NEW SPECIALLLL!

OK, since I only have like a week of freedom left, why not finally start a special I can finish? So this new special is..

Korean Pop!

As you may or may not know, over the summer I got really, really hooked on Rain which lead me to numerous other acts including the wonderful world of perky Korean girl groups. So I'll be YT-hopping over the next few days and blogging my adventures.

Of course I don't know everything about K pop yet - it's only been a few weeks but I think it's enough to build a special around.

Will that do? hahah.

The boyband special wrap-up post.

BOYBANDS!

While we're waiting for all these amazing new releases from our favorite artists, this period of absolutely no new albums will be dedicated to boybands!

Love them or hate them, they're a huge part of music, and with the slow but sure return of them in both the US and and UK, let's pay homage to some new, old, and outright amazing boybands!

What are boybands?

Westlife vs. BSB - Colo(u)r My World

WIN SOMETHING! WIN! WIN!

The A Capella Showdown

1999 in Boyband Land

The 5 Boybands that Demand Your Attention

Four new Boybands

Westlife Vs. Human Nature - She's Back(Again)

The Best Boyband Debut Singles Ever

Nine of the Most Underrated Boyband Songs

2000 in Boyband Land

Westlife - Back Home

Deconstructing the Perfect Boyband Album

Five of the Best Boyband Love Songs from the Most Unusual Suspects

Pick up your battle of the boybands playsheet here! haha.

The Quizzes

Part 1

Part 2 never materialized, sorry!

Five of the best boyband love songs from the most uncommon suspects..

Really, REALLY late for Valentine's day but it's better late than never, right? Plus, I'll be ending the boyband special pretty soon as well.. aww.

Boyband love songs are made to be sung at the end of concerts and to make all the girls burst into tears, it's a fact of life I'm afraid. Westlife are synonymous with these kinds of songs, they are after all 'the kings of the ballad' but most other boybands have these kinds of songs, so which ones really make the girls cry?

But there's a little twist on this post that I didn't tell you about. These ballads are all from the most unlikely boybands. They may seem tough or really have a reputation of not singing a lot of ballads but whatever it is, as long as majority of their stuff aren't ballads(that don't talk about regret or the girl leaving them..), they qualify. haha.

Another Level may seem like this really tough, 'street'-ish band but they do have a soft side, you know. From The Heart is epic, AND it was on the Notting Hill soundtrack(which also had Ronan Keating's debut single in it..) so it was relatively big. YouTube won't let me embed the video but it's here if you want to see it.

East 17 was another very 'street'/urban band during their time so it was surprising that their biggest hit was a ballad, Stay Another Day. It's gorgeous though, if I may say so. Girls Aloud did a version as well, it was a b-side to something and they performed it the night they were crowned Christmas number one for their first and only time(haha..).

Blue were like the Another Level of their time and they had one big hit here in Asia, Best In Me. They're not known that much for their 'proclamation of love' songs so they qualify, OK? haha. Defensive, much? Anyway, I love the melody and isn't Duncan hot? haha, my boyband addiction coming out.

I know that the penultimate NSYNC ballad is This I Promise You but I do like Music of My Heart much better so that's the one I'll be talking about. Just like the other songs, it's absolutely gorgeous and it got them an Emmy nomination!(correct me if I'm wrong..) The video's standard 90's boyband as well, they just stand there while translucent people walk by and bla bla bla.. I've got a thing for videos like that though, I like! haha. BRILLIANT song.

Speaking of NSYNC, 5ive were supposed to be Simon Cowell/Britain's answer to the aforementioned boyband so obviously, they had a lot of uptempos and dance-y stuff. They still however, made time for a few ballads and Until The Time Is Through is my favorite, plus the fact that it was a single so you probably already know it.. hmm. pretty song.

I really, truly, can't believe it.

This time I'm serious. Sometimes I say that it's brilliant when it's not but now I'm just, speechless with my mouth wide open and everything.

SOULSHOCK AND KARLIN ARE THE MOST AMAZING PAIR OF SONGWRITERS EVERRRRRR. And I just discovered it today.

I knew they wrote the brilliant Coming For You for JoJo but I didn't know that they also wrote the following(MIND-BLOWING) songs:

• Brie Larson's Loser in Me AND Whatever
• Craig David's 2 Steps Back and Rise and Fall AND You Don't Miss Your Water('Till The Well Runs Dry)
• Alesha Dixon's Breathe Slow
• Javine's Let Me Go
• JoJo's Good Ol' AND Leave
• Lemar's If She Knew
• Mario Vazquez's Everytime I...
• Skye Sweetnam's Kiss A Girl
• Fantasia's Truth Is

(The one's in bold are the most mind-blowing of them all..)

Can this day get any better? Yes it can! Because after I wrap up the boybands special(sometime this month..), THE NEXT SPECIAL WILL BE DEDICATED TO THESE GUYS. I'll be going over their discography while the boyband special finishes then the songs I absolutely adore will get their own reviews.

