In news that honestly made me raise my brows for both curiosity and potential messiness’ sake, BET has announced an all new series dedicated to reviving the R&B all-girl group.
Per a press release sent to The Root, BET Presents The Encore is set to follow “nine of the most memorable solo artists and girl groups from the 1990s and 2000s” as they band together under one roof to form the next big musical phenomenon. Those memorable ladies include Blaque’s Shamari DeVoe, Irish Grinstead and LeMisha Grinstead from 702, Nivea Nash, Felisha King and Fallon King of Cherish, Total’s Pamela Long, Aubrey O’ Day from Danity Kane, and 3LW’s Kiely Williams. The series is also set to be executive produced by Kingdom Reign Entertainment with Carlos King serving as executive producer alongside Scott Jeffress, Alicia Martino, Brent Nisbett and Scott Shatsky.
The show’s description per press release:
With nothing to lose and everything to gain, these talented singers turned wives, moms, and entrepreneurs, will move in together, write new music, learn choreography, record an album, and put on a live performance. The catch? The songstresses must achieve this in only 30 days, with none of them knowing who their bandmates will be ahead of time. Faced with fun twists and unforeseen constraints, the ladies will need to stretch beyond their musical and personal comfort zones to succeed as a team. An esteemed roster of music industry experts will drop in each week to prepare them for their big debut and deliver a chart-topping record, including music producer Kosine, choreographer Aliya Janell, songwriter Elijah Blake, and vocal coach Cynnamyn. Will their artistic differences or egos get in the way of forming a group? Or will these powerhouse women show the world that they still have what it takes to make a major comeback? Only time, and the music, will tell.
Now I don’t know if you know this but Carlos King has been dubbed the “King of Reality TV,” thanks to his past projects he’s produced on and created such as Real Housewives of Atlanta and OWN’s Love & Marriage: Huntsville, respectively. Both of those shows also happened to be of few of my favorite guilty pleasure TV series to watch as well.
I don’t know what that says about him or me but I’d be lying to you if I said I wasn’t curious as to how this new show will play out. Nine women under one roof, trying to revive their careers? Add in a a few ego trips and a sprinkle of “I’m too good for this shit” for a little razzle-dazzle and it sounds like some good mess to me. I’ll watch the first few episodes and report back my findings. What else have I got to do? We’re still in a pandemic, after all.
(I actually have plenty I really could be doing but will I shirk those responsibilities to watch yet another set of people’s drama unfold on national TV while I guzzle pineapple kombucha and french fries instead? Absolutely.)
BET Presents The Encore will premiere June 9 at 10pm ET only on BET and BET Her.