Exclusive: Scott and Mark Hoying on Creating Their New Holiday Book and Family Album

For many people, families and the holiday season are synonymous. It's the time of year when one is expected to gather with their relations to share food, festivities, and make a memory or two- or at least that's what the media often tells us. But for Scott and Mark Hoying, it was important that their new children's book takes this idea a step further by embracing a fuller view of what family can mean.

"One of our favorite lines from the book is when we're talking about families and we say, "Maybe it's a mom and you, maybe it's a dad or two. Maybe it's a furry friend, family is love, whoever who,'" Mark told BroadwayWorld in a recent interview. "That is the message that we really wanted to showcase to the world... Your family can be anything as long as it's full of love and joy, and laughter." 

"Fa La La Family" marks the second children's book between Pentatonix co-founder Scott Hoying and his husband, Mark. The text of the book comes from the original song of the same name, penned by the couple for this project. Throughout its pages are eye-catching illustrations of diverse families celebrating the holidays, complete with friends, pets, and the Hoyings themselves with their own future kids. 

To continue the themes introduced in the book, the pair also compiled an entire album of songs, which are a blend of new compositions and children's classics. The title of the album is an acrostic, with the first letter of each song spelling out the letters M.Y. F.A.M.I.L.Y.

With the holiday season just around the corner, BroadwayWorld caught up with Scott and Mark to discuss the new book and album, their own families, and Scott's experience as a current contestant on Dancing with the Stars.

This interview has been condensed for clarity and length.

This is a bit of a chicken-and-egg question, but what came first: the song or the book?

Scott: The book came first, but the book was the song. What we realized about making children's books from our first experience was that it's essentially writing a pop song. We were writing the lyrics out and simultaneously getting the music together, and then we had a song that we sent to the publisher. Once we got that draft done, we sent it [to] Steph Lew, our amazing illustrator, [who] took that song and then started to illustrate to it. 

And then after all of that, we decided to make an album and go bigger. We're just so proud of it all. It's immortalizing a really special time in our life, and we love the message. It's so fun to collaborate and work on something together. 

Mark: Music is such an important part of the holidays. When we were writing "Fa La La Family," we knew that we wanted to make it a soundtrack for families all across the world to listen to during the holidays. And, as Scott was saying, that's why we really wanted to make a whole album with, not only holiday songs, but also all types of songs that you can listen to throughout the year. We ended up naming the album "M.Y. F.A.M.I.L.Y." because every song on the album starts with the first letter of [the title.] It was a really special project for both of us because it's full of so much love and heart.

And it has the potential to become a holiday tradition as well!

Scott: We all have those kids' books we read as kids that we will remember forever. To be that core memory for anyone would be so special, especially with the messaging and a book that we're so passionate about. That is a beautiful thing. 

Mark: One of our favorite lines from the book is when we're talking about families and we say, "Maybe it's a mom and you, maybe it's a dad or two. Maybe it's a furry friend, family is love, whoever who." That is the message that we really wanted to showcase to the world and to younger folks who are learning that there are so many different types of families to celebrate. Your family can be anything as long as it's full of love and joy, and laughter. 

There are so many Christmas books for kids. What did you want to do with "Fa La La Family" that was different from other things on the market?

Mark: One of the things that I felt super passionate about was incorporating my heritage into it. A lot of books growing up didn't showcase Filipino culture, and I was excited that, in the book, we teach how to say ‘I love you’ and "family" in Tagalog. My childhood home is also featured in the artwork, so there are a couple of pages where you can see the couches that I used to sit on as a kid, or the food that'd be on the table.

I know you worked with illustrator Steph Lew for your previous book, but in this one, she has illustrated the two of you specifically. What did that collaboration with her look like this time around?

Scott: She's amazing. This time, we sent pictures of our family and wedding, and of memories we had. And then we let her have free rein of what to include and where to include it. That was really fun because when we got to look through the illustrations, we were like, ‘Oh my gosh, that's my mom's wedding dress.' All those little Easter eggs were really special to see. 

Mark: And there are even some times where our doggies, Mozart, Miles, and Bubba are on the pages. There are all these special moments that we hold so dear to our hearts, and when we're 80 years old, showing this to our grandchildren, we can say, ‘Oh my gosh, those were our families, our dogs, our homes, our life, and our love that are forever on display in these pages of our book.’

The songs are a mix of classics and originals. What was your process in choosing the tracklist and putting it together?

Scott: We had a few songs that we knew we wanted to include, like "Fa La La Family" and "All I Need." We knew we wanted to do "You Are My Sunshine." And we had a lot of the letters of "my family," we realized, so then we had just a few to fill in. Honestly, it's kind of nice to have limitations sometimes. It was like, "Okay, we need a song that starts with 'Y' and we want the sentiment to be about loving someone always.' So we came up with "Yestermorrow." I think that it kind of inspires creativity when you have a limitation like that.

