01x01 - Writing for a Legend

[bunniefuu]

Behind every hit song…

-Behind every hit song…
-Every hit song…

My hair? Gee, thanks, just bought it

I get my weed from California

Is the person who wrote it.

-Is the person who wrote it.
-Is the person who wrote it.

You may not know our faces,

but you definitely know our music.

These are the songs people dance to…

…they cry to…

…and even f*ck to.

And definitely f*ck to.

Make love to.

And even…

My grandma would disown me if I said that.

-We've all been through love…
-Heartbreak…

…and everything in between.

The one thing we do…

-…is put all those feelings…
-…to music.

Watch your world unfold

From Ariana Grande…

…to BTS…

…to Sabrina Carpenter…

…to Justin Bieber.

There's no artist
that we haven't written for.

Are you ready?

-We…
-We…

-We…
-…are hitmakers.

…are hitmakers.

…are hitmakers.

A writer's camp is a retreat

that is attended by the best songwriters
in the music industry.

Putting a camp together like this
costs hundreds of thousands of dollars.

This isn't just an investment
from the label or the artist,

it's an investment for us.

We're leaving our family,
our friends, you know, to be here.

You don't get paid
to be at a songwriting camp.

You only get paid if an artist
picks your song and you get a hit.

These camps can make or break a career.

If you don't write a hit,
you won't be invited back.

I'm just not writing just to write a song.
I'm trying to write a smash every time.

If you don't get a good song
on the first day,

people start looking at you sideways.

You've got six hours to write a hit song.
I don't think I'm nervous.

You know, it's cool to get out of LA,
New York, Atlanta.

Go to a secluded place, you know.

Not to be interrupted
by your everyday life

and just focus on writing music.

It's a competition all the time.

That's so f*cking hard.

-That's a f*cking smash.
-Genius.

If you get a hit,
your life can change overnight.

We making money today.

The industry is very cutthroat.

Nine out of ten is not good enough.

There is a lot of pressure.

-See, that… that's good.
-We ain't got no song.

Y'all should have had a better producer.

No matter how many hits you've written,
you're only as good as your last song.

Feel the rush, raise the temp up

Let's get high like your temper

It's going down like timber

Raise the tempo, raise the temp up

Music is my life.
I want to be the best out of everybody.

You know, I'm like Michael Jordan.
Like, I want the championship.

So this is a huge opportunity.

Thank you.

I'm burnin' up in an instant
They call it luck, but it isn't

I don't do ego.

So if I feel an ego in a room,

I will exit the room in two seconds
like I never was here.

Raise the tempo, raise the temp up

Raise the temp up
Raise the temp up, raise the temp up

I may use lyrics that are racy,
but I'm a romantic at heart.

I have no problem settling down.
I just don't want to settle.

It's about time
Let 'em know that I'm here

My boyfriend and I met
writing "Butter" for BTS.

Who knew that it'd be
the biggest song of our careers?

And we'll write a bigger one.

Hell yeah, we are.

You almost tripped me again,
but we'll let it slide.

I be on it every day like this

Out of all these people,
I've been doing this the longest.

I got the most hits.

Some people think this is competitive,
but for me…

…it's no competition.

I'm the only person here
that hasn't written a number-one hit.

And even though
I've been Grammy-nominated,

I'm still driving for Uber.

Let's go, this is it

Showtime, primetime…

We are the dynamic duo, Nova Wav.

We've been working together
for about -plus years now.

Just ask Beyoncé. We make hits.
If you know, you know.

This is it

I've had great success in country music,

but, honestly, this camp has put me
a little out of my element.

I'm open to new challenges,
and I'm confident I can hang with anybody.

-Enjoy your time in the Bahamas.
-Yes, sir. Thank you.

Hello, flavor

Hello, flare

What's your flavor?

Oh, this must be
the house right here. Dang!

We're in the Bahamas,
and this is our first writing camp.

This camp, we're writing for John Legend.

I'll give you everything you want
Chef's kiss, make it pop

You know, he's an icon.

He's one of our few living musical legends

when it comes to musicians
who play, sing, write songs.

And if we can get John to record
one of these songs, put it on an album,

make it a single and it becomes a smash,

that's gonna be huge
for all the songwriters here.

No way, look at this.

Yeah, I could write a couple songs here.

When we're in a writing camp,
we pretty much always stay under one roof

because it just…
it allows a different type of camaraderie.

