What The Heck Is This New Bachelor Show Listen To Your Heart About?

The Bachelor franchise has already produced a number of spinoffs like The Bachelorette, Bachelor Pad, Bachelor in Paradise, and Bachelor Winter Games. Now, the series is going in a new direction with things (while still keeping it about televised love) with the show The Bachelor Presents: Listen To Your Heart.

Listen to Your Heart is hosted by Chris Harrison (it just wouldn't feel right if anyone else was doing the honors), and combines love, music, and competition. You know, all the winning ingredients for a very serious, very lasting relationship.

According to the Listen To Your Heart trailer (below), the competition series stars 20 single men and women who are looking for love, but also a leg up in the music industry. The singers, guitar players, and more will perform songs each week together and as solo acts to see if they can form a connection through music and find their forever duet partner.

The Bachelor franchise has a bit of a reputation for casting musicians who aren't there for the right reasons, and are instead there just to build a following (see: notorious dog food jingle smith Jed Wyatt). This show seemingly leans into that, because both love and fame are simultaneously up for grabs. But Bachelor executive producer Martin Hilton said that he also wants to redeem musicians for Bachelor viewers. "The musicians that we had on [in the past] may not be the representative type that we want," Hilton told Entertainment Tonight. "And there's a lot of good musicians out there, and it's time to sort of give them a platform."

He added that he's a musician himself, and he's seen how "when you are singing with somebody or making music with somebody, there is a connection that is undeniable that you feel." This show aims to see if that undeniable connection can be true love.

The show takes place at a new mansion (so not the familiar Bachelor mansion) and ABC reports that after the 20 singles meet each other, they will begin to go on "Bachelor-style dates" that place an emphasis on music. We've seen music-themed dates in the past, where contestants have had to write the lead a love song or record a rap with Soulja Boy about being there for the right reasons. (That really happened on Desiree Hartsock's season, and it was horrific.) But the difference on Listen To Your Heart is that all the contestants want to be full-time musicians and will likely be more talented and hopefully less cringe-worthy.

As time goes on, the show will test the "harmony" of the couples with "musical challenges" judged by "some of the biggest names in the music business," none of whom made it into the trailer. The judges also include former Bachelorette JoJo Fletcher and her fiancée Jordan Rogers, who are professional home renovators and did make it into the trailer. "It was sexy, it was passionate," JoJo proclaims to one couple after a performance.

The show will eliminate couples whose musical performances don't show enough of their "love and devotion" until just one pair remains. It's unclear as of yet whether that final couple will win anything (like they did on Bachelor Pad) or whether there will be a proposal (like on Bachelor in Paradise). We're in uncharted waters here.

Unlike Bachelor Pad, Bachelor in Paradise, and Bachelor Winter Games which all sourced contestants from previous Bachelor and Bachelorette seasons, Listen To Your Heart has an entirely new cast. There will be some Bachelor Nation appearances on the show, with Chris Harrison hosting, JoJo and Jordan judging, and perhaps some other surprise drop-bys. ABC chief Karey Burke joked to The Wrap that even disgraced Bachelorette winner Jed Wyatt could stop by Listen to Your Heart.

But, for the most part, this show is its own thing. However, don't rule out the possibility that popular Listen To Your Heart contestants could find themselves on Bachelor in Paradise this summer. The full cast list has not yet been confirmed, but ABC briefly posted 29 contenders to Facebook before deleting the photos shortly after. Bachelor expert Brett S. Vergara grabbed the info before things were taken down, and he has the scoop on the 29 Listen To Your Heart contestant hopefuls.

Of course, that number was eventually whittled down to 20 per the trailer, so it's unknown who made the cut. In the hopefuls list, four contestants hailed from Nashville, home of country music. And one contestant appears to have already tried out for American Idol. Trevor H. from Encino, California looks a lot like Trevor Holmes who auditioned for American Idol in 2018. He's the contestant that judge Katy Perry made several flirtatious comments about and whom Luke Bryan called a "dreamboat." At the time, he had a girlfriend, so it seems he's now single if he's competing on Listen To Your Heart. 

The series premieres Monday, April 13 at 8 p.m. ET. That gives viewers about a month break following Peter Weber's season finale before diving into the new series on Mondays. Listen To Your Heart is scheduled for six episodes airing every Monday until May 18. Presumably, then, The Bachelorette would pick up the following week on May 25. And since Bachelor in Paradise follows that, and Bachelor Summer Games is also coming this year, we're going to have more Bachelor content than we know what to do with. And, thanks to Listen To Your Heart, maybe even a brand new musical duo sensation to jam out to.