Winner of The CW's THE NEXT to Earn Atlantic Records Contract

As the competition heats up and with an Atlantic Records recording contract awaiting the winner, The CW will broadcast the final three episodes of its new music competition series THE NEXT live from Los Angeles on Thursday, Sept. 27 (9:00-10:00 p.m. ET), Tuesday, Oct. 2 (9:00-10:00 p.m. ET), and the special two-hour finale on Thursday, Oct. 4 (8:00-10:00 p.m. ET). During these live performance episodes, viewers will be able to vote online and through social media for their favorites, narrowing the field until one is chosen as The Next.

Premiering Thursday, Aug. 16 (9:00-10:00 p.m.), THE NEXT travels to cities across the country, including Baltimore, Chicago, Dallas, Orlando, Los Angeles, and New York, searching for undiscovered artists on the verge of stardom. The finalists from the local cities will then converge on Los Angeles to compete for the grand prize over the final live episodes. Following every episode, the songs performed by the competitors will be available for download on all digital service providers (DSPs), including iTunes and Cricket's Muve Music.

In each episode of THE NEXT, four music industry superstars - pop icon Gloria Estefan, country star John Rich, hip-hop star Nelly, and pop star and actor Joe Jonas - will drop in on the lives of four up-and-coming local singers in each city and have 72 hours to get them ready for a head-to-head singing competition at a well-known local venue. After performing in front of an audience filled with friends, family, local music fans and the four icons, one winner will be chosen to move on to represent their city in the semi-finals. Then it's on to the next city and four more contestants.

As an extra twist to the competition, even the contestants who don't win in their home cities will still have a chance to compete in the finals - viewers across the country will be able to vote for their favorite among the performers who didn't make the first cut, and the contestant with the most votes will go on to the finals.

After six episodes in six different cities, each of the local winners and the fan favorite will battle it out on stage over the course of the final three live episodes until only one contestant remains - the vocalist left standing at the end will be rewarded a recording contract with Atlantic Records and the chance to open for one of the superstar icons.