Following its debut episode last week, the American Song Contest returned for Heat Two on Tuesday evening.
Eleven new competitors represented their state or territory in a bid to reach the semi-final.
American Song Contest Heat Two Acts
- Oregon: courtship. – “Million Dollar Smoothies”
- Montana: Jonah Prill – “Fire It Up”
- New York: ENISA – “Green Light”
- Nebraska: Jocelyn – “Never Alone”
- U.S. Virgin Islands: Cruz Rock – “Celebrando”
- Kentucky: Jordan Smith – “Sparrow”
- North Dakota: Chloe Fredericks – “I’ve Been Known to Stay”
- Kansas: Broderick Jones – “Tell Me”
- Virginia: Almira Zaky – “Over You”
- Maine: King Kyote – “Get Out Alive”
- Ohio: Macy Gray – “Every Night”
American Song Contest Heat 2: Kentucky wins jury vote
"Sparrow" by Kentucky's @jordansmithlive already has a special place in our heart. ?
— NBC Entertainment (@nbc) March 29, 2022
NBC’s #AmericanSongContest is LIVE Mondays 8/7c. pic.twitter.com/8WVmSaUMqW
Born and raised in his home state of Kentucky, Jordan Smith is best known to U.S. audiences for winning season 9 of NBC’s The Voice in 2015. He holds the record as the highest-selling artist in The Voice history, dethroning Adele’s “Hello” at No. 1 on the iTunes charts three times during his run on the show and becoming the first artist ever to replace himself at No. 1 on the Christian Billboard chart.
Jordan has since released four albums and toured extensively around the world, sharing the stage with artists such as Patti LaBelle, Jordin Sparks and Lionel Richie. He also co-wrote the song “Ashes,” performed by Celine Dion for the movie Deadpool 2.
Four acts will ultimately qualify from heat two. During the show, the hosts revealed that Kentucky’s Jordan Smith had won the jury vote — and with it a ticket direct to the final.
The public have three days to vote for their favourites to select three other acts to advance.
Heat 1 qualifiers
During tonight’s show, we also found out who the televoters chose to qualify from last week’s heat one.
The public put through Connecticut, Oklahoma and Puerto Rico, who join the jury’s Heat One pick Hueston from Rhode Island.
The results are in. Welcome to the #AmericanSongContest semi-finals! pic.twitter.com/ORtlppfOcb
— NBC Entertainment (@nbc) March 29, 2022
What do you make of American Song Contest heat two? Who do you think the public should throw their support behind? Let us know in the comments below!
new york 100% qualifiying
New York should’ve been the jury qualifier. She has the voice, staging, and presence
So weak and disappointing. Expected way better
I loved every song. I feel sad some need to go. Montana was my loser of the night though sorry Montana you’re still the 3rd prettiest state
New York, Virgin Islands, Oregon
Was looking forward to Macy Gray, but after seeing her performance…how can I put this mildly. It seems she was elsewhere.
A big step up from the pilot. 5-6 good songs and performances. On top of that you had the dancing milkshakes and boys sleeping in a bed that really alludes to how everything is possible in ESC. That night sky staging with the moon and a falling star entering the stage. And once again the quality of both the songs and the vocals were something else from the first heat. But the voting…. I’m glad they at least gave the voting a bit more attention. But the voting is really not explained in the show. We didn’t get to see… Read more »
The Courtship. song was reminding me of something Eurovision-related when I heard it and I couldn’t put my finger on it.
Then, Iiris And Agoh’s “Drop That Boogie” finally came into my head a few hours later. I knew there was a reason I liked it so much!
What the heck is this ??? lol
OK, the juries are even worse than in Eurovision. They’ll just always go for the cheesiest, blandest ballad, won’t they?
Sadly, the rating fell. I just hope that the next heat could see an increase, even just for a little bit.
I think ASC would have done a lot better in the ratings if they have kept their original time slot instead.
Edit:
Also, why do I have a feeling like this is one of those scenarios where it’s going to get worse a bit before it gets better in the end. And by that I mean we’re going to see a rise in ratings the moment the semi-finals and the grand final comes around.
That’s a shame. Just like you, I’m hopeful too that it will bounce back sooner or later. But I also think we Eurovision fans who follow and believe in the show have a role to play by creating more hype on social media.
A 40% drop from last week… which isn’t good. If the ratings don’t rebound by the end of the season it could be the end of the road. But this episode did feel better organized, and the productions behind the songs looked better too.
Definitely rooting for courtship for week 2! Their performance real stuck out to me. It was fun and kinda corny which you don’t get too often these days. The vibe is there and I hope to see them win!
[the pre-chorus chord progression really got me hooked on million-dollar smoothies]
I had this on in my kitchen while cooking so I couldn’t hear the songs well but could see the staging. The Virgin Islands was about the only thing that reminded me of proper Eurovision craziness.
Ratings fell HORRIBLY from their very weak premiere…last in time period
I think that goes to show how important first impressions are. If you can’t impress people on the first week, viewers are going to start deserting.