I have no idea what to expect,
but everybody is here for a reason,

and first impressions are a big thing.

I just want to come in prepared
and professional,

and, uh, do my job and do it well.

Are you in that big bed by the pool?

-Probably.
-Oh boy.

It's like summer camp
going to these writing camps,

um, except for…

I never had any drinks at summer camp,
and there's a lot of drinks.

Let's go!

I co-wrote the Iggy Azalea song,
"IAm The Strip Club."

There's no existential meaning to it.

"IAm The Strip Club" is like,

my man doesn't need to go out at night
because I ride the pole.

I am the lap dance.

My mom's gonna watch this.

I don't even think
my mom's heard "IAm The Strip Club."

She will now, and that sucks for me.

But what a mom thinks is a hit
and what I think is a hit

may be different things.

Let me get at it. Don Julio me.

You want ice?

Let me get some ice
because it's hot outside.

I think the greatest pop album
of all time…

-Oh sh*t.
-Here we go.

Katy Perry.

-Let's go.
-Katy Perry!

-I didn't know what you're about to say.
-Y'all said it at the same time.

Which one? "Teenage Dream?"

Yeah. The one that smelled
like cotton candy when you opened it.

Yes, that is the one.

Also, that album defined pop in that era.

It did.

-That's true.
-That's so true.

I feel like that Katy Perry album
is up there with "Thriller."

I don't know about that.

-I'm so hungry.
-Yes, me too.

-Ooh.
-Wow!

Oh, I see them tails. Lobster tails.

I'm allergic to lobster, sadly.
How sad is that?

That's really dope.

Come on man, you're making me feel bad.
You got an itty-bitty plate, man.

What? No, I got the sampler plate
because I'm going back for another rep.

Okay. I'm with you. I'm with you.
I'm like, "Hold on, man."

I do have a motivating story
where I make vision boards every year.

So my vision board,

I have a picture of Beyoncé
holding a Grammy on her shoulder.

So it's in my prayer closet.

I do the whole thing.
"I'm doing it, I'm doing it."

We're coming off the "Renaissance" album,

and we were able
to contribute a lot to that.

And I'm like, "Oh, it's ,

and I got a Grammy with her name on it
and my name."

Wow.

I'm sitting at this table,
and I'm looking around,

and, like, everyone except for me
has had a number-one hit.

So, yeah. Odd man out.

Can we submit our own boards
in your prayer closet?

-Yeah, I'll definitely take boards. Yes.
-Can you pray for us?

Tomorrow. John Legend.

I feel like he's open to ideas.

Mm-hmm.

I really want to tap into my roots a lot.

Growing up in the church,

um, my family and some of the struggles
we had when I was a kid.

And I want to, like, make new music

that reflects my artistry
and the power of the storytelling

so that it feels really authentic
coming from me.

-Amazing.
-I can't wait to hear what y'all create.

I can't wait to hear it.

Who's worked with him before?

Raise your hand if you have.

Okay.

There we go. How was that?

-Amazing.
-Yeah?

-Incredible.
-Yeah.

I've never worked with or for John Legend,

but, obviously, he's one of
the greatest of all time in our industry.

You know, he's an EGOT winner,

and I myself am, uh, only an EGOT away
from having an EGOT.

So, uh, it'd mean a lot if we could have
something together, especially a hit.

I like to call him, like,
the King of Love.

It's been really difficult
to find financial success

just by solely songwriting.

I do pull up to the table and eat,
but I'm just eating McDonald's value menu.

I do feel like we have the potential
for some pretty unorthodox pairings.

-Yeah.
-Yes, yes, yes.

Each day, producers and writers
will be split into different rooms

to write songs.

It's about finding the best combination
to create the best songs.

What about you guys? You're the couple.

-Uh…
-Do y'all only write together?

When I met him, we met on Zoom,
and it was, like, instant.

You met on Zoom?

We were working on a song.
We were working on "Butter."

-Oh, sick! Amazing.
-Nice.

We didn't know we were writing
a song called "Butter."

We knew that the idea

that they were looking for
was "Smooth Criminal."

That was the brief.

And we were messing with ideas,
and it was like, "smooth like butter."

We won an award at every award show
in the history of award shows

except for the Grammys.

Money doesn't solve your problems,
but Grammys do.

Grammys solve problems.

-Are you married?
-No.

I'm dating like, two people.

Oh, you're doing that thing?

