The Singing Competition Where the Judges Could Wear Their PJs

The judges of this singing contest could do the show with their eyes closed—and often, they did.

While making “Breakthrough,” an audio-only singing competition on Audible, Grammy-winning singers Sara Bareilles and Kelly Rowland saw the five contestants only as names in a Zoom room on their computers. Though the judges could see each other on-screen, they said the best way to focus on the vocal performances was to shut their eyes. 

“Image has been everything when it comes to talent-competition shows. This show has none of that,” added Rowland, who has been a judge on “The X Factor” and was judged herself on “Star Search.” She said a 1993 loss on that show for her group Girls Tyme only fired their quest to succeed, which they did under the name Destiny’s Child. 

What are music competitions for now? That’s the unspoken question behind “Breakthrough.” With TikTok functioning as a vast star search and listeners scattered into the endless niches of streaming platforms, even avid music fans would be hard pressed to name the recent winners of “American Idol.” These reality-TV contests roll on as entertainment institutions, but their power to launch new careers has been largely eclipsed by other forces in music culture.

Removing looks and stage presence from the equation was one way to revise the genre’s formulas. “The Voice,” which recently wrapped its 23rd season on NBC, starts with blind auditions, but that conceit only lasts until the celebrity judges swivel around in their chairs. The all-audio format of “Breakthrough” not only cut down on “subconscious biases” of the judges, Bareilles said, it spared the judges from having to perform for a camera, too. 

“Honey, I did this in my pajamas,” said Bareilles, who juggled the gig with a busy period of work on Broadway. “We weren’t being broadcast. I wasn’t feeling self conscious about what I was wearing.” 

She remembers that feeling from appearing on NBC’s “The Sing-Off” as a judge for one season in 2011. Producers wanted more of a sexy pop-star look from Bareilles, who competed in a college a cappella group before her punchy 2007 hit “Love Song” made her famous. “I got a lot of pressure to look a certain way that I was not comfortable with, and I didn’t quite have the voice in that moment to really draw a boundary. It was a painful experience and I learned a lot from it,” Bareilles recalled.

“Breakthrough,” which premiered June 1, is the first music competition for Amazon’s Audible, which has expanded from audiobooks into podcasts and highly produced audio dramas featuring Hollywood talent such as Jon Hamm and Kerry Washington. Audible’s push into music began five years ago with series such as “Words + Music,” in which star musicians share personal stories and performances. 

Production company At Will Media pitched “Breakthrough” to Audible during the pandemic, as virtual productions proved viable and musicians got comfortable recording themselves at home. Casting for contestants began in 2021, with thousands of submissions narrowed down to five contestants. Along with Bareilles and Rowland, the actor, rapper and “Hamilton” star Daveed Diggs signed on as the show’s narrator.  

Contestants included a church worship leader from Ohio (Blaze Johnson Jr.) and an elementary school teacher from New Jersey (Melanie Mickel). Their styles ranged from R&B (Johnna Booth from L.A.) to country (Mitch Clark from Virginia). Each brought personal challenges with them. Nashville-based Sasha McVeigh’s parents sold the family home to finance her music dream and were both facing serious health problems.  

“Breakthrough” was designed to be nice to its contestants. “Traditionally when you’re thinking about these competitions, it can feel cutthroat,” said Preston Copley, executive producer of original music-storytelling at Audible. 

In each episode, contestants completed various singing and songwriting challenges. Bareilles and Rowland picked a winner for each challenge, awarding them a prize such as music equipment or sessions with pro coaches. But instead of contestants facing elimination in each episode, all five stayed on until the judges selected the show’s ultimate winner in the finale.  

That came with a $100,000 prize, but not the typical recording contract that established TV competitions hand out. As “Breakthrough” unfolded, it became clear that the show’s title referred less to a potential break into fame, and more to the artistic breakthroughs required of singers advancing their craft.

The show’s audio team captured contestants’ coaching sessions and musical tracks, and contestants used field kits and their own gear to record work at home. For one assignment—write an original song in the form of a lullaby—Clark included the giggles and coos of his toddler daughter. For another—reinterpret a song from the 1960s—Booth documented her frustration with her vocal-pitch control on the deceptively simple “You Don’t Own Me.” 

Rachel Ghiazza, executive vice president and head of U.S. content at Audible, said “we’re seeing results we’re proud of” in listener reaction to “Breakthrough,” but declined to elaborate on the size of the show’s audience. Audible hasn’t yet decided if there will be a second season, she said. 

Beyond the critiques they offered on breath control, dynamics and other vocal techniques, both judges said they were surprised at how much they could discern about the contestants’ psychological states from simply hearing their voices. “We were forced to listen to everything we could pick up on, whether it was breaths of anticipation or anxiousness, or a hiccup that made me ask, ‘Are you OK?’” Rowland said. 

“It felt a little old school in the approach, like a nostalgic way to listen,” Bareilles said, recalling her childhood practice of lying on the floor, absorbing music through headphones, her imagination filling in the rest.  

This made for a moment of dissonance when the judges finally met the contestants face to face during the taping of the show’s finale episode, which Audible released June 22. “It was a mind trick,” Rowland said. “Who I saw and who my imagination had painted them to be were so different.”

Write to John Jurgensen at [email protected]