Boy bands, girl groups, mixed-gender ensembles. Soulful warbles, whistle registers, gritty resonance. On Building the Band, solo singers collided to form six new groups — each chasing one shot at stardom.
In this first-of-its-kind music competition, 50 participants took part in blind auditions, listening to one another sing from their individual sound booths. From there, the performers who formed deep connections sight unseen officially locked in six bands: 3Quency, SZN4, Soulidified, Midnight Til Morning, Sweet Seduction, and Siren Society. After moving into shared apartments, the groups put everything into vocal coaching, choreography, crafting a cohesive group image, and more in order to be the last ones singing. So who walked away with the winning title and the $500,000 prize? And, where are each of the Building the Band groups now?
Keep reading to find out everything you need to know about what’s gone down since the finale, including whether a certain duo found lasting love after the competition and who’s already dropped new music.
“I blacked out on stage,” Nori tells Tudum about the moment 3Quency won Building the Band, with Wennely adding, “I remember falling to the floor, like what in the world just happened?” Since that life-altering and career-making moment, the trio aren’t resting on their laurels. In the year since the finale, they’ve been pushing themselves and each other to elevate 3Quency to the next level and beyond. And, yes, more unreal harmonies and girl group excellence are on their way. “This is a huge opportunity for all three of us and it's been a long time coming. This last year we've kind of been in hiding,” says Brianna. “Now we really want to graduate on from the experience.”
Reflecting on the beginnings of their Building the Band journey, Nori, Brianna, and Wennely say they could’ve never predicted the outcome. For Nori, the competition was a risk she took to “better [herself]” and push her life into a new direction. “I decided to take a gap year from school and I didn't even tell my family anything,” she recalls. “I wanted to go in and be authentically myself and I just prayed my whole way.” Wenneley, meanwhile, was running “purely on intuition” through each stage of the competition. “I had no expectations of what I was walking into,” she says. “If it's meant for me, it's meant for me, and if it's not, that's okay. But it was and I ended up with two sisters.”
The incredible bond 3Quency developed over the competition was only fortified by the powerful presence of each of their mothers at the finale. “Being able to experience that moment with the women who brought us here and molded us was the best part,” Nori says. Brianna agrees the win is meaningful to more than just the three of them. “It’s so much bigger than just us. There are going to be little girls out there who are going to look at us and be like, ‘I want to do what 3Quency did,’” she says. “It’s a win for our families, our cities.” That’s why the group is in complete alignment about how they intend to use their winnings. Throughout the process, the trio agreed to first put their prize money toward taking care of their families, and then investing in themselves as a band.
As they head into their next chapter, 3Quency promises that the best is yet to come. “What’s coming next for us is definitely nothing regular. It’s loud, it’s fun, it’s exciting, it’s empowering,” Brianna shares. “Every week on the show, we were keen on making sure each performance outdid the one before. Let’s show them something completely different — different wardrobe, different creative, different visuals, different vocals. We just constantly wanted to reinvent ourselves, and what’s coming next for us is also a reinvention.” To experience that new and improved 3Quency, check out their recently released first single “Top Down.” But, keep in mind, there is one thing that definitely hasn’t changed for this band in their post-win era, and that’s their commitment to and support of one another. As Wennely puts it, “We’re ride or die.”
Even after the finale, SZN4 is still very much building their band. Don’t worry, all four members remain committed to making music together, but there’s a lot left to figure out. “We don’t have a blueprint,” Cameron tells Tudum. But, as they all discovered, there’s beauty and freedom in being breaking from the status quo. “I used to be so in my head about, ‘I’m not the standard. I have a good voice, but my exterior? I don’t know.’ Seeing myself in third person, it’s just so healing and therapeutic,” he says.
Each member of SZN4 says they were able to authentically embrace themselves because of the support they received from one another. “We had so many deep talks about how we were feeling, where we were at, things we’ve gone through in our lives, and being able to relate on that is so helpful,” Katie says. Fans also witnessed how that deep connection translated into something very special onstage. Despite their differences, Cameron, Katie, Aaliyah, and Donzell achieved cohesion from the jump. “We’re all one, it’s truly cosmic,” Cameron adds.
As the runners up in the competition, the outcome in the finale was, of course, disappointing for the group. But it never discouraged them from focusing on the future. “It kind of put this fuel underneath us,” Aaliyah says. “We were like, ‘We’re not stopping here. This is just the beginning.’ We knew that we had found something so incredibly special.” The family bond they established has only gotten stronger, and has helped them navigate the logistics of making music while living in four different states. “We definitely have to plan because obviously things cost money and we have our own lives in places that we live,” Katie explains. “We’ve done a really good job of balancing our regular lives and making sure we’re still getting together.”