-I'm getting to know…
-Those poor guys.

…getting to know some people.

I'm not saying to sleep with everybody,

but I think you owe it to yourself to get
to know a couple of different vibes…

-For sure.
-…until, you know.

So, a little disclaimer
that I do give the men that I date.

At some point, I'm going to write
a song about you, okay?

But here's the beautiful part.

You get to determine
what that song is about.

So if you bring me love and butterflies,

I'm gonna write
the most beautiful song about you.

But if you do some f*cked-up a*s-sh*t,

I'll have to write a f*ck-you record.

Change doesn't scare me,
but settling does.

And it takes a long time
to get to know somebody.

It takes time.

It takes like two years
to really get to know somebody.

You know what I mean?

And given what we do, like,
because it's hard.

Is it better because
your wife's in the industry as well?

That's the only way
I would be married right now in my life.

-I'm not dating until I get married.
-There you go.

-Tommy!
-You got to date to get married, though.

No. It depends on what country you're in.

I'm waiting for somebody
to arrange something.

Me and Tommy has never, like,
worked together, like.

He's always been somebody
that I admired and watched his career.

I think he'd say the same thing,
and it's a mutual respect.

The only difference between,
you know, me and Tommy is

I'm happily married,
and he's still single.

So he's still living the playboy life.

Yeah, I just don't want to
air him out like that.

But…

I'm excited for tomorrow.
We gon' go crazy.

-Yeah.
-Let's go.

All right. Hitmakers on three.

Let's go! Let's go, get in.

Three! Hitmakers!

Jameson on three!

I'm so ready. This is gonna be fun.

Do we know what car we in?

Get in the first one.

In the back.

Uh-oh. Do we trust Harv?

We trust… We trust Harv.

Woo!

Y'all ready?

Take off, take off

Vroom, vroom, I'mma race off

Yo, look at this. This is crazy.

Take off, take off

Sanctuary is
a state-of-the-art recording studio.

And every A-list artist has gone there,

from Drake, Justin Timberlake,
Mariah Carey, Alicia Keys,

and I've been there a few times
with Justin Bieber.

Take off
Three, two, one, go

Yeah, take off

Here we go.

Yeah, uh-huh, yeah, take off

Yeah, this is going to be fun.

All right.

-Ooh!
-Let's go!

Today, I'm writing
with Jenna and Nova Wav.

We've got six hours
to write a hit song, um, for John Legend.

I don't think I'm nervous.
I think I'm… I think I'm just ready.

I'm ready to go. I'm ready to write.

We're all in here?

-Vibes. Let's f*cking go.
-All right.

I'm getting paired with Tommy and Sevyn.
I'm pretty nervous.

You know, I'm a fan of Tommy's.

He produced "Seven Rings"
by Ariana Grande,

and I really want to show them
that I can hold my own in R&B.

I want him to know, you know,
who I am afterwards,

but also respect me as a writer.

-Oh wow.
-Hey.

This setup is crazy.

-This setup's wild.
-Nice.

-Did we get the best room?
-I think we did.

I'm in a room with Trey and Whitney
for the first writing day.

So we all have limited time
to write a song.

And at the end of the day,
we have to play the song that we wrote

for each other at the listening party.

You know,
listening parties can be stressful

because there's nothing worse
than hitting play on a wack song

in front of your peers.

-I'm Rich. I'll help you in this room.
-Hi, Rich.

-I'm a hugger.
-Nice to meet you.

Rich, so I'm going to ask you
a very unorthodox question, right?

Yeah. Go ahead.

That I'm pretty sure a lot of creators ask

when they come into this room.

Do you know where I can get some weed?

-Have you worked here before?
-Yeah, I have.

With Justin Bieber.
We come here all the time.

Hey, so it's got some good energy
in it already.

Stay for weeks, jam out, write songs.

I'm so excited for this first session.

Me and Whitney go way back,

and Harv is such
an insane producer as well.

So I know we're, like, set up for success.

We're going to write
the number one hit today.

I have this idea…

-This tempo…
-Okay.

When you go to a camp,
we can be all friends.

But when we go in them rooms,
we're competing with A and B, C.

We're all competing to have that record.

Like, I want to win.

-Like that.
-Great.

Okay, so sometimes,
I get, like, haunted by words.

-It's simple, but it's "strawberry."
-Strawberry?

