Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson surprises contestants on fast and furious 'Songland’ episode
A few winning contestants on Songland have already experienced success. Tebby Burrows’s “We Need Love,” selected and recorded by guest judge John Legend, went to No. 10 on the iTunes chart; Adam Friedman’s “Be Nice” for the Black Eyed Peas went to No. 17; and Able Heart’s “Greenlight” for the Jonas Brothers and Darius Coleman’s “Better Luck Next Time” for Kelsea Ballerini both climbed the charts to No. 2.
But this week’s Songland episode, featuring Aloe Blacc, offered the biggest opportunity yet: The winner’s entry would be placed in an “epic battle” scene of the forthcoming Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw starring Jason Statham, Idris Elba and Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson.
Music placements in mainstream film and television are most songwriters’ holy grails these days, and The Rock himself, making a surprise FaceTime appearance to encourage this week’s aspiring silver-screen songwriters, seemed just as “super-excited” as Hobbs & Shaw director David Leitch about finding a “super-anthemic” song with “swagger.”
“Our music for Hobbs & Shaw is our soul, and it’s a lifeline of our movie,” he said. “Thank you so much for sharing your passion. Go out there and have fun. And by the way, the world doesn’t know you — but they’re about to!”
Interestingly, the contestant that I thought rocked the competition the hardest this week was the one that Blacc and Leitch opted not to advance to the second round. Afika’s overcoming-adversity anthem “Chosen” was the only entry that didn’t sound like an Imagine Dragons outtake or an American Idol coronation song, with a chanty intro that recalled Kanye West’s “Power” (judge Ester Dean also name-checked Kendrick Lamar) and what Blacc described as “vibey”with a “nice energy.” It was quite easy to imagine this bombastic blockbuster blasting out of some 5.1 surround sound speakers at the local megaplex.
Read more from Yahoo Entertainment:
A 'Songland' explainer: Why this new talent show is 'Shark Tank' for songwriters
A ‘progressive twist’: Country star Kelsea Ballerini picks R&B tune on ‘Songland’
will.i.am just can’t get enough of 'Songland,' picks 3 winning songs for Black Eyed Peas album
‘Songland’s’ Shane McAnally jokes: ‘My name isn’t George and I’m not straight!’
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