The American Song Contest continues the semi-final round of the contest, which sees 11 of the qualifiers go head-to-head once again and compete for a spot in the Grand Final. Only one of the songs was an automatic qualifier with the juries, while nine others advanced through 50/50 voting with a wildcard entry.
For a full recap of the second semi-final episode keep reading below. If you’ve missed any of the prior episodes and live outside of the United States, check the links below to watch the show in full. Need to catch up in the US? Check out Hulu and Peacock to catch up as well!
- Week One’s episode here
- Week Two’s episode here
- Week Three’s episode here
- Week Four’s episode here
- Week Five’s episode here
- Week Six’s episode here
The Qualifiers from Last Week’s episode
The beginning of the episode started off our hosts announcing the four televote qualifiers for the Grand Final. Last week, we saw Washington‘s Allen Stone win the jury once again and earn a spot in the final round at the end of episode six. Joining the line-up for the Grand Final will be Oklahoma‘s Alexa, Colorado‘s Riker Lynch, Kentucky‘s Jordan Smith, and Alabama‘s Ni/Co. These four qualifiers were decided based on a 100% televote.
Tonight’s Episode: The Second Semi-Final
Tonight’s show featured more produced staging’s than seen in the qualifier rounds, every act giving everything they got to impress the juries and hopefully the viewers as well, in order to get enough votes to make it to the final. Not only did we have another night with sing-off, but also a barbecue-off!
The running order was decided prior to the episode, and looked as follows:
- Puerto Rico: Christian Pagán – “Loko“
- North Carolina: John Morgan – “Right in the Middle“
- Kansas: Broderick Jones – “Tell Me“
- New York: Enisa – “Green Light“
- North Dakota: Chloe Fredericks – “Can’t Make You Love Me“
- Connecticut: Michael Bolton – “Beautiful World“
- Texas: Grant Knoche – “Mr. Independent“
- California: Sweet Taboo – “Keys to the Kingdom“
- Tennessee: Tyler Braden – “Seventeen“
- Georgia: Stela Cole – “DIY“
- American Samoa: Tenelle – “Full Circle“
If you haven’t seen our interviews with all of the artists, make sure to check out our interviews tab here to learn more about some of tonight’s artists.
Voting and Jury Qualifier
Only one act moved on to the Grand Final through a jury vote. Given that only one participant in this semifinal was a previous jury darling in Tennessee, will this mean its spot in the final is secured? Or will a new challenge emerge? In addition to the jury qualifier, the final 4 qualifiers will be determined by a 100% public vote.
We saw a few check-ins with the jury throughout the night. Broderick Jones from Kansas who performed early managed to hold his spot at the top of the scoreboard all the way until the end, but that’s also where it ended. Past jury darling Tyler Braden from Tennessee managed to snap that top spot in the end, and the direct spot into the final.
Overall, Broderick Jones seemed untouchable. After being the 3rd performer of the night, no one could pull him out from the 1st position. However, what seemed so near, ended up being so far away. We had to wait until the very end of the show, to see the first and final threat to Broderick’s top position. Tyler Braden, who qualified as the jury favorite from his heat, ended up impressing the juries the most once again, and could in the end be the first of tonight’s semi-finalists to qualify to the final.
We're seeing country stardom in Tennessee's @tylerbraden's future after hearing "Seventeen"! #AmericanSongContest pic.twitter.com/w0eClhQbfW
— NBC Entertainment (@nbc) May 3, 2022
That means the following acts are relying on your votes to get them to the Grand Final rounds:
- American Samoa (AS) – Tenelle – “Sparrow”
- California (CA) – Sweet Taboo – “Keys to the Kingdom”
- Connecticut (CT) – Michael Bolton – “Beautiful World”
- Georgia (GA) – Stela Cole – “DIY”
- Kansas (KS) – Broderick Jones – “Tell Me”
- New York (NY) – Enisa – “Green Light”
- North Carolina (NC) – John Morgan – “Right in the Middle”
- North Dakota (ND) – Chloe Fredericks – “Can’t Make You Love Me”
- Puerto Rico (PR) – Christian Pagán – “Loko”
- Texas (TX) – Grant Knoche – “Mr. Independent”
The voting window for the public will remain open for only 12 hours, and will close at 8 AM Eastern or 7 AM Central time. Viewers in America can still vote using the three official methods on the official NBC website, NBC mobile app, and TikTok. So make sure you get out there and vote.
What to expect for next week
Next week’s episode will be the big finale for the American Song Contest and we’ll learn the final participants. Voting will close before the end of that show and we’ll find out the winner of the inaugural song contest on May 9th.
What did #YOU think of the second semi-final of the American Song Contest? Let us know on social media @ESCUnited, on our discord, or on our forum page!