Strawberry was on my brain
this morning. And I was like…

like, her aftertaste is like strawberry,
or sweet like strawberry.

Something that's summer and fresh…

-Love that.
-…and sexy.

The only issue…
I hate saying this, is, um,

he has a song called "Strawberry Blush"
on the last album.

-On his project?
-Yeah.

-Well then, no.
-Yeah.

What if it's, like, not strawberry
but some other type of fruit?

Cherries.

Mm-hmm. Cherries is good.

What's it a metaphor for? Other than…

It'd be cool to do, like,
an Adele up-tempo song.

-Oh yeah.
-You know, like…

-Uh.
-Oh, that's cool. That's cool.

That's cool, like,
with those little moves.

I've never worked with Sevyn or Tommy.

Um, I know who both of them are
just through their work

and having written
global worldwide smashes,

but I don't have any expectation
that they know who I am.

I have no idea who Ben is.

What are all the ways
that you can rescue somebody?

Like, I can save you from heartbreak,
save you from tears…

I'm always trying to push
and put a little bit of dirt on top of it,

give it a bit of vibe,

even if it is just in a tone
or the way that we deliver a lyric.

So that when he hears it, he's like,

"Hmm. I wouldn't have normally said that
like that. Let me try it."

A sexy song might be the vibes.

It could be something like,
"Take it all off,"

in the sense of, like, "Free yourself."

-"Be vulnerable around me."
-Yeah. Okay.

-But still make it sexy.
-Yeah.

That piano thing you had was really cool,
but I don't know if that works.

-I'm thinking, like…
-You can play it, and we could see.

Yeah.

I'm personally used to driving sessions.

I'm usually the one that walks in,
and I'm setting the tempo, number one.

But I'm always trying to figure out
what kind of value can you give me

so that I can multiply that.

-Whenever we set up.
-When we set up.

I'm a producer,
and it's usually been my show.

So when I walk in,
I'm trying to show Nova Wav

I… I'm on it. You know what I'm saying?

She keep it cherry sweet, like…

Like the first time
That you burst on me

Ooh!

So it's like the first time,
every single time.

-We're re-popping.
-Ex…

Might look like we're texting,

but, like, I have a list of titles,
lyrics and concepts,

all my precious thoughts.

This is everything,
I mean, this is my whole life.

It's my whole world.
It's right here, babe.

So I can't lose my phone.

I just realized he wrote "Peaches,"
and now we're writing "Cherry."

-I hope that's okay.
-No, I love that. Come on.

-You get all the fruits.
-Fruit of the Loom.

-We saw what "Peaches" did, so…
-Yeah, oh.

Let's do that.

-Yeah.
-Yeah.

-A little dirt on it.
-Yes.

Oh

Yeah.

And then we, like… listen…

-Moment, like, oh
-Pick you up

That's cool.

-Let you down
-That's cool.

-
Kiss your body, make you smile
-Ooh.

And then…

Woo!

Come on, now.

Baby, I'll come through and rescue you

Woo!

-Okay, wait.
-Okay.

-What if we call it "Rescue You?"
-Mm-hmm.

Uh-huh. Uh-huh.

And it's like…
Oh, I will rescue you

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Baby, I'll come through

-Till I'm next to you
-To you

-Yeah.
-Yeah.

That's a bad country boy right there.

And we all left our egos outside,

so only great things
can happen from there.

Um, do we know where the engineer is?

What is happening?

It is not reading this keyboard.

This doesn't make any sense.

It's not reading it, it's not seeing it.
That's so weird.

What the f*ck is going on?
Right now of all times?

Technical issues galore.
I mean, we are… we're down bad.

I'm confused about what's happening.

Yeah, it's like
I'm not even seeing it now.

I'm a bit frustrated

because I just feel that the caliber
that we're at now as creatives,

we should be able to work
through anything.

So let's figure it out.

I love it.

I wanna see the way you look

When you're looking at me

-That hook. That's so simple.
-Yeah.

Are you down to cut it? Who should cut it?
I feel like my voice is too breathy.

-I'll cut it.
-You're cool? Yeah.

So Blu's gonna cut the song,

which means she's gonna sing the demo
to play to John Legend.

And hopefully, while she's doing this,
Stephen can work out the technical thing.

I think I gotta get some Hennessy.

God.

This is not going well at all.

I can't get anything to work.

We're f*cked.

-There's bad energy in the house.
-Yeah.

