like the underdogs in the competition. Is that something that you think held you back? &amp;quot;In a way, yes, because the thing is, the thing we were expected to do - all of us on the show - was to learn so much in a short amount of time and perfect it.  &amp;quot;For us, not being used to learning music in that sort of way made it harder for us and we had to put in the extra time and effort just to get to the level that some of these groups were at.&amp;quot; You were really surprised to be safe last week. Was there that constant fear of being the ones to go because you felt like the underdog? &amp;quot;Oh, absolutely! I was joking around with my group that night because there was an ad-lib I sang in that first song saying, &amp;#039;This may be the end&amp;#039; and I remember singing it and personalizing it because it could be the last time I was on that stage with my group.  &amp;quot;We always hoped and worked really hard so that we wouldn&amp;#039;t have to go. But it was always in the back of our heads that we were the most inexperienced group out of all the competitors, so it made sense that we would get sent home earlier.&amp;quot;  You were such a diverse group and came from such different points of view. Did that make it hard to make decisions as a team? &amp;quot;Yeah, I mean, at times it was definitely difficult because we all come from such different backgrounds and our lead singers were all very different. Choosing songs made it a little difficult because we all wanted to pick songs that worked well with our voices but in the end, I think we picked the songs that were right for the group.  &amp;quot;That was definitely something we had to work on, to take ourselves out of what Kinfolk 9 was and look at is as a group rather than nine different artists trying to be one.&amp;quot; Did natural leaders emerge organically? Did you find that certain people felt more comfortable with taking the lead? &amp;quot;Everybody is such a strong personality in the group and everybody has an opinion but I think in the end, we worked really hard to work together and understand that we have a bigger picture here.  &amp;quot;As difficult as it was in the beginning to find our groove, in the end we found it and it was magical. We all learned to back down and go with the group.&amp;quot; Would you do anything differently if you had to repeat the experience? &amp;quot;The only thing I would change if we could do this again is that I&amp;#039;d want to have a little bit more time prior to the actual competition just to really get what we needed to perfect down. You know, getting a perfect blend and learning to sound like one voice is something that takes a lot of time - sometimes even years.  &amp;quot;A lot of these groups, that&amp;#039;s what they&amp;#039;ve had - a lot of time to rehearse and match each other and understand each other&amp;#039;s voices, whereas we had three rehearsals a week. And that was already a lot for us &amp;#039;cos we were squeezing those rehearsals in on top of everything else. But that&amp;#039;s the only thing that I would change, to lock in more rehearsal time for each of us.&amp;quot;  You&amp;#039;re all pursuing solo projects as well, so do you think you will shift your focus on that or do you want to continue perfecting your group dynamic? &amp;quot;We definitely have talked about it and want to continue on as Kinfolk 9. We&amp;#039;ve discussed, obviously, making this a second priority in our careers because we&amp;#039;re all individual artists and have that to focus on. But Kinfolk 9 is definitely going to be the second thing we focus on.  &amp;quot;What we went through on the show was a powerful thing for all of us and I don&amp;#039;t think we expected to be affected the way we are. We all understand how special and magical that is and we all want to continue.&amp;quot; What was the most challenging part of the experience? &amp;quot;Oh gosh, there [were] so many! I think one of the biggest challenges really is that some of us did not sight read music very well. We&amp;#039;re all musicians but it&amp;#039;s different when you&amp;#039;re sight-reading music as opposed to an instrument. We had to learn that quickly and when we were in opening number rehearsals, so many of the groups would get it right away because they knew it. We&amp;#039;re fast learners but we learn by hearing things.  &amp;quot;The way we learn is different and the way it works for us is that breaking into small groups was a better way of learn it. In the acapella world, it&amp;#039;s the standard, that&amp;#039;s how people learn their music but that&amp;#039;s not how Kinfolk 9 does.  &amp;quot;I remember the first rehearsal we had. It was me, Antoinette, Mary and Angelique and we were laughing our asses off because we felt like the last kids in school... But it was definitely a fun experience.&amp;quot; Going back to the final Jessie J performance, the judges thought that you didn&amp;#039;t &amp;quot;own&amp;quot; it. Did you stand by that? &amp;quot;I honestly disagreed with what was said. We worked really hard on Jessie J and &amp;#039;Price Tag&amp;#039;. I&amp;#039;m very critical of myself as a performer and I can watch myself over and over again and be nitpicky and tell myself that I could have been better.  &amp;quot;But overall, I think what the judges said about the performance, they kind of took away from it being one of the best performances we had. Our blending was great, our performance was good.  &amp;quot;One of the things that Sara said was that she wished the beginning wasn&amp;#039;t so slow but I didn&amp;#039;t see that song going any other way cos it was such a groovy, chill vibe. In rehearsals we tried it so many different ways but in the end, we all chose collectively as a group to build it and start it slower until the very end.  &amp;quot;I don&amp;#039;t think I&amp;#039;d change anything about that performance because we worked really hard and I&amp;#039;m really proud of it.&amp;quot;  What was your favourite performance that you gave? &amp;quot;&amp;#039;Price Tag&amp;#039; was definitely a favourite performance for sure, because it was a lot of fun and showed a different side of the group. The week before we sang &amp;#039;Secrets&amp;#039;, which was super heavy and emotional and the way we prepared for that song was crazy because, you know, we really wanted to dig deep and find out what that song meant to us.  &amp;quot;We turned off the lights at one rehearsal and went around in a circle nine times and shared a secret and by the end of it, each and everyone of us was in tears and hugging each other and it was an emotional moment for us. So with &amp;#039;Price Tag&amp;#039;, while we have that side to us, we wanted to show that we could have fun with each other.  &amp;quot;We love each other. Kinfolk means family, which is why we chose the name and that&amp;#039;s the essence of what kinfolk is. We&amp;#039;re doing this together. We have a more fun side.&amp;quot; Is there any group you&amp;#039;re rooting for now that you&amp;#039;re out of the competition? &amp;quot;You know, we&amp;#039;re friends with everyone and Urban Method are doing something really special in being entertainers. I also think Pentaonix is going to really take it all the way. Their sound is just so ridiculous for five members, it&amp;#039;s insane what they can do. I think Pentatonix would definitely have to be my guess on who takes this whole thing.&amp;quot; The Sing-Off continues on Monday at 8/7c on NBC. "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.digitalspy.com/tv/the-sing-off/interviews/a343864/the-sing-off-kinfolk-9-interview-we-felt-like-the-underdogs/>