'Platinum Hit' Recap: 'Dance Floor Royalty'
[Platinum Hit - Season 1 Episode 2]
The contestants woke up and Johnny finally realized that this was a competition and people would start getting eliminated; Scotty was nervous getting so close to getting axed. All the contestants left their apartments and arrived at the studio. Jewel announced the theme this week would be dance club songs. While Jackie had experience with pop and "toy" music, she admitted that she had no experience with dance hooks which worried her. Jewel introduced disco queen Donna Summer as the guest judge for the episode. Jewel said that the contestants would have the same backing track to use and three teams would be created from the top three contestants. With 30 minutes the contestants ran and put on their headphones and started to create magic.
While she started with a song about the forest, Melissa decided to go with a theme of natural disasters. Brian considered a song similar to "I'm Too Sexy" and attempted low vocals. Karen was screaming like crazy. With ten minutes, Scotty explained that he had several top ten songs in Europe and would be embarrassed if he lost.
Time was up and Jewel and Donna started judging with Karen. Karen was worried, but she created "Make It Easy" where she basically created the word "easy" a lot, but Donna deemed it anthemic. Jackie's song, "Unsinkable," also had wailing notes. Blessing's "Dance Romance" emphasized words like "me" and Donna thought it lacked substance. Nick's "Moonwalk" couldn't sing well, but Donna liked it. Scott wrote "Paint the Club with Amazing." The rest of the contestants sang and had mixed forms of feedback. Brian's song, "My Ridiculous," was really deep, just as he hoped.
Donna announced that Scotty was in third place, his strength was concept and melody, but he needs to find lyricists. In second place was Karen because she had a soaring melody, but she needs to work on the unique angle. The winning hook this week was Brian because of his out-of-the-box approach. Nick was disappointed and Jewel pointed out that he was here to grow. Jewel pointed out that they had a day to complete the song and had to impress the clubbers of Los Angeles at a real club. The three winners selected their teams:
Brian- Jes and Jackie
Karen - Blessing, Amber, and Johnny
Scotty - Nick, Melissa, and Sonyae
Since Brian won, he got to keep the same track and got the opportunity to only have two other members. The rest of the teams were given different hooks, with the likeliness that their choruses wouldn't match up at all. In Scotty's studio, Nick wanted to put differences aside, this concerned Scotty because of how Sonyae/Nick would react. In Studio One, Brian, Jes and Jackie appreciated the freaky sexual nature. Jackie wanted to keep a strategy of making the weirdness relatable. Studio Two had Blessing wanting to figure out the beat, Karen emphasized the soaring melody and female empowerment. She immediately started talking about cooking and rubbing feet; both Amber and Johnny considered adding sexuality. Blessing was nervous about the sex, but decided to keep working together with his team.
With an hour left, Johnny wanted to make sure that the team listen to their beat and work together. Blessing decided to sit back and not contribute lyrics. Karen's suggestions didn't fit at all. In Studio One, Brian loved his own lyrics and sang it really loud which upset Jes and Jackie. Jackie wondered what the voice should be for the song, after talking to Brian they suggested adding a female high voice. In Studio Three, Sonyae and Nick came together to create a double line in the chorus. Melissa contributed a verse that the other three liked. Amber was a bit confused by the simplicity. Melissa was worried about her group's chorus. With time running out, the teams recorded their track and went to the apartments to get changed. Sonyae wanted to make sure that she was dressed to the T.
At the club, Scotty realized that they were in a gay club. Jewel, Kara, and Donna Summer explained that the audiences should be vocal. Jewel started with "Paint the Club with Amazing" which had positive feedback from the dancers and the bridge was a very good change of pace. Kara was nodding in approval. The next song was "Make It Easy" and the dancers started off cold, but when the chorus came up, they had some more liveliness. Jewel and Kara continued to whisper to each other as the song went, a bit tired of the song. Finally the song, "My Ridiculous," was last and it kind of reminded me of something lyrically Katy Perry would sing. Jewel and Kara noted how the crowd was up and lively throughout the whole song. Brian was worried that the lack of his low vocal would get him eliminated.
The contestants arrived at judging and Jewel was impressed. The judging started with Scotty, Nick, Sonyae, and Melissa. Jewel announced that they were the winner and Scotty explained that Scotty/Nick/Sonyae did most of the words and the interesting chorus was good teamwork. Donna pointed out that Sonyae and Nick didn't come together but it still made exciting music. The team was safe and headed back to the studio and celebrated.
The other two teams were put in front of the judges. Karen, Melissa, Blessing, and Johnny started and explained that the song was all about having a good time. Kara liked the anthemic spirit, but there was no personality. Jes explained how everyone had a freaky spirit and a partner. Donna was a bit disappointed that Brian didn't sing the low keys and Kara agreed. Although they had issues, Jes, Jackie, and Brian were safe. Kara liked the concept of creating a phrase, "My Ridiculous," and the original inflection.
The other team missed the whole ball. Kara thought that Johnny's lyrics had no mystery to it. Donna used the word mundane to describe the lyrics. Blessing started to make excuses how he couldn't fit dance, but both Kara and Jewel shot him down. Blessing needed to turn his experiences into strengths. Karen tried to explain her spirit and anthemic nature, but Kara pointed out that she never picked up the anthemic spirit. There was no message and there was no empowerment. Johnny tried to explain that Blessing didn't contribute enough lyrically. Amber thought that she has potential. The contestants went to the back and waited for their judgment.
After the commercial break, Jewel announced that Amber and Johnny were the first two safe. The bottom two were Blessing (he wasn’t an active helper) and Karen (wrote cliché lyrics). Jewel announced that Blessing was eliminated and reprimanded for not helping in the songwriting. Karen was safe.