Building the Band is an American reality television singing competition that aired on Netflix in July 2025. The program format sees 50 artists form six groups through a selection process, which leads to eliminations until one group is selected as the winner and earning a $500,000 prize.
Format
In the first round, all 50 artists sang a solo performance to the rest of the contestants while in pods, unable to see one another. Each artist was able to send 10 “likes” to performers who they wanted to see in a band alongside them. Artists who received fewer than five likes or had only been liked by performers who had been eliminated or formed a band without them, were eliminated. At the end of the round, six bands formed, each containing three to five members, who met for the first time during subsequent performances; these then competed in showcases, with each eliminating a band.
Netflix announced Building the Band in May 2024 and that Banijay UK subdivision Remarkable Entertainment would produce it.[1] They announced its host and judges, AJ McLean, Liam Payne, Kelly Rowland, and Nicole Scherzinger, that August; the four had previously been members of the Backstreet Boys, One Direction, Destiny’s Child, and the Pussycat Dolls.[2] Production took place that summer of 2024, with the final performances taped in late August in Manchester.[3] Payne died in October 2024; the show marked his final public appearance.[4] Episodes were broadcast in batches between July 9 and July 23, 2025;[5] the latter date also marked One Direction’s 15th anniversary.[6]
After five groups had been formed, Bri, Christian, Jenna M., Jermarcus, Karlee, Max, Maya, and Thomas were eliminated due to lack of remaining connections.
