Beat Shazam is an American musical game show that premiered on Fox in 2017. It was created by Jeff Apploff and Wes Kauble, with Jamie Foxx serving as both host and executive producer. The show is built around a partnership with Shazam, the world’s most widely used music identification app, making it one of the few game shows in television history to pit its contestants directly against a piece of technology.
Each episode features three teams of two competing in four rounds of song-identification challenges. In each round, a music category is announced, and songs are played, with teams racing to buzz in and identify the title before their opponents. Every correct answer earns money for the team, while wrong answers cost them nothing, but losing the buzz-in leaves the opportunity on the table for rivals. The final song of each round is designated the Fast Track, worth double the standard amount, and carries extra strategic weight.
Once the four rounds are complete, the highest-scoring team advances to face Shazam in the bonus round — a head-to-head challenge in which they must name up to six songs faster than the app can identify them. Any team that beats Shazam on all six songs wins the $1 million grand prize. Five teams have achieved this across the show’s seven seasons, including two in Season 6 alone.
The format has evolved gradually over the years. Season 1 featured five rounds rather than the current four, and the bonus round structure and point values have been adjusted across seasons to sharpen the competition. The show has also featured themed episodes — including Siblings, Teachers, Heroes, Fathers, and Mothers editions — which have become a recurring and popular element of recent seasons.
Jamie Foxx, an Academy Award, Grammy Award, and Golden Globe Award winner known for Ray and Django Unchained, has hosted the series from its debut and is also one of its executive producers. His daughter Corinne Foxx — a producer and activist — has served as the show’s DJ and co-host since Season 2, making Beat Shazam one of the rare primetime shows hosted by a real-life father-daughter duo. In Season 6, Jamie Foxx was absent due to a serious undisclosed medical emergency, and Nick Cannon stepped in as guest host for the full season, with Kelly Osbourne serving as guest DJ.
