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A new girl group is gearing up to take the music industry by storm.
3QUENCY — featuring Brianna Mazzola, 24, Nori Royale, 24, and Wennely Quezada, 25 — won first place and a $500,000 prize on season 1 of Netflix’s Building the Band after impressing both the judges and audience with their powerhouse vocals and stage presence.
On Friday the girl group released their debut single “Top Down,” and the drop comes days after 3QUENCY announced their record deal with RECORDS (in partnership with Columbia Records).
3QUENCY teamed up with producer Tommy Browne — who has worked with Ariana Grande, Victoria Monét and BLACKPINK — on the R&B/pop song.
“It was an insane experience,” Quezada tells PEOPLE exclusively. “First of all, [Brown]’s amazing. The whole team is so cool.”
Quezada explains that the single turned out to be completely different from what they originally planned. Initially the track was supposed to be a love song, but then it “took a complete turn” after the musicians were given creative freedom, she adds.
“It was so cool being in that creative mindset with everybody there and just being able to create freely and just bounce off each other,” Quezada says.
Mazzola adds, “There’s no pressure when we’re creating. And I think that’s the best kind of atmosphere to be in. Tommy’s entire team allows for us to be creatives, whatever that looks like.”
The single marks 3QUENCY’s debut after Building the Band. The show, released on Netflix in July, is the first singing competition show of its kind. Emulating Love Is Blind, the contestants set out to form their dream bands sight unseen, relying on a single performance and phone chats to form connections.
From the moment the girls heard one another sing, they knew they were meant to be in a girl group together.
“The whole filming process of the booths was three weeks, and we knew by day two,” Mazzola says.
She continues, “It was kind of just an unspoken agreement that we had all made, whether it be a divine thing that we have. It was just this weird knowingness that we were 3QUENCY.”
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The girls’ chemistry on and off stage is what captured the hearts of audiences. Building the Band judge Nicole Scherzinger said on the show, “It’s that unspoken chemistry and connection, but the love and the passion y’all share — y’all are stronger together.”
When asked what they did to strengthen their bond, Quezada says, “I am going to be honest, I felt like it already came naturally.”
Royale chimes in, “We also just did a whole bunch of stuff. Everything that we could possibly do together as a unit, we did that.”
As for how life is going post-Building the Band, Quezada says they’re “just riding the wave and excited for what’s to come.”
“I hope that [fans] are inspired by our music and just by us in general,” Royale says. “I hope that they’re inspired by our stories and how far we’ve come and just our overall process of everything.”
Mazzola adds, “I hope 3QUENCY is a boundary pusher for people.”
“Top Down”released on all music streaming platforms on Friday, Sept. 5.