My thoughts exactly. The first week’s songs were WEAK. The producers knew what the songs were, so why put out such a weak lineup? About 1/3 of the viewers didn’t tune in for the second week.
The choice of pairing Snoop with Kelly Clarkson was also horrible. The two have no chemistry together.
The stage lighting for the show is too dark. Imagine if you’re watching on a CRT TV or have an HD TV set to low contrast. This alienates a large demographic, especially older folks.
one of the worst songs from this heat but i guess he’s a known name thanks to the voice
More than just a known name, he is pretty well-established as he’s been one of the few success stories made out of The Voice, which I’m surprised that was not highlighted ahead of the shows but I guess they have to give that edit to Macy Gray. 🙂
The problem is that the US have more of a focus on talent/singing competitions. I just don’t see this format working in the US because they’re focusing on the voice rather than the whole package.
There is literally n o problem. US doesn’t have to do everything like Eurovision. Let them do it their way.
and that’s what ESC should also be about. Not like fancy stagings that makes bad songs/singers suddenly rising the votes. This was precisely the only voice and song that grabbed my attention in the snipset heat of songs preview.
So just because the man doesn’t fit beauty standards he should be already doomed ?
if this is in reference to kentucky and rhode island qualifying, …those were both ENTIRELY jury choices. The ESC jury probably would’ve picked the same as well, let’s be honest here
Then again, Europe also have those same set of talent/singing competitions as well.
Interesting you say that because some Eurofans on Twitter were actually focusing on the vocals of the acts because they wanna hear how they sing live.
Thought for a moment Jordan Smith won a Kentucky Fried Chicken contest, but then I re-read the title.
What?! Wyoming’s ‘New Boot Goofin’ didn’t get through? For me, that was the only near close Eurovision-like song from Heat 1! Please campaign to get it through! Maybe it can be selected as a Wildcard!
It is the very definition of a wildcard, so I find it likely
It is the only song that I completely love from ASC right now! I hope Wyoming will get the wildcard.
Killed by the juries
I am completely sure the absolute winner of this thing will be an afro american.
Not sure how you can be so certain when no black artist have qualified for the semi-final yet.
Here link to the show, if anyone wants to watch the whole thing- https://streamtape.com/v/pz09Ypg1ogTrgld
God bless you, thanks!
Youre most welcome. I have a Canadian friend who is doing the recordings and i will try to provide links for all the following episodes.
Hope North Dakota advances!
I love that I can read a sentence like that.
Hmmm… North Dakota was nice and don’t ask me why, but I’m addicted to Oregon! I’m quite disappointed with the week 1 qualifiers (especially Wyoming not qualifying, hope they get the wildcard) and there was Wisconsin, Iowa and Mississippi too! In this week, Sparrow is fine, it’s not the greatest but Ok.
I honestly don’t think Jordan Smith should have won the jury. I have a feeling the producers wanted him to go through because he’s been on NBC (The Voice) and it be awkward if they’re only former contestant from their other music show didn’t make it.
Jordan Smith is incredible (check his cover of Chandelier on The Voice!) but I seriously feel embarrassed about the Heat 1 televote qualifiers. Oklahoma was lipsyncing the whole time, and I respect Michael Bolton’s career but that song is dull. Keyone Starr from Mississippi and Jake’O from Wisconsin had given much stronger performances, by a mile.
To clarify, Oklahoma was singing live but the pre-recorded backing vocal was just the studio version of the song. This is the case with many other songs and is a problem that needs to be fixed. I feel like all the heat 1 songs were at a similar standard so selecting just 4 would be very tough, but I feel as if new boot goofin is very likely to come in as a wildcard.
I’m not so sure about “New Boot Goofin”…Wyoming was 2nd to last among juries.
not to throw shade toward the person who sang “Green Light”, but you could barely even hear her actual vocals; the majority of what I heard was pre-recorded. Oklahoma just had backing vocals. I kinda thought the same thing but you can hear it if you rewatch it.
Kentucky did have the best vocal performance of the night. The song I liked the most was from Kansas.
My picks are New York and Virginia tonight. Jordan Smith had the best voice but the song is a bit old fashioned.
Unless the disparity between the highest jury score and the highest public score is extreme, it is highly likely that the jury winner in each heat will have qualified, anyway, with his or her combined score. It wouldn’t surprise me if Hueston from Rhode Island also won the public vote last week.
So Kentucky jury pick wasn’t a surprise in the slightest.
Personally, I’d like to see Oregon, New York, and North Dakota be the three that advance.
Kansas and Virgin Islands had good efforts as well.
Picking 3 from those 5 is really tough…
Personally, i’m into NY, ND and VI but OR and KS are really growing on me.
I gave the max amount of votes to New York, a decent amount to Virgin Islands, and one to Oregon. Their song was cute I guess haha. Also they’re my neighbors, and New York had an Albanian, who are my ethnic neighbors. Yes, I pulled a bloc voting haha. In all fairness though, New York was my fave.
Jordan Smith from Kentucky moves on…
Wow Kentucky dt semi finals! It is indeed quite the jury pleasure song, perhaps I shouldnt be surprised!