All four members gathered at Aaliyah’s mother’s home in Utah, where they’ve continued building out exactly who SZN4 is and what it sounds like. “We’re at the start of all this stuff. Even when it comes down to the music, we’re still learning each other’s voices and figuring out how we can make a story and how our stories connect,” Cameron explains. As for what will come out of those studio sessions, Aaliyah says to expect the same individual “flavor, spice, and seasoning” they injected into the competition to carry into their forthcoming original music. “The music that we’re creating now, it’s the same soul,” Cameron says. “The magic that we have on the show is still going to be in our music. It’s a part of us.”
Despite not walking away with the prize money, Soulidified still feels like winners. “I’ve done things like American Idol and The Voice but this tops it all,” Malik tells Tudum. “Building the Band is nothing like anything you’ve seen and I’m just so happy to just be here and that I got put with these guys.” Landon more than agrees, adding, “We won in my mind because we went up there and worked our butts off. I felt so satisfied even after we got eliminated. We gave it our all.”
Since filming ended, the group has remained a united front. After changing their band name to Iconyx toward the end of the competition, they’ve officially reverted to Soulidified thanks to feedback from fans. “We love Soulidified because it really does represent us well,” Shade shares.
With their band name finally settled, Bradley, Malik, Landon, and Shade have been putting in work, honing their craft as individuals while navigating around the one major roadblock in their way, which Bradley sums up simply. “Literally just location. On the show, we are in an apartment [and] everything’s taken care of. But when you’re just taking the chance on your own … it’s a lot more serious.” But don’t get it twisted: while they work hard as individuals, they’re prepped to work as a unit. “We each have our own solo thing going, but given the show and how big of an opportunity this is, we’re like, ‘Let’s get our shit together, let’s make some records,’ ” says Landon. “We already have some crazy songs. We want to give people a show. We’re ready to hop on tour. We’re ready for anything.”
Shade, meanwhile, compares Soulidified’s dynamic to the Avengers assembling. “You have different heroes and they do their own things from time to time, but they come together. So we can come together when need be.” All in all, Landon says that the audience has the power to influence what comes next for the band. “We want the fans to decide. We’re going to be reading up on what people want. If people are like, ‘We need an album,’ then we’re going to give it to them.”
The members of Midnight Til Morning entered Building the Band with some hesitations. As serious solo singer-songwriters, Mason, Conor, Shane, and Zach, were highly skeptical. “I was a solo artist and I saw this as an opportunity to get my personality out there and then continue being a solo artist,” Shane admits to Tudum. Zach says he even went as far as stretching the truth about just how committed he was to being in a group while in the booths. “Even when I got on the show, I was still chasing my solo stuff, if I’m being honest,” he reveals. But, from their first performance together, something shifted for the foursome. “The moment we actually met each other, I was like, ‘Damn, this is actually going to be something,’ ” says Zach. “I knew right away because we all just clicked.” Shane agrees, “It was much more fun performing with them than it’s ever been performing by myself on stage. We just unlocked this brotherhood, and now we’re inseparable.”
Though they didn’t win the competition, Shane says they left with something even better: “A band that wants to stick together and make music for the long run.” Midnight Til Morning quickly discovered they had longevity thanks to the intensity of the Building the Band experience. During filming, the group was pushed to a breaking point, with Conor even temporarily stepping away from the band after a confrontation over all the time he was spending with Alison — for the record, the two did take a trip to Paris together after wrapping the show but are not currently romantically involved. Looking back, they all recognize that moment made them even stronger. “It was a big thing, and from there on out, we were just like, ‘Let’s talk. Whenever anything like this happens, let’s be open. Let’s be brothers.’ And that’s how we are now,” Conor says.
Even before their elimination, the group had regular conversations about their plans to work on music together in Australia when the show wrapped. They followed through almost immediately — after Conor’s jaunt to Paris with Alison, of course. “I think it was literally two weeks after we finished the competition, we flew the boys out. We were in Sydney for about a month in the studio together,” Mason shares. “Since the show finished, we’ve probably spent three months solid in the studio just day in, day out. We’ve got a whole album ready to go.”
From that album, fans can expect a mix of genres. “We all have our own stylistic flairs to us, and we decided we were just going to use that to our advantage,” Zach says. “We kept a little bit of what each of us has, and ended up getting this cool pop rock country sound that nobody else has right now.” Beyond genre, style, and sound, though, Midnight Til Morning is looking to create music that connects with their growing fanbase on an emotional level and sticks with them. “We want to write music that makes people feel seen,” says Conor. “We want songs that people are going to use at their weddings and their birthdays and their funerals. We want to create something that’s immortal.” Fans can get into their feels with new Midnight Til Morning music now by streaming the band’s recently released debut singles, “Bye” and “Ghost of Us.”
