Organisers of the inaugural American Song Contest have had to push the show’s launch date back by a month. Rather than starting on February 21, 2022 — the night after the Winter Olympics end — the Eurovision spin-off will premiere on March 21 instead.
That means the multi-part search for the next great American song will have its grand final on Monday May 9. Eurovision fans will note that falls during the week of the Eurovision Song Contest. The first Semi-Final in Turin, Italy is the very next night: Tuesday May 10.
As Deadline reports, America’s Got Talent: Extreme will take American Song Contest’s original time slot. That show made headlines in the fall when it had to shut down filming in the state of Georgia when a stuntman “was crushed between two cars in a daredevil stunt that went wrong.”
Originally set to film in Atlanta and Los Angeles, American Song Contest will now be filmed entirely in Los Angeles. We understand that concentrating the show in one place will make life simpler for producers, who must worry about issues ranging from Covid testing and monitoring to security to the actual broadcast.
American Song Contest 2022
The multi-episode event will include three qualifying rounds, semi-finals and a grand final that picks the Best Original Song.
Last May the spin-off of the wildly popular Eurovision Song Contest officially launched its submissions and casting site, which laid out the scope of the show.
“Based on the Eurovision Song Contest, the biggest music competition in the world with a 65-year history and 200 million viewers per year, American Song Contest will feature live performances of original songs representing all 50 states, five U.S. territories and our nation’s capital. Each original song will compete in a LIVE televised event series to win the country’s vote for the Best Original Song.”
“From indie to pop, bands to DJ’s, rap to singer-songwriters, signed or independent, we will be showcasing a diverse array of artists in all genres from across the country.”
Producers were keen to stress the originality of submissions — a point of difference from the plethora of singing competitions that already exist. On the front page of the site they wrote: “No Covers! No Tribute Bands! Original Songs ONLY.”
I can’t understand how so many people can get offended by this. New music, cool live performances and a voting. And for the title: It’s a contest of songs and the contestants represent a certain territory. You can talk about the words “American” vs. “USA”. But that’s all for me.
The more that I hear about the “American Song Contest”, the more that I cringe in despair…considering that I am from the United States. My mind is debating between watching this monstrosity to see how they do it and not watching it at all to possibly prevent an eyesore. I started watching the Eurovision Song Contest since 2013 and no wannabe cheapskate USA version is going to offend the purity of the spirit of the ESC. And to those who complain that the contest should be expanded to the entire American continent, North, Central, and South…let me tell you about… Read more »
So if I’m following correctly:
A) America shouldn’t try to imitate Europe, and
B) America is shallow and homogeneous and should try to be more like Europe.
C) Plus, the US is very much not America.
D) And you’d like America to fail.
Okay, got it. Thank you, Europe. Cheers!
yeah I don’t think you followed correctly.
Yeah, those are mostly Europeans’ opinion I suppose. Personally, I want the American Song Contest to succeed because that would mean one step closer to realising Asiavision Song Contest.
It’s gonna be a disaster. I sure hope Americans will lose interest of the Eurovision stuff and will never try to enter Eurovision.
I sure hope this flops hard 🙂
I still find it so obnoxious to rip off a contest about entire continent and make it only about their own singular country, as if they have anywhere near the same diversity… (and then to go further and call it the ‘American Song Contest’ as if it’s about the American continent(s) instead of the US alone… ugh.)
It would be cool if it involved the whole American continent wouldn’t it?
It really would be! In particular, I think it’d be so cool to see Spanish songs at least equal the # of English ones (depending on how many Caribbean countries took part, I suppose!), and how the voting would play out (I’m not sure US-style songs would dominate unless they got someone famous, or used some of their own Latin music styles to gain votes — then there’d still be so much great Carribbean and Latin music to compete against!) (Would Canada dare to pick a French song and risk alienating everyone else? What if they picked Celine Dion and… Read more »
Perhaps if this is a success (I don’t see it tbh) than they can have other versions in other Pan-American countries and the winners compete in the Pan-American Song Contest with countries across North and South America as well as the Caribbean etc. A bit like Eurovision selection shows in European countries.
