Saturday, March 10, 2012

Watch Your Back, Bieber: The Boy Band Is Making a Comeback



“The boys are back!” the Internet cried this week, reinstating the relevance of all-male pop groups. Women have had a strong run dominating the Top 40 pop charts, no doubt, but thanks to some international imports, we may be about to hear a lot more harmonizing than we have in the last few years.

In what looks like the second coming of Westlife and Boyzone, two bands in particular have been leading a boy-band comeback and dominating the discussion: The Wanted and One Direction—each consisting of four Brits and one Irishman. Rolling Stone declared that after months and months of Adele ruling the charts, The Wanted has made significant headway on the Billboard digital-songs chart, jumping to No. 2 with their clubby, Ibiza-appropriate “Glad You Came.”

One Direction born on last season’s UK show X-Factor thanks to the suggestion of Nicole Scherzinger, has been enjoying success overseas. Their debut album, Up All Night, made waves with its UK release last November, and the group beat out Adele (Adele!) and others at the 2012 BRIT Awards to win Best British Single with their song “What Makes You Beautiful.” They’re performing on the Today show next week, Jezebel notes, and touring the U.S. this summer with Nickelodeon spinoff boy-band Big Time Rush.