Mark: And we got to have so many of our best friends on the album, too. One of our best friends in the world is Meghan Trainor, and we were lucky enough to have her on this album on "All I Need," which is one of our favorites. To have an album based on family and to have a person who is family to us on the album meant everything to us. We also have another great friend of ours, Béla Fleck, who is one of the best banjo players in the whole world. He plays on "You Are My Sunshine." There are so many cool moments that he arranged on his banjo that I don't think anyone else in this world could come up with besides him.

The album is so musically rich that it’s not just for kids. Adults can enjoy it as well.

Scott: We wanted it to be for the whole family. And also, I think we don't give kids enough credit. That's what I love about the '90s Disney era and stuff. Things like The Hunchback of Notre Dame. Those songs, and the scores of those films, were musical theater royalty. I think that's why I love Disney and that era so much. 

Mark, you have your parents singing on this, which is a really special addition. Can you talk about including them in the project and what it meant to share that moment with your family?

Mark: We had a song that we were writing called "Mahal Kita," which in Tagalog means "I Love You." Both my parents were born in the Philippines, and growing up, I learned all of the different Filipino phrases, so I knew which ones we wanted to include. But I wanted to make sure we got the pronunciation perfect. We called my parents, and we had them teach Scott how to say these phrases. We recorded the phone call just for fun, but then we watched it back and we were like, ‘This is the most adorable conversation ever.’ 

When they came to visit a few weeks later in LA, they heard the song for the first time, and they lost their minds. They were so excited and so happy to be on the album. My dad was who fostered my love for music growing up and I really attribute a lot of my love for music and passion for music to my parents. I'm so excited that this gets to live on throughout time, and we get to play this for our kids and our grandkids one day, for the folks in my life who really taught me how to love music and how to celebrate music. 

You just mentioned your future kids and grandkids. I know you’ve talked about this before, that this album is kind of for them. Why was it important for you to make a project like this now, before they’re in your life?

Scott: I honestly think it was partially for us because we’re so excited, and it's such a long process to start a family. This was a way to get excited and start building the Hoying universe.

Mark: As a queer couple, starting a family just takes longer and more time and more care. We have been so excited to start a family since the day we met eight years ago. And to be closer than ever now is so exciting. To have this book be published right around the time that we're starting our family feels so kismet and so perfect. It'll be so special when we can read this to them for the first time. That was the whole reason we started writing picture books together was for that reason: to read them to our kids one day. 

Note: This conversation took place before the couple officially announced that they are expecting a baby. 

Scott, in addition to this project, you are busy with Dancing with the Stars and Pentatonix. How do you juggle it all?

Scott: It helps that I really love it all. If I love something and I'm really inspired by it, I can hyperfocus on it and do it for hours. It’s like I don't need a break, I find it energizing. But I will say that juggling everything in this moment has definitely been the biggest test that I've ever been through, probably because Dancing With the Stars is so physically and emotionally intense. It's the coolest experience of my entire life, and I want to win so bad. It's taxing on the body. I feel like I'm always sore and physically weak. The show days are really scary because you're doing something you're not comfortable doing. You learned how to do it a week ago and are about to do it for 7 million people on live television. And then the next day, you immediately start learning a new dance style. But that being said, it's my favorite thing I've ever done. I feel like I'm growing as a person. 

Mark: And he is crushing it! Scott works harder than anybody I know in my whole life. He can juggle these amazing projects so beautifully and with so much grace and with so much passion. I see his growth, not only as a dancer and a performer, but also as a human being through all of this. And I couldn't be prouder as a husband.

You are also gearing up to release a holiday album with Pentatonix. Your first single, "Bah Humbug," is already out, but the rest of the tracklist hasn’t been revealed. How did you decide to do your own spin on A Christmas Carol? What can fans expect from the new album?

Scott: One of my favorite Christmas movies was The Muppet Christmas Carol growing up. I just love that story. A couple of years ago, I actually had the idea to do "Bah Humbug" as a sea shanty, and you can kind of hear that in the final version. But Mark and I and our friend Dave finished it for this album, and that's such a good one. Also, Bah Humbug sounds like an a cappella term. 

Mark: Everyone is singing their faces off on that song, too! Everyone plays the different characters, and it's super theatrical. It almost feels like it could be its own Broadway show.

Scott: I love this album so much because it has that theatrical energy. We've done so much Christmas music in Pentatonix, but one thing we haven't touched is that big band orchestral sound that Dean Martin did back in the day. We wanted to really capture and commit to it and lean in. It's still really vocal-heavy, but it's vocal-heavy in a Manhattan Transfer way, where there's instruments throughout. It just has no rules. We have stuff that sounds like it's from a Fosse musical, and then we have a ton of original music. It's all really fun and bold and theatrical and camp. I think it's one of the best things, if not the best thing, we've ever done. 

Speaking of theatrical, you mentioned earlier this year that you are working on a musical. Do you have any updates on that?

Scott: We are still working on it. We just had a little workshop recently, and it's in really good shape. Some exciting announcements are coming up with it soon. The process of making a musical is obviously a really long process, and there are so many steps in which things can go haywire. I'm just really grateful for the Michael Cassel Group for really believing in it and for my co-writers for working so hard. We are getting closer than ever.

Photo Credit: Ian Shiff