Is it Love or Fame That They’re Looking For on The Bachelor’s Listen To Your Heart ?

By: Juliana Marie Swift

Disclaimer: This article contains spoilers.

Finally, Bachelor Mondays have returned! Chris Harrison is back on our screens again––this time to help hopeful musicians find love, and just for a minute, we almost forget that there’s a pandemic going on. A good way to describe the layout of the show would be: “Bachelor in Paradise,” except they’re all musicians and not on a beach––and also half of them are there for fame. 

Chris revealed to us that the inspiration behind this new “Bachelor” spin-off is the award winning movie, “A Star is Born.” In the preview for this six-episode long season, it seems like it will be cheesy, whimsical, and magical all at the same time. So, one must ask, are they there for “the right reasons?” Or are some just looking for a boost to their ego and exposure to help expedite their musical career? Let’s meet a few of our contestants and find out. 

The cast of Bachelor’s Listen to your Heart (Photo Credit: ABC)

To name just a few from the intro packages, we have: Brandon, the seemingly genuine ex-Marine; Bri, who was engaged just over a year ago; Sheridan, the fun-loving guy who thinks owning a lot of hats is a personality trait; Bekah, the musical theatre girl; Gabe, who plays the stand-up bass; Savannah, the self-described “free spirit” from Nashville; Jamie, the 21-year-old who wants a song written about her (don’t we all); and last but not least, Trevor. Or should I say, Jed 2.0? 

First of all, Trevor did his intro package completely shirtless with a beanie (Trevor, honey, if you’re cold just put a shirt on. No need to whip out the beanie indoors). If a Tinder bio was a person, it would be Trevor; he even showed his dog to win over the audience, but I can see right past it. If this wasn’t proof enough that he is Jed 2.0, he has the same jacket as him (see photos).

Trevor pictured left (Photo Credit: Julianna Swift) and Jed pictured right (Photo Credit: ABC).

Then we saw some cute video diaries of the contestants bright-eyed, bushy-tailed, and ready to get to the mansion. When they finally arrived, we saw that this is not the Bachelor Mansion we all know and love; this mansion is twice the size, but the interior seems almost identical. 

Jamie was the first girl to arrive and just based on previews it seems like she’ll be the center of this first episode, if not the whole upcoming season. Next in was Ryan, who is basically John Mayer and Shawn Mendes combined; he almost immediately started crushing on Jamie. Matt arrived next and somehow didn’t know who Chris Harrison was? He called him Chris Hansen and Chris Hemsworth, and never learned his name, which was truly shocking and right off the bat made me disapprove of Matt. 

At this point people were coming into the mansion similarly to how they would arrive at the beach on “Bachelor in Paradise”: every few minutes a new person came in and every one was mixing and mingling with some drinks in hand. Ryan and Jamie hit it off right away with a personal conversation about Jamie’s childhood. Right as Jamie was talking about how she’d be happy to spend the rest of the night with Ryan, Trevor (Jed 2.0) walked in and swooped her away. I would just like to state now before we go any further that I do not trust him or his tan sherpa jacket. 

Then, in walked Michael. Michael went right up to Savannah, introduced himself, looked her up and down, and then immediately started singing without anyone really asking him to. Within what seemed to be the first five minutes of their conversation, he said to Savannah, “I like your lips,” and went in for a kiss. She literally dodged and thanked him. This was the cringiest and creepiest moment of the entire episode, and needless to say, Michael was not there for love. 

Chris Harrison came back in and gave them all the lowdown––he told them love is the main focus here. Since there were 12 men on night one and eight women, four men would be going home after the women gave out the roses. Again, similarly to “Bachelor in Paradise”, the men and women went to their respective rooms in the house and discussed who they’re all ~vibing~ with. 

Danny and Mel chat on the first night// Photo from ABC

Then they went back down to mingle some more. This was where we saw local girl, Julia from Wayne, PA hitting it off with Sheridan. Then Brandon stole her away, and he and Julia shared the first kiss of the season.

Rudi, 24, proclaimed that she’s dated all of L.A. and still hasn’t found anyone, but hits it off with Matt right away. They head to the hot tub and in a very creepy way, Matt was confident he was going to get some “hot tub action”––whatever that means. On the way there they passed Michael and Bri, and Michael asked Bri if she wanted to go in with him. After what felt like forever of awkward silence, she said she actually needed to find the bathroom. For those of you keeping score that’s, Ladies: 2, Michael: 0. 

Matt and Rudi were in the hot tub and almost immediately Matt used this classy line: “Do you judge a person based on how they kiss?” After she said no the first time, he leaned in for a kiss and when she explained she didn’t want to force it, he got “confused.”

Ryan and Jamie talked again, and this time they kissed. It was here that I remembered how much I do not enjoy watching people kiss on reality TV. The camera is always way too close to their faces and the audio is so loud that it always makes me uncomfortable.