So…… Macy Gray…… Well……. that was messy…. Im sorry, Im disappointed.
Love Macys voice, definitely a feel good song. JUST GET RID OF THOSE BACKTRACKS FOR THE LOVE OF ALL THAT IS HOLY.
Its not the best song of the night, but at least its happy. Not sure if it deserves to move forward though :/
Yeah I feel the backtrack on her song was especially detrimental. She didn’t need them.
I do think her name recognition might help her through into the semis, it helped Michael Bolton in the previous heat and will likely help Sisqo and Jewel too.
Macy’s performance was atrocious.
She couldn’t hit her high notes, and she barely sang compared to her backup choir and rapper who carried most of the song.
Ok, I am going to predict Kansas wins the jury vote tonight. Along with that song, New York and Virgin Islands were my top 3 tonight.
I really enjoyed Montana and Maine but undecided as to who will be my 4th personal qualifier at the moment.
I’m a Buckeye, so I’m really hoping Macy Gray does well! Ohio has so many talented musical artists and rich musical history that isn’t seen. The Ohio Players, The Black Keys, twentyonepilots, Walk the Moon.
Lets go Ohio!
End hype!
I feel silly, I didn’t realize how famous Macy Gray is!! Looking forward to hearing her song!
Unique voices are always a good factor. Maine should definitely proceed to the Finals. Sounds like a contemporary radio friendly song. Not sure if it could be an overall winner, but for this heat it is definitely enough.
It was nice! I liked Maine’s song!
Not gonna lie, I kinda have a soft spot for Nebraska. It’s probably not going through but there’s something about it that I really enjoyed.
I’ll catch up with this show later today but last week’s results were interesting. Puerto Rico qualifying is an…hmm…choice. Arkansas not getting through is probably the biggest disappointment. It was the best song last week. The backing tracks were a bit ridiculous though. Some of the acts might as well not be singing live at all. I really enjoyed how the show was put together though. The state packages were cool and getting to know the artists, nobody came across badly. The hosting was…I guess…not how you’d teach anyone to do it but oddly worked. XD Oh and there’s absolutely… Read more »
Looks like the juries agree with you re: Arkansas anyway.
Also is it just me or is this heat being presented in a bit more of an organized way than the first one?
We’re slowly learning here…which is good!
I don’t think the snippets from earlier did these justice. The performances aren’t that bad this time around either overall.
Agreed, so far I am quite enjoying the performances, especially a few of them in particular are quite great!
Virginia, Over You… over it. I’m not relating to it and not very memorable. Gives me early 2000’s TLC or 3LW but not done to that standard.
Damn Kansas was awesome!! I missed most of the earlier songs tonight but that was a strong performance. I agree with Snoop and Kelly – a very well produced track!
Kansas, alright a breath of fresh air during this stagnant night. Even got scenery props haha
He really could have done just fine without the backtrack vocals! What is this! Come on! Just get rid of the backtracks!
Honestly thought I’d dislike North Dakotas song, but compared to what has been shown tonight- it’s alright. Again, thankful for some live vocals even if there are some shaky moments. Not feeling strongly one way or the other, but it is better than the first half of songs… possibly.
Okay, I’m a bit far behind but I just saw Oregon’s performance and I say they underSTOOD THE ASSIGNMENT HERE!!!
It was very amusing indeed! haha
Kentucky, has bravado during his pre scene! Has great vocals. As for song choice- I prefer Michael Boltons Beautiful World better. His song does seem very contemporary christian listening. The winning song though? Maybe for juries. But overall… meh.
Virgin Islands versus Puerto Rico, PR hands down my choice. Glad they are having fun, but I don’t feel much for this performance and find it hard to be enthused.
The snippet of this Nebraska song didn’t move me much, but I appreciate the complete lack of backtrack other than harmony and the uplifting message even if it is a bit repetitive. A bit pitchy more likely nerves. So just thanks for this honest performance.
Yeah she did seem a bit nervous but…I think that may have worked for the vulnerability her song conveys
New York, giving me a bit of Eurovision vibes in the song… but one from a national final that didn’t make the cut for Eurovision…
And once again these freaking backtracks are going to be the death of this show and not the lack of more interesting songs.
Do I have the energy to complete watching this contest? Especially with the lack of live vocal?
From the casual TV viewers’ perspective, I don’t think they would care about that at all. There are a whole bunch of other issues that led to the ratings collapse.
So I can tell Mr. Montana is still signing live but…they still haven’t fixed the issue of the back track being too loud
NBC needs to do a better job in minimizing backtracks for live singing. One episode and you should made the corrections already.
Montana, Country music is uniquely America, and I expect that there will have to be a couple of country songs in the semi finals. But I’m pretty sure that will come from the southern states and not the north.
This is a classic modern Country bop.
Unfortunately, the backtrack was heavy on this song as well which gets me fired up, pun intended because I need a bit of joy this night. NBC needs to get a handle on this ASAP! Its incredibly disappointing.