Adam Levine’s New Show ‘Songland’ Is Looking For Contestants!
REUTERS/Mario Anzuoni Reading Time: 3 minutes
The Voice has been one of NBC’s most popular shows of the decade, and we’ve come to know how great Adam Levine is when it comes to coaching up-and-coming musicians. But how well can he produce a whole reality competition of his own? We’ll find out when Songland premieres on the network!
What makes this new show stand out as a potential hit in the sea of singing competitions on network television is the fact that it focuses not on how well contestants can perform music, but create it. NBC has ordered 11 episodes of the new series, and the goal of the program is to “find the next generation of hit songwriters”.
How will they do this? Each episode will feature five songwriters competing to have their original recorded by a famous artist. They will all perform in front of a panel featuring the singer in question as well as a group of established music producers. From there, three of the contestants will be selected by the artist to be paired up for mentorship from a music producer to further develop the song, with the winner being chosen at the end of the episode.
Not much has been announced about the artists or mentors, but we do know that “See You Again” and “One Call Away” singer Charlie Puth will be among the singers recording one of the winning songs, and Ryan Tedder, Ester Dean, and Shane McAnally will be on the panel for that episode.
The first episode of Songland (featuring Puth) has already been filmed, but NBC is currently on the hunt for contestants to be on subsequent installments. The show is looking for songs from the following genres:
- Alternative
- Blues
- Christian & Gospel
- Country
- Dance & Electronic
- Hip Hop/Rap
- Indie
- Latin
- Pop
- R&B/Soul
- Reggae
- Rock
- Singer/Songwriter
Song will be judged on “creativity, originality, lyrics, hook, melody, and arrangement”. Those who have a song they wish to submit can register for an Artist’s Account on the show’s website. Hopefuls may submit up to two tracks for consideration and must not already be under any publishing deal.
Unlike most televised talent competitions which present one big competition with the winner announced at the end of the season, Songland will have multiple champions. With 11 stand-alone episodes each featuring a single competition (and its own victor) there will be an increased chance of a champion hitting it big in the industry. For all the high ratings The Voice gets, there haven’t been a lot of big names to come out of that show thus far, so Songland might provide NBC some reality TV alumni with longer-lasting star power.
NBC has not announced a premiere date for Songland yet, but you can check out producer Adam Levine on current network hit The Voice Mondays and Tuesdays at 8/7c.