After this we had a few members of the cast standing around Ryan playing the piano and singing “Stand By Me,” while Trevor and Jamie took their turn in the hot tub. Ryan, unaware of what was going down in the hot tub, started talking about how into Jamie he is and how happy she makes him. Cue Jamie and Trevor getting hot and heavy in the hot tub with “Stand By Me” playing in the background. Although this is top-tier entertainment, my heart broke for Ryan. 

We finally got past the first night and the first date card arrived. It went to Ryan and he immediately asked Jamie on the date without even thinking about asking anyone else, which only made me root for him more. I am Team Ryan all the way. 

Their first date was a day at Capitol Records where they got to sing “Gravity” by John Mayer, and they got to sing through Frank Sinatra’s microphones! Can you say dream date? Jamie was extremely nervous and Ryan comforted her the whole time, and he even changed the pitch of the song to help showcase her range. You can tell he clearly cares about her. 

Jaime and Matt on a date (Photo Credit: ABC)

Cut to Trevor back at the house, clearly jealous and nervous, which is expected. It then went back to Capitol Records with Jamie and Ryan recording “Gravity” and at this point I was swooning at my TV. How are they NOT going to fall in love in an environment like this? I genuinely felt like I was watching a movie when they were recording the song––it’s so romantic that I had chills the first AND second time I watched. 

However, those chills quickly went away when, with their duet playing in the background, we see Trevor sad and drinking back at the mansion all by his lonesome in the middle of Jamie and Ryan’s beautiful date montage. 

The second date card arrived at the house and it went to Matt – he talked to Mel and Rudi. In a wild turn of events, he asked Mel on the date and Rudi was livid to say the least. This was honestly strange because we didn’t see Mel and Matt interact at all. Later, after her meltdown, Rudi went around telling people that Matt told her he would take her on the date, which if that did happen, they never showed it. Classic case of he said/she said. 

Matt and Mel had their date and they had a mini Plain White T’s concert, which was honestly adorable. They sang “Rhythm of Love” and it was sweet and cute, but we only saw a total of two minutes of this date, so we didn’t actually see a real connection. Then, back at the house, Rudi sang a very sad and emotional song in the background, while Mel and Matt were on their date and having a good time with the Plain White T’s. We’ve all been there, Rudi. 

Now we have arrived at the first cocktail party of the season. Chris Harrison came back to remind everyone that there was going to be a rose ceremony tonight and four men would be going home, and to make sure they had a connection. This was where people started to get nervous. 

Sheridan was big-time crushing on Julia and when he went to talk to her, he walked in on her and Josh kissing, which gave me the biggest second-hand embarrassment I’ve felt in a long time. Then Sheridan got his alone time with Julia, which was actually really sweet. He wrote her a song and played it for her, and then they kissed. This was when I realized that a lot of these guys’ “moves” are bringing out the guitar and playing songs, considering the amount of times it happened in the first episode. And you would think that since these ladies are also musicians they wouldn’t be phased by it, but it seems to win them over every time. 

Matt and Mel’s date had no spark and now Mel was into Gabe, so Matt realized he needed to reconcile with Rudi if he wanted to stay in the game. So, naturally, he goes crawling on back to her. She was not having it, to say the least, and told him off to put it nicely. You could actually see him start to realize that he’s probably going home. I thought it was a display of immaturity on both parts.

The Jamie-Ryan-Trevor love triangle continued. Both guys talked to Jamie to try to win her rose. Trevor  whipped out the guitar (sensing a pattern here) and sang her a song almost immediately after her endearing talk with Ryan. We could see Jamie struggling as she tried to figure out who to pick: the bad guy or the sweet one. Personally, Trevor gave me the fakest vibes, but after he sang to her I could tell she would pick him in the end. 

Then it was rose ceremony time. Chris Harrison told the women, “Last bit of advice ladies, listen to your heart.” He just had to throw that in there. 

Four contestants await the rose ceremony on Listen to your Heart// Photo Credit: ABC

Savannah gave her rose to Brandon; Mel gave hers to Gabe; Bri gave hers to Chris; and Bekah gave her rose to Danny––apparently they’ve had a connection since night one. This is where it got interesting. 

Cheyenne, the gorgeous girl who got almost zero screen time, gave her rose to Matt. I was shocked, to say the least. Julia gave her rose to Sheridan and I’m excited to see their love story unfold. Then we had Jamie, and she gave her rose to Trevor. Time for a repeat of the Hannah Brown and Jed Wyatt drama. Everyone else seemed shocked and sad because they thought this meant Ryan was gone for sure. Or so they thought, because next Rudi gave her rose to Ryan in a strange, but also lovely turn of events. 

We said goodbye to creepy Michael and three other men, and saw a preview for the season ahead. It seems like it’s going to be truly dramatic and I, for one, cannot wait to see love hopefully unfold every Monday for the next five weeks. 

Stop back every Tuesday for Juliana’s Listen to your Heart Recap!