ABC Radio(NEW YORK) — How good are your song recognition skills? Jamie Foxx wants to find out. He’s hosting the new game show, Beat Shazam, which premieres tonight on Fox.
The show pits contestants against the song recognition app, Shazam, to see who can identify a tune the fastest. Contestants have the chance to win up to one million dollars.
“What was interesting about all of the contestants, nobody was playing for themselves,” Jamie tells ABC Radio. “’I’m playing for my mom, she lost her house in a fire.’ ‘I’m playing for a friend of mine who doesn’t have medical benefits.’ And you know what the common theme was? Student loans.”
Jamie admits some of the contestants’ stories actually brought him to tears. But it wasn’t all heavy — Jamie’s hosting style made sure of that. In addition to bringing out celebrity guests includingMariah Carey and Snoop Dogg, Jamie says he was determined to make the set as dynamic and spontaneous as possible.”
“At one point they were like, ‘Well, we need you here, we need you there, you need to stand right here,’” he recalls. “I said I’m not going to do that. I’m gonna be all over the set.”
Beat Shazam premieres tonight at 8 p.m. ET on Fox.
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