Who won Netflix's 'Building The Band?' The winning group is...
Spoiler alert: The following contains details from Episode 10 of "Building the Band."
Netflix's experimental music competition show, "Building The Band," has named its first winning group.
In the Episode 10 finale, which dropped Wednesday, July 23, girl group 3Quency won the celebrity judges' favor and earned the title of winners for "Building The Band" Season 1. The group, comprising Nori Moore, Wennely Quezada and Brianna Mazzola, took home the $500,000 prize.
"They have proven to us that they are ready. (They are) a band that has shown so much growth, the band that pulled out all the stops tonight," Nicole Scherzinger said.
The women edged out fellow finalists SZN4 – Donzell Taggart, Aaliyah Rose, Cameron Goode, and Katie Roeder – the show's only mixed-gender group, which was a gamble in a competition that saw dozens of 20-somethings eager to form girl groups and boy bands.
3Quency's win comes after judges Scherzinger, Kelly Rowland, and the late Liam Payne voted off Iconyx (also known as Soulidified), thus advancing 3Quency and SZN4. The trio's final song was Mariah Carey's "Always Be My Baby."
The win proved Rowland wrong in her prediction halfway through the episode that SZN4 would earn the title after they brought host AJ McLean and the judges to tears with their rendition of Rag'n'Bone Man's "Human."
The Season 1 groups that were also formed in the sound booths but didn't make it to the finale were Midnight Til Morning, Siren Society, and Sweet Seduction.
3Quency is now 'overly comfortable' with each other
Since the trio won their season, they've been in a "long-distance relationship," staying in touch via FaceTime movie nights, group trips and being in constant communication. Months after filming, the ladies are now "overly comfortable" with each other, Nori Moore told Paste BN in an interview ahead of the finale’s release.
Three pieces of advice from the judges helped 3Quency cross the finish line, she said: Scherzinger told the group to maintain eye contact, while Payne recommended "claiming your presence on stage." And Rowland said to "just breathe."
"Once we locked in on three, we were still open to anything shifting it, but three just felt so good. Our chemistry felt so strong," Brianna Mazzola said of the band’s formation.
Liam Payne draws parallels between Iconyx and One Direction
Payne, who came from a boy band background as one-fifth of "The X-Factor" success story One Direction, was the subject of much fangirling from the contestants. After Iconyx failed to make it to the final performance, he was eager to comfort the four-piece boy band backstage.
"I'm just going to start here. One Direction came third," Payne said of the record-breaking group's fate on the U.K. music competition show.
"I've been stood exactly where you guys are, and I thought it was over. I thought it was done, that was the end of One Direction," he continued. "It was not. But I believe in you guys."
"Building The Band," Payne's last TV appearance, was taped in September 2024, just weeks before his death. The 31-year-old singer died Oct. 16 after falling from a third-floor balcony at a Buenos Aires hotel.