Snoop Dogg, Kelly Clarkson to Host ‘Eurovision’-Styled ‘American Song Contest’
Snoop Dogg and Kelly Clarkson will serve as hosts of American Song Contest, the Eurovision-styled singing competition premiering on NBC this March.
First announced in August 2020 and modeled after the annual Eurovision Song Contest, the American Song Contest will 56 artists — one from all 50 states, plus one from Washington, D.C. and five U.S. territories — to compete for the country’s best new hit song.
“I am honored to host American Song Contest alongside my lil sis Kelly Clarkson, aka Miss Texas,” Snoop Dogg — who will appear during the Super Bowl LVI halftime show Sunday — said in a statement.
The Voice veteran Clarkson, herself an American Idol winner, added, “I have been a fan and love the concept of Eurovision and am thrilled to bring the musical phenomenon to America. I’m so excited to work with Snoop and can’t wait to see every state and territory represented by artists singing their own songs.”
The all-live American Song Contest will premiere Monday, March 21, and run for eight weeks before concluding with a Grand Final scheduled for May 9. The list of 56 solo singers, duos or bands will be announced at a later date.
The American Song Contest was announced back in August 2020 and scheduled for 2021, but the Covid-19 pandemic likely pushed its U.S. arrival until this year.
“Imagine if music was an Olympic sport and artists from all over the world came together to compete for the gold. That’s the Eurovision Song Contest,” Eurovision rights owners Anders Lenhoff said in a statement at the time.
“The American version will be different than anything seen before on U.S. television, marrying the fanfare and excitement of March Madness and the NFL playoffs with the artistry and beauty of world-class performances. The American Song Contest is a competition that happens to be televised, rather than a contest created to make a television show. And it’s open to all singers with a song, whether they are amateur artists or already signed to a major record label. No one is excluded from the competition.”
