‘Don’t Forget the Lyrics’: Niecy Nash-Betts Wants Players to Win ‘Bags of Money’ in Season 2 (VIDEO)
Don’t Forget the Lyrics Season 2 premieres May 23 on Fox, and host Niecy Nash-Betts is still jamming along.
Don’t Forget the Lyrics is a revival of the classic format that challenges players to fill in the blanks of song lyrics. The more they get right, the more money they win, with the pot going all the way up to $1 million.
As with its freshman season, The Rookie: Feds star tells TV Insider that her favorite part of the game show is helping people take home “bags of money.” That, and working with her “better half,” wife Jessica Betts, who’s part of the Don’t Forget the Lyrics band. Simply put, she’s just having fun! (See some of the fun to come in the season premiere in the TV Insider exclusive clip above.)
“First of all, I love helping people take home bags of money for things that they do anyway,” Nash-Betts explains. “You’re singing in the shower, you’re singing in the car. If I could be a conduit and cheer you on to taking home big bags of money, I love that. You know, we’ve been through a tough time coming out of the pandemic, so it’s just wonderful to be able to witness people change their lives just by knowing the lyrics to the song.”
The actor’s resume has been packed with dramas over the last year-plus. She took home Critics Choice and SAG Awards for her performance in Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story and deals with high-stakes crimes in ABC’s Rookie spinoff. Don’t Forget the Lyrics allows her to blow off some steam in a joyful way.
“I love everything about it. I love the intensity. I love the fact that it’s nostalgic in some ways, depending on what songs they pick,” she says, later adding, “There’s so much riding on it. You hear [players’] stories, you’re invested, you want them to do well, and the further they get up the board, the more intense and exciting it gets.”
One genre choice did take the host by surprise during Season 2 filming. “One big surprise for me was a contestant who was very, very rooted in the church and ended up mastering so many secular [non-religious] songs,” she says. “I just thought that that was so cool, because music can reach you at any time, at any place, wherever you are in your life.”
Lorraine O’Sullivan/FOX
One song that will always get her moving is Gloria Gaynor’s “I Will Survive” — her go-to karaoke track, even when karaoke night is held at a WGA picket line! Crooning out the tune while supporting the WGA West picketers was easy; she hardly needed the lyrics in front of her. But Nash-Betts notes that Don’t Forget the Lyrics can trip people up on even their most beloved of tracks.
“In your house cooking dinner for your family, you know the lyrics. But when you’re standing on that stage and the light is in your eyes and everybody is cheering and there’s money on the line, it becomes a different thing,” she warns.
What would Simone Clark, Nash-Betts’ rookie FBI agent in Feds, sing for karaoke night? “Simone Clark would probably enter in the chat at Donna Summer, ‘Last Dance,’ something like that,” she says.
Find out just how long the first player can survive in Don’t Forget the Lyrics Season 2 premiere on May 23, right after the Season 6 premiere of Beat Shazam.
Don’t Forget the Lyrics, Season 2 Premiere, Tuesday, May 23, 9/8c, Fox