Yipeeeeeeeee! haha.

The Battle of the Boybands!

Last year we had a little battle of the girl groups so why not have a boyband battle this year? Below are the 'playsheets'(yeah, yeah, I'm a huge PJ copycat.) for you guys to download, print out and answer!. At the end of the boybands special I'll post my completed sheets and you guys can send me pictures of yours! haha. Here's what it looks like:
Sounds like a good idea?

DOWNLOAD HERE!

I cannot wait to see what you guys think! haha.

Deconstructing the Perfect Boyband Album

I began thinking that my boyband posts have become too video-centered and I haven't been writing enough so no videos or nothing on this post, I'll just write and write and write.

After listening to tons of boyband albums, I'd like to think that I know a thing or two about what makes the perfect boyband album. Whether I like the songs or not, there's always a formula for boyband albums, a formula that has worked for everyone from the most successful bands to the most obscure ones.

So I'll use two model albums for this post, just to see that everyone uses the same formula. The two boyband albums that best represent the formula are Westlife's Coast To Coast and The Backstreet Boys' Black and Blue, both released in 2000.

Element number one, a sappy semi-ballad/ballad. Since boybands have millions of girls swooning over them, why not cash in on that? These are the types of songs that when fans listen to them, they think their favorite member's singing to them. I call it a 'I wanna marry you' boyband song, mainly because it keeps girls wanting to and daydreaming about marry them. On Coast to Coast there are a few, but the two that really represent this kind of song is Puzzle of My Heart and Close. On Black and Blue there are a few as well but it's Shape of My Heart and Yes I Will.

Then there are the super ballads. If the semi-ballads keep girls swooning, the super ballads make them cry. If the album was a concert, they'd sing these last and the fans will start bursting into tears. You need these types of songs on a boyband album so fans can say that they experienced every emotion possible when they listened to your albums(haha..). On Coast to Coast the two super ballads are Angel's Wings and Fragile Heart and on Black and Blue it's I Promise You(With Everything I Am) and How Did I Fall In Love With You.

Of course you've got to have the midtempos. Those are the songs that have dance routines when they sing it live but don't qualify as uptempos. They're almost always melodic, mainly because they aren't uptempos(although a lot of uptempo boyband stuff have melodies!) and these are the songs that justify whether and boyband can sing AND dance. On Coast to Coast they were Dreams Come True and Somebody Needs You and on Black and Blue they were The Call and Shining Star.

I talked about the uptempos and how they sometimes don't have melodies but most of the time they still do. These uptempos are the songs with really intricate dance routines and entire productions dedicated to them, with backup dancers and pyrotechnics and everything, it's the show part of the concert. It's not designed to show the audience that the boyband in question can sing, it's designed to show that they can dance because whether we like it or not, boybands are expected to nail at least one difficult dance routine in their often times short life spans. On Coast to Coast it's When You're Looking Like That(the recorded version is a bit slow, but they speed it up a bit live.. in the early days the dance routine for this was difficult for their standards but not it's kind of reduced to a bit of running around and swinging the mic stand..) and on Black and Blue it's Get Another Boyfriend.

If you have midtempos you have the songs verging on being midtempos but are still kind of ballads. It's like this, if you change the arrangement a bit and make it a ballad, nothing much changes. The dance routine for these songs is optional, you can have them just walking around the stage maybe. On Coast to Coast it was I Lay My Love On You and on Black and Blue it was The Answer to Our Life.

The following elements aren't always on boyband albums, but I've seen a few with them.

The mandatory cover version. Some boyband albums have them, Westlife always have a few, A1 had Take On Me and Another Level had Freak Me. Sometimes fans like certain songs so to hear their favorite band singing their favorite song is kind of a plus point for them. haha. On Coast to Coast the covers were Against All Odds, I Have A Dream and No Place That Far.

I've seen quite a number of duets as well. I don't know what it is with duets but quite a number of boyband albums have them as well. I think it's got something to do with the bigger artist having a hand in launching the newer artist, I've heard that theory before. On Coast to Coast the duet was with Mariah Carey, Against All Odds.

If boybands don't write their own songs or if one member doesn't mastermind the whole thing, there's always at least one song written by a number of the members or the whole band. It's something about boybands wanting more creative control over what they're doing so I guess their record companies gave them a few songs. On Coast to Coast Shane and Brian wrote Angel's Wings and on Black and Blue the whole band wrote Time(which is an amazing song, to tell you the truth..) and The Answer To Our Life. Strangely enough, all those songs aren't uptempos!

Have I forgotten anything? haha.. Just leave a comment!

Westlife - Back Home

You may not like Westlife but at least try giving this review a chance, please?
So while I was at the mall a while ago, this album came up on shuffle mode. I love Westlife and all but surprisingly I haven't listened to the whole album as a whole in a few months so I kept it on. In the middle of listening to the album(and shopping, duh.), I realized something.

It's album's like this that actually make me proud to be a Westlife fan.

