Disclaimer: This blog is based on my own opinions and observations of music trends and boy bands. I do not know the actual reasons why bands split up or why they did not gain certain amounts of success.

Ask any of my friends about the the music I’m into- I bet that the overwhelming majority will tell you that I love boy bands. My love for boy bands is all-inclusive. I’m talking 70s Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons, 80s New Edition and New Kids on the Block (they had a thing for the word “New” apparently), 90s Boyz II Men, N Sync, and Backstreet Boys, and the late 00s/early 10s resurgence of One Direction and Big Time Rush. I love a guy who can sing and dance. Add on three or four more and I’m sold.

We can all agree that the height of boy bands was the late 90s/early 00s. I would guesstimate 1998-2002 was when boy bands ruled number one. That era alone pitted the two biggest acts against each other (even though N Sync and BSB were not actually enemies since they shared the same shady manager). But this was when MTV and TRL was number one. These boy bands were not necessarily pining for Grammys at the time. They were aiming for those MTV Video Music Awards Moon Men. They were clamoring for as many appearances on TRL and TGIF as possible (shoutout to Sabrina the Teenage Witch and Clueless the TV series for featuring my boos).

But then, one day, the height of the boy band was gone. The boys slowly stepped away from the spotlight because they wanted to be seen as more mature artists and songwriters and not just an ultra-gelled, ultra-sequined pop manufacture. They wanted to be men. Some of them went on to get married and have kids. Some of them went on to solo careers of varying success. By the time N Sync called for their split in 2002, you could tell that the time of boy bands was over.

From 2002-2009, there was a black hole in the timeline of boy bands. Many listeners, myself included, became emo kids in their teen years. We listened to Fall Out Boy, Panic at the Disco, and My Chemical Romance. We wore black eyeliner and subsequently cried off that said black eyeliner. At the same time, we also listened to a lot of hip hop and R&B. Some of the highlights of the mid 00s included T-Pain, the Black Eyed Peas, and Nelly.

But where was pop music at this point? More specifically, where did boy bands stand? It was during this time that a few boy bands attempted to break into the scene with limited success. They had big shoes to fill. They had to be able to appeal to the ever changing teen audience who have moved onto a different sound, but also carry a sense of nostalgia. Why is it that boy bands did not come to a full resurgence until 2010 with the rise of One Direction, Big Time Rush, and The Wanted?

There are a few reasons why many of these bands failed. In particular, I will focus on two boy bands of the mid 2000s: NLT and V Factory.

NLT:

NLT (short for “Not Like Them”) consisted of four members: Kevin McHale, Travis Garland, JJ Thorne, and V Sevani. NLT’s short bio from AllMusic.com:

“Assembled by R&B producer Chris Stokes, NLT began taking shape when Stokes booked a local dance studio in Los Angeles to hold rehearsals for a different group, B2K. The studio's owners had a son, Vahe "V" Sevani, with musical aspirations of his own. Informed by Stokes that his demo would be given a shot as long as he was part of a group, Sevani began seeking out additional singers. First on his list was Justin Joseph "JJ" Thorne, who had worked with him on an instructional dance video (and had also, coincidentally enough, appeared in a B2K video). Soon after, Dallas-based performer Kevin McHale was found through an agent, who also referred a theater actor named Travis Garland to the group.

In NLT’s short tenure in the pop music landscape, they released 17 songs but a full album never materialized. They also scored appearances on soundtracks including the Disney Channel Original Movie “Jump In!” and a cameo and a soundtrack appearance in 2007’s “Bratz: The Movie,” a live action teen comedy based on the best-selling doll line. They also embarked on many small tours around the U.S., mainly in partnership with various radio stations to perform at high schools and small venues.

V Factory:

There’s a lot less known about V Factory. They were active from 2008-2010 and consisted of Asher Monroe, Jared Murillo, Nick Teti, Nathaniel Flatt, and Wesley Quinn. They released an EP titled “These Are the Days” in 2008 and were a part of the Bandemonium 2008 tour performing alongside NLT, a new batch of Menudo, and Mark and James. (None of these bands lasted). Their biggest song was the dance pop hit “Love Struck,” Released in 2009, its highest charting was 37 on the Billboard Top 40.

So why didn’t these boy bands work out? They were talented, they sang and danced live (something that One Direction and Big Time Rush greatly struggled with yet both bands still saw more success), they worked with top producers such as Timbaland and the Underdogs, and they were easy on the eyes. They had all the right ingredients. What happened?

