Westlife is back with a new single, "What About Now," a remake of Daughtry's 7th single from their debut album. Although other songs like "It's Now Over" and "Home" were bigger hits in the United States, "What About Now" is Daughtry's only hit in Britiain to date, hitting #11 just 2 weeks ago. Driven, I believe, from exposure on The X Factor and possibly anticipation of Westlife's upcoming release.
Deride Westlife if you like, but their achievements on the British singles chart has been pretty amazing. Unlike all the other major boybands who split up or took a hiatus, Westlife weathered the un-boyband mid 2000s, actually scoring a few hits during that time. With Take That back and kicking and now JLS on the scene, boybands appear to be making a comeback, so the timing of their new album, Where We Are, their 10th(!), seems apt.
I used to be a big Westlife fan, having been hooked right from the start with "Swear It Again," which my friend Erin and I used to sing to each other. Although I haven't bought a Westlife album since their 2002 greatest hits collection, Unbreakable, I have bought all their singles.
Surely next weekend it will become their 24th top 40 single. Their chart record is uncomparable among recently popular acts: they've had 14 #1 hits, tying them with Cliff Richard as the act with the third most #1 hits ever (behind Elvis's 21 and the Beatles' 17). Their other 10 singles have all been top 10s (all but one were top 5s). Ten of their #1 hits were this decade, making them the artist with the most UK #1s in the 2000s. They've also had 14 #1 hits in their Irish homeland.
That "What About Now" is a remake is certainly nothing new for the band. Among their previous 23 singles, 8.5 were remakes: "I Have a Dream" (Abba)/"Seasons in the Sun" (Terry Jacks), "Against All Odds" (Phil Collins), "Uptown Girl" (Billy Joel), "Miss You Nights" (Cliff Richard)--a double A-side with original song "Tonight", "Mandy" (Barry Manilow), "You Raise Me Up" (Secret Garden, also covered by Daniel O'Donnell an Josh Groban), "When You Tell Me that You Love Me" (Diana Ross, remade with her), "The Rose" (Bette Midler), "Home" (Michael Buble),
Some of their songs have been remade: "Flying Without Wings" was a #2 hit in the US when remade by the second American Idol winner, Ruben Studdard. "Evergreen," an album cut from World of Our Own, was remade by the first Pop Idol winner Will Young and is the biggest-selling single in the UK this decade.
4 comments:
Can't for the X-Factor tonight, there's Michael Buble and of course Westlife. I'd like to know why they would remake a song that's already doing well on the charts?
Good old Westlife, I remember the old times where boybands really are everywhere, BSB, Nsync, 98 Degrees, Westlife, and A1. Loved Swear It but my faves track by them gotta be If I Let You Go, I really enjoyed their 1st album and the Coast to Coast album. Ahh, the good old days. LOL. BTW what's the deal by remaking a not so old song? Weird.
J.Mensah - Isn't Daughtry doing well because of the Westlife version? I read that it was performed on X Factor or used somehow. Since Westlife is on Syco, Simon Cowell's label, it's not a coincidence.
rcLoy - "What About Now" is 3 years old, since that's when the Daughtry album came out. So really, it's not a new song, it just seems that way since the single is currently popular. Consider that "Evergreen" was only months old when Will Young remade that.
ah just watched them perform it on the x factor results and it was quite marvelous. And yes you are right - they played the Daughtry version over some of the failed contestants montages. It's not a new trick - they played Michael Buble's Home for a few weeks before that was a Westlife single too. Synchronicity!
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