History Trivia / Westlife

** Mark has gone on record saying that he regards ‘Allow Us to be Frank’ as a cynical cash grab on the part of Westlife’s production team in the wake of Robbie Williams’ success with ‘Swing While You’re Winning’. The group rarely performed any songs off of that album once the related tour (actually marketed as a second greatest hits tour) wrapped. In fact, it's their only album in their discography not to have any Top 40 hits.

* OldShame: Mark has gone on record saying that he regards ‘Allow Us to be Frank’ as a cynical cash grab on the part of Westlife’s production team in the wake of Robbie Williams’ success with ‘Swing While You’re Winning’. The group rarely performed any songs off of that album once the related tour (actually marketed as a second greatest hits tour) wrapped. In fact, it's their only album in their discography not to have any Top 40 hits.

* AmericansHateTingle: 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."

** Although the group knew that Brian was increasingly unhappy with being part of Westlife because of the workload and because of marital problems, his decision to leave just weeks before they were to go on tour to promote ‘Turnaround’ threw his bandmates for a loop. Although they respected his decision, the other members and the production team had to scramble to reassign his vocals and modify the routines to better fit the new four-man lineup.

* BigNameFan: Music/EdSheeran is a huge fan of Westlife and even wrote songs he felt would be a good fit for the group during the time they were broken up. When Westlife reformed, he jumped at the chance to produce their comeback singles.

* TroubledProduction: The making of ‘Allow Us to be Frank’ was not the most enjoyable experience for the group, as they weren’t comfortable with the concept and the material. Nicky took it especially hard because he believed that his vocals were being unfairly cut and had many loud arguments with the producer. It got to the point where he was ready to walk out on the recording sessions and fly back to Ireland before his parts were reinstated.

* ThePeteBest: Westlife began as a sextet called [=IOYou=] (spelled "IOU" in some publications), which consisted of Shane, Mark, and Kian along with Derrick Lacey, Graham Keighron, and Michael Garret. Louis Walsh cut the latter three before Brian and Nicky joined and the group was retooled to become Westlife.

** In fact, it was the lack of meddling that led to Westlife and Cowell parting ways. Cowell’s increased focus on his television ventures and other acts made the band feel like they were an afterthought to him and this lead to them moving to another label for their final release as Westlife.

* OldShame: Mark has gone on record saying that he regards ‘Allow Us to be Frank’ as a cynical cash grab on the part of Westlife’s production team in the wake of Robbie Williams’ success with ‘Swing While You’re Winning’. The group rarely performed any songs off of that album once the related tour (actually marketed as a second greatest hits tour) wrapped.

---> 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."
* ExecutiveMeddling: In the group’s early years, they were very much Simon Cowell’s personal project. He would dictate the direction of each album, single, and music video. This seemed to work out for the best, though, as Westlife entered the Guiness Book of World Records for most consecutive number ones.

** Cowell’s increased focus on his television ventures and other acts made the band feel like they were an afterthought to him and this lead to them moving to another label for their final release as Westlife.