The decline of TRL/MTV and the rise of YouTube "Total Request Live" aired from 1998 to 2008. At its prime, the afternoon show garnered millions of views every day for pop music lovers. Thanks to TRL, the early 2000s was the height of pop music. Artists would come into the studio in the middle of Times Square and see legions of fans holding up signs on the street in adoration. TRL was such a big cultural phenomenon that MTV satirized itself by forming a boy band of their own, complete with a movie and TV show tie-in, called 2gether. However, in 2006, YouTube launched and took away many viewers from the show. Fans could now watch whatever music video they wanted in full at their own leisure. Websites like PerezHilton.com, TMZ, and Just Jared could give fans whatever information or intel they wanted without having to be constricted to a short appearance on MTV or a TigerBeat magazine feature. MTV also started switching gears to reality television and scripted television. There were less and less shows that artists could do cross-promotion with on the basic cable network leaving most of their work to not be seen by mainstream media.

Not having the backing of a major entertainment company/label The majority of One Direction and Big Time Rush’s success stemmed from the fact that they were backed by their respective TV shows. One Direction was formed by pop music giant Simon Cowell on the reality show “The X-Factor.” Meanwhile, Big Time Rush was formed by Columbia Records and Nickelodeon. They had a hit children’s TV show on Nickelodeon in which the guys played fictionalized versions of themselves. Then, in the real world, they toured around the world with the backing of a major entertainment network and a major record label.

Because of all this major backing, both One Direction and Big Time Rush went on multiple world tours, had a number of albums, did cross promotion appearances on their respective networks, and even had movies and documentaries filmed about them and their lives on the road.

Appealing to the wrong audiences A common stigma behind boy band music is that it’s target audience is children and teens. Like I mentioned previously, in the mid 2000s era saw a shift in what was popular in music. It seemed that people didn’t want to see bubblegum pop in the same vein as N Sync and Britney Spears in the years prior. They wanted to see artists who played their instruments or they just plain wanted music to freak dance to in the high school gym (again, this is from my personal experience). So NLT and V Factory tried to appeal to the hip hop/dance music audiences. However, the ages didn’t quite align. The success of One Direction and Big Time Rush came because they were on family friendly outlets. One Direction and Big Time Rush were two groups of teenage boys. They were listened and watched by children and their parents, who then grew into preteens and teenagers throughout their tenure. They were harmless and innocent and easily marketable because they were so damn cute. NLT and V Factory tried to appeal to a teen/young adult audience from the beginning. But because this demographic was already moving on to other sounds they couldn’t quite find success with them.

The boy band was not the priority I wouldn’t blame the individuals in the boy band about this. But since they could see that their window of success as a boy band was closing, many band members decided to jump ship onto other ventures. When you're a young person trying to break into entertainment, you have to go where opportunities are. The biggest success from the two respective bands would be Kevin McHale, one of the lead singers from NLT. In 2008 he was cast as Artie Abrams, the wheelchair bound kid with a voice meant for R&B, on the hit TV show “Glee.” No one could have predicted the giant “Glee” would become with its international arena tours, critical acclaim, and Billboard charting hits.. But his commitment to “Glee” meant that Kevin could no longer be a part of NLT. Without one of its lead singers, the rest of the band had to call it quits. Travis Garland, the other lead singer of NLT, went on to an independent music career and can be heard singing frequently for “Dancing with the Stars.”

Similarly, Asher Monroe from V Factory went on to star in the 2009 remake of “Fame.” The movie was predicted to be a huge success, since it was a remake of the 80s classic. It was a moderate box office success and not favored with critics. However, Monroe was lauded for having some of the best songs on the album soundtrack. Other members from V Factory moved onto backup singer and dancer gigs throughout television and film.

In summary, the mid 00s era of boy bands failed mostly because of timing. They were simply formed in an era where starting a boy band renaissance was too soon. It’s sadly not their fault that they couldn’t gain the success of the boy bands who preceded and succeeded them. Interestingly enough, the boy bands of the 90s and 00s are back in full effect due to them appealing to the nostalgia factor of their audience. The preteens and teens of the era are now adults. They can afford to attend huge tours and cruises and residencies in Las Vegas.  All I can say is that no matter who knocks them, I will always hold a special place in my heart for boy bands from all eras.

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