Everyone disses them and I get where they're coming from, with all the sappy ballads and all but you listen to this album and you DON'T get all these ballads. Yes, the two UK singles were ballads and more or less 50% of the album is on the slower side but what about the other half? It's those songs that make me want to tell everyone to give this album a chance. SO, I'll only be reviewing the non-sappy ballad, non-Westlife formula songs.

I'm thankful for the fact that Something Right was at least an Australia/New Zealand single because it gets the song out there and face it, after the Amazing disaster, Sony BMG DID NOT want to sell that little on a Westlife single. This is the pop that should be making the rounds, this is the pop that should get noticed more because there are people like me who missed the early 2000's pop boom. Aside from that it's an outright amazing song, even Poster Girl seems to think so!

When I'm With You is slow, but it's got a different sound so it qualifies. Out of the whole album, this was the song that stuck me right from the start. Not Home, not Something Right, not any other song, this was this one that made me go 'wow'. It seems like a lot of recent pop group albums(how many pop groups are there at the moment?) have this one R&B track, regardless of their musical direction. If I was naive enough I'd say it was to try and break the US but we all know what happened to Westlife(two years worth of promotion around the country and what did they get? One US top 30 I think, a TRL top ten video and a bubbling under chart album..) so I wouldn't keep my hopes up. Still, it's got an amazing beat and the stunning verses make up for the not so hot chorus.

Catch My Breath has been a fan favorite from the very start and to me it's like an updated and more mature version of TGF(While still in high school, Shane and Mark wrote Together Girl Forever for Shane's childhood sweetheart and now wife, Gillian, Kian Egan's cousin! haha. They recorded the song as IOU and sold like 2,000 copies..). Seriously! It sounds like Shane + Gill's love story, at least that's what I get from the interviews and the books. It's modern chart music, pop but not pop and that's what I love about it.

The Easy Way is very Motown-esque, heck they even mixed it with ABC(the Jackson 5 song?) during last year's tour(I didn't like the choreography though..)! So anyway, this is probably the fastest song on the album to they deserve some praise for not only giving us an uptempo but an amazing melody as well! It's catchy and everyone gets to sing! yay! haha.

The last song that really made me want to listen to this album and shove it in the haters' faces was Pictures In My Head. If you remember their third album World Of Our Own, there was a track on it called Why Do I Love You. If you've heard it, good, if you haven't, listen to it here. Now think of that song plus Catch My Breath and you get Pictures In My Head. It's got the most stunning melody and most of all, it's not a sappy ballad! This was the song that appeared on my iPod and this was the song that got me to write this whole thing, it's brilliant.

So there, is that enough proof that there's more to Westlife than sitting on stools and singing all these cheesy ballads? haha it better be.

The Rating: 5/5. duh!

2000 in Boyband Land..

While I'm thinking of something a little more original, why not see what was happening in boyband land during the new millennium?

......98 Degrees scored their first US Hot 100 number one single with their duet with Mariah Carey and Joe.

......A1 take two singles to the number one spot AND take an album to their highest peak in their career, coming in at number 14 in the UK.

......Human Nature release their third studio album and take two singles into the top forty.

......NSYNC release No Strings Attached and all three US singles hit the top five, one hitting number one(their ONLY number one single.)

......Northern Line release two singles which both fail to hit even the top ten in the UK, their peak position being fifteen.

......Take That release their second album under a new record company, Elektra Records.

......Westlife release four singles and What Makes A Man becomes their first single NOT to hit the number one spot. Coast to Coast also defeats the Spice Girls' Forever by over 75,000 copies in a highly publicized chart battle, making it a number one album, the first of many.

......The Backstreet Boys peak at number six on the US charts this year with Show Me The Meaning of Being Lonely off Millennium.

......The release of We Will Rock You gives 5ive their second UK number one.

......Canadian boyband B4-4 release their first album.

......French boyband Alliage, who did a duet with Boyzone in 1997 release their last single.

Nine of the most underrated boyband songs.

Sure, boybands are criticized endlessly for chruning out formulaic up tempos or ballads but this post will prove that they're more than that. Boybands can actually make some of the most amazing pop songs you'll ever hear, which is the main reason why I'm so drawn to them. For me it was never the looks or the dance routines, those were second nature, I got hooked on them because of the songs, because amidst public knowledge, they're actually pretty good, better than some, at the music part of the deal.

Let's kick it off with something that for the longest time, I was quite embarrassed to mention that I absolutely adore. One True Voice, the unlucky bunch of guys who were put against the brilliant Girls Aloud, lasted until their second single, Shakespear's Way With Words, the brilliant song with the crappy title.

Has anyone else noticed that this looks a lot like Shayne Ward's If That's OK With You? The song is pop brilliance, it deserved more than a number ten position. I mean come on, the melody is amazing and the instrumental can stand on it's own for heaven's sake! Maybe people were put off by the title which I will admit, is crap. Heck, the lyrics suck but as I always say, it's not about the lyrics for me, it's the melody and the song so this is brilliance.

