Certainly by now you've become aware of The Wanted, a British boy band that's been keeping strong atop the charts with their first US smash, "Glad You Came." Well, there's another Brit boy band in town, and all of a sudden we've got a genuine rivalry going.
Not since the 90's, when boy bands The Backstreet Boys and In Sync battled it out for pop chart supremacy, have we seen such a keen interest in the genre. Just when The Wanted was beginning to gain steam with their single and an announcement that they will finally be releasing a new album here in the US, five other British/Irish boys who call themselves One Direction are beginning too steal some of their thunder.
On March 13th, One Direction released their debut "Up All Night," which is poised to topple Adele's "21" for the top spot on iTunes any day now. Their new single, "What Makes You Beautiful," is slowly gaining on "Glad You Came," only three spots behind the former on today's most downloaded singles. That music news, coupled with an announcement that the boys have inked a deal to star in their own Nickelodeon television series, have propelled them ahead of their rivals in the attention department.
The boys of One Direction, Niall Horan, Zayn Malik, Liam Payne, Harry Styles and Louis Tomlinson were third place runner's up on the 7th season of the British version of the "X-Factor" and were since signed to producer Simon Cowell's record label. They signed on with Columbia Records here in the US and thus the release and subsequent invasion of record charts over here.
Though I don't know many of the songs of either group, from the ones I have heard, it seems that One Direction's sound is more bubble gum pop than the more mature music of The Wanted. Though both will appeal to a certain stereotypical type of fan, I'd say the latter may prove to have more substance in the end.
The rivalry between the bands went into upswing recently when members of The Wanted recently said some less than flattering things about their fellow boy band. "If you look at One Direction’s chart position then look at ours, they’re not really even our rivals," said Wanted member Nathan Sykes. Members of the group called One Direction "just faces" and were forced to apologize by their management team to avoid any bad karma.
The boys of One Direction were reportedly and understandably upset with the remarks, but it looks as if they may indeed one-up their rivals pretty soon! Stay tuned...
Sources:
Google Hosted News
tellymix.com
Image Source: Teen.com
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the wanted is wayyy better!!! :)
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