The fourth week of the American Song Contest has come and gone with eleven artists taking to the stage to perform their new song. Who qualified from last week’s epsiode via the public vote? Who topped tonight’s jury vote for an auto-qualifier spot? Find out that and more below!
Missed the first two episodes of ASC because you’re outside of the US? Luckily the ASC YouTube channel has been uploading the shows for you!
The Qualifiers from Week Three
At the beginning the show, the public was reminded that the jury qualifier from show three was Tyler Braden from Tennessee, with Florida, Alabama, and Texas coming in second through fourth on the night. Kelly also confirmed that the jury vote is combined with the public televote to determine the remaining three qualifiers – a fact that had not been officially confirmed prior to tonight. When the votes were counted and combined our hosts confirmed that Colorado, Alabama, and Texas were moving on to the next round.
The remaining acts showed considerable movement, as Alaska’s Jewel moved up from 9th in the jury to 5th overall, and New Jersey’s Brooke Alexx moved from 5th in the jury to 7th overall. The biggest shock came from Florida’s Ale Zabala who came 2nd in the jury but due to a poor result in the televote she finished 6th overall.
This means that the semi-finals will be comprised of the following acts and the qualifiers from shows 4 and 5:
Hope still remains for week three’s eliminated acts, due to the two wildcards that will be handed out prior to the semi-final shows. But keep in mind, all 32 non-qualifying acts will be eligible so its anyone’s game!
Tonight’s Episode: Week Four
Tonight’s episode was jam packed with a number of incredible performances, stagings, and postcards that highlighted the home state of each artist. The episode also showcased a variety of fauna on stage from tropical foliage, bushes, and florals and featured a suprise appearance from Kate Flannery and Creed Bratton in the green room, cheering for Bri Steves of Pennsylvania. Fans of “The Office” will recognize them as Meredith and Creed from the hit NBC show.
In the house #AmericanSongContest Live tonight -my office bud @creedbratton and #24 @marylynnrajskub @nbc tonight! Guess what state creed and I are routing for! #theoffice pic.twitter.com/wSjgiVm6U3
— Kate Flannery (@KateFlannery) April 12, 2022
The running order was decided prior to the episode:
- New Hampshire: MARi – “Fly”
- Nevada: The Crystal Method – “Watch Me Now”
- Utah: Savannah Keyes – “Sad Girl”‘
- Washington D.C.: NËITHER – “I Like It”
- Massachusets: Jared Lee – “Shameless”
- Georgia: Stela Cole – “DIY”
- Hawaii: Bronson Varde – “4 You”
- West Virginia: Alexis Cunningham – “Working on a Miracle”
- Arizona: Las Marías – “De La Finikera”
- Pennsylvania: Bri Steves – “Plenty Love”
- Washington: Allen Stone – “A Bit of Both”
Prior to this week’s episode we were able to sit down with four of this weeks artist for an interview which are all posted here. You can also read more about the different states, territories, and artists from this week’s episode from William’s in-depth pre-episode 101 article here.
Voting and Jury Qualifier
As we’ve expressed in our master article for the American Song Contest, four qualifiers will be selected from each episode. One qualifier will be decided by a 56 part jury of music professionals (one person from every state and territory), and the remaining three qualifiers will be decided by combining the jury and public votes. The televote will be open until early Wednesday morning at 7 AM Eastern Daylight Time, and will be conducted across the NBC website, NBC official app, and the TikTok app. If you’re eligible to vote, get your votes in quick!
Throughout the show we were treated to some early jury votes that showed Jared Lee of Illinois in the top spot. Nevada, Georgia, and Utah were in the top four behind Jared before the final four acts took to the stage, which changed to Nevada, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia before the Washington’s result was announced.
Jury results from qualifying show four of the #AmericanSongContest pic.twitter.com/RNqBeYLHdn
— Aussievision (@aussievisionnet) April 12, 2022
However, after a quick pause Kelly and Snoop revealed that Allen Stone of Washington had won the top spot with the jury and automatically moves to the semi-finals. This also means that Jared Lee came second with the jury and The Crystal Method and Bri Steves would be the third and fourth placed songs. Unless the public disagrees greatly with the jury, trends predict that two of these artists will advance next week.
This means that the following acts are relying on your votes to get them to the semi-final rounds starting in two weeks:
- New Hampshire: MARi
- Nevada: The Crystal Method
- Utah: Savannah Keyes
- Washington D.C.: NËITHER
- Massachusets: Jared Lee
- Georgia: Stela Cole
- Hawaii: Bronson Varde
- West Virginia: Alexis Cunningham
- Arizona: Las Marías
- Pennsylvania: Bri Steves
Once the lines close on Wednesday morning, the final three qualifiers will be announced at the start of the final qualifier episode taking place April 18th.
What to expect for next week
Unlike in prior weeks, this time we know the acts competing for next week’s episode – American Samoa, California, Guam, Idaho, Illinois, Maryland, Michigan, Missouri, New Mexico, North Carolina, and Vermont. As always, the new crop of songs will be released prior to next week’s show at midnight Eastern Daylight Time on the 18th. Also following the end of next week’s episode we will know the final jury qualifier and the final three combined qualifiers, likely at the top of the April 25th semi-final.
What did #YOU think of the fourth episode of the American Song Contest? Let us know on social media @ESCUnited, on our discord, or on our forum page!
