With One Direction on hiatus and the latest manufactured outfits tanking, the future looks bleak for pop’s permabuffed princelings. Perhaps it’s time to bring back the dance routine …
Little things … One Direction after their formation on The X Factor 2010. Photograph: Ken McKay/Rex Features
Thursday 14 April 2016 11.00 BSTLast modified on Thursday 14 April 201611.01 BST
During the 11th series of the UK X Factor in 2014, a tried and tested formula was being played out with thudding familiarity. Eight similarly bequiffed teenage mannequins called things like Barclay, Reese and Casey – each one having been dumped out of the competition – were told their dreams had been reignited and they were being thrown together to form pop’s most ludicrous boyband, Stereo Kicks.
A decade or so earlier and this idea of creating a two-for-the-price-of-one boyband would have seemed borderline genius, and yet they finished fifth, were ignored by Syco and disbanded three months after their debut single peaked at No 31. It’s part of a wider trend. Since the heyday of the 90s, each 16-legged experiment like Stereo Kicks, or lads-on-tour urchins the Wanted, or anti-movement balladeers Westlife, has slowly chipped away at the wonderfully choreographed and gloriously uncool legacy created by the Backstreet Boys, N’Sync and Take That. So where next for the boyband?
The distant death knell started clanging last year when One Direction – by far the most successful boyband since the Backstreet Boys – announced a (possibly permanent) hiatus. In their wake they’d left a new variation on the formula – one that favoured skinny jeans over loose, billowy and shiny trousers, floral shirts over deep-V T-shirts and designer stubble where an ostentatious goatee used to be. Suddenly, dancing in unison was verboten and matching outfits were seen as naff (which, let’s be honest, they are, but no more naff then being dressed up like River Island employees).
Thursday 14 April 2016 11.00 BSTLast modified on Thursday 14 April 201611.01 BST
During the 11th series of the UK X Factor in 2014, a tried and tested formula was being played out with thudding familiarity. Eight similarly bequiffed teenage mannequins called things like Barclay, Reese and Casey – each one having been dumped out of the competition – were told their dreams had been reignited and they were being thrown together to form pop’s most ludicrous boyband, Stereo Kicks.
A decade or so earlier and this idea of creating a two-for-the-price-of-one boyband would have seemed borderline genius, and yet they finished fifth, were ignored by Syco and disbanded three months after their debut single peaked at No 31. It’s part of a wider trend. Since the heyday of the 90s, each 16-legged experiment like Stereo Kicks, or lads-on-tour urchins the Wanted, or anti-movement balladeers Westlife, has slowly chipped away at the wonderfully choreographed and gloriously uncool legacy created by the Backstreet Boys, N’Sync and Take That. So where next for the boyband?
The distant death knell started clanging last year when One Direction – by far the most successful boyband since the Backstreet Boys – announced a (possibly permanent) hiatus. In their wake they’d left a new variation on the formula – one that favoured skinny jeans over loose, billowy and shiny trousers, floral shirts over deep-V T-shirts and designer stubble where an ostentatious goatee used to be. Suddenly, dancing in unison was verboten and matching outfits were seen as naff (which, let’s be honest, they are, but no more naff then being dressed up like River Island employees).
Pop’s most ludicrous boyband … Stereo Kicks. Photograph: Syco/Thames/Corbis
Bands like the Vamps, 5 Seconds of Summer and Rixton – as with Busted and McFly before them – appeared posing with instruments and dismissing the idea of being a boyband while simultaneously enjoying the slipstream of One Direction’s success. Unlike Busted and McFly before them, however, the sense of fun that underpins a good boyband seemed to have been sucked out, replaced by Radio 2, mum-friendly MOR, acoustic-tinged campfire ballads and po-faced punk-pop. The new breed’s recent chart positions (5SOS’s last single peaked at 60 in the UK, the Vamps’ latest single currently sits at No 30) and absence from end-of-year streaming lists for 2015 also suggests that the appetite for “authentic”, distinctly beige, we-write-our-own-songs-honest boybands is waning. Even an exact replica of One Direction in the shape of Union J (also cobbled together on The X Factor) has so far offered only modest sales and the loss of one member. Their lack of success also proves that – surprise, surprise – you also need to have some brilliant songs.
The last truly above average old-school boyband – ie dance routines, massive bangers, rippling six-packs – also came from The X Factor in the shape of JLS.They were hugely popular in the UK for the duration of their three albums, but it’s perhaps not a coincidence that their dip in popularity around 2012’s Evolutionalbum coincided with One Direction’s ascent. Suddenly, the honed stagecraft that made them borderline brilliant was also their downfall, colliding with the spread of ersatz authenticity that has suffocated pop in general. Of course, as with all things in pop, the popularity of boybands feels cyclical, with even One Direction’s success something of a shock following the barren period after N’Sync called it a day in 2002.
So while there’s still hope, what’s concerning is the lack of new contenders picking up the slack, with TV talent shows steadily distancing themselves from them (no boyband made the final of the US X Factor during its three seasons, for example). At the same time, cash-strapped labels are realising how costly boybands can be to launch from scratch without the benefit of a TV talent-show running start. Meanwhile, recent tour successes – McBusted (McFly and Busted together, do keep up), Busted and Take That – have all been propelled by the swirl of nostalgia, assisted by the success of The Big Reunion. Even the Backstreet Boys – who briefly joined spent forces with New Kids on the Block – can still sell out arenas.