-Golly, it shouldn't be this hard.
-Right.

I mean, it's crazy.

Almost ready, guys.

So what's going on with you?

-I hear you're recently betrothed.
-Oh no.

Betrothed.

He's a sweet boy. I don't think
I've been treated this well in a while.

And, like, willing to be treated this well
in a while.

I'm making it work.
I mean, it's long distance.

He's in North Carolina,
but it's an hour away, so it's not bad.

Yeah, for sure.

But it's cute right now.
It's like, you know, the first six months.

-I know.
-So it's cute and sweet.

-It's cherry sweet.
-Yeah.

-You deserve that, though. Truly.
-Thank you, babe.

I'm a die-hard romantic.

I'm a very passionate person.

And for me to even be in a relationship,
I usually have my whole heart in it.

So % the freshness and excitement
of my new relationship

is kind of being infused a little bit
in some of the lyrics that we're writing.

I will say Jenna did drop
my computer in the airport.

You did drop it.

-What's that mean?
-Oh no.

I'm just saying, you did drop it.

Is this really my fault?

Oh yeah. It could be your fault.
I'm not gonna lie.

I said,
"Hold this while I get us checked in."

-Not even a second.
-It happens.

I technically haven't used it since then.
I was using it the day before.

Okay, but, like, let's just hope.

I will rescue you

I'm the best with you.

I'm the best with you! Come on, now.

We need one more right there.
That's perfect.

I want somebody to say that.
Like, you feel me?

I'm my best with you, like…

My God.

How am I supposed to make music here
if I can't even make music?

We could just test it
when we get back to the place,

when we have more time
to figure out if it's actually--

Nah, I gotta get it working in there.
It has to start working in there.

Look, if it doesn't work in there,
then, I mean, what are we gonna do?

Stephen, you got like , , , seconds
to get your computer working.

Because if not, we gotta scoot you out
of the driver's seat.

-Saying "you" twice is funky.
-So say "ye." "Ye never got it."

Ye never got it

-Yeah.
-Yeah.

Ye! Put that sauce on it.

Ye never got it. Yes, me too. You feel me?

Like, I can't do anything.

-I'm nervous because I'm, like, you know…
-We ain't got no song.

Yeah, we don't.
At this point, we don't have a song.

So if we don't have a song
at the listening party,

like, we bummed out.

We are Nova Wav. We can't walk in
and not have a record done.

Biggest Ben.

The Biggest Ben.

That should be your production name.

The Biggest Ben is pretty good.

Cherry so sweet
Dripping on me, she gives me the…

What am I doing? One more time.

She's what I need
She re--

Oh, that one f…

She's what I need
If I can get that timing right

Okay, one more time.

When you're in the room
with someone like Harv,

who is so incredibly impressive
at everything,

I'm coming into this being like,
"Oh, I gotta chill the f*ck out."

Can you do it faster? Like, uh…

Okay.

-Let's keep it straight.
-Straight. Cool.

And instead of
"She give me the," "She give me that."

Is that not what I'm saying?

You always want to go with the vocalist
that's gonna sell the record

and, um, appeal to John the most.

And I can tell
that Trey feels a little unsettled,

but pressure is the name of the game.

She gives me the--

Mm-mm-mm-mm.

When there's tears in your eyes
And you're barely getting by

-I'm my best with you
-Best with you

I feel like I'm in my gospel choir
with all my cousins

when I was, like, years old.

Ah, there we go.
It is working. Thank you, bro.

Thank you, God. We're going somewhere.

Sometimes I just wanna say I love you

But there's something 'bout
When you say it

-Nice.
-That sounded sick.

The only problem, I don't love the end.

-Yeah.
-Yeah.

Yeah, we gotta find a better resolve.
I just didn't know what it should be.

-Does it need to be more words?
-More words.

Lucky heaven

Or you could say
"You're my heaven, eleven eleven."

-Ooh!
-
You're my heaven, eleven eleven

-That's dope.
-"Eleven eleven" is fire.

I knew my man would come through.
Do not underestimate the power of Stephen.

Eleven eleven, my heaven, oh

-Does it need to do that?
-I don't think so. No.

-Wait…
-No.

We only got ten minutes.

First-time energy

I love it. Let me see
if I can beat this one clap, though.

I'm feeling great.
I mean, I feel confident in what we did.

I feel like we all love it.

-Two more lines.
-Yeah.

All right, we making money today.

