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One of the contestants battling it out for the title on American Song Contest is 25-year-old singer-songwriter Jocelyn from Omaha.
NBC's American Song Contest is inspired by the show Eurovision Song Contest, a 65-year-old competition that is a mega-hit series overseas and is watched by 200 million people globally. The show features 56 contestants competing against each other to win the country's vote and be crowned the winner.
The reality show premiered on Monday, March 21, 2022, from 8.00 pm to 10.00 pm EST on NBC Universal. Each singer represents one of the 50 states, as well as one representative each for Washington DC, Samoa, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, Puerto Rico, and the US Virgin Islands.
American Song Contest, hosted by Snoop Dogg and Kelly Clarkson, will also have a jury of 56 professional musicians from the industry who will judge the singers. Like the contestants, the jury will also comprise of one member from each state and territory across the United States.
Who is American Song Contest contestant Jocelyn?
Jocelyn is a singer-songwriter from Omaha who has been a star-in-the-making ever since she started playing her music in street corners and open-mic events. Her voice, range, heartfelt lyrics, and melodic guitar ticks made her the talk of the town. She is representing the state of Nebraska on American Song Contest.
In early 2018, she signed with major record label BMG with an intimate acoustic set in their Los Angeles offices. She was guided by the management of Omaha-based Midlands Music Group to sign with BMG and went on to become part of an artist roster that also included Bruno Mars.
Speaking about her choice of signing with the label, she said:
“I genuinely just want to have a good time making this music. and that’s really who BMG is. That’s why we went with them. I could have chosen different record labels, but I didn’t. I went with BMG because the vibe was right.”
On her website, Jocelyn is described as "a warrior for the positive and young people everywhere." She combines her observant outlook on life, her vision of music, and her love for the lyrical world to write great songs that stick with people.
Describing her passion for music, Jocelyn said:
"I love being able to touch people's hearts or make them think or feel something they haven’t felt before. I want to help people.”
Jocelyn's single tracks include Speak Up and Never Change. The former is her anti-bullying anthem, and the latter is her request for people to never change who they are. These songs reflect her experience of bullying and being marginalized. Speaking about these songs, she said:
“There’s noise everywhere in how people think of you, how they judge you. I’ve had so many people tell me that I’m doing things wrong in their eyes, and I’m like, you have no idea what I’m experiencing. There’s all these moments you have to stay positive, and that’s what the record’s about."
Early in her career, she attracted music industry veterans who believed in her potential. She entered the Midlands Music Group mentorship program at the age of 16, following which she scored several opportunities, including a 2017 Celebrity Undercover Boss episode at The Speakeasy in Austin, Texas.
Other singles from Jocelyn include Just Like Everybody Else, Good To Be Me, Different, and Nothing Left To Say.
Jocelyn focuses on self-love, and anti-hate messages in her songs that also relate to topics like Me Too, LGBTQ rights, and Black Lives Matter movements.
Each week during the American Song Contest, Jocelyn and other contestants will come up with original songs that will land some into the semi-final round. The show will run for eight weeks, after which the finale will be aired on May 9, 2022, on NBC.
