Reviews
The Death of The Boy Band
The Reign of the Boy Band has Finally Ended
In the late 90s and early 2000s, you couldn’t go anywhere without seeing troupes of young men dancing and singing on stage, while teenage girls flocked the stands. Stores were littered with teen magazines with photogenic young men on the covers, smiling and describing their ideal girl. Although boy bands such as The Backstreet Boys and *NSYNC had an undeniable effect on pop culture as we know it, as all things, their time has come to an end. The last wildly-popular boy band was One-Direction, and perhaps their indefinite hiatus was the catalyst of the fall of the boy band.
Although boy bands seemingly took over the media in the last thirty years, the boy band model has been around since the 1960s. The first successful “boy band”, The Beatles, led to the creation of bands such as The Monkees, and The Jackson 5, whose influence rippled into the 1980s, inspiring bands such as New Kids on The Block. As important as these boy bands are to modern day music, it was the 1990s that made the boy band mold we know and love mainstream. Bands such as The Backstreet Boys became household names, as their faces were plastered on every teen magazine within a 10-mile radius. This time period became the pinnacle of the boy band craze. So, what happened?
“Maybe the best route is not to behave like a boyband and hope for the best” Vice writer Peter Robinson wrotewrpte in an article about the downfall of the boy band. In recent years, consumers strive to find music that is different and unique, which leaves boy bands in the dust. Many boy bands today are derivative of the past, and do not strive to improve the dying genre. Contrary to popular belief, fans actually do get tired of songs that could have been written with their eyes closed. On the note of bad lyrics, I present to you, PRETTYMUCH.
PRETTYMUCH is an American-Canadian boy band that consists of members Brandon Arreaga, Edwin Honoret, Austin Porter, Nick Mara, and Zion Kuwonu. The band was formed by Simon Cowell in 2016, with hopes of being the next One-Direction, which was sadly not the case. Although they have racked up a substantial fandom over the years, they have yet to reach the global phenomena that was One Direction. After leaving Simon Cowell's record label Syco and signing to Sire Records, the band released the 6 song EP, Smackables. Although they teased the new era by calling it “PRETTYMUCH 2.0”, there music is essentially the exact same as it was with their previous label, if not worse. In their song Parking Spot, they lazily compare finding love to finding a parking spot in a crowded lot, singing “I’ve been looking for you like a parking spot.” Between the mediocre production and the derivative lyrism, PRETTYMUCH did not come out as strong as they had hoped.
Is there still hope for the boy band? Only time will tell. Like all musical trends, the hype around boy bands will return soon enough, and fans will rejoice as it takes them back to simpler times. As for current boy bands like PRETTYMUCH, perhaps shedding the traditional boy band skin would do them some good, as it is clear society has moved on from the boy band craze.
Modern Day Rockstar Harry Styles Proves his Brilliance on his Sophomore Album Fine Line
“Boyband alumni Harry Styles becomes a next-gen rock star”; if this headline had been on a Rolling Stone magazine a decade ago, most people would have laughed at such a notion. Harry Styles took the world by storm and proved himself a bonafide rocker on his debut album, Harry Styles, and has done it again on his sophomore album Fine Line. Fine Line is a tribute to seventies rock ballads, with Styles’ own spin, proving that he is as influential of an artist as the greats, such as The Beatles and Pink Floyd. Fine Line is more sure of itself than Styles’ debut, which indicates big steps for Styles in not only his music but his personal life. “When I listen to the first album now, I can hear all the places I was playing it safe”, Styles told Zayn Lowe in his Beats 1 interview.
Pop-rock hybrids such as Golden and Watermelon Sugar mix Styles’ Incredible vocal range with bright-sounding guitar. In a Billboard interview, Styles admits that Golden “feels so Malibu”, which sets the tone for the entire album. On the fifth track, Cherry, the feel of the album shifts as Styles laments about an ex's new relationship, saying “don’t you call him what you used to call me.” Styles’ impeccable vocals over a crisp acoustic guitar hints at the deep cuts of the singer, and how to deal with life as it crumbles around you. Before you even have the chance to recover, songs like Falling and Fine Line chronicle Styles’ insecurities, saying in Falling “what if I’m someone I don’t want around.” These ballads are reminiscent of seventies soft rock, and Styles’ brilliant lyrics speak to the heart.
Just when you thought Styles’ was playing it safe with the soft-rock ballads and pop-rock hybrids, the eighth track, She, pays homage to the greats -- such as David Bowie and The Beatles. Meaty bass lines paired with a solo that's over two minutes long, this modern-day rock ballad is not something you want to miss. Styles shows off his impeccable musical range in the tenth track of the album, Canyon Moon. With crisp acoustic guitar and rock-folk lyrics, this track is reminiscent of the Fleetwood Mac song Never Going Back Again. On the eleventh track of the album, Treat People With Kindness, Styles switches gears yet again in a song that feels like a fever dream. Reminiscent of a seventies musical theatre song, Styles’ incredible vocal range, alongside mellotron and congas, creates an interesting juxtaposition between the vibe of the track and its lyrics. Lyrics like “if our friends all pass away, its okay” relate back to the overall theme of finding yourself when no one else is left.
Fine Line speaks about a love that is equally as pure as it is painful, and reflects Styles’ growth as an artist and a person. This album is unlike anything else that has been released in the last decade, and clearly pulls influences from the sixties and seventies. Styles’ vocals remind us of when he was a pop star, but the man we see today is the furthest thing from; he is now a rockstar. If Fine Line doesn’t put Harry Styles in the history books as one of the more influential artists of the twenty first century, I’m not sure what will.