You have to go in knowing

that you, in this moment,
are the greatest in the world.

And you do what you do.

And will you win every time? No.

But you should believe
that you can win every time.

-All right, time's up.
-Cool.

-All right, let's go.
-We got it.

I think it's gonna be good.

I think we've nailed, like,
this cool gospel sound,

which is everything John Legend asked for.

But at the same time,

I know that every single one
of these rooms has people

who have the ability to write a song
just as good, if not better.

-This is a vibe.
-Hey.

This is a vibe.
I think I want to sit here.

-I'm gonna sit on the floor.
-He always sits on the floor.

-I do.
-Cheers.

Let me get some of that.
Let me get some of that.

-Bam!
-Clank! Yes, ma'am.

So I'll play it straight from…

Deadass, I want to clap.

Oh, that was big.

Ooh, I like this energy.

I picked her once And I'll pick her twice

Like what I see
I remember why

Yeah.

She's finding new ways
Of stopping time

When seasons change
I'm still on the vine

She's dangerous
When she's on my tongue

When I taste her love

She knows I can't get enough

Do that and go back.

Cherry so sweet
Dripping on me

She lure me down in her summer heat

Hey!

Every night, she's what I need

She gimme that first-time energy

I drink her slow like a fine wine

She gets better after midnight

Cherry so sweet

Cherry so sweet
Sweet, sweet, sweet, sweet

-That feels like, evolved…
-Yeah.

-…but still quintessential John.
-Still him. Yep, yep.

-That's crazy.
-That's hard.

Yo, it's so good.

-That's hard.
-Good job, y'all. Good job.

I love that. That bridge, though.

I love how you had that one harmony only.
It was just that one.

Sweet.

And I just, like… That bridge got me.
I was like, "Oh my gosh. My goosebumps."

Right.

It just felt good to write it.
I think that's a good sign.

If you feel good about it, like,
it's probably gonna be received well.

Cherry so…

Sweet

So good.

I think "Cherry," for me,
it's too conceptual.

I love songs that are conversational.

And I don't think I would go and talk
to somebody I'm trying to date and say,

"Cherry so sweet."

I think John Legend could pull it off,

but I think
John Legend would also change lyrics.

Nova Wav, Stephen, and Jenna,
y'all are up next.

-Yeah.
-I gotta hook up to the aux.

That's so good.

-Yeah.
-All right, here we go.

-Ah!
-Okay.

-
Take my hand
-Woo!

Don't let go

Come on.

I'm looking for your answers

Yeah!

That I don't know

Yeah

Sometimes I just wanna say I love you

But there's something
'Bout when you say it

-Oh, "About when you say."
-I like that. "But when you say it."

Somehow, you just find the way

To find a way
To break me out of my way

-Woo!
-Yeah.

Turn on a light
I wanna see

The way you look
When you're looking at me

You're the space
Between my heaven and earth

The only thing I know for sure

And you don't even know
What you're worth

Lucky seven, eleven eleven
My heaven on earth

Y'all…

Because he's telling her, like,

"Even when you don't feel worth it,
you're my heaven and earth."

"Even when you don't feel strong,
you're still my strength."

Oh, I love that.

-So pretty.
-Insane.

Eleven eleven
My heaven on earth

-Hey.
-Obsessed.

Good job.

-That's crazy.
-Obsessed.

I mean, listen. We struggled all day long…

-We did.
-…'cause we were fighting the Devil.

I will say, though. To be in a session
where a hundred things go wrong,

crazy things, like, being with you two
and getting to just work--

I work with you all the time,
so I basically can barely stand you,

but these two…

If this was just me and her,
I'd have burned the studio down.

But being with y'all and just like…

While we're figuring things out,
talking through it was a blessing for me…

These computers,
they got a mind of their own.

-But, you know, we made it happen.
-It was a blessing, for sure.

The trick was the struggle story.

Y'all set me up.

-I don't know what we were gonna do.
-I seen you all scheming.

Last but not least,
we've got Tommy, Sevyn, and Ben.

-The Biggest Ben. The Biggest Ben.
-That's your new name.

As of… As of today.

The Biggest Ben.

-Have we got it?
-We'll give you a little bit of a vibe.

Yes, come on, vibe.

-You might as well come up.
-All right.

-Oh ,we here.
-Interpretive dance.

Y'all had no business
coming in hard like this.

When you waste your love
On a broken heart

When you feel so close
But ya far apart

Hey.

