Chatterbox: A Song Star is born

Jordan Luck knows a great song when he hears one but that hasn't made it any easier to find the country's best new songwriter.

As a judge on Song Star, a sort of NZ Idol for songsmiths, Luck joined Carly Binding and Mike Chunn, and spent a month whittling down the 600 entries to the top five songs in the competition organised by Chunn's Play It Strange Trust.

"We were ruthless and cold," he says. "It was an emotional rollercoaster. There were some good lyrics that didn't go with tunes and some good tunes that had crap lyrics. Some friends came round and they were looking for something horrendous and couldn't find one because they were all pretty good. I would not envy anyone who does A&R. No wonder they're well-paid."

The seven finalists (two songs were composed by duos) were invited to record their compositions in the studio with top producers, professional singers and a budget of $3000, although some chose to do their own recordings. Guest singers include OpShop frontman Jason Kerrison and Graham Brazier. The five songs were released on ZM nationwide to coincide with New Zealand Music Month.

A two-hour reality-doco on TV2 tonight (7.30) will feature live performances of each song. Viewers will be invited to text in their favourite in the second half of the programme. The winner receives $10,000 from the Play It Strange Trust.

"It was just the use of words, sometimes," says Luck of the chosen few. "One of the songs used the word, 'meander'. A couple of the songs had chord changes that were unique, quirky, peculiar. Probably the most intriguing one was a lady who was born in 1945 but it sounded like a song from that period, late 40s, pre-rock'n'roll, a jazz band kind of song. The songs could have been written at any time, you just don't know. Some of these songs might have been in the closet for at least 15 or 20 years."

Even if you can't sing to save yourself, a talented songwriter has a "huge future", he says.

"Swathes of people don't have voices that record companies deem commercially viable - look at Desmond Child -and they make a fortune out of songs."