Middle veteran Christer Björkman and his staff have taken the Eurovision format to the USA.
The production is broadcast by NBC and is almost a carbon copy of the European original.
In the first part of the night, the presenters, as well as the artists, Snoop Dogg and Kelly Clarkson did their best to get the American television audience going.
- This is like the music's NFL, and that's why I'm here, because I love a good competition, Snoop Dogg stated.
- I'm so excited, because this is the only show where artists compete with original songs, Kelly Clarkson filled in, to the great cheers of the audience.
Five competitions
In five sub-competitions, 56 artists representing their states and territories will compete to reach the semifinals and a final, which takes place on 9 May.
Veteran Michael Bolton's biggest star shine on the premiere night, with 20s studio albums and tens of millions of records sold in his luggage.
He represented his home state of Connecticut with the pop song "Beautiful world" and he was set against ten much younger local talents - from Minnesota in the north to Puerto Rico in the south, from Rhode Island in the east to Wyoming in the west.
In the pot were four semifinal places.
Jury and spectator votes
A winner, who goes straight to the semi-finals, is chosen by a jury at the end of each competition, while the other three semi-finalists are announced only the following week and selected by a combination of spectator and jury votes.
After a two-hour show, it was finally Rhode Island, with the ballad "Held on too long" by the home son Hueston, who took home the very first part of the American Song Contest.
Hear and see more in the clip above.