Yes, that’s a show I would definitely watch! Would be great.
A contest involving the whole of the Americas would be nice.
Firstly, the United States did not rip off the contest. It was created in conjunction with people like Christer Björkman who have been actively involved with Eurovision and Melodifestivalen. Secondly, although the United States may not have the linguistic diversity of Europe, it seems wrong to describe the United States as less diverse. The United States is a country of immigrants and if they do the American Song Contest right, that diversity will be represented on the stage. In fact, music styles originating in the United States are often created from the interaction of multiple cultures (e.g., jazz has roots… Read more »
The US is absolutely less diverse than Europe… I’ve taken road trips across the US (NY—FL & NY—CA), and different regions may have their own quirks that make them distinct from each other, just like in any other country, but I can guarantee it is all very, very strongly the same place. It’s absurd to claim it’s even comparable to an entire continent full of countries that have been cultivating their individual cultures for thousands of years. (& TBH, the US being founded by immigrants doesn’t mean much when it was also founded on racism and stamping out/alienating those that… Read more »
Babe. no it isn’t lmao.
Germany already has similar contest. Turkey too, although it is more regional.
I’ll give this a watch just to satisfy my curiosity. It Might be as bad as everyone fears, or could be better than we think. Either way, it’s gonna be interesting to see how it translates or not. I have suspicion of probably feel more like a national selection than Eurovision itself because it’s contained within one country.
As someone who loves music and finding new I would give it a shot if I lived in US . I can see the cross promotion here, with the winner being a guest in ESC and vice versa. Sort of how JESC winners always appear in adult ESC.
It never made any sense that an unproven event like this was scheduled to start the last week of February sweeps. This new schedule however might work better for promoting the Eurovision live event on Peacock, if NBC actually cares about that. As far as the event succeeding or failing , who knows.
I feel like an American edition will remove everything what Eurovision is made of. It smells like another plastic American idol show to be honest. I will stick to the ESC, aka the real stuff.
Same here, and I’m from NYC! I will be watching ESC, my 10th-straight (not counting 2020, and I watched that replacement show as well).
I have absolutely no interest in this show, whatsoever. Make them watch our Eurovision and get exposure for our European artists.
I’d like to say I’m an optimistic person but I don’t have a good feeling about this show. I feel like it might feel quite different to what we expect it to be. Fingers crossed it’s great though
I think I will give it a chance. Could be some really good songs here
I think they should give the shows a little more margin between them. Not just one day.
Also, I’m curious to know when are the songs from each state going to be revealed. If the show starts at the end of March, some of them should be released in a couple of weeks.
The ESC semi would air in the afternoon US East Coast time. I don’t think that would be a problem.
I don’t think they will until the show to be honest. I was hoping they might reveal some of the artists though surely?
I wonder if they’ll get anyone known (Flo Rida perhaps?) but I doubt it. Probably all unknowns but I’d prefer a mix.
That week of may we risk a “song contest overdose”.
To borrow lyrics from a former Eurovision contestant…”Wrap it up you can’t stop, ‘Cause it feels like an overdose….Evacuate the Dancefloor” by Cascada. [Cascada represented Germany with Glorious in 2013]
Not sure what impact it’ll have being on a Monday night… It’ll be interesting what impact it has being in proper Eurovision week. Might get more traction or people might just be focussed on the main event
Mondays in US are kind of death day, no one watches. So it could be a boost for rating if it works
You clearly have no idea what you’re talking about.
I also wonder how the voting would work. American Idol has used live coast-to-coast voting for the last few years since it moved to ABC, but The Voice and America’s Got Talent (both on NBC) both use an overnight vote and separate results show. Monday is kind of a wildcard when it comes to spring/midseason television anyway, because the NFL is in its off-season from February to August (preseason) and September (when the regular season starts), so there’s no Monday Night Football to distract people. The only real ratings juggernaut the ASC would have to contend with during that time… Read more »
Is there any chance of juries?
