Songland is a new music TV competition show designed to launch the careers of undiscovered songwriters. Each aspiring songwriter will pitch their original material to host John Legend and a panel of chart-topping music producers and songwriters including Shane McAnally, Ryan Tedder, and Ester Dean.
Ester Dean has written many songs for Rihanna (“Rude Boy”, “What’s My Name”, “Where Have You Been”, Katy Perry (“Firework”) and Nicki Minaj (“Super Bass”), among many others. She’s also known for her role as a cappella singer Cynthia Rose in the Pitch Perfect movies.
[Pitch Perfect Trilogy]
Dean has been promoting Songland on TV including her interview on NBC Nightly News, where she says she started writing in the third grade. The first song she remembers writing was called “Gypsy Lady” — and she sings it for NBC Nightly News interviewer Cynthia McFadden in the video below. Dean says she thought the song was “stupid” but she “loves my little self.” Songland airs Tuesdays at 10 pm on NBC, right after America’s Got Talent.
https://www.instagram.com/p/Bx_LMjjHhot/
When profiled by The New Yorker in 2012 as one of the hitmakers behind Rihanna, Dean’s voice was described as “a comical, Betty Boop-ish speaking voice.” She was also touted by writer John Seabrook as having “a genius for infectious hooks.” Seabrook is the author of The Song Machine: Inside the Hit Factory.
Rihanna with Ester Dean…
https://www.instagram.com/p/BwcvxQnnU3w/
