dishin' it

Scott Hoying dishes on married life, love songs, and the one thing he didn’t want at his wedding

By · Updated on January 26, 2024
Scott Hoying performing in a white shirt with a big drum
Image Credit: Getty Images

Could anyone out there possibly be having a better summer than Scott Hoying?

Last month, the singer-songwriter tied the knot with his partner of six-plus years, Mark Manio, at a gorgeous ceremony in Santa Barbara, California. Needless to say, music played a big part in their special evening—including a choreographed dance to a Blackpink medley—which sure made our hearts sing.

Then, Hoying followed that up by releasing his EP, Parallel, which he describes as a “love letter” to his new husband. Known as part of the a capella chart-toppers Pentatonix and the spin-off pop duo Superfruit, Parallel marks his first-ever solo project, showcasing yet another side of this multi-talented artist.

But don’t worry: There’s still plenty more Pentatonix to come. After receiving a star on the Hollywood Walk Of Fame a few months back, Hoying and the rest of the quintet are about to embark on their next North American tour this week.

Somehow, between tour prep, a honeymoon, and everything else, Hoying found time to sit down with Queerty and become the latest guest in our rapid-fire Q&A series, Dishin’ It. In our conversation, the musician reflects on his big day with Mark, shares the biggest life lesson he’s learned in their years-long relationship, and reveals which holiday he thinks Pentatonix should make an album for next.

Is there a piece of media—whether a movie, TV series, book, album, video game, etc…—that you consider a big part of your own coming-out journey, or that has played an important part in exploring your own queerness? Why does it stand out to you?

The first thing that comes to mind is the movie Chicago; it’s so good. I just love everything about that movie—I went saw in theaters three times. It kind of was one of the reasons I fell in love with musical theater. And, when I was first falling in love with my husband—it’s always on TV, and I would always act out the whole movie whenever it was on TV. So it’s just a fun, significant memory in our relationship. And then, in his vows, he literally mentions it. He’s naming off things that he loves about me, and he’s like, “I love that you can quote every line of Chicago from start to finish.”

Of course, a big congratulations on your wedding earlier this month—the entire evening looked absolutely lovely! Do you have any fun/funny stories you can share about bringing it all together?

There was definitely so much thought and care—and it was something that meant a lot to Mark and I, something we’re really proud of about [our] relationships.We work really well together, and we love to be creative. So any single section of the wedding was like, “What’s the photo booth going to be? What’s the welcome drink going to be?” We always asked the question, “How can we make this really special and creative and a moment that’s very specific to us.”

So it made the wedding really feel like us, which I really loved. And, surprisingly, nothing went too haywire on the day-of. We literally had a talk before like, “We know we’ve worked hard on this and things could go totally wrong because that’s what happens at weddings, and we’re gonna stay present and make the best of whatever may happen!” But the team we worked with at Orange Blossom Events, they were so on top of everything, and I felt like nothing really went wrong, which was not expected and it was it was a really beautiful thing.

And then one funny thing was we kept changing the concept for the photo booth until the very, very last second. Because we wanted to do this booth where you walk into a magazine and you’re behind this plexiglass that has text on it, so you literally look like you’re in the magazine. But then we haven’t seen any good pictures come out from anyone who’s done that concept before—because like light reflects off the plexiglass—we’re like, “Everyone’s gonna not like the pictures, like let’s switch to a normal photo booth.” So, yeah, so that was one thing that, like, two days before we finally made the decision.

Related:

Singer Scott Hoying marries model boyfriend Mark Manio

The Pentatonix singer and model have dated for six years.

Music was an important part of the reception and the wedding itself, featuring karaoke and a playlist you two curated yourselves. It’s not uncommon for couples to give their reception DJs a list of “DO NOT PLAY” songs—did you have Mark have a list of songs you didn’t want to hear? What was on it? (If not, what’s an example of a song that you think could immediately kill a vibe at a wedding reception and why?)

Honestly Mark really led the brigade there because he’s just so good at putting together a playlist, and he sectioned it out—like, “This is the pop-punk section, this is the pop girl group section.” And then there was a couple “no-play songs,” like “Cupid Shuffle” I guess is one that I can think of? It’s a great song, but some songs are just like a little played out, and it just feel a little too wedding-y, you know what I mean?

And, plus, we have so many favorite songs, and so many songs that we love, that by the time we got through the songs we must play, we were out of spots and time. So we wanted it to be more like “Work From Home” by Fifth Harmony and less like “Yeah!” by Usher. But I do love that, too!

