Move over One Direction, there’s a new boy band in town.
Jonah Marais, Corbyn Besson, Daniel Seavey, Jack Avery and Zach Herron of the group Why Don’t We have quickly become bona fide pop stars and may be the hardest working teens in music at the moment. In their first year as a band, Why Don’t We has pumped out four EPs—as well as a new Christmas record—and has amassed more than 100 million views on YouTube. Now they’re hitting the road alongside Taylor Swift, Demi Lovato and more for Jingle Ball 2017.
Performing on the tour is a big deal for Marais, as the Minnesota native has attended the concert every year with his sister since 2009. The 19-year-old singer admits that it’s surreal to share the stage with some of his favorite musical acts.
“I’ve imagined myself up on the stage a lot of times,” Marais tells Metro. “Now that we’re here, we’re on this tour, it’s a pretty crazy feeling.”
While Why Don’t We is the latest group to take up the boy band mantle, their sound is a bit more diverse than past pop crooners like New Kids on the Block or the Backstreet Boys.
Drawing influences from sources such as Ed Sheeran, Drake and even the Beatles, Why Don’t We likes to dabble in a variety of styles. According to Seavey, their recently released holiday EP, “A Why Don’t We Christmas,” epitomizes their ecclectic tastes, featuring everything from doo-wop to a capella.
“We’re just making the music we love and doing it our way,” Seavey says. “We’re just doing it the Why Don’t We way.”
Beyond their musical style, the band has also taken a few other lessons from their favorite performers.
If you’re wondering how a group of teens has found the movitation to create and release so much music in only a year, Seavey credits Drake for inspiring Why Don’t We’s work ethic.
“Drake is a big one for us,” he says. “How much music he releases, we’ve tried to do that releasing four EPs in the first year of being a band. We’ve kind of taken on that challenge of putting out as much music as we can.”
Above all, the band wants to follow in the Beatles’ footsteps by remaining true to their sound, never being afraid to showcase their personalities on or off the stage.
“We take big influence from the Beatles, just looking at how they live their lives and how close they were together even as people,” Besson says. “They weren’t afraid to show their personalities, so we definitely take influence from that.”
“We don’t have someone telling us what kind of songs to put out or what kind of vibe we have to go for,” adds Marais. “We want to put out the music that we want to drop. It’s 100 percent us. Our sound keeps evolving.”
If you go:
Dec. 10, 6 p.m., TD Garden, 100 Legends Way, Boston, kiss108.iheart.com