When you're all alone
And you don't feel safe

When there's no way out
And you can't be saved

Just call my name

I will rescue you

When there ain't no way
And you've lost your faith

I will rescue you

When there's tears in your eyes
And you're barely getting by

I'm my best with you

Three, four, and then wait.

I like that chord. Second time.

I will rescue you

Hey.

I gave so much that I can't get back

-Hey.
-Yeah.

Life looks different, baby
You did that

I owe to you all the good I got

-Oh!
-Yeah.

That's what we need.
The verses to be a little more depth,

and then the chorus is just digestible.

I will rescue you

When there ain't no way
And you've lost your faith

I will rescue you

When there's tears in your eyes
And you're barely getting by

I'm my best with you

Spend my last breath with you

Ye ain't ever gotta ask me to

I will rescue you

You
…

Hey.

You
…

You
…

I will rescue you

You
…

Ooh

You…

I will rescue you

Hey!

Let me say this…

You didn't let me down.

-Hey, I loved it. That was amazing.
-Thank you. We had the best time.

Incredible. Incredible.

I will say, like,
I've never worked with Tommy before,

but, obviously, such a big producer.

But I was so impressed with your writing.

"Spend my last breath with you."
That was his line.

Tommy doesn't want y'all to know
he's just a romantic at heart.

And the world needs to know!

I write everything that I'm not.

Stop lying!

I write everything that I'm not.

I don't know if I believe that.

Hitmakers.

-Hitmakers.
-Hitmakers, let's go!

Cherry!

Great job, everybody.

This is probably the most competitive
industry in the world.

It's so hard to maintain relevancy,
no matter how much success you've had.

Then the challenge is,
"Oh my God. How do I live up to this now?"

People are constantly
trying to climb the ladder.

I'm not gonna let anybody beat me.

If you're not feeling the pressure,
you're not doing it right.

I feel really good about today,
but as this camp goes on,

we have to get better and better
every day.

We gotta keep pushing that bar.

I hope John picks one of these,
but good is not good enough.

You're trying to prove yourself
as a writer. All of us want to be great.

You got your "why" as well.
Why do we do this?

-It's who I am.
-It's this or flipping burgers.

You wanna see where this will go

All right, love you too.

Last night, I ended my relationship
with my boyfriend.

What?

The hardest thing is breaking up
with someone when there's still love.

It's a process. You have to accept it.

I shouldn't even be here.

I know you're going through stuff,
but don't let 'em know you're sweating.

I'm gonna put all this emotion
into the music. I promise.

You wanna see where this will go

-Hello.
-What lengths would you go…

-What's going on?
-…to get a number-one hit?

I'd love to cut it. I'm excited.

Is this the best combo for this camp?

I feel like JHart
is about to ruin the vibe for everybody.

It's called "Can't Relate."

-Remember that was our idea?
-Was it?

The good thing is we got cameras.
We can just go back and watch it.

My integrity being brought into question,
especially in front of my collaborators.

-It put you in a bad spot.
-It did.

And it put me in a bad spot.

-Kind of worried about me and Sevyn.
-It hasn't been a good connection.

She's a people pleaser.

-Yes.
-How about Ferras?

Ferras? Who is Ferras?

My brain actually feels like

it's absolutely being injected
with, like, cyanide right now.

What does that mean?

You came into this camp
thinking that I didn't like you?

-This is so uncomfortable.
-Jenna. Jenna, it's good discomfort.

What about Jenna and Stephen?

Are they dating?
I can't tell by how he acts.

-But I do think that--
-Okay, next song?

Oh my God. Am I that boring?

If I'd have did that,
my wife would've been like, "Yikes."

He won't be able
to walk back to that relationship.

You can't talk to your girl like that.

No. I don't give a f*ck
what nobody thinks except for her.

I just want to know, woman to woman.
You're cool, right?

-Sing!
-I want the best song possible.

God, help me figure out
if I want my boyfriend back.

Sometimes great songs
come out of those days.

-I love it.
-I feel like I do want my boyfriend back.

I'm rich, I'm successful, I have hits.

I'm the f*ck out of here.

Life is just crazy.

Within two seconds, everything can change.

And it changes just like the waves.

We should, like, write about this.

f*ck.

You wanna see where this will go

You wanna look me in the eyes
Try to test me in the night, yeah

I've had enough

You wanna see where this will go