Everything We Know About NBC’s Music Competition Series ‘American Song Contest’   

Who is hosting the American Song Contest? 

Snoop Dogg and Kelly Clarkson are set to host the new NBC music reality competition television series American Song Contest together. 

Premiering March 21, and running eight weeks through the grand finale on May 8, American Song Contest comes from the producers of Eurovision Song Contest and The Voice. The announcement was made during Super Bowl LVI, where Snoop performed during the halftime show alongside other hip-hop legends. 

Clarkson has experience as both a participant and a judge when it comes to music competitions, having risen to fame by winning the first season of American Idol in 2002, and serving as a judge on The Voice.

“I have been a fan and love the concept of ‘Eurovision,’ and am thrilled to bring the musical phenomenon to America,” said Clarkson in a statement. “I’m so excited to work with Snoop and can’t wait to see every state and territory represented by artists singing their own songs.”

Who are the judges for the American Song Contest? What are the rules?  

There will not be “judges” or “coaches” for American Song Contest in the same way that there are for, say, American Idol or The Voice. Instead, the judging will be done by a 56 member jury of music industry professionals, where one jury member will represent each state or territory across the United States. 

The same distribution will be true for participants in the contest as well—one contestant will represent each of the 50 states, as well as one from Washington DC, Samoa, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, Puerto Rico, and the US Virgin Islands.  

Once the competition starts, there will be five qualifying rounds, then two semi-final rounds, all culminating with one final. 

During each of the five qualifying rounds, the jury will select one song to advance into the semi-finals. Viewers will have a say too, being able to directly select three songs for placement in the semi-finals after having seen all the qualifying rounds.  

Once the jury has made their selections, and viewers have too, the jury will go back through each song one more time and identify two redemption songs, which will be the last to be included in the semi-finals. 

This same process will be used for the semi-finals, leaving just ten songs eligible to compete in the finals, where the jury and viewers will combine to identify the winner—Best Original Song. 

Who is participating in the American Song Contest? 

The participants include famous performers like Jewel and Michael Bolton, plus plenty of lesser-known talents who will be looking to break into the mainstream. Here is a full list of competitors sorted alphabetically by the region they will represent: 

• Alabama: Ni/Co 
• Alaska: Jewel 
• American Samoa: Tenelle
• Arizona: Las Marias
• Arkansas: Kelsey Lamb
• California: Sweet Taboo
• Colorado: Riker Lynch
• Connecticut: Michael Bolton 
• Delaware: Nitro Nitra
• Florida: Ale Zabala
• Georgia: Stela Cole
• Guam: Jason J.
• Hawaii: Bronson Varde
• Idaho: Andrew Sheppard
• Illinois: Justin Jesso
• Indiana: UG skywalkin
• Iowa: Alisabeth Von Presley
• Kansas: Broderick Jones
• Kentucky: Jordan Smith
• Louisiana: Brittany Pfantz
• Maine: King Kyote
• Maryland: Sisqó
• Massachusetts: Jared Lee
• Michigan: Ada LeAnn
• Minnesota: Yam Haus
• Mississippi: Keyone Starr
• Missouri: Brett Seper
• Montana: Jonah Prill
• Nebraska: Jocelyn 
• Nevada: The Crystal Method
• New Hampshire: MARi
• New Jersey: Brooke Alexx
• New Mexico: Khalisol
• New York: ENISA
• North Carolina: John Morgan
• North Dakota: Chloe Fredericks
• Northern Mariana Islands: Sabyu
• Ohio: Macy Gray 
• Oklahoma: AleXa
• Oregon: courtship.
• Pennsylvania: Bri Steves
• Puerto Rico: Christian Pagán
• Rhode Island: Hueston
• South Carolina: Jesse LeProtti
• South Dakota: Judd Hoos
• Tennessee: Tyler Braden
• Texas: Grant Knoche
• U.S. Virgin Islands: Cruz Rock
• Utah: Savannah Keyes
• Vermont: Josh Panda
• Virginia: Almira Zaky
• Washington: Allen Stone
• Washington, D.C.: NËITHER
• West Virginia: Alexis Cunningham
• Wisconsin: Jake’O
• Wyoming: Ryan Charles   

Network, Dates, Air Time 

The contest will air on NBC on Monday nights, 8:00 pm to 10:00 pm, March 21st through May 9th.   

Trailer and Promotions

When Snoop and Clarkson were announced as hosts:

When all the participants were named:

Photo: NBC