After their elimination, Sweet Seduction seemed sure they would remain a band. But Alison, Elise, and Haley are no longer making music together — at least as of right now. Despite some tensions before their final performance, there wasn’t a dramatic band breakup. “We never had a closing conversation,” Alison tells Tudum. “All of us had an unspoken, mutual understanding.”
Following their exit from the competition, Alison stayed behind in the UK and spent the next few months traveling around Europe. Elise and Haley, however, returned to the US immediately. Behind the scenes, Haley had been experiencing an extraordinarily difficult time. Her mother had just been diagnosed with breast cancer and was undergoing treatment while she was in the competition. Since the trio were not physically in the same place, plans to continue working together simply didn’t materialize. “We never talked about staying in a band,” Haley says. “We all had different paths so we moved forward individually.”
Though they were seemingly on the same page about going their separate ways, the three didn’t always see eye to eye. Ahead of their last live show, Elise and Haley confronted Alison about her harsh communication. “In the past I’ve stayed quiet to avoid conflict, but I stepped out of my comfort zone,” Haley says. “I’ve learned the loudest person in the room isn’t always the strongest. Real leadership is not about dominating, it’s about how you treat people.” Alison, however, says she was surprised by the tension because the confrontation came on the heels of an emotional conversation. “We had a super deep talk the night before, and I felt like they both got to know me for who I am in my true heart of hearts.” Ultimately, Alison just wishes they had addressed it sooner. “I am comfortable confronting situations head-on, and would so much rather address it the second that it happens. Then I’m very quick to drop things and move on,” she says. Looking back, Elise feels that she and Haley broached the topic with compassion. “I believe there is always a kind and poised way to approach someone about an issue,” she shares. “It was frustrating how us simply wanting respect and to understand her turned into us being the problem.”
Despite the bump in the road, the singers aren’t holding on to any resentment. “I wish them both the best, and hope they find their people and careers,” Elise says. Alison feels the same way. “I have so much respect for them both,” she says. “They’re both wildly talented women, and very, very hardworking.” Haley also isn’t bothered by how it all played out. “You can’t control anyone else’s energy, only how you respond to it. I’ve always led with kindness, and sometimes people mistake that for weakness.” These days, the three are still in touch via group chat. Alison and Haley, who shared a bed every single night in the competition, remain particularly close, according to Alison. “I view Haley as a little sister. I really, really adore her. She’s such a strong individual,” she says.
Since they never officially closed the door on Sweet Seduction, there’s still a possibility that the trio will work together in some capacity. “I would be interested in performing with them,” Alison says. “We could work together, we could not. Who knows?” Alison is still pursuing her solo career and plans to release an EP this year, while Elise is working toward a degree in music and has released several original compositions. “I really want to work with film composers such as Hans Zimmer and Thomas Bergersen to put together cinematic ballads that truly transport people into a different dimension,” she says. As for Haley, she’s putting all her energy toward “continuing to grow as an artist.” Through her original songs and roles across multiple movies and TV shows, her goal is “connecting with fans through my art.”
While Siren Society didn’t move forward in the competition, the group still believes they were still victorious in their own way. “We gained something even more meaningful: a forever sisterhood,” Nori, Jenna, Autumn, and Erica told Tudum over email. “We’re just so thankful the show brought us together. The moment we chose each other, we knew we wanted to stay a group no matter what.” Even though the foursome hails from different parts of the globe, they’re prioritizing spending as much time together to make Siren Society as successful as possible. “We FaceTime every day and have traveled to Los Angeles to be together,” they add. “It’s not always easy, but we’re so committed to this and to each other. Our bond goes beyond music, and it’s something really special.”
Looking back on the competition, the foursome believes their strength as a group lies in the emotional connections they forged together. “We learned how powerful it is to be vulnerable,” they shared. “Letting each other in and being fully ourselves helped us build a foundation of trust and love.” Plus, they’re also walking away with friends outside of Siren Society, as they’ve stayed in touch with many of their fellow performers in the competition. “There was such a special energy throughout the whole experience. Everyone was so kind, talented, and supportive.”
As for what the future holds, Siren Society is currently writing original music and honing their sound. “We’re still dancing, still laughing, and still loving every second we get to perform and create together.” The group recently released their debut single “If It Was Me.” Fans can stream the song and watch the music video now. Siren Society is plannign on putting out more music and eventually touring in the future, making sure to create inclusive spaces for their fans every step of the way. “We want our shows to feel like a celebration of self-expression, sisterhood, and love. Siren Society is just that, a society. A community where everyone belongs and can be the most authentic versions of themselves.”
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