Each song is played as a karaoke-style performance, until the screen displays a series of blanks corresponding to each missing word. The main game uses nine themed categories (usually dealing with a genre, artist, time period, etc) with two song choices each, with each correct answer bringing the contestant up a money ladder progressing up to $500,000. At this point, the contestant can either quit with their winnings, or risk it on the final Million-Dollar Song — a mystery song that has been a number-one hit. Answering it correctly awards the million... or else the player drops back down to $25,000.
The show originally ran on FOX from 2007 through 2009, hosted by Wayne Brady. A syndicated version with a modified format and a $50,000 top prize ran in the 2010-11 television season, which was hosted by Mark McGrath of Sugar Ray and often paired with a syndicated version of its sister show Are You Smarter than a 5th Grader?. Both series folded after a single season.
In May 2022, FOX revived Lyrics with a new host, Niecy Nash. It retains a similar format to the Wayne Brady version, although with some changes to the money ladder and backups (with the value of the penultimate song lowered to $250,000).
This show provides examples of:
- The Announcer: Mark Thompson, who co-hosted Hole In The Wall.
- Bonus Round: This is always a song that is or has been a #1 billboard hit, which also falls in one of the categories in the main game.
- The Million-Dollar Song on the primetime versions. If the player decides to play this song, they must not walk away or use any Backups (except in later seasons of the Brady version, where only Backup Singer may be used - see below). If the player gets it wrong, they are dropped back down to $25,000. In later seasons of the original primetime version, an additional safety net was added at $100,000, but this change was reverted on the 2022 revival.
- The Encore in the syndicated run. If the player had missed one of the first four songs, the final song was double-or-nothing - a miss sent the player home with a customized MP3 player. If the player had cleared all four songs, they were guaranteed $1,000 and the final song was played for $50,000.
- Casting Gag: Sugar Ray songs came up a few times during the Encore round on the syndicated run, one occasion leading to a $50,000 win.
- Catchphrase:
- "Lock in those lyrics!"
- After every few levels of a game, Niecy Nash would say: "The game… is about to get harder." as the stage changes colors.
- Celebrity Edition: The first FOX version did these with actual musicians, such as Boyz II Men, Kevin Cronin, and Meat Loaf. In the Boyz II Men episode, there just so happened to be a "Boyz II Men" category: they saved it for the $500,000 song.
- All players on the Vietnamese version are celebrities.
- Commercial Break Cliffhanger: Okay, let us see, is that word x? Shot of contestant, shot of the audience, shot of the board, commercial break with footage clearly showing a dollar amount much higher than the contestant is on.
- Confetti Drop: Unlike most game shows, getting to at least $500,000 and walking away was enough to have confetti piled on top of you.
- Consolation Prize: A customized MP3 player on the syndicated version.
- Diegetic Soundtrack Usage: The show's own theme, "China Grove", was an option in a TV theme songs category on one episode.
- Didn't Think This Through: A contestant once needed three words of Helen Reddy's "I Am Woman". She used her last backup: 2 words. She chose the second word first, which is "Am". Instead of using logic and knowing the only word that can come before "am" is "I", she picked the first word which is indeed "I" but had no idea what the third word was and missed the question. If she had just used common sense and chosen the third word, she would have got it right.
- Enforced Plug: The syndicated version did not have an on-stage house band, and instead promoted its music as being "powered by MySpace Karaoke" (a service on the then News Corporation-owned social network MySpace). Some episodes also featured the "GEICO Backup".
- Game Show Host: Wayne Brady, who now hosts CBS' Let's Make a Deal. Mark McGrath of Sugar Ray did the syndicated run. Niecy Nash hosts the current FOX revival.
- Home Game: A board game and a discontinued iPhone app version (both based on the Wayne Brady version).
- Let's Just See What WOULD Have Happened: The Encore works the same way, but you actually get to play it to finish off the show, just to see how you'd do.
- Lifelines: Known as "Backups" here, and three in all — Backup Singer (send your supporter up to provide their own performance and/or guess), Two Words (reveal up to two of the words from the correct answer), and Three Lines (presents three possible answers; also the only Backup used on the syndicated version).
- The French single-player version from September 2011 had a fourth Backup named Switch, which allowed the contestant to switch to the other song of the same category.
- The 2022 revival only uses two Backups, Backup Singer and Three Words. The latter is similar to Two Words, except that it can be used across multiple songs rather than requiring all three words to be used on one song.
- Signing Off Catchphrase: In the Vietnamese version: "With music, we are one" in both Vietnamese and English.
- Trailers Always Spoil: As with other FOX game shows at the time, Lyrics was notorious for dropping spoilers in commercial break bumpers and advertisements.
- Viewers Are Goldfish: Somewhat abundant in the 2022 FOX revival, as Niecy usually needs to...
- ...recap what the previous and answered lyrics are for nearly every song.
- ...remind everyone of how much money the player has/will be playing for and how many Backups they have left.
- Who Wants to Be "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?": Played straight in the primetime version with its padding, lifelines, top prize, etc. The set design can be excused as more of a concert stage/American Idol-like atmosphere rather than copying the Millionaire motif, however. The syndicated version uses a lower-stakes format with a top prize of $50,000.