I have all of BSB's albums BUT I've only listened to maybe 50% of the songs, but thankfully, I heard The Answer To Our Life.

It's a brilliant pop song and from what the video's saying, the guys wrote it themselves, which is even more of a plus point. The fact that this disproves the fact that boybands can only co-write or something makes it even better! haha. It's the penultimate boyband song, and it was done in the ultimate boyband way. Still, it never saw the light of a single release. Ugh.

I've made my point about Blue before, that they have amazing solo voices and the songs to cut it but together their a capella work just doesn't measure up. Still, they've made some amazing songs during their time as a top boyband and Elements is one of them.

It was on the Asian Tour Edition of Guilty so I assume it was a b-side to something. It's an amazing song, it's got a very Another Level feel, but you know it's blue. I love the melody and the middle 8 is sheer brilliance.

So Boyzone were back last year with a Greatest Hits album + the obligatory 3 original tracks and out of those three, the only non-single, Can't Stop Thinking About You has got to be the most amazingly boyband-ish.

See? It's poppy, it's got this annoying hook and Ronan's vocals are on top of everyone else's. Standard Boyzone song, but it's not a ballad or something near one so Louis will never let it become a single. Still, I worship this song, it's a guilty pleasure and it sticks in my head for days after I listen to it thrice or something.

Now we all know that Jesse McCartney(now JMac, I've heard..) was in a boyband when he was like 12 and that boyband was called Dream Street. Their songs were actually quite good, they were pop-y and very boyband-y.

The only problem was that their voices were too young, I think. They were too kid-like, except for maybe two guys(especially the guy who sang at the start, he could've had a career in another boyband if he tried..) and the album tracks were just too awkwardly kidd-y trying to talk about love mush. Too young, I think. If you gave them another two years and different lyrics they could've at least had a top ten.

Now Take That made a comeback in 2006 and since then it's been going very well for them, they've had two albums out since then and Gary Barlow is writing some amazing songs! Including this one, which was on Beautiful World.

Amazing, isn't it? It's very now but it's very Take That. Love, love, LOVE this song! haha.

Surprisingly, I quite like Upper Street's The One, it's very edgy. Sounds a lot like a cross between Another Level and Northern Line. Ironically, Dane Bowers was in this reality-made boyband. Hmmm.

It's very 2006, a bit confused but a potential hit. haha.

Let's Make Tonight Special was a b-side to an early Westlife single, was on the Swear It Again EP and it's sheer brilliance I tell you, brilliance. It starts out a lot like Until The End Of Time with just them singing the chorus then the verse comes in and brilliance is repeated over and over again.

It's the ultimate boyband ballad that girls would want to marry boyband members with, they'd want it playing for the first dance, the first date, the wedding march, the works. Seriously! I've heard of stories like that. Plus the fact that the vocals are pristine in this song that it kills.

I can't thank SparkLee enough for introducing me to Human Nature, they're God's gift to Australian boybands. Seriously. Them and Mercury 4. Their singles were amazing but there was one track from their self-titled release that caught my ear called House Of Cards. You can listen to the song here before reading on. Melodically it could've been an NSYNC or BSB song but nooooo, it went to Human nature! It's got a brilliant hook, and the vocals are good on this track. I absolutely, positively think that this song should've been a single and people should've heard this because it's outright brilliant.

There are heaps more songs I want to put on this list but for now it'll have to do. I've got to be up at 5 tomorrow for a four-hour marathon brain mashing study session, wish me luck!

The Best Boyband Debut Singles EVER.

A debut is the most important part of an artist's career, it has the power to make or break the future of your career so which boybands got it spot on? Let's find out!

Unlike the 'Boybands that Demand Your Attention' post, all these singles were AT LEAST a top ten hit in the country they have a record deal for and have a video available on YouTube for sampling purposes.

So what'd I put on my list? This is once again in no particular order whatsoever.

Sadly, BSB DO NOT qualify for this post, their debut single only came in at number sixty-nine in their home country, the US. Neither do NSYNC, they narrowly missed the top ten, their debut single coming in at number thirteen in the US. NKOTB did even worse, their debut single failed to even CHART in the US.

While I was doing the obligatory research I do for any special(except if it's Westlife, duh.), I stumbled upon Another Level. I remember watching their stuff on YT when I had just gotten addicted to Westlife but I didn't like their songs so I pushed them aside. So as I said, I stumbled upon them again a few days ago and the songs just had something so boyband but not boyband but still boyband about them(did that make any sense at all?).

So why is this one of the best debut singles ever? In addition to charting at number six on the UK charts, it's very standard boyband AND it's got an amazing hook with lyrics that teenage girls can scream and fantasize to. haha.

5ive were also Simon Cowell's doing, as his revenge for not signing the Spice Girls. He didn't beat the Spice Girls with them though(he did it with Westlife!), but he did make a British NSYNC!(their second single was a US Top 10 hit as well!)

