BOY BANDS: LOVE THEM OR HATE THEM

  by  ellasportfolio 
New Kids On The Block and Backstreet Boys

For many years, I thought that boy bands are groups of boys who play musical instruments such as electric guitar, bass guitar and drums. But in the many years of watching different music channels such as MTV, I realized that boy bands are not what as I thought them to be. Majority of boy bands don't play musical instruments be it on concerts or in recording sessions.

In reality, boy bands are groups of boys - who are teenagers or in their twenties at the time of their formation or their debut - who sing and dance to synthesized music in choreographed dance routines, although some boy bands don't dance, especially the present boy bands.

Boy bands are formed in many different ways. Some boy bands were created by record producers or talent managers who select the boy band members by conducting auditions. Some boy bands were formed from reality music competitions. Some were church choirs, and some formed on their own.

Each decade has its own boy bands. In the 60's, there was The Osmonds, in the 70's - The Jackson 5, in the early 80's - Menudo (a Puerto Rican group), in the late 80's - New Kids On The Block, in the 90's - 'N Sync, Backstreet Boys and Westlife (an Irish group), and presently, we have One Direction, The Wanted and Kpop groups.

It cannot be denied that boy bands are attractive to the female audience. More than 80% of boy bands' fans and supporters are females who are teenagers or in their twenties. Although boy bands are usually short lived, there are some boy bands that made very successful comebacks notably New Kids On The Block and Backstreet Boys.

As with many artists in the music industry, if there are boy bands' supporters, there are also boy band haters. These haters don't like boy bands because according to them, boy bands don't write their own songs, they don't play musical instruments, and they sell millions of records just by being "cute" in their concerts and on their "silly" music videos.

But let's face it; the world of music would never be complete without these boy bands. Each music lover in this world has different musical tastes, and whether we like it or not, there are people who are attracted to boy bands, there are people who prefer the boy bands' type of music, and there is nothing we can do about it but to respect their choice of music. 

So boy bands ..... love them or hate them. 

ONE DIRECTION NAMED TOP RECORDING ARTIST OF 2013

  by  Eva Rinaldi Celebrity and Live Music Photographer 

The International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI) named One Direction as the Global Recording Artist of 2013. The IFPI is an organization that represents the recording industry worldwide. It has 1,300 members in 66 countries.

This is the first time that IFPI published their global recording artist chart. The top 10 global recording artists were chosen based on these factors: popularity of the artists across streaming channels, the number of views of their respective music videos, and the digital and physical albums and singles sales worldwide. According to IFPI's Chief Executive Frances Moore, their chart measures the popularity of artists across the many different ways in which fans choose their music.

One Direction is followed by Eminem and Justin Timberlake on the number 2 and 3 spots, respectively.

Congratulations to One Direction and to the Directioners worldwide!