Sing On Review

Sing On Review

-Nicola Johnson

 

                Sing On is a new reality game show hosted by Tituss Burgess, most famous for his role of Titus Andromedon on The Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt. In Sing On Burgess brings his charisma and vocal talents to a new vocal talent show that mixes The Weakest Link with singing. 

                Season 1 was released with only 8 episodes on September 16, 2020, a bright spot in a dreadful year.  Each fast-paced episode consists of 6 singers of vastly different backgrounds competing to win a possible $60,000.  After the opening song, each of the round begins with a song from the game’s theme.  The singers are judged by a vocal analyzer that will look familiar to anyone who has played any karaoke game on the likes of PlayStation, Nintendo, or Xbox.  For each correct note, the singers earn money to add to the bank the winner will walk away with.  The singer who was most accurate is automatically saved.  Then, here comes the part that is reminiscent of The Weakest Link, the players vote out one player.  The twist is that only the home audience knows which singers were most accurate and therefore banked the most or least amount of money.  They have to choose between those they think are real competition and those who they think were the least accurate and thus kept the bank from growing.  The player saved is the first to vote, and they enter their votes prior to revealing them, so there is no changing the votes once cast.  When there is a tie, the least accurate singer is the one who leaves the game.  There is also a “Titus Prize,” given for the best performance, regardless of their singing score.

The first two rounds can earn the winner up to $10,000, depending on how accurately they sing. The third and fourth songs are worth up to $20,000.  After the six original singers are whittled down to 3, voting is over, and the lowest scoring player is automatically eliminated. During this round, each singer is also given a “golden note.”  If they hit their “golden note,” the singer banks themselves $1000. With two singers left, there are two songs left.  The first one is to decide who gets to pick the final round song.  The contestant with the highest percentage picks the song to end the show.  Interestingly enough, Burgess reveals that the singers are not singing in any particular order.  They have to watch for their names.  Consequently, many first lyrics are missed.  The contestants consistently eliminate each other with grace and poise.  With 48 contestants over 8 episodes, their kindness is what makes this game show different from any others this writer has ever seen.

With themes like Party Playlist, Love Songs, 80s Mixtape, and Summer Anthem, there is enough variety for any music aficionado.  The show is highly entertaining, the game is fast paced and attention-catching without being full of cutthroat drama.  I definitely recommend giving Sing On a chance and hope Netflix extends this show or brings back another 8 episodes in season two, although I do wish Netflix shows would come with the standard 20-22 episodes/per season, instead of the much lower number Netflix is fond of creating.