Why is this such an amazing debut single? Simple, it's got a killer dance routine AND a hook. I really mean it when I say they're the British NSYNC. This single peaked at number ten in the UK.

Boyzone. They were the big Irish band before Westlife, and they had none other than Louis Walsh behind them. Love Me For A Reason came in at number two on the UK singles charts, and it started a long string of top five hits, six of them number one.

Do I still need to say why it's on the list? It's a freakin' top two single! Oh, and it's the standard boyband ballad, teenage girls will want to marry the guys singing this song.

A1 were one of Westlife's biggest rivals when boybands were a big deal in Britain, and this single came in at number six.

Come on! The video has some of the guys topless and in tight shirts, of course this is gonna be a hit! And it's got a very annoyingly amazing hook that's a very guilty pleasure. haha.

Now, D-Side were being tipped as the new Westlife for a while, but after two albums everything went downhill. They started out in ireland the standard Irish boyband way, a ballad debut but their first UK and Ireland single, they chose to go with a very Five-sounding song.

Heck, the music video even looks Five-like! It gave them a UK number nine single, not bad.

So EMD are a relatively new boyband, they debuted in 2007. Still, they're one of the few boybands to have their debut single top any major chart(theirs being Sweden.) and they now have three consecutive number one singles. Four more and they'll be tied with Westlife!

It's a cover. Very Westlife, except Westlife didn't debut with a cover. STILL, it's a ballad and it's a cover, I think they've learned something from a certain two Irish boybands who've had massive success from cover ballads. I was surprised though when I heard DANNY(yes, that Danny) is in this band. Whoa. I actually kinda like this song.

Ah yes, East 17, the rapping boyband who had this really sappy(but amazing) song top the UK charts later in their career. This song was a UK number ten single.

Now does anyone realize that the start sounds a lot like (Everybody) Backstreet's Back? Still, Tony Mortimer is goooood. They were the edgy boyband at the time, but this song is really growing on more.

Obviously One True Voice were put against the wrong girl band, Girls Aloud, one guy is just too tall and they don't LOOK like a boyband at all but you gotta hand it to them, they went the formulaic boyband way. Release a ballad first then slowly introduce the uptempos to your audience. They only lasted until their second single though.

Still, this was Christmas Number Two. A very good one at that. It probably would've been number one if they had replaced the tall guy(sorry, I know he can sing and all but boybands are half-aesthetics-based..) and weren't put up against the girls.

Now can anyone tell me why the crap V never made it big? Is it because they're so hard to Google or something 'coz their songs were amazing, their vocals were top class and they look like a 2005 version of Varsity Fanclub or V Factory.

Look! It was a number six single for heaven's sake, and they looked the part! I don't get it.

Blue. I love these guys, they're like a newer Another Level with less 'gang'+'make the girls scream' songs and more R&B. They might suck at a capella work but they had the songs to catapult them into stardom.

It actually even reminds me of the Another Level single, only that there's a dance routine to this and it charted at number four on the UK charts.

O-Town are one of the few American boybands I know that have had a US top ten debut single. Of course I think BSB and NSYNC deserved to have top ten singles at the very least but this is the closest you'll get.

It was number ten in the US and I find it very 2000, with band names and stars in the lyrics. The song is very BSB, and a lot of the song has a dance routine so check on that, they can dance.

Apologies, but I just HAVE to put Westlife in. It's not because I'm a huge fan or anything, but because they were the first boyband EVER to debut at the number one spot, making way for bands like EMD who've done the same.

Still, it's a very important song for the band, the fans and the industry. It was their debut, and it did extremely well. They went on to become the biggest boyband for the 21st century along with tons of other records. Behind all those achievements is a very simple formula, a formula that was perfected with the release of Swear It Again. Gosh, they look so young.

This list is incomplete. I might complete it or leave it as it is, just watch out! haha.

Westlife Vs. Human Nature - She's Back(Again)

Yes! Another Westlife vs. other random boyband post, this time with a song that was first released by that other random boyband, Human Nature.

The original:
Human Nature are an Australian vocal group and until 2004 they were releasing original material. This song was off their last original album before they started releasing back to back Motown cover albums(*yawn*) so this was released in 2004, a year before Westlife did it. The original is a bit less over-produced than the Westlife one, but the vocals were obviously double-tracked. The song itself is growing on me, and these vocals are very standard boyband, nothing special.

Listen to it here.

The cover:
The instrumental of this is much more processed but I obviously like the vocals better on this so I call this battle a tie. haha.

4 boybands today.

Boybands come and go, members leave and teenage girls grow up. Longevity in the boyband world is reserved only for an elite group, and even those bands aren't as popular as they were when they started out. New boybands are sprouting out from everywhere and now the US is getting back into the boyband market.

We all know that the world of boybands is a never ending cycle of line-up changes, hit singles and formulas left and right for every genre possible so which new boybands are currently nestled atop the throne of boyband royalty? Here's a lowdown on who to watch out for in the coming months and even years.

