'Platinum Hit' Recap: 'This Is Platinum Hit'
[Platinum Hit - Season 1 Episode 1]
Hollywood. The twelve songwriting hopefuls arrived at the Grammy Museum, each trying to explain their lives in small snippets. Although there were only twelve contestants, most of the contestants came through in a blur. Each explained some of their influences which include Billy Joel, Ella Fitzgerald, and Michael Jackson. Of all the contestants, the first that stood out was Blessing because he lost his vision at 9. They were all greeted by their host and judge, Jewel. She explained that there were two parts: create a "hook" and then flesh the hooks out to a "full song." The prize was $100,000, a publishing deal, and a record deal. The first hook challenge was to write about Los Angeles in 30 minutes.
The contestants each went to separate places in the museum to write their hooks, Nick calmly lying down. Sonyae put on sunglasses and felt confident, but in reality she looked like she was offending the blind contestant. Jewel went around and gave the contestants a five minute warning. As time was up, Jewel introduced the head judge, Kara Dioguardi. She also announced that the top four songwriters would have an advantage.
Scotty (the creative director of Jordin Sparks) went first and started the competition strong. Each contestant went. Sonyae tried to sing "Love it or Hate it" but was a bit screechy throughout. Melissa had an island style, but was so nervous that she couldn't sing the right note. Nevin gets called out for sounding like "Candle in the Wind." Nick's "My City" was a bit overconfident.
The judges announced the top four from fourth to first was Jackie, Scotty, Nick, and Sonyae. Kara loved the high energy of Sonyae's hook. Jewel let the contestants arrive at their apartments before announcing the advantages. The contestants arrived at the studio the next day and were in awe at the new equipment they would be able to use. Jewel arrived and announced that the challenges will be written in teams. The winners of the hook got to pick their teams. The teams had to turn the hook into a full song.
Sonyae: Blessing and Amber
Nick: Jes and Karen
Scotty: Brian and Nevin
Jackie: Johnny and Melissa
The teams went to their writing rooms and had eight hours to create a song. In studio one (Sonyae), Amber had issues with performance, but Blessing suggested that Sonyae needed to sell the song since it was her own. In studio 4 (Jackie), Melissa had issues with her keyboard and continued to wander off mentally; she also provided cliché lyrics.
In studio two (Nick), Nick took over the planning of his lyrics. Studio three (Scotty) had some minor clashes in genre, but Brian clicked with Scotty quickly. Nevin threw some small ideas but it was too cliché for Scotty. With only thirty minutes, Sonyae wanted to change the genre to more of a rock sound and it was hard for Blessing because his background was Motown. Karen was surprised about how well she worked with Nick. The only team that seemed confident was Scotty's.
The next day, the contestants got dressed and headed out. The contestants arrived at their judging room. Along with them they had judge Trevor Jerideau and special guest judge Jermaine Dupri. Jermaine also looked a bit silly with sunglasses with the blind Blessing sitting in front of him with a real reason to wear sunglasses inside. Jewel explained that the songs would be graded from their music, lyrics, and melody; while vocals are part of the package, it is not the main focus.
Nick, Jes, and Karen performed "My City" and Nick created an acoustic punk style song. The three had a strong harmony and were coordinated. Jackie, Johnny and Melissa sang "City of Dreams," Jackie led the whole song with Johnny playing the guitar section and Melissa sitting around. Melissa didn't really prove why she was part of the competition during this challenge. Scotty, Brian, and Nevin sang "No One Again," Scotty had an interesting vibrato and I really liked that they incorporated percussion. Sonyae, Blessing, and Amber were supposed to perform together, but Sonyae performed the song by herself and her lyrics were a bit stereotypical. Although all four of the songs needed some polishing I could believe "No One Again" as one of those generic top 40 lite radio station songs.
The contestants were nervous in the background and the rest thought that Sonyae wasn't being a team player. Amber was worried that she would be eliminated because of Sonyae.
The judges pulled two teams up: Nick, Jes, and Karen and Jackie, Johnny, and Melissa. Both teams wrote the top two songs. Jackie had strong hooks and melody. Nick was complimented about the edginess and record changes. Jewel announced the winner was Nick, Jes, and Karen. The bottom two teams were up for elimination. Scotty's song was not memorable; Sonyae's song was confusing and uninspiring. Jewel announced the losing team was Scotty, Brian, and Nevin; the only thing that saved Sonyae was that her hook was memorable. Jermaine suggested starting with the hook first. I think that there was a lot more wrong than saving the team for a handful of words.
Jewel asked Scotty about the team dynamic. Scotty admitted that he wrote most of the lyrics and Nevin was cliché. They thought the song was Broadway and the vocals; Nevin's use of the word "they" was alienating. Kara pointed out that Brian and Nevin should have looked at the hook and refined. Brian thought that Scotty should be eliminated for doing most of the work; Jewel pointed out that people who were quiet were equally responsible for not standing up. After the commercial break; Nevin had bad lyrics, Brian didn't help fix the song, and Scotty didn't improve his lyrics. Scotty was announced safe first. Jewel announced that Nevin was eliminated. Nevin was comforted by the contestants, but he was still a bit upset that he never could show his talents.
The show does point out one flaw: How do we know that the contestants don't have these hooks in their heads already? A song like "Southern Spice" clearly could have shifted a few words and placed in "Los Angeles." On a show like Top Chef, contestants aren't allowed to have recipe books. It's hard to gauge whether or not musicians have the same limitation.