They were getting so much air time that you would think they would do better, but if this band came earlier like around 1997 then they would have been bigger because by 2003 music was notably changing.
Except their music wasn't really the same as Backstreet Boys' or NSYNC's music. From the very first single they were a bit towards r'n'b, they weren't usual bubblegum pop or pop-rock even, and around 2003 was when a lot of other pop acts were going towards r'n'b as well so it should have worked for them... The reason I think they failed is because they were so focused on their female audience. Even though BB or Nsync were boybands and were aimed at girls as well, their music was easier to digest for males or a general wider audience, because it was lyrically universal in many cases. O-Town's songs are exclusively about loving a girl and they were aiming themselves at girls with their videos where there were always girls... I think that made people not want to take them seriously as a musical act. Plus they were Lou's third boyband in a row and people just weren't that excited anymore...
@Niki Young I don't know how much their music was controlled by the record label or by Lou, but I'm guessing the r'n'b influence was a conscious choice at least on the management/label side, it was an attempt to keep the boyband format relevant in the changing pop sphere. But my point still stands, their literal focus on females in their songs made their already manufactured music hard to digest to a general mass and they showed up a bit late to the party.
Yes, I have thought the exact same thing. Even though Nsync and BSB are extremely talented, Lou Pearlman didn't have a vast variety of people to pick for his groups. For BSB, he entered a little ad in a specific part of Orlando newspaper for auditions for his boy band group. Howie and AJ were the first to audition and obviously got the job. Then Nick came and they plucked Kevin from Universal Studios and needed one more member so they called Brian who is kevin's cousin. For NSYNC, Chris hung around Lou's and wanted to form a band. So they chose Joey bc he worked at one of the disney parks with Chris and was an orlando resident, then Justin and JC from MMC, and they needed a bass singer. Joey use to sing in highschool and one of his former classmates joined. However, he ended up dropping out and they didn't know who else could join so justin ended up calling his singing coach from TN who refered Lance. I feel like Chris, Lance, and Joey were nothing but fillers for the band and the major talent was from JC and Justin. However, with OTown, they auditioned all over the United States for 5 band members so they had a lot to choose from and the best talent from all over. So the members from Otown, were all highly talented. I also noticed that Max Martin who wrote all of the Nsync and BSB songs was not part of the song writing for Otowns albums. If they would have debuted in the mid to late 90s like the other bands, they definitely would have been HUGE and have the same level success as their former counterparts as all the band members are equally as talented. I definitely think them coming out 2001 hurt them immensely as that was when the boy band era was winding down where it eventually became embarrassing to be apart of a boy band. You would have been made fun of if you were in a boyband or even listened to boybands. I would know as I turned 15 in 2001. So I wish they would have came earlier and had Max Martin writing their hits and they would have been just as huge as Nsync and BSB. I do have to say though since they came towards the end of that era, I don't think they would have been as successful as they were if it wasn't for the show. It originally aired on ABC so it was available in the majority of the homes in America and the audience was able to get invested to them and watch them become the band that they grew to be. I truly believe if the show didn't air, that they wouldn't have had the success that they did.
