'Songland' episode 9: Charlie Puth releases winner Zach Sorgen's song 'Bad Habit' in its original form and fans are all for it

The interesting part about this week's episode of Songland with Charlie was actually shot as the pilot episode for season 1 before NBC could pick it up. And now it is the second last episode before this season ends.
UPDATED SEP 5, 2019

'Songland' returned for a brand new episode, featuring award-winning singer Charlie Puth as the featured artiste this week.  Airing on Wednesday night with the ninth episode this season, right after America's Got Talent season 14, we saw four songwriters battle it out to be Charlie Puth's winning song.

The interesting part about this week's episode of Songland with Charlie was actually shot as the pilot episode for season 1 before NBC could pick it up. And now it is the second last episode before this season ends. Next week, when Songland airs, it will be the final episode of season 1 and it will feature judge and mentor Ryan Tedder's band, One Republic. This week Charlie revealed he is looking for emotional lyrics that includes melodies which will make people dance.

Charlie Puth chose Zach's song 'Bad Habit' as the winner. (Photo by: Vivian Zink/NBC)

The four contestants who performed for Charlie this week were Sam DeRosa, Zach Sorgen, Paris Williams, and Joel Adams. Performing first, Sam sang her song, Pill For This. Zach performed his original song titled Habit. Paris sang her song titled Pity Party, and Joel performed his original song, Hate Love. After listening to all four of the contestants perform, the judges/mentors - Ryan Tedder, Ester Dean, and Shane McAnally - along with Charlie shortlisted the Top 3 contestants who would be moving to the final round. After a lot of contemplation and discussion, they chose Zach Sorgen, Joel Adams, and Sam DeRosa to advance to the finals, which meant that Paris was eliminated. 

Before the contestants could perform their songs for Charlie once again, they were paired with a mentor each who helped them tinker with it in a way Charlie would like it to be. Zach's mentor was Ryan.  Ryan helped Zach in making the song more hip and edgy. Joel was mentored by Ester who helped him with the lyrics and Shane and Zach even collaborated. Shane helped Zach turn the song and make it a more ballad style that would make people want to dance, just as how Charlie wanted it. 

After the songs were done getting finetuned, the final three contestants, performed their redone songs for Charlie one last time hoping it was good enough to be his next hit. Post listening to them performing, Charlie chose Zach's 'Bad Habit' as the winner. Revealing why he chose Zach's song, Charlie shared that it was different yet in the same line. 

After the news of Charlie picking Zach's song was revealed, fans took to Twitter to reveal how they felt about his choice. "Love the song “Bad Habit” you picked @charlieputh I loved all your emotions, it shows how much your music means to you, and how you remember when you started out! It shows how kind, and caring you are, and that beautiful soul of yours shines through," a fan wrote. Adding to that another fan said, "Congratssss!!!!! Def a Charlie puth song." But what surprised fans the most is that Charlie Puth didn't record the song and released it with the original version of Zach singing. 

Taking to Twitter, Charlie wrote a long post stating the reason why he chose to let Zach release it in is own version. Revealing that as a singer-songwriter himself, it is important that he recognizes a song that has been sung by the original writer. And 'Bad Habit' is one such song that should be released and put out in the world by Zach himself. 



 

'Songland' airs every Wednesday on NBC. Check your local listings for more information. 

RELATED TOPICS AMERICA'S GOT TALENT (2006) SONGLAND

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