Who are The Wanted?

I really like The Wanted. There! I said it.

Often seen as "not cool" for a guy in his 30s to admit liking a boyband, but I don't care. These guys are really very, very good!

The Wanted, the British and Irish music group and one the more recent offerings from the ever fun world of boyband.

Currenty with 3 successful albums under their belt, they have a collective EP on the way. Their debut album, titled "The Wanted" (very creative title) hit the books at number 4 in the UK album charts, a couple of years ago, back in 2010. Their 2nd UK album, titled "Battleground" released back in November 2011, holds 4 released singles (figures to date), which also includes a number 1 hit and an additional 2 more singles that reached the top 3 spot in the UK charts.

In the US, their debut album is a hybrid of the two albums combined. Titled The Wanted this album features songs from both UK standard LPs.

A boyband (although, some refer to them as a Manband) with a bit more grrrr than One Direction and a little less blaaaaa too. Having toured with Britney Spears, these boys mean business and are ready to take on the world.

The Wanted comprise of 5 guys.

Left to right they are:

• Maximillian Alberto "Max" George, DOB: 6th September 1988 in Manchester, UK.
• Thomas Anthony "Tom" Parker, DOB: 4th August 1988 in Bolton, UK.
• Siva Kaneswaran, DOB: 16th November 1988 in Ireland.
• James "Jay" McGuiness, DOB: 24th July 1990 in Nottingham
• Nathan James Sykes, DOB: 18th April 1993 in Gloucestershire, UK.

(Quick Facts taken from the Wanted's Official website)

Just like the Spice girls had their personalities, the same can be said for these boys. Siva tends to get regarded as the featherbrain model (y'know, the lights are on, but nobody's home), Tom is the little skally, Nathan obviously gets perceived as the young innocent. Jay is the aesthetically challenged one with a great voice, and Max is the bit of rough who everyone wants to go on a date with!

Seeing them in interview, they appear to be a-kin to a group of lads that wouldn't look out of place down the pub, fantasising about their annual 18-30s holiday to Marbella. Compared to most boy bands, these are the guys that don't dance - they don't do choreography. They're too cool for school. None of this fancy One Direction plastic fantastic.

Here is the video for The Wanted's latest single, Chasing the Sun. Seen on such shows as Britain's Got Talent and The Voice US. These boys prove time and time again, why they are the new contenders for world domination.

Not ever really taking much notice of them previously, it wasn't just the fact that their album was on sale for £7, that I decided to buy their 2nd album Battleground - it was also based on their number 1 single Glad You Came that I really liked and became an absolute earworm for me, you know, the type of song you can't get out of your head.

The only two facts I could probably have told you about them (before doing a bit of research, like all good Squidooers) is that they did a song for Comic Relief in 2011 and were NOT created on a reality TV show (how novel!).

Are Bands that come from Reality TV Shows, as credible as organically produced pop bands?

The first release from the album, was actually the UK Charity, Comic Relief track from March2011 - which surprassed my expectations of it-must-be-naff-because-its-a-charity-song and is actually, really rather very good!

The song in question, Gold Forever entered number3 in the UK charts (unfortunately they had stiff competition from some unheard of singer called, Adele).

The song itself is essentially a ballard, that flirts its way into a rousing dance track. The song is about having that one time of your life that you don't want to forget, having a golden memory - a gaaawguss uplifting message, with a very catchy melody too.

Photo credit: Amazon.com

This really is one of those tracks that makes you smile. Perfect for a charity like Comic Relief. Have a look at this video, the red noses are from the charity...not because The Wanted have clown fetishes, of course.

Additional main players on the Battleground album are the infectious Glad You Came (the number 1 single), and the catchy but-also-a-little-bit-annoying single Lightning (with the cheestastic lyric "I know that it's a little bit fright-nin, we might as well be playing with light-nin" ...who didn't bring in the "how to write a good pop lyric" book to the studio that day?). Lastly (at time of writing) the 4th single from the album, Warzone (does anyone else sense a militant theme here?? What brutes!) which gives us a ballard, unusually sung from the perspective of the boyband member, being hurt by a girlfriend who did they dirty on them - con-tro-ver-shalllll.

Everything about this album, from the lyrics to the album artwork, gives you the feeling that they are trying to be a bit edgy and gritty (battlegrounds, warzones, fighting) and to be honest they're probably succeeding quite well. The odd thing about that statement, is somehow they manage to present songs that sound like a post-Robbie Take That tune (one of my favourite tracks: Lie to Me), as well as a Westlife-reject tune (the rather good Last to Know). I was pleased there were solid album tracks. Some pop albums nowadays seem to consist of the released tracks and any old padding to flesh out an album. There is also a rather odd track I'll Be Your Strength that sounds like a melange of James Morrison (spew) and a dance-mix hybrid tune. It's not unsurprising, to find out Steve Mac (who has also written for Kelly Clarkson, Leona Lewis, Westlife and Toni Braxton to name a few) produced and wrote a handful of the tracks and Guy Chambers (he what wrote Robbie's Angels) wrote a track too. Poptastic.

For playability and length Battleground is a fair sized one. 11 tracks in all. Rumours are abound that this CD will be repackaged and re-released with bonus tracks - I love this album so much, I would be very tempted to buy it again with the bonus material. I have this CD in my car for 5 weeks solid, and I'm still not tired of it - not a bad accolade in anyone's book!

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