So with the traditional boyband feeling like a museum piece, and the lazier, beige replacements no longer selling like they used to, how can this floundering form be resuscitated? What JLS did have over One Direction, Union J and their lethargic ilk was a work ethic. They’d been rehearsing and playing talent shows for years by the time they made it big. Their desire and drive to succeed was palpable, as was their instinctive chemistry when it came to performing. Somewhere along the line, pop became lazy. Dance moves became arm waggles or pointing, or – in the case of One Direction – just walking from one side of the stage to the other while thinking about something else. If the boy band is going to return to its former glories, it needs to excite a new generation of fans who have somehow come to see bored-looking video content or black-and-white selfies as suitable social media engagement. It’s as if these bands have been aimed more at the late-20s and early-30s mums who vote on The X Factor than the typical teenage audiences of old. Just imagine what the teens would do if they saw someone they fancy doing an incredible dance routine to an outrageous banger. Who wants to faint and cry to someone playing an acoustic guitar?
One place “proper” boybands still thrive is South Korea. While I’m not suggesting we introduce the strict contracts favoured by the K-pop industry – where members are recruited young and trained for years and years – there is something to be said for the effort put in. And if that’s too much to ask and we have to go down the “credible” and “authentic” route, then why does that have to involve guitars and skinny jeans? Why can’t we rope in producers like Diplo or Skrillex or DJ Mustard, audition kids who know what a dance routine is and create something with a bit of energy? Let’s not allow the boyband to die. Not yet. Not like this.
Bands like the Vamps, 5 Seconds of Summer and Rixton – as with Busted and McFly before them – appeared posing with instruments and dismissing the idea of being a boyband while simultaneously enjoying the slipstream of One Direction’s success. Unlike Busted and McFly before them, however, the sense of fun that underpins a good boyband seemed to have been sucked out, replaced by Radio 2, mum-friendly MOR, acoustic-tinged campfire ballads and po-faced punk-pop. The new breed’s recent chart positions (5SOS’s last single peaked at 60 in the UK, the Vamps’ latest single currently sits at No 30) and absence from end-of-year streaming lists for 2015 also suggests that the appetite for “authentic”, distinctly beige, we-write-our-own-songs-honest boybands is waning. Even an exact replica of One Direction in the shape of Union J (also cobbled together on The X Factor) has so far offered only modest sales and the loss of one member. Their lack of success also proves that – surprise, surprise – you also need to have some brilliant songs.
The last truly above average old-school boyband – ie dance routines, massive bangers, rippling six-packs – also came from The X Factor in the shape of JLS.They were hugely popular in the UK for the duration of their three albums, but it’s perhaps not a coincidence that their dip in popularity around 2012’s Evolutionalbum coincided with One Direction’s ascent. Suddenly, the honed stagecraft that made them borderline brilliant was also their downfall, colliding with the spread of ersatz authenticity that has suffocated pop in general. Of course, as with all things in pop, the popularity of boybands feels cyclical, with even One Direction’s success something of a shock following the barren period after N’Sync called it a day in 2002.
So while there’s still hope, what’s concerning is the lack of new contenders picking up the slack, with TV talent shows steadily distancing themselves from them (no boyband made the final of the US X Factor during its three seasons, for example). At the same time, cash-strapped labels are realising how costly boybands can be to launch from scratch without the benefit of a TV talent-show running start. Meanwhile, recent tour successes – McBusted (McFly and Busted together, do keep up), Busted and Take That – have all been propelled by the swirl of nostalgia, assisted by the success of The Big Reunion. Even the Backstreet Boys – who briefly joined spent forces with New Kids on the Block – can still sell out arenas.
So with the traditional boyband feeling like a museum piece, and the lazier, beige replacements no longer selling like they used to, how can this floundering form be resuscitated? What JLS did have over One Direction, Union J and their lethargic ilk was a work ethic. They’d been rehearsing and playing talent shows for years by the time they made it big. Their desire and drive to succeed was palpable, as was their instinctive chemistry when it came to performing. Somewhere along the line, pop became lazy. Dance moves became arm waggles or pointing, or – in the case of One Direction – just walking from one side of the stage to the other while thinking about something else. If the boy band is going to return to its former glories, it needs to excite a new generation of fans who have somehow come to see bored-looking video content or black-and-white selfies as suitable social media engagement. It’s as if these bands have been aimed more at the late-20s and early-30s mums who vote on The X Factor than the typical teenage audiences of old. Just imagine what the teens would do if they saw someone they fancy doing an incredible dance routine to an outrageous banger. Who wants to faint and cry to someone playing an acoustic guitar?
One place “proper” boybands still thrive is South Korea. While I’m not suggesting we introduce the strict contracts favoured by the K-pop industry – where members are recruited young and trained for years and years – there is something to be said for the effort put in. And if that’s too much to ask and we have to go down the “credible” and “authentic” route, then why does that have to involve guitars and skinny jeans? Why can’t we rope in producers like Diplo or Skrillex or DJ Mustard, audition kids who know what a dance routine is and create something with a bit of energy? Let’s not allow the boyband to die. Not yet. Not like this.
Posts
0 коммент.:
Post a Comment