Berklee Singers Wow the Competition on Netflix's Building the Band
Image courtesy of Netflix
Netflix recently premiered a new music competition show that's part The Voice and part Love is Blind. Building the Band sequesters singers and potential bandmates in individual sound booths where they can listen to each other audition without seeing who's singing, then make decisions on who they want to form a group with.
Two singers from Berklee are in the debut season: student Bradley Rittmann, who lists Justin Bieber as his vocal inspiration, and Katie Roeder BM ’21, who names Queen and FLO as her favorite bands.
After each audition, host and Backstreet Boy AJ McLean tells each singer whether enough of their fellow competitors—five or more—hit their like buttons for them to make it through to the next round.
In the first episode, Roeder performed Sia's power ballad "Unstoppable" with her Adele-inspired range and tone. "What a powerhouse!" and "Her high register is crazy!" were some of the comments other singers gave her. McLean delivered the good news that 18 people wanted to build a band with her. "You just blew the roof off," McLean added. "That was incredible!"
Watch Katie Roeder perform "Unstoppable" on Building the Band:
In episode 2, Rittmann sang "So Sick" by Ne-Yo. "It's like his voice was made for this song," said one of the other singers. "He's got a clean, soulful voice," added another. "It's giving boy band." McLean told Rittmann that he received 12 likes, enough to progress in the competition.
Watch Bradley Rittman perform "So Sick" on Building the Band:
The Berklee community might remember Roeder from the 2021 commencement concert, where she performed “Pour Que Tu M’aimes Encore,” a tribute to honorary doctorate Celine Dion.
"She’s a highly versatile vocalist, with experience singing classical music and musical theater," says Maureen McMullan, senior concert producer, who worked with Roeder on the Dion piece. "She had never sung in French before. She learned the pronunciation in about a week and delivered it beautifully."
The first seven episodes of Building the Band are available to stream on Netlfix, with the final three dropping on July 23.