What’s On TV Tonight – ‘Songland’ – NBC’s ‘The Voice’ For Songwriters

“Songland”: (L-R) John Legend, Shane McAnally, Ester Dean and Ryan Tedder Photo: Trae Patton/NBC

Tonight on NBC the network premieres a new music competition series, “Songland,” from the producers of “The Voice,” premiering Tuesday at 10:00 p.m. ET/PT after the premiere of “America’s Got Talent.” 

The show is the brainchild of Dave Stewart of Eurythmics and “The Voice” showrunner Audrey Morrissey who serves as executive producer alongside Stewart, director Ivan Dudynsky, and former “The Voice” coach and Maroon 5 frontman Adam Levine.

In “Songland,” unknown songwriters pitch their ideas to A-level music artists and with the help of mega-hit making producers panelists Ryan Tedder (lead singer of OneRepublic and songwriter for such artists as Beyoncé, Adele and Taylor Swift), Ester Dean (songwriter for Rihanna and Nicki Minaj) and Shane McAnally (songwriter for Kacey Musgraves, Miranda Lambert, and Sam Hunt) take their reworked song to present to an artist.

The winner of each episode has the opportunity to have his or her song recorded and released by guest artists including the Jonas Brothers, will.i.am, Charlie Puth, Meghan Trainor and John Legend who is the featured artist in the premiere episode. 

According to Tedder, the beauty of this show, which takes the format of  “Shark Tank” and mixes it with “The Voice,” ts the immediate rewards the next hitmakers have seen since signing on for the show. 

“At its core, [the show is] credible,” the songwriter/producer said the premiere event Q & A held in Hollywood earlier this month. “I’m not in a place in my life where I want to do a show where people don’t really win…where there isn’t some measured ‘okay my life changed because of this show. One of the first writers that came on the show (and there are a lot of stories like this) got a publishing deal within two weeks on being on the show. She was inked in a deal and within two weeks of that wrote a hit record that ended up becoming an alternative crossover hit in the last 12 months. She’s already written a hit and that’s from the pilot episode that we did a year ago.”

“On that same episode,” Tedder continued, “another artist locked in an opening gig for a major international artist, during her entire European and US tour.  That’s 2 out of five. The third writer got a publishing deal shortly after filming the pilot episode. That’s just the first episode that we did. I’m in the process of signing two writers off the show, which was not something I counted on doing. My entire career is basically like, if I think something’s dope and it passes the smell test, I jump in the water and it either works or it doesn’t.” 

“What does it smell like,” Dean asks Tedder to laughs from the crowd.  

“It smells like money,” adds McAnally. 

Catch “Songland,” Tuesdays at 10 on NBC.