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 court custody battle with Janay. The DeBarge song, Time Will Reveal, was playing in the background. The song helped the writers inform the audience that something would be revealed about that situation. Sure enough, Derwin was lying and when the episode ended, everything was revealed. The applicable music location makes it easy to connect to the program.
Also in episode six, there was an amazing song by a woman named Mackenzie Capri. It was called the Back Door. In the song, a woman debates whether she should stay with her man saying “Should I stay or should I go? Someone please let me know. One thing is fa fa fa show, don’t let him catch me sneaking out the back door.” The rhythm 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 is a universal message for anyone who is or has been in a relationship. This song is now available for purchase on Amazon and iTunes.
In episode seven, Malik goes to rehab. He spends most of the episode denying that he is in rehab and even decides to leave rehab for a brief period. Jason and Derwin finally convince him to return to rehab. In the background, as Malik gets out of the car to walk to the rehab facility, a song plays. Nobody knows his name. 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 the same time 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 know for sure is that there are many fans of this song.
BET uses music to help tell stories on its television show The Game. I like. Music is universal. Universal Music Messages with Universal Stories help create a great and entertaining show. I love music so the BET approach works for me.