I haven’t heard anything about now the voting will work, or who will be appearing on-screen. In general, Americans tend to be mistrustful of people (like juries or judges) putting their fingers on the scale when it comes to shows where public voting is a component. If judges make a decision about whether or not to advance or save an act on one of these shows, they usually wait until after the public has weighed in before making a decision. Otherwise, it comes across as “rigging” or “fixing”, even though that’s technically not allowed. Juries making up half the decisions… Read more »
I don’t always trust how American viewers vote, especially in the case of DWTS where they keep holding on to weak celeb contestants all the way to the end over those who genuinely show improvement every week.
Dancing with the Stars changed its voting procedure in the last couple of seasons to where in a single elimination (pre-finals), it’s the judges who pick which couple in the bottom two leaves (double elimination uses has the couple with the lowest combined total of judges scores and viewer votes automatically eliminated, and then the judges have to pick which of the next two lowest-scoring couples is eliminated). It started on The X Factor, but shows like Got Talent have also adopted this system of elimination. Before DWTS adopted its current voting and elimination system, it used a 50/50 formula… Read more »
Post-Eurovision PTSD will be extra painful this year if the show proved to be on par with the original.
Is it bad that I kinda want this to flop?
Nope, same thoughts here
Same here, and I’m American lol
They would definitely need to steer away from those soppy interviews before each singer. Make it as less like AGT as they possibly can. I think we’re gonna see a LOT of country songs lol. I’m not pressed though, I love me a bit of country!
NBC (the commercial broadcaster) has a formula they use for all their reality shows (as well as for their Olympics coverage). They focus very much on human interest stories before the focus on the music. So you should be prepared to listen to a lot of victimology stories before each song is played. For example they specifically focus on if any of the participants survived a medical crises (or their close family members’ deaths), if they have had to face any racial discrimination will also be featured. Also if they were always told “no “to a musical career because they… Read more »
We don’t know that yet. Christer and the other producers being European gives me hope that it will not happen. I think it might be more like an American Melodifestivalen.
I watched last year’s Melodifestivalen final, and I believe they did have video packages preceding each performance with the performers and songwriters talking about the song and stuff like that, so I wouldn’t be too surprised if Christer and company had those preceding each performance in the ASC. It also gives the stage hands time to set up the stage in between performances (even if they just need to place instruments and not huge set pieces). I’ve been seeing this as more of a Eurovision/Melodifestivalen hybrid than a true Eurovision copy anyway.
I’ll be watching this!
It’ll be interesting to see how many American viewers will realize the connection to Eurovision itself.
Unless COVID prevents it, could we see the winner of this at the ESC Grand Final as an interval act?
And, for all you anti-American trolls, don’t forget that this website is because of an American.
I don’t know, the interval act is one of the few moments when the hosting broadcaster can show something of their own or promote local music, personally I see no need to link the two shows.
I guess we’re forgetting Madonna and Justin Timberlake.
Those two poor yet overpaid performances? I think we are forgetting about them for a very valid reason. 🙂
And the crazy thing was that Logo couldn’t even get the rights to air Justin Timberlake’s performance in the U.S. and American viewers couldn’t watch the YouTube feed because of geoblocking. So yeah…that worked well for Americans without a VPN.
Historically, the only other way for Americans (and most other people outside Europe) to watch the show is through the international channels run by several ESC broadcasters, like TVE Internacional and Deutsche Welle. I do wonder if they were able to broadcast the entirety of that 2016 edition without any issue with that Justin Timberlake performance the same way Logo did.
Since the ASC Grand Final is the same week as Eurovision, I don’t expect to see that happening this year, but if the winner and the show as a whole do well, that may be a possibility for 2023. Peacock is supposed to be live-streaming the 2022 Contest and I’m sure they’re gonna be plugging Eurovision on Peacock to high heaven during the ASC. So many opportunities for cross-promotion here, and I hope both NBC and the EBU take them.
