Building the Band review – Liam Payne’s controversial final show is the kind of reality TV that made him

Is it ghoulish to posthumously release this singing contest featuring Payne as a judge? Or a moving tribute? Netflix’s mashup of Love is Blind, The Circle and The Voice certainly claims the latter

Netflix’s new series is the latest in a long line of TV shows attempting to talent-spot the next big pop phenomenon. It feels as if the format has been dormant for a while, its role as A&R taken over by social media aeons ago. The glory days of American Idol and The X Factor have passed, and while The Voice trundles steadily on, it has been many years since those on-screen machines churned out the stars they were once capable of creating.

Building the Band aims to modernise the format by bolting on parts of other reality TV shows. Its wannabe singers perform to other singers, sight-unseen, who then decide whether they’d like to be in a band with each other, by pressing a button, and collecting “likes”. It is Love Is Blind meets The Circle meets The Voice, though mostly, it is The Voice, replacing celebrity judges, in the early stages, with peers.