Image Courtesy Jim Wright/Arista NashvilleThe 20 remaining contestants on ABC’s Rising Star begin competing against each other in “The Duels” starting Sunday night. The contestants will be paired off for back-to-back performances. Whichever contestant of the pair gets the higher percentage of votes will stay on the show while the other contestant goes home.
Expert Brad Paisley tells ABC News Radio, “It is drag racing. It’s just one person goes, they qualify, there’s your time. Go do it again. What about you? Are you faster or not?”
The show’s experts are also starting to mentor the contestants, which means they’ll be selecting some of the songs for the Rising Star hopefuls. Brad has been putting a lot of thought into which songs he’ll choose for his contestants to connect with the viewing audience.
“The most important thing is that you match the song to the person, and that it’s also a song that America recognizes,” Brad says. “Originally, I was like, ‘Man, we should let ’em sing something they wrote,’ but not everybody’s gonna be a great songwriter.”
He adds, “If you’re picking a song that America’s not totally aware of, or that’s a niche sort of alt-rock thing or something that people don’t know, they’re having to get to know that while they’re getting to know you.”
Tune in to see all of the action on ABC’s Rising Star Sunday night.
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