Do Boy Bands Still Work?

December 10 is Simon Cowell’s newest boy band. Created on the Netflix show Simon Cowell: The Next Act, the band consists of 7 members: Cruz, Josh, Hendrik, John, Danny, Nicholas, and Sean. The ultimate goal of December 10 seems to be to fill the void left by One Direction in Western boy bands.

But does anyone care anymore?

I want to preface this by saying that I don’t want to hate on any of the band members. They all seem sweet and passionate about what they’re doing.

However, one of the main problems with December 10 (referred to as D10 from now on) is that they are very clearly a One Direction copycat. This, of course, is because of Cowell rather than the boys themselves. It seems like Simon Cowell is in need of his next cash cow, and a 1D 2.0 is his answer to that. Even the name itself, D10, is 1D (01D) backwards. They have the same group dynamic and vibe as 1D: they’re just a group of lads who like to sing. They're like brothers. They’re just guys whose dreams came true. They even have their own version of long-haired Harry Styles (Nicholas) and a blonde Irish boy (Sean).

Simon Cowell himself said that his biggest regret was not owning the One Direction name. December 10 seems to be his solution to this regret. I’m sure that the band and their rights will be much more controlled than their predecessor. Something I’ve found interesting while watching interviews with the D10 boys is the way Simon Cowell is brought up in every interview– either by the interviewer or the boys themselves. 

Simon Cowell is not very well-liked by the public anymore, mainly due to his cruelty towards the artists he represented. His team—and probably himself—are very aware of this. The D10 boys constantly talk about how kind and generous he is, along with how grateful they are to him. This isn’t exactly out of the ordinary, but they– like One Direction– are being propped up as Simon Cowell’s band. They are indebted to him.

The members of D10 are all extremely talented singers, and they came onto Cowell's show like that. Their auditions were impressive, and they clearly have proper training, unlike the members of 1D (who, in hindsight, were quite bad). But that’s a problem– there’s no room for growth with the members. With the standard of perfection online nowadays, they have very clean images. Everything about them feels very calculated and formulaic. In their “Meet the Band” YouTube videos, they’re asked about their favorite inside joke with the rest of the boys. It feels like their management is fishing for some kind of inside joke for the fans, like 1D had, but the 1D jokes and references were natural. A lot of them came from their video diaries, where they fooled around without a production team behind the camera.

Their first single, “Run My Way,” dropped on January 30th this year. I have to admit, it’s pretty good. It’s definitely a basic pop song, but it’s well-made and catchy. It does very much sound like a One Direction song, though. The song debuted at #72 on the UK singles chart but dropped off after the second week. In comparison, 1D’s first single, “What Makes You Beautiful,” debuted at #1 on the UK singles chart and was released over a year after the band’s formation. Maybe one of the issues D10 is facing is the swiftness with which the entertainment industry moves. If they don’t release enough content and make a bigger impact, they risk being forgotten about.

Unlike The X-Factor or Britain's Got Talent, where audiences tune in every week, Netflix shows are singular. The audience isn’t waiting to see what happens next because they can just watch the next episode. Because of this, we don’t see the band build as you did with the groups on The X-Factor. There’s no time for audiences to communally develop favorites. Teenage girls forming a bond over the boy band is the most important thing to keeping the band alive. With a Netflix show, which not everyone has access to, it’s harder to build that fandom. They seem to be relying heavily on social media to build the community, which isn’t a bad idea, but social media is so non-universal. Everyone sees something different which is true of the music industry as well, now. #1 hits aren’t hits for everyone anymore like they were in 2010.

With the global rise of K-pop, this western formula of the boy band– 1D, NSYNC, 5SOS– doesn’t work anymore. It’s manufactured, but not in the right way.

Unfortunately for D10, their timing seems not to have worked out well. After a four-year hiatus, BTS has made their comeback. While D10 was formed when BTS was on a lengthy break, they just so happened to debut right before the return of one of the most popular groups. Comparing the two, it's easy to see that D10 was an attempt to merge the K-pop and British boy band formulas together without understanding what makes K-pop popular. D10, like BTS, has seven members, but they don’t dance. Looking at clips from the few concerts they’ve had, they just seem to all stand on stage together. There’s a lack of cohesion in their performances and in the band itself. It’s not very interesting to watch seven guys walk around and sing, but it is interesting to watch seven guys dance and sing.

Another blow to D10 was a comment one of them made about BTS. In a clip from their show, Cruz said, “If BTS can sell out Wembley Stadium in flipping five minutes, we could sell out flipping Pluto in five minutes. I’m serious. They’re terrible.” This obviously did not go over well. Cruz later apologized on the Zach Sang Show, saying he meant to say they wish to be like BTS one day. People were quick to point out how disrespectful it is to put down a group that you are clearly trying to copy.

Luckily for D10, the internet moves fast, and I’m sure most people have forgotten about this– if they even knew in the first place. After spending an embarrassing amount of time looking into the band, I really do wish them the best. I think they have a lot of potential which is limited by Simon Cowell’s pre-historic ideas of what a band should be.

I have to give credit where credit is due because I will probably have “Run My Way” stuck in my head for another month after all of this.