American Boy Bands: Where are they at?

Boybands- smooth dance moves, crazy styles, gelled hair, epic hand-ography and of course amazing voices (*cough* and bodies *cough*).
Need I say more? These past couple of years have been rough for boybands in america, especially seeing as we have almost no boybands that are still together (there is bigtime rush and Jonah's brothers who are more pop but that's another story). Anywho, America has seen some new movement in the mystical world of boyband-land which lets us know that boybands aren't dead they were simply hibernating (for a long time lol). Who are these bands?

~*~Brutha- could be named a modern day version of the Jackson 5, these brothers have been making ripples in the R&B charts since their debut in 2008 with "I can't hear the music" with DEF Jam records. They have all the right ingredients of a great boyband and their latest single "One Day on this Earth" really shows that these boys have one objective- serenade the ladies! Be on the look out for their sophomore album "Vacancy" which has songs written and produced by R.Kelly. I'm sure it will not disappoint!



~*~ Dru Hill- That's right Dru hill is back in action! This veteran boy band has finally made its way back to the R&B scene with their new single "Love MD". Their powerful love song shows without a doubt that they still got it, swag, dance moves and all.

~*~ Jagged Edge- Jagged Edge is still tearing it up on the charts. Their newest album "The Remedy" is set to drop in store September 28th and they recently released their newest single "Lay you down". This band has been in the music game since the 90's and they continue to put out smooth R&B hits that their fans adore. Keep your eyes open for their new album!

~*~ Day 26- We saw this band's formation and rise to fame on P. Diddy's show "Making the band 4". Throughout all the hardships and drama they continued to make amazing hits, and definitely left their mark on the music industry. They released their 2nd album "Forever in a day" last year and are working on their latest album "A Brand New Day". The new album does not have a official release date as of yet however I'm sure many of their fans are eagerly awaiting more news about the band's activities. Day 26 reportedly as changed from P. Diddy's Bad Boy label to Atlantic Records after the release of their sophomore album "Forever in a day". They have also lost one of their members, Que, and so they are now down to a 4 member band. I'm not sure what the future holds for this band, but hopefully with all the changes they will be able to persevere and continue moving forward in the music industry.

~*~ NLT (not like them)- This boyband is unfortunately no longer together, however they were such a talented group of entertainers that I felt it was necessary to add Them to the list. These four boys really brought fresh talent to ther Music scene, with songs written by Marques Houston, beats by Timbaland and choreography by Shaun Evaristo. However due to song leaks online this band wasn't able to release a full album, their singles ("That Girl", "Karma", "He said She Said are still worth listening to if you haven't heard them before. Although NLT isn't together, the members are still doing things in the entertainment industry: Travis Garland is now a solo artist/songwriter and Kevin McHale is a star on the popular show "Glee".

~*~Travis has been doing remixes and releasing songs on youtube and was recently discovered by Perez Hilton. And then was given the opportunity to perform his newest single "Believe" on American Idol. Check out his work on youtube and twitter!

Well that's all I have on american boys bands (or the lack thereof). There is still a lack of boy/girl bands in american music industry, why I'm not sure. But if anyone has any other artists they would like to recommend feel free to let me know!

Music Comebacks!

Hello everyone,

It's been a while! I hope everyone has had a great summer! I had a very busy summer filled with summer research and graduation parties and packing (lots of packing!). I'm currently in bloomington, IN starting graduate school this fall in Audiology. Classes just started today and I must say I'm excited :-). If your a student like me I wish you all luck on the upcoming semester!


Hopefully you have had your ears open to recent movements onto the R&B scene. A great album that was released this month is "Intimacy" By KEM. KEM produced his second album in 2005 which climbed to the top of the charts and won him Best Adult R&B single of the year at the Billboard Music Awards with his song "I can't stop loving you". Intimacy continues his R&B legacy with his single "Why Would You Stay" reaching number one on the billboard music charts and Itunes overall album charts so I would hurry and grab his CD while supplies last. He is an amazing artist who has the ability to move his listeners through his powerful lyrics and his soulful tones. He always records with a live band which really brings his music to life no matter where you happen to be when you are listening to him. He is currently on tour so check out his website at musicbykem.com and see if he's coming to your city!


Hopefully you have had your ears open to recent movements onto the R&B scene, especially artists that have been making a comeback. The first one I want to talk about is the come back of Maxwell with his album "BLACKsummers'night" which came out in July of last year. This album not only showcases Maxwell's amazing voice but reveals a story that every listener can relate to. Maxwell has been off the music scene for 8 years and has finally made a stunning comeback with the installment which is the first off a trilogy. I have been a fan of his for a while and I know first hand how hard Maxwell has worked on this album from reading his blog on Myspace. It was set to be released in 2006 however the album was pushed back, giving Maxwell more time to really craft and shape this album to what he wanted it to be. After 8 years, BLACKsummers'night was well worth the wait! So keep your eyes and ears open for his next two installments and feel free to visit his site at www.musze.com.

Some other artists that have made a comeback this year include Jaheim with his album "Finding my way back", Erykah Badou with her album 'New Amerykah, Part 2: Return of the Ankh', Toni Braxton with her comeback "Pulse". 2010 has been a good year for comebacks, but its not over yet! Keep your ears open to whats coming out in the future, I will talk to you guys soon!

~Sadé