1. If you don't know about NLT yet then you must be hiding under a pretty huge rock. They were really hyped up early last year for working with Timbaland and all the superstar producers of today. They've got a bunch of amazing melodies out, but I think it's nothing we haven't heard before, there's nothing that really separates them from the other boybands right now or even R&B solo artists.

They're like the NSYNC of this generation, very R&B, very complicated dance routines and sort of vocally they're kinda like them. As far as I know, they have two singles out and their album is due this year. It better come or else they'll have to face a very angry blogger!

2. If you're looking for something a little less NLT-ish, then check V Factory out. Their debut single was written by none other than the amazing Darin so you've got some Swedish stuff mixed in as well and we all know how amazing Swedish pop songs are.

They released an EP earlier last year and it was amazing. You had three songs that were all really single-worthy, in my opinion.

3. Like Lady GaGa? Check Varsity Fanclub out. The first song was produced by the same team that did Lady GaGa's Just Dance and Darin's current album, the amazing RedOne. *worships*

Brilliance. So two days ago, it was announced that their album is to be pushed back a FEW MONTHS. Here I was thinking that they're probably the most productive of all the current boybands but noooooo. It might not be the chart domination that we're all hoping for(most boyband debuts aren't but you never know, they might just channel some Westlife success!), but we can at least expect some amazing songs!

4. Now the only new UK boyband(If you know of any that I don't know of, tell me!!! Wait. I forgot Avenue! NOOOOOO!) at the moment is JLS. Straight off the X Factor, they already have a contract from Simon and Louis Walsh(yes, THE Louis Walsh of Westlife and Boyzone managing fame..) wants to manage them. Let's just put it this way, when the two guys responsible for the most successful boyband in the world want to back your band, then you're pretty special.

So with Louis Walsh and Simon Cowell behind them, these guys are assured a chart domination. If they don't get a number one with their first single, it'll most probably hit the top ten or five, it's a given. I've said this many times before, but the British public doesn't even have to like them, they'll still sell millions.

5 boybands that demand your attention.

As in every other genre, there are those unlucky acts that sadly never matched the success of their counterparts. While bands like Westlife, BSB, NSYNC, 5ive, Another Level and Blue ruled the charts and teenage girls', these bands had very modest success, sometimes none at all. All that's left of them though are short Wiki entries, a few videos on YouTube, some members in reality shows trying to 'redeem' themselves and hardly any of their albums online.

Here's a look at 5 amazing boybands that never had a top ten album in a major music market(which means UK, US, places like that..) or even an album at all but certainly deserved to have one or two. They may have had singles as well, and they may have been successful(like in the top ten or something..), but that's not what I'm counting. Heck, one of these bands didn't even get to release a single! haha.

1. Northern Line were a boyband I discovered while making my '1999 in Boyband Land' post and after hearing their 2000 offering All Around The World on YouTube, I've made it my mission to one, know everything about them and two, give them at least a bit for credit for this utterly amazing pop song(you just HAVE to watch this, the song is beyond words!):

How much better can it get? It seems a little too ahead for 2000 but that's the point, IT'S BRILLIANT, That's the simplest way to put it. It's nothing like what the other boybands were releasing at the time. Westlife were at Coast To Coast and boybands simply didn't do this type of songs, they were stuck with Max Martin/Steve Mac songs. Whoever wrote this song deserves to be worshiped. They released three singles during their time together but all of them failed to reach the top ten and there's no record of them ever releasing an album. Shame though, they seemed to have it all, the dancing ability, the vocals and the sooooongs! haha.(Note: Northern Line was also the inspiration for this post. After seeing the video above, I just HAD to write about it!)

2. I've discovered a lot of artists via Westlife, so it's no surprise that I'd discover a few boybands in the process. I was really bored one day so I decided to scour YouTube for Childline performances of the lads. So while I was watching I came across a performance from the 2007 show(hosted by Brian and Stephen from Westlife and Boyzone respectively!) by this boyband called Streetwize.

They're very Westlife-y, mainly because they sang a cover of a ballad, AND they're wearing white suits(see: Westlife performance of My Love for the 2000 Record Of the Year or the 2000 Royal Variety Performance of What Makes A Man) and there are five of them. After some research on my part, I found out that they were from the UK, Ireland, the US and Venezuela and apparently, two members formed a new band called Stateside. A single release never materialized for this line up, let alone a single. Darn it.

3. Now MyTown are very similar to Westlife, they're Irish, they were in the 1998 Smash Hits Tour and were nominated for the Best New Tour Act Award that Westlife went on to win. Though Westlife did go on to become the most successful boyband ever and two members of MyTown formed The Script. As far as I know, Party All Night was the only single released from their debut album.

They're so unknown, I don't even know if the single or album charted if it did at all. The album itself is floating around online, it's on some music blogs(and maybe even the blogs I've listed on the sidebar..) but I have no idea if you can get a physical copy of it at present.

