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Singer-songwriters of Platinum Hit: Where are they now? Part 1

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Back in 2011, I religiously watched Platinum Hit, Bravo’s songwriting reality contest featuring Jewel and former American Idol judge Kara DioGuardi. I don’t watch much reality TV other than singing contests like The Voice; Platinum Hit was right up my alley, moreso because the contestants wrote their own songs and one can see their process of doing it on the show. Some of the songs were great, too — I still listen sometimes to the studio version of Love It Or Hate It. Sadly, it was not renewed for a second season because of poor ratings.

While updating my blog to its new layout, I came across an old post that I wrote when douche contestant Johnny Marnell got eliminated. (I am not a frequent blogger; I must have really been into the show to actually blog about it lol.) It made me wonder about the current fate of the contestants — are they still chasing the dream of having a publishing and/or record deal? Without further ado, I share with you, fellow few and far between Platinum Hit fans, the results of my Google-Fu:

12. Nevin James

Nevin James © Bravo Media

I barely remember this guy. Right after the show, Nevin milked his 15 minutes of fame to promote his short-lived “social justice rock opera” called Death & Victory in Paris. He’s also quite into Jesus and appeared on The 700 Club in 2012. A peek into his Facebook, the only site with recent updates about him, reveals he’s still playing the piano.

11. Blessing Offor

Blessing Offor © Bravo Media

Update: Blessing Offor is on Season 7 of The Voice! This is the second time that an artist from a musical reality competition I used to glom has chosen to resurrect their career on The Voice; the first was Jordis Unga from Rock Star: INXS. Talk about déjà vu.

Even though he was booted out second, it’s hard to forget Blessing Offor because of his memorable name and the fact that he was the only blind guy in the show with a guide dog. So when I saw a preview of the third Blind Audition episode of the latest season of The Voice, I immediately recognized him. The episode just aired yesterday, and sure enough, it was him, sans guide dog.


Blessing got a four(!)-chair turn and chose to be on Team Pharrell. He’s up against some pretty stiff competition, though; I don’t think he’s going to survive past the Knockout Rounds. Still, good on you, mate!

10. Karen Waldrup

Karen Waldrup © Bravo Media

Karen’s quite the busy country artist! The gal is really working hard to be the next Taylor Swift (unlike fellow early oustee Nevin James who seems to have given up on dreams of stardom). From her bio: “Karen Waldrup is an adept artist with enough ambition and drive to become a household name.” You go, girl! She just released a new single this month called Sharing The Night Together.

Karen is quite active on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. Plus, she has one sweet-looking official website. The girl sure is serious about making it! (Note to aspiring young up-and-comers: get whoever made Karen’s website to do yours.)

9. Amber Ojeda

Amber Ojeda © Bravo Media

Amber is also still trying to make it big, but with considerably less glitter than Karen. According to her official website, she’s working on her third album, but her bread and butter seems to be placements of her songs on TV and film. Perhaps you’ve heard one of her songs on Snooki and Jwoww and Basketball Wives. Like Karen, Amber has an active social media presence on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.

Stay tuned for Part 2: Melissa Rapp, Jackie Tohn, Johnny Marnell, and Brian Judah.

Platinum Hit season 1 episode 7: And the artist who missed is…

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Johnny Marnell

Johnny Marnell. He’s none too happy about it:

It’s funny how people are shocked about him going home instead of Nick. I’m not rooting for anybody in particular, but er, were we watching the same episode? Nick has been cast in the role of resident jerk since the beginning of the show, but most of it is reality TV fodder. Reality TV edit or not, Johnny was the one who came off as a genuine douche this time. It was obvious that he couldn’t put aside his personal grievances with Nick who, on the other hand, really tried. Making condescending faces at the camera while Nick pitched his ideas to you? Not cool, dude. Johnny’s stank and sense of entitlement came into full force during this challenge, so much that it became almost unbearable to watch. And he had the gall to play the victim card. I’m glad Kara called him out on his condescending attitude (his face during that dressing-down was priceless). Even Jewel agrees:

At the time of filming, I felt shocked and wished I could have seen what went down in the co-write. Now seeing this episode I finally was able to, and I feel we made the right decision. Nick is no hero, but it seemed clear he tried to co-write and he did have great melody ideas that were more in line with who they were writing for. Johnny could have made a better song if he incorporated Nick’s melodies with his own lyrics. Instead, Johnny made a folky-sounding Jack Johnson type of song instead of a soul-rock-pop track for Gavin. I told Nick it would be impossible to be shut out of a session, but watching the show, I can tell you I have never had someone be so blatantly rude or dismissive in a co-write toward me. I do have pride, and if someone had treated me so condescendingly, making fun of me because of words I don’t know the meaning of, or by straight up ignoring me, I would have walked out and vowed never to co-write with them again.

I don’t think Johnny wrote a bad song on purpose, hoping to get in the bottom and get Nick kicked off, at least I hope he didn’t. My guess is he hated Nick and just felt better than him, shut him out, and it bit him in the butt.

Read Jewel’s entire blog entry here; it’s right on the money. Yes, Nick is a dick, but he’s been like that since Day 1, and he owns it. Johnny, on the other hand, is a Douchebag in Denial™.