'Songland': Usher chooses Ryan Cam's 'California' as the winner song, records it with Tyga
The latest episode of 'Songland' featured none other than eight times Grammy Award winner and R&B legend Usher as the celebrity judge. The aspiring songwriters and the producers — Ester Dean, Shane McAnally and Ryan Tedder — were all equally excited about having the hip-hop legend in the studio with them. Ryan and Ester had already worked with Usher in the past, so they couldn't stop gushing about him, while Shane brought out his competitive side by hoping to get an opportunity to work with Usher soon.
The aspiring songwriters went the extra mile with the hopes of getting a cut from their idol. The first songwriter to present her original creation was Miranda Glory with her composition 'Salty'. Usher liked the song and the melody but felt it was too feminine for him. Next was Ryan Cam, who wowed the judges with his song 'Staying Over'. He instantly captured everybody's attention with his unique lyrics and verses. Then it was David Wade's turn to perform his song 'Horse 'N Carriage', which managed to keep the judges intrigued. Finally, it was Fatherdude's turn to perform his track titled 'Billions'.
Unfortunately, Fatherdude couldn't make it to the next round, but the other three contestants were paired with the producers and given a chance to tweak the song to suit Usher's persona better. Miranda was paired with Ryan Tedder, David was paired with Shane and Ryan was paired with Ester. All the songwriters made some major changes to their original compositions with the help of their mentors and performed the final tracks for Usher. While all the songwriters' managed to leave us with jaw-dropping performances, it was Ryan's song which had Usher swooning.
Ryan's original song 'Staying Over' was based on one of his relationships. He explained that he wrote the song for a girl in California while he was in Greece, hoping to see if they could still make their long-distance relationship work. When Usher pointed out that the song seemed too specific and appeared to be composed keeping a particular person in mind, Ester stepped in and made some changes to the song to make it universal and fit Usher's needs better. They renamed the song 'California', changed the beats and made it way more groovy than what it already was. The end result left Usher floored and he immediately gave a cut to Ryan. Towards the end of the episode, we saw snippets of Usher's final take on the song. The 'Yeah!' singer could be seen in the studio recording 'California' alongside fellow rapper Tyga. While Usher sand the song, Tyga pitched in with his rap. The song was certainly easy on the ears and we hope to hear more of it.
‘Songland’ airs every Monday at 10 pm EST only on NBC.