YMMV / Westlife

• Americans Hate Tingle: Westlife was enormously popular in Europe and Asia and also had significant followings in Africa, Australia, and South America. North America was another story. They had some initial success in the US with their first single ‘Swear It Again’ just as the American music market began turning away from boybands. They tried doing some promotion but quickly realized that they weren’t moving enough units to make it worth the effort.
  • A later attempt at promoting ‘World of Our Own’ had some success in the US until radio stations discovered who it was by.
    Nicky: We sent over a CD of World of Our Own with no name on it. They didn't know it was Westlife and every single radio station in the States – all came back and said that this is an absolutely huge hit. They said it was great for radio and people are gonna love it, especially as there's just a slight bit of rock guitar to it. But as soon as we revealed it was Westlife, the radio pluggers all went, 'Whoa, not Westlife – it's a boyband.' And we cannot break that down, no matter what song we come out with. The problem with America is that it's all radio and you've got to break into radio first. And currently radio doesn't want to play boy bands or pop music. If Bono wrote a song with us tomorrow and it was the biggest hit in the world, if Westlife's name is put to it, it won't be a hit in America because radio will not play us.
• Critical Dissonance: Critics did not like Westlife at all and it was inevitable that at least one article would question the band’s continued relevance whenever a new album was released. But critics could do little to dissuade the mass market, who bought millions of albums and sold out arenas and stadium to see the group.
• Germans Love David Hasselhoff: "Beautiful in White" was a demo track recorded by Shane but ultimately rejected for Westlife. The demo was leaked onto YouTube some time later and became immensely popular as a wedding song in Southeast Asia, prompting Shane to record a proper version and release it as a single.
• Signature Song: "Flying Without Wings".