In a major effort to highlight incredible songwriters and encourage social distancing due to covid19, Swizz Beatz is presenting new Instagram Live songwriters battles for fans to enjoy at home after the success of his battle with Timbaland. While The Dream and Sean Garrett shook up the internet with their highly entertaining battle, Ne-Yo and Johntá Austin were the center of the latest Instagram Live session.

Sharing the news to his Instagram story, Ne-Yo wrote, “Anybody wanna see me and @therealjohntaaustin go at it tonight??” Austin responded on Twitter, saying “Y’all requested. My brother & I will oblige. Great night ahead!” 

On Twitter, Austin laid down the rules for the competition and payed respect to Ne-Yo as he tweets, “I don’t know if he remembers this but I told @NeYoCompound at the Def Jam Grammy party in ‘07 that LA Reid asked me which new writers I love. I said “a lot are great, but that guy Neyo keeps me up & night & focused with what he does”. Neyo’s pen is truly‪ #sosick.”‬

During the battle, Austin shared records he has written for top artists like Mariah Carey, Aaliyah, and Chris Brown, as he went against Ne-Yo’s writing for artists like Beyoncé, Rihanna, and Keri Hilson. 

Prior to Austin and Ne-Yo’s battle, The Dream and Sean Garrett went toe-to-toe as they played different records they have written for similar artists, such as Beyoncé, Rihanna, Ciara, and Justin Bieber. The battle between the super producers was nearly 4 hours and a bit more tense as the two seemed to go back and forth on social media prior to and during the battle. 

Fans were excited nonetheless to watch the unique talents have a showdown via their music. An unreleased reference track of “Holy Grail” by Jay-Z was even played during the battle, which caused an uproar as fans heard The Dream on the chorus, which is unlike the original version with Justin Timberlake’s vocals instead. 

The songwriters battles all date back to Mar. 24 when Swizz Beatz, who originally stirred the pot for a battle series, hopped on a livestream to go against Timbaland. As the duo’s battle had a lighter tone to its drama, fans truly enjoyed hearing the producers play classic records from artists like Destiny’s Child and Missy Elliot while proceeding to also play unreleased beats. Swizz Beatz and Timbaland’s first battle at Met Life stadium during Summer Jam 2018 served as inspiration for the IG Live songwriters battle. With a consistent rollout of entertaining battles, Beatz’s new IG Live series appears to be promising content for music fans, especially during these times.

Feature Image via Hello Beautiful