On BET’s The Game, they play memorable, relevant and provocative music. On Facebook, people talk about the songs associated with the show. Sometimes music is used to foreshadow. In episode six, the show opened with Melanie saying that she couldn’t believe that Derwin was spending so much time in a custody battle with Janay. The song Time Will Reveal by El DeBarge was playing in the background. The song helped the writers to inform the audience that something about that situation would be revealed. Sure enough, Derwin was lying and when the episode ended, everything was revealed. The location of the applicable music makes it easy to connect with the program.
Also in episode six, there was an amazing song by a woman named Mackenzie Capri. It was called Back Door. In the song, a woman debates whether she should stay with her man, saying “Should I stay or should I go? Somebody please let me know. One thing is fa fa fa show, don’t let him catch me sneaking out the back door.” . “The beat of this song is nice and the artist sings well. It’s great Rhythm and Blues type music. Melanie certainly had every right to think about leaving after Derwin’s lie. It’s a universal message to anyone who is or has been.” been in a relationship.This song has now been released for purchase on Amazon and iTunes.
In episode seven, Malik goes to rehab. He spends most of the episode in denial about being in rehab and even decides to leave rehab for a brief period. Jason and Derwin finally convince him to go back to rehab. In the background, as Malik gets out of the car to walk to the rehab center, a song plays. No one knows the name of it. People think it’s called “Go Away”. Fans of the show are talking about this song. People want to know who wrote it, where they can buy it, how to get the words, etc. There is even a rumor that the song was posted on YouTube at one point and then immediately removed. My suspicion is that they are working on some kind of mechanism to get the music from the shows to the fans. I hope this is the case. What I do know for sure is that there are many fans of this song.
BET is using music to help tell stories on its TV show The Game. I like it. Music is universal. Universal musical messages with universal storylines help create a great entertaining show. I love music, so the BET approach works for me.