The Wanted are a British-Irish Boy Band that was formed in 2009 through a mass audition process. Their first big single in the UK was the song "All Time Low
" which surprised many by hitting number one despite a lack of traditional promotion. In 2012, they began accumulating popularity in North America with their song "Glad You Came."
Their albums include their debut self-titled album, their second record "Battleground," and their US EP album, also entitled "The Wanted" which includes tracks from both of their European albums and two new tracks. Their singles to date are: "All Time Low," "Heart Vacancy," "Lose My Mind," "Gold Forever," "Glad You Came," "Lightning," "Warzone," "Chasing The Sun," "I Found You," "Walks Like Rihanna," "We Own The Night," and "Show Me Love (America)".
Aside from their commercial successes, they are most notable for defying many stereotypes of boy bands: they openly admit both to drinking more than they should and not being able to dance (and they don't dare dabble in actual choreography) and their sound is aimed primarily at an older teens, early twenties demographic. Because of this, they have been viewed as a "darker" version of rival boy band One Direction.
In the beginning, The Wanted and One Direction were at equal popularity in the UK, but with Bieber Fever still at its peak, neither band got much attention across the Atlantic. However, in the spring of 2012, the two bands turned their attention to the U.S., and teenage girls went absolutely crazy...but only over One Direction. The Wanted, on the other hand, sort of crashed and burned after "Glad You Came" finished its run, and have had very minimal success outside the UK ever since.
In early 2013, E!, in collaboration with Ryan Seacrest, announced that The Wanted were to be the stars of their own reality show. The show premiered in June of that year to below average ratings. The show didn't get a second season.
In early 2014, the band went on indefinite hiatus. However, Sykes has said that the breakup may not be forever and they may reunite someday soon. They eventually did in September 2021, when they announced they were reuniting and releasing new music. However, member Tom Parker passed away in March 2022 from brain cancer.
Members are (from left to right as they appear in the photo):
- Thomas "Tom" Parker: born August 4, 1988 in Bolton, and died March 30, 2022.
- Nathan Sykes: born April 18, 1993 in Gloucester.
- Siva Kaneswaran: born November 16, 1988 in Dublin, Ireland.
- Maxmillian "Max" George: born September 6, 1988 in Manchester.
- James "Jay" McGuiness: born July 24, 1990 in Nottingham.
Discography
- The Wanted (2010)
- Battleground (2011)
- The Wanted (EP) (2012)
- Word of Mouth (2013)
Tropes:
- Aerith and Bob: Four men with common British names... and the very ethnic Siva Kaneswaran.
- Affectionate Nickname: JayBird, Lil/Baby Nath, TomTom/The Boy, Seev
- Album Title Drop: Their album "Battleground" gets its name from a line in the song "Warzone":
- I throw my armor down, and leave the battleground, for the final time now.
- Boy Band: Obviously, their most defining characteristic.
- Break-Up Song: "Say It On The Radio," "Last To Know," "A Good Day For Love To Die," and "Show Me Love (America)"
- Celebrity Endorsement: They have repeatedly thanked Ellen Degeneres for their stateside success which followed an appearance on her show. Glee also covered their song "Glad You Came" before it was well known in the US.
- Follow Your Heart: "Rocket"
- Intercourse with You: "The Weekend" ("Let's get down and uh some more") and "Glad You Came"
- Kiss of the Vampire: The music video for "Chasing The Sun" has the band romancing women in nightclubs, all of whom turn out to be vampires and all of whom bite them.
- Looped Lyrics: "Glad You Came" has no non-repeating lines.
- Lyrical Dissonance: You couldn't tell from the music (let alone the fun, Coney Island video) but "Lose My Mind" is lyrically quite depressing. "A Good Day For Love To Die" is also quite upbeat for being about a doomed relationship.
- Obsession Song: "Lose My Mind," "Demons," and "Weakness"
- Oop North: Max and Tom are from Manchester and Bolton, respectively.
- Performance Video: "All Time Low" was re-released to the US market with an accompanying mv of clips from performances over the past 3 years.
- Shout-Out: The music video for "Walks Like Rihanna" has Imagine Spots of the band in "Bye Bye Bye", "I Want It That Way", and "Back For Good". And the title, of course, is in reference to the singer.
- Supermodel Strut: "Walks Like Rihanna" is Exactly What It Says on the Tin: A song about a girl that's sexy because she can strut just like Rihanna.
She can't dance
But who cares
She walks like Rihanna
- Under New Management: There was backlash in parts of the fanbase when they left their original British management team for the American Scooter Braun's record label.
- Video Full of Film Clips: "Chasing the Sun", recorded for Ice Age: Continental Drift.
- Vocal Dissonance:
- Because Nathan is the youngest and looks it, people are generally surprised when something like this comes out of his mouth. He has the deepest voice of the group and usually does the low harmonies.
- Likewise, Tom was the oldest and had the Bad Boy look, but his voice was the highest.
- Because Nathan is the youngest and looks it, people are generally surprised when something like this
- Vocal Tag Team: Each of them take turns doing lead vocals within a song and choruses from single to single. Additionally, they often sing in pairs and significant care is put into harmonies.
- A Wild Rapper Appears!: Dappy's "Bring It Home". The Wanted are only featured, but they dominate the entire track. Dappy gets a few lines in here and there, then raps for about four bars before the final chorus.
- What Did I Do Last Night?: Jay. Too many stories to fit here but nearly all involve losing his phone.
