'Platinum Hit' Recap - 'Solo Challenge (Pop hook)'

With only four contestants left Nick was hoping that Jes would not be eliminated yet. Scotty was shocked because Brian had as many group wins as Scotty did. Jes wanted to bring her A-Game.

The contestants arrived and Jewel congratulated the four. Jewel introduced Perez Hilton as the guest judge. Jewel wanted the contestants to write a top 40 pop chorus. The contestants had 30 minutes which left Jes confident that she could write something for the masses. Nick wrote a song about being the best person ever and beating his competition. Sonyae thought Scotty was the biggest competition. Scotty wanted to show that he was a great songwriter, even for pop music so he considered the concept of "DJ have my babies."

Jes wrote "So See Through" and the song was a bit redundant and wasn't positive enough for Perez. Scotty's "D.J. Have My Babies" made the judges cringe. The title made Jewel vomit in her mouth; Perez liked the pop medley. Sonyae introduced "Exit" and it had the same sass that Sonyae always provides; Jewel warned her that her melody needed an advantage. Nick sang his song "boom boom" and the song was a bit bland. Perez thought the song was traditional (Read: Hanson) pop and didn't connect to the lyrics. After the judges deliberated they announced the four songwriter's rankings:

4th - Nick
3rd - Jes
2nd - Sonyae
1st - Scotty

Scotty felt great getting another win, even with the silly hook he wrote. Jewel thought Sonyae's melody needed help; this problem would continue to be hammered into Sonyae for the rest of the episode. Jewel announced that all four contestants would have to write alone. There was a mystery judge: the students of Sana Monica High School. The whole school would choose the winner. There was one day, and each contestant had a backing track to work with. The backing track was most likely to balance out the contestants that didn't have the ability to compose music as well.

Without anyone to bounce ideas off of, Sonyae thought she should write a song for teens that thought they were mature. Nick dropped his original concept of "Boom Boom" and transformed it into "First Call" and hoped that he proved his worth. Jes loved being alone and hoped that she could show something that wasn't as singer-songwriter as the rest of her music. Jes had too many ideas in her head and sat back. She wrote a cute pop love song in the form of a long story and grabbed ideas in chunks. Scotty's idea of having babies changed into dancing until the world ended, a la Britney Spears.

With two hours to go, Kara arrived to check up on any of the contestants. Scotty performed his song for Kara, she pointed out that Scotty is good with dance tracks, but Kara wanted to make sure that everything was amazing. She assaulted him with questions that made him doubt his abilities. In Studio 4, Nick introduced "First Call" and while Kara liked the structure, she thought the hook needed more strength. Kara could feel the heart of the performance. Sonyae introduced "Exit" and Kara loved the concept. She emphasized that the melody needed help. Her hook of "E-E-E-Exit" didn't work well. Jes was last for Kara's evaluation and Kara immediately was jotting down notes. The melodies were strong but the lyrics were hit or miss. She needed to be catchy.

Scotty needed to make sure that his song was definite; especially his connection with Jordin Sparks. Jordin Sparks is a great example of top 40 pop and Scotty should be ashamed if he was eliminated doing the challenge. Nick decided to change his concept a third time into "My Mistake." Jes re-worded her lyrics and immediately saw the change for the better. Sonyae continued to fix her hook until time ran out.

The next morning Jes was worried about how the students would react. Sonyae knew that there was a lot of people back home hoping that she made it big. Nick admitted he was the bad boy in his youth and expelled in high school. It didn't seem like much changed from how he described himself. The contestants arrived at Sana Monica High School and took a seat during a school basketball game. Jewel, Kara, Keith Naftaly, and Taio Cruz were also in the crowd. None of the students mobbed the judges which made me wonder if anyone knew who Jewel even was.

A DJ played the four tracks starting with Nick. Nick song's got people up and clapping, but it didn't necessarily mean anything because the camera turned to the same four or five shots of students dancing to all four of the songs. Jes just wanted to make sure that she beat Nick and her song immediately got the judges jotting down notes. Sonyae's "Exit" was third and she managed to get the students point to the exit. Scotty's song was dancy and infectious.

Before judging Nick wasn't feeling well so he decided to drink a beer to calm him. The contestants stood in front of the judges and Jewel announced that the winner of the high school popularity contest was Sonyae's "Exit" and the judges agreed, not that their vote really mattered. Sonyae had a strong concept and catchy hook.

This left the other three contestants in danger of elimination and the judges tried to probe into their song selections. Scotty explained how much he loved his song. Kara didn't think that the concept of "world ending" paired up well with "DJ making the dancers go crazy." Kara liked how the song would fit a Ne-Yo type; the song may have been a bit too deep. Jewel was happy with Nick's lyrics that he did well; he was telling the truth. Kara pointed out a flaw, but Nick suffered from not focusing on melody. His song didn't have a catchy melody. Jes' song showed growth and her lyrics didn't have unnecessary phrases. Taio loved simpler lyrics, but was surprised by the maturity of the song: it was junior high instead of high school.

Sonyae greeted the other three contestants and they were all nervous about the eliminations. After the commercial break Jewel announced that Scotty and Jes were going to the finale. Nick was eliminated even though he wrote his best song too late.

Next Week: One song from the final three will determine the winner.