4. C21's debut album may have been the most successful debut boyband album in Denmark and they may have been kind of big in South East Asia but in the UK or the US, they're practically unknown. I think that's enough to qualify them for this post. Plus the fact that their album here sold for practically nothing at a CD sale(think 5-10 cents in $, haha.) and Wiki doesn't display their chart positions.

They had two albums and after their second album(which I think most likely flopped..) they just disappeared. The last time I looked, their official site is still up but it isn't being updated and I haven't heard anything new from any of the members so I guess it's over for those three.

5. I found this next band, C-Note out of curiosity, but I'm glad I did. They released an album back in 1999 and had a top 40 single(coming in at number 33..). After a long lul in releases, they released an album in 2007 and another one last year. From what I'm seeing, it flopped or was given absolutely no promotion because I would've seen the album somewhere around the internet if it did even slightly well. Crappy video, but amazing song!

I have a soft spot for Spanish songs, if you don't already know. I think the language makes the song more melodious, better in other words! There's also an English version if you wanna hear it.

See? I told you they were amazing, they should be given credit where credit is due. Whether it be amazing vocals, mind-blowing melodies or just being the ultimate boyband but failing to hit it big. Amazing stuff!

1999 in boybands

1999 as we all know was truly an amazing year for pop music in general, but what was happening in boyband land at the time?

......Another Level scored their second-highest charting UK single, I Want You For Myself which came in at number two in January.

......Ultra release their highest-charting single, Rescue Me. It peaked at number eight in the UK.

......Northern Line release their first single in October and it charts at number 18 in the UK.

......5ive scored their first ever UK number one single with Keep On Movin' in October.

......Irish band MyTown, who lost out on Smash Hits Best New Tour Act award the previous year release their debut album.

......In May, the Backstreet Boys released Millennium, their first ever number one album.

......911 release A Little Bit More and it remains their only UK number one single. They released a further two singles before disbanding.

......LFO release their self-titled debut album. It hits number 21 on the US charts and is certified platinum.

......A1 released their first album, Here We Come. It charted at number twenty on the UK album charts.

......Boyz II Men record a track for The Prince Of Egypt called I Will Get There. It peaks at 32 on the US singles chart.

......Dream Street and Natural are formed. Two years later Dream Street release their first album and Natural release their first single.

......Boyzone release three singles and claimed the top spot with two of those three singles.

......NSYNC's collaboration with Gloria Estefan, The Music Of My Heart gives the band Grammy, Academy Award and Billboard Award nominations.

......In addition to already having a top two album and three UK number ones with Swear It Again, If I Let You Go and the epic Flying Without Wings, Westlife's I Have A Dream/Seasons in the Sun is crowned Christmas Number One and is the last number one single of the 1900's.

The A Capella showdown

I somehow gauge how good a boyband is by looking at their a capella performances because it's very common in boybands that they're able to sing a capella in three to five parts.

So which country produces better boybands in terms of a capella work? This is UK boybands VS. US boybands!

Note: These are boybands that if inactive have produced more than two singles and at least one album. If they're active, then there's no requirement. haha.

The US Boybands..

So BSB are kind of the ultimate US boyband, along with NSYNC. As far as I know, they never recorded anything a capella apart from the tracks that they stripped the instrumental of so I got digging for some live stuff and I came across this:

They're good, but the vocals are a bit weak for me, when someone takes lead that someone has these strong vocals but the people backing him are either not blended well or have really weak voices.

Now since I got a live BSB track, that automatically bans me from judging NSYNC by their recording of O Holy Night in A Capella. Luckily, I found a live performance of it! YAY!

I think NSYNC are definitely better than BSB judging by this, there's more power to their vocals and it's more convincing for me. It sounds amazing as well, they're voices work better together than BSB, if I may say so.

Let's move over to the new boybands of the US, shall we? Mainly because I can't find any live KNOTB or 98 Degrees a capella stuff. If you guys find any though, let me know!

Now Day26 are a fairly new boyband but when I heard this performance, let's just say I'll be listening to their album a heck of a lot more than I already do.

They're gooooooood. Out of all the new boybands right now, I have to say, they're the best a capella-wise.

NLT may have the amazing, mind-blowing melodies but they're not up to par with Day26. I don't know if it's just because they're missing a fifth harmony or if their voices aren't really that strong together. Think BSB of now, that's the best description.

Now V Factory are in between Day26 and NLT in terms of vocals, they're better than NLT but they're just a wee bit not as good as Day26, I think. Amazing song though, I've never heard it before!

Varsity Fanclub however, are just that bit better than V Factory, I think. Better, more distinct and powerful voices and they most definitely blend much better than V Factory. I still love them all though!

So let's go over to my specialty, the UK boybands!

We HAVE to kick it off with Westlife, we just HAVE TO! I've said time and time again that Westlife cannot be beaten in terms of a capella o below is a very popular fan vid of a capella clips of the lads.

Now do you see why Westlife rock so much? The power and the way their voices blend is sheer brilliance people! BRILLIANCE.

