Bachelor Nation Investigation: How will Listen to Your Heart change Paradise?

The Bachelor’s Listen to Your Heart is definitely going to shake things up if we get a trip to Paradise this year.

Perhaps it’s the rose-colored glasses we seem to have on during isolation. Perhaps it’s the fact that any Bachelor content is better than none at all. Either way, The Bachelor Presents: Listen to Your Heart is filling some sort of void. It’s also going to fill some coveted spots on Bachelor in Paradise, assuming we get a season.

Let’s think back to a simpler time, before COVID-19. Bachelor Nation was comfortable with our trio of programming: The Bachelor, The Bachelorette, Bachelor in Paradise. It’s a formula that has been toyed with in the past (Winter Games, etc.) but structurally sound for at least the last three or four years. 2020 has been a mess from the start, so Chris Harrison’s Frankenstein-esque musical brainchild is par for the course.

Adding Listen to Your Heart to the aforementioned mix throws a curveball into our viewing experience this summer. Which, let’s be honest, we had all but figured out already. Part of the fun of being in Bachelor Nation is choosing the couples you think will meet up in Paradise, and often times we see some variation of what we expected actually happen. At least, when Stagecoach isn’t involved.

You may be asking yourself how Listen to Your Heart may change this. Anyone who has been to parties/events with a “guitar guy” can tell you that they will use their musical talents at every possible opportunity to get ahead. When Trevor, Jamie, Ryan, Sheridan and Julia hit Mexico, all hell will break loose.

For example, Ryan, who will definitely come out of all of this single, is going to make the biggest splash in Mexico. The man is a movie character. In fact, I’m not entirely sure he wasn’t planted by production for us to wholeheartedly champion. He is as talented as he is gorgeous and he referred to himself as “nerdy” last episode. This dude is the “ugly duckling” from the ’90s teen movies.

Ridiculous good looks aside, Ryan will most definitely bring his guitar to Paradise. How are the Bachelorette contestants supposed to compete with this kid playing love songs on the beach in Mexico? (Dustin: Pack a harmonica or something.) It’s hardly going to be fair.

Everyone who knows “guitar guy” knows that they have a massive crutch when it comes to date planning, ice breaking and general attractiveness. This is the only reason Jed made it as far as he did in Hannah’s Bachelorette season. (Just try to tell me otherwise, I dare you.) Any time things got tough or he ran out of things to say, he broke out the guitar, leaving Hannah wearing those same rose-colored glasses we all have on right now. (Too Hot to Handle? Seriously?)

Eventually, the Bachelor production team will piece together some sort of Bachelor in Paradise season. In fact, I’d bet on us getting this over a Bachelorette, to be honest. They have enough past cast members to put it on and it all takes place in the same location. Testing the contestants and crew for COVID-19 before isolating them in Mexico this August isn’t out of the question. Obviously, there are variables in play, but it’s not out of the question at all.

Bachelor in Paradise thrives on unexpected relationships as much as it does chaos. Imagine the TikToks that Ryan and Mykenna could make? At the same time, think of the fight that would break out after Jamie unknowingly takes a sip out of Kelsey’s champagne? The Trevor and Jamie reunion will chaotic, given Trevor will immediately gravitate towards Sydney. Chaos. Love songs. Guitars tossed into the ocean. I want it all.

I know we’re a long way away from even thinking about Paradise, but the possibility of fresh blood being thrown into the mix should have you excited. If you aren’t completely sold on Listen to Your Heart, start watching it with a purpose. Start match-making in your head. Who would you like to see this fall (probably) in Paradise?

Read between the proverbial lines. This isn’t exactly an investigation as much as it is a PSA about how much fun we can have with this new group of relative unknowns wreaking havoc on our perfect little Bachelor system. These are the first group of Bachelor musicians, which means at least a handful of them will live on past this show. The favorites coming out of this have an automatic advantage in Paradise, which is definitely going to mess with the status quo when the time comes.

Don’t fight it. Buy in. Watch these people and decide which contestants you want to hear serenading Hannah Ann or Connor S. in Paradise. Listen to your heart! This is six weeks of Bachelor-adjacent content that we can all laugh about together. Enjoy it while it lasts, because it’ll be months before we get another season.

(No, I’m not buying into the Bachelor in Quarantine rumors.)

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