Barcelona, Spain – September 9, 2026
BYU Vocal Point – Blame It on the Boogie
A disco classic reborn through the power of the human voice
Some songs belong so strongly to an era that touching them decades later can be a risky undertaking. “Blame It on the Boogie” is certainly one of them. The 1978 classic became inseparable from the sound, energy and irresistible movement of The Jacksons.
So what do you do with a song that hardly needs reinventing?
BYU Vocal Point found the answer: you don't try to replace the original. You find an entirely different way to make it come alive.
Their new rendition of “Blame It on the Boogie” strips away the conventional band and rebuilds the song around what Vocal Point does best — the human voice. The result is energetic, remarkably tight and, above all, enormously enjoyable.
Keeping the boogie alive
The first thing that stands out is how naturally the arrangement preserves the character of the original song.
That is harder than it sounds.
“Blame It on the Boogie” lives on rhythm. Take away the drums, bass, guitars and other instrumental ingredients and much of what makes the song work could easily disappear with them.
Here, it doesn't.
Instead, Vocal Point turns voices into an entire rhythm section. Percussive vocals provide the drive, the bass gives the arrangement its foundation and layers of harmonies constantly move around the lead. There is an impressive amount happening at once, yet the performance never feels overcrowded.
It still grooves.
And for this particular song, that may be the biggest compliment possible.
Precision without losing the fun
Technically, the performance is excellent. The harmonies are clean, the timing is exceptionally precise and the arrangement contains plenty of small details worth discovering on repeated listens.
But technical excellence alone rarely makes a memorable record.
What makes this version particularly successful is that Vocal Point doesn't allow all that precision to remove the fun.
There is personality in the performance. There is movement. There is enthusiasm.
You can hear that the singers aren't merely demonstrating what can be achieved with a cappella voices; they are performing a song they clearly want the listener to enjoy.
That distinction matters.
Respecting a classic without copying it
Covering such a recognizable song presents another problem. Stay too close to the original and there is little reason for the new version to exist. Move too far away and you risk losing what made people love the song in the first place.
Vocal Point finds a convincing middle ground.
The melodies and infectious spirit remain immediately recognizable, but the vocal arrangement gives the track its own identity. Rather than competing with the famous 1978 recording, this version feels like a celebration of it from a completely different musical perspective.
And almost half a century after the song first appeared, it sounds remarkably fresh.
Perhaps that says something about the quality of the original composition. But it also says a great deal about the quality of this performance.
DMP VERDICT
There are countless covers of famous songs. Many are technically good. Far fewer make you stop and think: I want to hear that again.
BYU Vocal Point achieves exactly that with “Blame It on the Boogie.”
It is polished without becoming sterile, technically impressive without turning into a vocal showcase for its own sake, and respectful of the original without simply reproducing it.
Most importantly, it does exactly what “Blame It on the Boogie” should do.
It makes you smile, it makes you move, and by the time the song is over, blaming it on the boogie seems like a perfectly reasonable thing to do.
DMP Rating: 9/10
Highly recommended.