@scotthoying best day of our LIVES! @Mark Hoying 😭🤍 @Lindsey B @Cost n’ Mayor @Betty Who @@iamskot nicholson #craighollaman ♬ original sound – Scott Hoying

You and Mark have been together for over 6 years now. What’s an important lesson you’ve learned about relationships in your time together that you’d like to share with others?

Oh my gosh. You know, a big thing I learned from Mark—in our six and a half years—is he’s so incredibly kind and empathetic and listens. And I feel like I had been like that in the past, but had grown a little colder over the years as you get older. But he kind of held onto that sweet kindness and brought that back out of me. And now we kind of have this gentleness with each other that, even in a moment where we disagree on something, it doesn’t feel super intense and emotional. It feels calm, and we’re very solution-oriented and logical about fixing it. And so resentment doesn’t grow—it’s like nothing I’ve ever experienced. And so I’ve tried to apply that to all areas of my life. There’s just like a calm, solution-oriented, sweet way that we communicate with each other. So, communication, I guess, is a good answer there!

Your solo debut EP, Parallel, is out now—can you tell us a bit about the story/inspiration beyond one of the songs?

“Four” is a good one to talk about. I wrote that on our four-year anniversary, a couple of years ago, and I remember when I was writing it I was like, “I want to sing this at our wedding one day.” I just remember the feeling I had on our four-year anniversary—I couldn’t believe we’d been together that long. Because it hadn’t felt that long.

And that was a big moment for me to be like, “Wow, time really flies,” because the dynamic we have is so easy and not anxiety-inducing, so time just like ticks by at crazy speeds. I do feel like Mark and I’s relationship does feel like a flow state in a lot of ways. So, it was called “Four” and it uses different variations of the word for throughout the song. And I did end up singing it at the wedding, and it was a really a beautiful moment.

And then a lot of [the other tracks] are love songs. The ones that aren’t are “King Kong” and “Bubs.” “King Kong” is more of like a love letter to myself—just being like, “I’m a bad b*tch!” And “Bubs” is a tribute to my sweet pup that passed away.

Since you’re about to embark on another tour with Pentatonix: What’s a city you’ve loved visiting that you may not have ever gone to if it weren’t for your career/touring the world? What makes it stand out to you?

I would say, recently, we toured to Budapest. And I’ve heard of the city of Budapest in my years of living, but I’ve never really known what it was about, or known the extent of how beautiful it was. And we went there, and I was just so blown away. It’s such a beautiful city, and it was such a cool city. And we just had a wonderful time there.

On this Europe tour—I had never been to Europe while Bird [rentable electric scooters] was a thing? It was a game changer! Because, on tour, we only have one or two days in each city. So Mark and I had a tradition of, like, we would get one of those Bird scooters—whatever version of that—and we would just ride around the entire city and see the whole city in an afternoon. Some of the cities were just really so incredible, and we had such unique experiences in all of them.

But another one—and this is such an obvious one that everyone falls in love with, and I’ve even fallen in love with it before but it was on a different level this time around—was Paris. We rode scooter down the river and saw so much and did so much while we were there, and it was just a really magical experience.

Pentatonix has this tradition of releasing a new Christmas album every couple of years, but if you guys could create an album dedicated to a different holiday, which holiday would it be and why?

Okay, so it’s a between two. My first instinct—maybe because I just got married—would be like a Valentine’s Day, or just a love album. But then, also, I am obsessed with Halloween—Mark and I both are; we take it so seriously every year. And I think a really fun Halloween album would be cool. There’s also just so much you can do. I feel like Pentatonix, also, we sometimes do our, like, spooky Christmas songs, so I feel like we’re prepped and ready for the full thing.

Who is a queer or trans artist/performer/creator that you think is doing really cool work right now? Why are they someone we should all be paying attention to?

So, what comes to mind is a couple people. I think that Billy Porter is really inspiring. He’s so artistic and loud and proud. I don’t know, like, every single red carpet he does, he takes it to 100%. It’s always got to be a moment. He puts so much thought and care into every character and every outfit. And I think that he just makes everyone—queer or not—feel more confident. And I think he’s kind of normalizing it in a lot of ways by doing all these red carpet events and being on all these mainstream things. And so he’s someone who I would say. But honestly, like, the Queer Eye guys are crushing it! And there’s just so many.

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