I can just feel how all of this is screaming success. But only in Christer Björkman’s head. I’ll be checking out the songs though. Will be interesting to compare the quality with Eurovision.
So it’s like Eurovision but with much more dramatic editing, dramatic commentators, sentimental background stories, lots of close-ups of people with tears in their eyes and only songs in English?
No, there are other languages spoken here in the US, like Spanish, Vietnamese, and Korean.
Take your anti-American trolling elsewhere!
Good point! It would definitelty be cool if some of the songs are performed in those languages or other languages.
I think much of this is right. BUT the United States is also a country built on immigration so you will get linguistic diversity. I think like 14% of Americans speak Spanish as their main language. And then you’ve got states with large Native American populations, Creole speakers, etc. It’s not as linguistically straightforward as people like to suggest.
It’s only been in recent years that fully Spanish-language songs have become popular on American mainstream radio. Even the Latin pop craze that struck in the early 2000s featured songs primarily in English with production and arrangements using elements of Latin American popular music. It took “Despacito” for English language listeners to begin to appreciate primarily Spanish language songs. Since then, songs like “Pepas” and “Telepatía” have become Top 40 hits. It took English language songs like “Dynamite” and “Butter” for BTS to really blow up on American radio, and I think of their six number-one singles, three of them… Read more »
I really hope this flops.
Depends. NBC has bee doing well with most of their unscripted slate in recent years, especially those slotted in their Monday schedule.
Their likely competition would be ABC’s The Bachelor US if it’s still around by then (and shifts from Tuesdays) or if they have DWTS or The Bachelorette in the pipeline.
Nah, I think people are getting tired of the Bachelor/Bachelorette and will want something different for a change.
I could see ABC switching some of the comedy shows as competition.
I think we can also be concerned with CBS on that night. i just saw in their schedule they have comedies+NCIS in addition to any coverage they’ll have for the NCAA’s March Madness.
NCAA March Madness shouldn’t be an issue really — The First Four is on Tuesday, March 15th, and Wednesday, March 16th, the 1st and 2nd rounds will be from Thursday, March 17th through Sunday, March 20th — the Sweet Sixteen/Elite Eight will be from Thursday, March 24th through Sunday, March 27th (after the premiere of ASC but before the second episode airs). The Final Four airs on Saturday, April 2nd, so the ONLY conflict will be when the NCAA national championship game airs on Monday, April 4th (the third week of ASC).
Also, the audience for basketball is quite different from the audience for a music show. This isn’t an issue.
March Madness is likely to get a lot of viewers, but as the other comment says, it really only conflicts with the ASC once. NCIS is one of the few shows that averages more than 10 million viewers a week, but has been in a bit of a decline in recent years and this season has also had to deal with its longtime star Mark Harmon leaving the show (I’d argue his character, Leroy Jethro Gibbs, was the glue holding the show together) as well as the show moving to Monday nights this past fall (it spent almost the entire… Read more »
The Bachelor typically airs from early January to mid-March, and would likely finish its season just before the ASC premieres. The Bachelorette typically airs beginning in May, although the pandemic did kind of tinker the scheduling the last couple of seasons. Dancing with the Stars went to one season a year a few years back and now only airs in the fall.
Yoo can Alaska win please
That would be interesting, especially if the song is in an indigenous language.
I’ll be rooting for Hawaii. Honolulu 2023 please! XD
I’ll be rooting for Texas if Arden Cho gets selected.
If Jewel can look somewhere on her farm and find all those old tapes of songs she hasn’t recorded yet, pick one, dust off that “mask” from the Masked Singer she’d have this contest won too. Plus she knows how to yodel and for those true ESC fans remember how Romania rocked the yodel. But I’m afraid they waited too long to get ASC underway.