Pepper and Piano hit the top ten
The Sky 1 talent search, Must Be The Music, has produced its first top ten single, less than twelve hours after last night’s first live semi-final ended.
With the studio lights still hot, Manchester duo Pepper & Piano stormed into the iTunes charts last night with their self-penned ballad You Took My Heart, rising rapidly overnight and reaching number seven by daybreak this morning.
This is the first time that a UK television talent show had given the audience the chance to immediately download a track by the performers, and with all of the five acts entering the top 200 of the iTunes charts within hours of transmission, it looks like the experiment has been a success.
Lily Allen, an X Factor hater, has given the show a boost, by Tweeting Pepper & Piano for number one.
Milling about backstage after the show there was more of a feeling of an election count than a talent show as Sky producers darted from pillar to post excitedly delivering rapidly rising chart positions to the awaiting acts.
Irish fiddle player Daithi chats with Fearne after his performance
Whoops of delight periodically emitted from corners of the room as Legion of Many, Flow Dem and Chakula Soul discovered that they might not be getting to perform at Wembley Arena next month, but they had managed to score themselves a ‘hit record’ … for a day … in the iTunes chart … but come on, it’s better than a Britain’s Got Talent pencil sharpener and your bus fare home.
The result of the show had already been decided; Pepper & Piano and Irish fiddler Daithi had been given the nod by the voting public in a rather rushed five minute electoral window but it rapidly became clear that the innovative ‘instant-release’ of the contestants tracks online was the real story.
Fearne Cotton, presenter of the show told the Beehive that the first live semi-final had been an “absolute blast”.
Pepper & Piano made Fearne tear up when she first heard their song You Took My Heart and their iTunes chart triumph was no surprise. “It’s the combination of Katie’s voice which is just fantastic and Emma’s serious songwriting skills that resonates with people. I keep crying when I hear it. It’s incredible that it’s only the second time they’ve performed in public. They totally deserve their success.”
Fearne admitted it was a surprise that Flow Dem had gone out after disappointing the judges with their choice of song because they had been a favourite of Dizzee’s. “Their first song was a brilliant pop song. The judges told them to keep doing what they do.”
Look it’s hard to concentrate for a full 75 minutes (see me picking my nose, left), but my bad manners aside, the show delivers an interesting and credible music format … although maybe I shouldn’t be allowed to sit behind Dizzee Rascal next time.
Yes, the audience receive 40 minutes of Blackpool cabaret warm-up before the programme goes live, yes, it’s almost an identical set to X Factor & BGT, yes, it’s filmed in the same studio as its illustrious ITV competitors … but when the judges come into the arena and the acts begin to perform, Must Be The Music differentiates itself from its rivals by delivering a genuinely eclectic set of acts judged by successful musicians who concentrate on substance over style.
There can be no doubt that Dizzee Rascal, Jamie Cullum and Sharleen Spiteri have earned their place on the panel. These are guys who know how to write, produce and sell music.
Moreover, aside from Dizee’s occasional cheeky references to clothes some of the performers were wearing, the judges simply comment on the music and the songwriting, not bogging themselves down in debates over ‘star potential’, choreography and persona.
It is this direct and refreshing approach to a well trodden talent show format that makes the Sky 1 show feel different.
Flow Dem crashed out, but are still selling music
A Sky executive admitted that the show had been a gamble, “It’s an expensive show to produce and the audience for music can be niche but now the artists are breaking through which is what we wanted. We’ll look to see what we can improve from the first live show but it went very well. The studio audience was very rowdy, maybe a bit too rowdy in parts!”
Although some acts were obviously better than others, the constant reminder that ‘all the money from downloads goes to the artists’ helped gee the crowd into a frenzy during each song.
Whether you liked them or not, the formats musical sensibility had the entire crowd rooting for every artist in a hope that the people at home would buy the song and help the young hopefuls continue to live their dream.
With this week’s acts still flying high in the charts, Fearne is looking ahead to next week’s semi-final. “We’ve got Kyle Nash-Baker, a 15 year-old pianist prodigy who is just magnificent. It will be interesting to see if the viewers will download a classical piece of music because it’s so different.”
Cotton, a bit of an AC/DC-loving rock chick, has an eye on The Pictures, a five-piece group who mix electric violin with a guitar line-up. “They totally rock it and they look like they’ve been playing together for years.”
The second live semi final of Must Be The Music is on Sky 1 next Sunday at 7pm
Is the Lily Allen who gave the show a boost the same Lily Allen whose BBC Three show was made by Princess Productions, producers of MBTM? Would be a funny coincidence if it was!
Boys, not sure if you can be in the audience again with that display.
Dan