O-Town has always been the hidden gem of the 90s boyband era
O-Town has always been on a class of its own.
The boys, named after Orlando, Florida, broke new ground at the turn of the naughts by being the first boyband created and launched to stardom by a reality TV show. The band members, composed originally of Ashley Parker Angel, Erik-Michael Estrada, Trevor Penick, Jacob Underwood, and Ikaika Kahoano (who was later replaced by Dan Miller after dropping out), debuted on the 2000s TV show Making The Band as Lou Perlman–the guy behind Backstreet Boys and NSYNC–selected them for the final member line up after a nationwide search for boys who could really dance and sing.
Their kind of music was really something else. The boys were not ashamed to delve into really, really mature matters cloaked under the disguise of standard pop–their first big hit, Liquid Dreams, talks about, well, wet dreams with lots of hat tips to women of pop culture. Love Should Be A Crime, a song that’s oddly country in melody, talks about relationships and infidelity. Every Six Seconds is a song about getting turned on every six seconds–perhaps an allude to unfounded statistics regarding men’s boners. And then of course there was All Or Nothing, the song that’s arguably their biggest hit and the single that cemented their fame in the early 2000s. Two decades later, All Or Nothing remains a staple ballad requested by Filipinos across videoke units in the country.
The band was able to sustain their projects well into mid-2000s, releasing other familiar tunes to 90s kids, such as pop-rock song These Are The Days, and We Fit Together, their most progressive song in terms of melody and lyrics. It was a sleeper hit from their second album O2. The group has also won a Teen Choice Award for Breakout Artist in 2001.
The boys disbanded in 2003, but got back together in 2013 for a series of tours and projects. In 2019, the boys released Off, Giants, After The Lights, and Hello World and other songs off of their new album O.T.W.N. The boys have since grown and developed their music styles and sense, and are now proud to share to the world the confluence of their earlier hits and their newest materials.
Lucky for Pinoy fans as O-Town is slated to set foot in our country for this year’s PLAYBACK MUSIC FESTIVAL at SM Mall Of Asia Arena, together with another 90s boyband fave–A1!
The nostalgia is strong on this one!
Tickets are on sale at SM Ticket outlets, and SM Tickets Online if you want to catch these OG boyband idols and see them perform their hits in the flesh. Ticket prices are P5,900 (SVIP with meet and greet and photo), P4,500 (Platinum A), P4,000 (Platinum B), P3,000 (Lower Box Gold), P2,500 (Lower Box Regular), and P1,200 (Upper Box).
For more updates and concert details, visit the official event organizer’s page on Facebook: Playback Music Festival
/INQUIRER.net BrandRoom/Vida Tan
