A Roundtable Interview with The Wanted
Whoever came up with the band name of The Wanted should be heavily rewarded.
Indeed, The Wanted is clearly wanted, more so specifically, by the female breed. I arrived at this conclusion the moment this roundtable interview setting was in place, and the interviewers were seated altogether – that was when I realized I was the only male out at sea. I had almost instantly thought that Melissa (a fellow Power Of Pop contributing writer) would have been more appropriate to have reviewed this.
That said, it is easily understandable why The Wanted is so hotly demanded. Most obviously, they are young, tanned, charismatic, witty and in a boyband – probably ideal candidates in a girl’s wet dream (Do girls have wet dreams? – Kev). The lads had officially released 5 singles to date, with their debut All Time Low and the recent summer pop anthem Glad You Came reaching the coveted #1 spot on the UK Singles Chart. Their next single will be Lightning, and their second studio release will be due out on the 7th of November. Surely, they will be looking forward and hoping that the success of their previous single will repeat itself in history. Only time will tell.
Admittedly, their songs do catch on in a personal level, for instance when I’m feeling down, hitting rock bottom and asking myself for a pick-me-up (All Time Low); or the abandonment of contagious pop fun (in the video for Gold Forever), and the recent dirty pun-related song, which can easily have a double meaning (Glad You Came).
On being called a boyband
They feel okay at being called a boyband, and explained: “It feels more boyband here actually. People always say, “do you mind being called a boyband”, which is a weird question, because the genre of music we’re in, which I think in the UK, people think (of it) as more pop than boyband. But here, it feels like we’re getting mania.” They further elaborated: “It’s better than being called a girlband (laughter all around). I guess, it’s part of history, we’re part of something that started with The Beatles and… I mean, now we’re in a boyband, and when I die, I would have been in a boyband, and I’m kinda proud of it.” It’s no wonder their official website’s definition alternates to “ladband” instead.
On possible future collaborations
“I would really like to work with Nicki Minaj. We know about K-Pop recently, and we can’t dance to save our lives, so I would love to do one, maybe with a girl band (Super Junior was funnily brought up here, but The Wanted seemed to have no freaking clue that they are an all-male band, and the ladies interviewers didn’t correct them and were just laughing along), where they are like all perfect, and we’re just sorta stumbling around after them, terribly. We can sing, and they can just dance and do harmonies. Unfortunately, we are the opposite of K-Pop, we’re not polished, and we are terrible at synchronized things, cause, c’mon, look at us.”
On the long-term, far future
One of the best answers in the interview has to be this: “in time, you’ll realize, and that we’ve already realized, that this won’t last forever. So we’ve accepted it that way, that it won’t last forever.” They had made reference to Take That, which recently reunited and have a very successful comeback, and had expressed hopeful outlook in the future; but it was nice to see and know that the lads knew about this [the short term careers of pop groups] and accepted reality.
The Wanted – Max George, Siva Kaneswaran, Nathan Sykes, Jay McGuiness and Tom Parker – were very nice, humble and with no air throughout the interview. The band had demanded that we move ourselves closer to the band for a more intimate session (as they had felt the intimidating vibe of the atmosphere in the room and the gaping distance between us and the band). The interview felt like home – yes, they may already be pop world’s next big thing, but most importantly, they are humane too. Siva even negotiated and fought for more questions to be answered and extended interview time with their management, even though it was clear that they were running short on schedule time for the day before their home trip. It was a pity that most of the questions raised weren’t really directed at music, but merely just girl, Singapore, food and fan talks.
As this post wears itself out, I will bob out with some of their music ringing in my head (before it’s all forgotten and faded away). Until then, I wish The Wanted all the best, in a big big (pop) world, like Emilia once sang.
[CJ]
Continue reading “THE WANTED”
