Growing up in the ‘90s, girl groups and boy bands dominated the music scene. Long before the era of Justin Bieber and the iPod, we listened to the likes of *NSYNC and Britney Spears (pre-meltdown) on our candy-colored Discmans.
We secretly hoped we’d be Mrs. Nick Carter (because, let’s be honest, he was the cute one of the Backstreet Boys); listening his 19-year-old self singing about never breaking a girl’s heart and not judging a girl by her looks made our hearts melt. And let’s not forget the ever-growing battle between *NSYNC and BSB as to which group had the better singers and which one had the better dancers. Needless to say, the ‘90s were pretty awesome.
There’s a reason why us ‘90s kids smile when we hear that familiar tune of our childhood—it might make us feel old, but it gives us a reason to get in a good mood in that nostalgia kind of way.
So when I heard there was a “new wave” of boy bands emerging, I scratched my head. Ten years ago, Hanson was the trio of cute brothers that made “Mmmbop” so catchy. Then, the Jonas Brothers stepped in their place.
And now, pop culture articles are talking about the newest teen idols—One Direction. They’re basically the 2000s version of *NSYNC, just with prettier hair. The boys tried out for Simon Cowell’s U.K. version of the X Factor, but instead of being sent home, they were turned into a group on the show. Known as 1D to their fans, their debut album, Up All Night, which features the catchy single “What Makes You Beautiful”, is earning rave reviews (and may or may not have a play count of 40 on my iTunes). They performed on Saturday Night Live two weeks ago, and, not to put a pun on it, were so “in sync”. And you know you’ve made it big when you have your own doll.
While we were re-learning the moves to “Bye Bye Bye” and buying tickets for reunion tours, these boy bands were being formed right before our very eyes.
In addition to 1D, another band making young girls squeal with glee is Big Time Rush, a quartet spawned from the Nickelodeon television show of the same name. Thankfully, the band still has the matching outfits and smooth choreography that is essential to boy band-ness.
Rounding out the wave is another U.K. quintet, the Wanted. Fresh off their Top 5 hit “Glad You Came”, the group shakes up the squeaky-clean image of the other two bands. But all three groups have two things in common—they have swoon-worthy singers and get screams from fans loud enough to pierce your ears—a true sign that the boy band era is back.
Hannah G. has 29 post(s) on RTR On Campus
