Boybands - Then and Now

 Ah, ah, ah, try and deny all you want,  boys and girls, but there was a time in your life when you were singing along and knew ALL the words to this song...

Or perhaps this one even...

It's interesting though cos it looks like the Western invasion of boyband's has died down immenesely but now there emerges a new sort of boyband variation, I'm talking K-pop(Korean pop) and J-pop(Japanese pop).

There are still some striking similarities between the boy bands of yesteryear and that of today. Let's have a closer look shall we.

1)The wacky hairstyles

Chris from N'sync. 

Jun Hyung from the K-Pop boyband BEAST.

I believe those are Cornrows on Chris's head right? Cornrows generally don't tend to look as muppet-ish as that do they? Probably a good reason why most guys didn't walk around with that hairstyle then, hurm. Jun Hyung's hairstyle wouldn't look too bad...if he could decide between it. "Hurm, what hairstyle should I wear? Whispy or shaved?...I'll just wear both!" *facepalm*

2) The fashion

The Backstreet Boys

J-Pop band Arashi

Hey, what about that? They all match! Though the backstreet boys seem to have a more classy and sombre look with a pop of colour thrown in, Arashi seems to be taking the white and pure route with dashes of their own personality. They're all still pretty much synchronised though. Looking like a unit is indeed integral to the boyband persona.

3) The cheesy lyrics

Let's take a look at some lyrics from 98 Degrees:

I wish you'd look at me that way
Your beautiful eyes looking deep into mine
Telling me more than any words could say
But you don't even know I'm alive
Baby, to you all I am is the invisible man
Oh, you don't see me baby (Chorus from 'Invisible man')

Heart broken guy who's invisible to the lady that he loves. *Dramatically* Can you just taste the pain?...dude, I feel you, man!

Let's have a look at some of today's lyrics, this is from 2PM (K-pop):

listen to my heartbeat. it's beating for you
listen to my heartbeat. it's waiting for you
don't i know that it's over. i don't understand why i'm like this
listen to my heartbeat. it's beating for you
listen to my heartbeat. it's waiting for you
it still hurts thinking of you. i think of you every time my heart beats (Chorus from 'Heartbeat')

I see... repetition. LOTS of it. And the heartbeat waiting and beating for whoever it is they're singing to? You need some new lines Romeo(s) *smirk*.

With that dissection being done though, I'll still probably end up listening to this stuff cos hey, music is music and some of it just happens to hold memories for me. Nothing wrong with it. Music's meant to be enjoyed.

Till next time, this is Sugar Twil *spin all charismatic like* signing off!

P.s. FYI, I meant no disrespect to any fans of the boybands mention. So go ahead and continue swooning.