A1 were around when Westlife started, and they were nominated for the same award once(The Smash Hits Best New Tour Act.., Westlife won, duh.) and I think A1 are pretty close to Westlife in terms of vocals.

It's a little too fast if you know the original recorded version but vocally they're goooooood.

Lemme just say it, Blue suck when it comes to a capella.

No soul, no power, nothing. They may have some amazing songs recorded but this was just horrible.

So at the moment, JLS are being tipped as the new Westlife, being mentored by Louis Walsh on the X Factor, plus the fact that they sang like two songs that Westlife covered. JLS are lightyears better than Blue though, if I may say so.

Amazing stuff. Still not as good as Westlife, but good enough! They're sort of between Blue and A1.

You guys DO NOT know how much I want to hear D-Side doing some serious five(or three..) part a capella! But I can't find any, so if you guys have seen ANYTHING whatsoever that resembles an a capella performance of them, TELL ME!!! haha.

So, based on the stuff I've collected(which took me about four hours..) and now shown you guys, which country produces the better boybands, the US or the UK? I know my answer..... haha.

WIN! WIN! WIIIIIIIIN!

Yes people! For the first time ever, we're giving something away!

But I won't tell you what that something is, you'll have to guess. I'll give you guys some clues about the mystery giveaway and you send in your answers along with a few stuff. Got it? Got it.

The Clues:
1. It's related to the current special, so they're a boyband.
2. It's a current single, but which one?
3. Their new album comes out sometime in the first quarter of the year, so that narrows it down a bit.
4. They're not from Asia.
5. I've professed my love for them a few times already.
6. They weren't on my 'Best of 2008' list, but they should have been!
7. I've never posted any of their videos.

Think you know the answer? here's how to enter.

1. You have to be a US resident(I think that's another clue!), because you'll have to e-mail your US mailing address along with your name and of course, the answer to samanthaparkington@gmail.com
2. There will be five copies given away, so only the first five correct answers will get the single in question!

haha. Get thinking and sending people! The contest closes once I publish my last boyband-related post, so you never know when that is! haha.

BSB vs. Westlife - Color My World

So some background on the song itself first. It was written by Andreas Carlsson, Savan Kotecha, Harry Sommerdahl, the first two have written a lot for pop acts like Westlife and BSB(so they're kinda like gods in my book.).

According to my research(haha, it sounds funny..), Westlife were the first to release it in 2005, it was on their seventh album(the first Westlife album I ever bought!). Around the same time, I heard of a version by BSB, and I remember having it in my library but it might've disappeared somehow. ANYWAY, it was supposedly released in 2006 as a b-side or it just remained an unreleased track.

I don't know if both bands got it because they're on the same record company and Westlife are in the UK while BSB are in the US and all, but the fact that both of them have versions makes it all the more better! Let's see how each one squared off for me.

This'll be great, two of the biggest boybands, ever! haha.

The Westlife version:

I've professed my undying love for Westlife from the very start, but this just solidifies the fact that they're amazing vocalists. They don't have wimpy voices like other boybands of their time, Shane has a smooth yet somehow rough voice on this song and Mark is just well, Mark. Soulful yet smooth. Amazing!

I think this song needs some kind of maturity, some kind of rigidness in it, but it also needs what Shane and Mark have when they take lead.

The BSB version:

So the BSB version is a little too rough and/or wimpy for me. Was Nick the one doing the middle-8? It seems a little tooooo rough for me, and there's no smoothness in any of the parts. Plus the fact that some of their voices are just plain wimpy.

The conclusion:

WESTLIFE WIN!(again, haha.)

What are boybands?

So before we get to the posting, let's define the word 'boyband'.

Basically for me, a boyband is a bunch of guys who sing but don't play their own instruments, so bands like McFly DO NOT count. I'm talking Westlife, NSYNC, BSB type boybands.

They may have been assembled by a record company, a manager or by themselves, I don't really care.

I guess that's it. Enjoy the special people!

The new special is...

Boybands!!!

haha. With me being such a huge boyband fan, I though why not raid my library for some of my favorite boyband albums?

So for the next few weeks, I'll be posting all things boyband-y! Watch out!

The songs I forgot about.

So as you know, my countdown consisted of 72 of the most amazing songs released this year. Even with 72 of them, I managed to miss a heck of a lot. Here are the songs that I completely forgot about or didn't notice until waaay after the countdown had started but certainly deserved a place in it! garrr.

Nikki Kerkhof - Bring Me Down

Amy Diamond - Thank You

Michelle Branch - Together

Danny - Kiss You All Over

Corbin Bleu - Celebrate You

Queensberry - Butterfly

Lady Sovereign - I Got You Dancing

EMD - Alone

Elise Estrada - These 3 Words

Blake Lewis - How Many Words?

Marit Larsen - If A Song Could Get Me To You

I'll be reviewing some of them, but some I won't(I can't review all of that on top of what I've been planning, can I?). How could I have forgotten them? garrr.