Songland upped the ante for their latest Tuesday (July 2) episode, where hopefuls competed for the chance to have Aloe Blacc sing their demo and the opportunity to have the cut be part of the upcoming Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw film. As with every week, the contestants were advised by Ryan Tedder, Ester Dean and Shane McAnally to workshop their tracks, but Blacc could only chose one and ended up selecting Kyle Williams and his track "Getting Started."
"Songland is an incredible show. It's just an idea that I think every songwriter has had, and we're trying to figure out how we can see ourselves on TV," the 40-year-old talent admitted during the competition's counterpart Songland The Podcast. "We see singers. We see novices singing other people's songs, and we think, 'Why can't we share new songs with these amazing singers?' These new would-be stars. Why can't we show the process of songwriting? So my answer to the request to be on Songland was like an emphatic yes."
When it came down to Blacc hearing "Getting Started" for the first time, the man behind "I Need a Dollar" and "The Man" knew that he was experiencing something special, especially for the film, but it needed some work. "The song came in almost begging to be developed from a production standpoint, and even from a lyrical standpoint," he continued. "My thing is like, I need to be able to look at the lyrics on paper, and think, 'Wow, that's a brilliant poet.' You know? And then I have to listen to the instrumental with no vocals and think, 'Wow, that's a brilliant producer, and there's some great musicians in there.'"
Meanwhile, Williams, a Nashville, Tennessee-based songwriter, revealed that the track came together in a very "unorthodox way" as it was created in a songwriting camp set up by his publishing company. "We had this idea of the title being 'Just Getting Started' and I can't really say what it is. I guess it's kinda that intuition of knowing what to do. The chorus was completely done before we did the verse," he admitted. "We knew that we had to nail the chorus down first before we could actually start on the verses."
To hear more about "Getting Started" and how Williams' song got into the hands of producers for the show, scroll on below to take a listen to the accompanying episode of the Songland Podcast and stay tuned for new episodes of Songland every Tuesday night at 10 PM ET on NBC!
Photo: NBC