Pop Potential: The 3 Acts that will be household names by Christmas (#3 = VFactory)

It's not really been that long since I wrote about VFactory (back here), but since then I have grown to love their mix of sleek urban pop mixed with electrifying hip hop dance moves and grooves :) The group was originally centered around the talented Mr Jared Murillo, who was spotted by Tommy Page (yes that one!) on the High School Musical tour (that thing is a frigging monolith trampling down everything in it's path!!) Since then it's become a ten legged machine that anticipates the move of every member in gloriously harmonised, in sync fashion. Could V Factory be the start of the boyband comeback? In the late 80s New Kids On The Block debuted with frothy pop mixed with a "street" image. Ten years later it was Backstreet Boys and N*Sync who became household names by marrying swooning ballads with smart swedish-produced pop dance songs to win over a nation of girls and gays. Ten years later and although Take That have become the man-band of choice in the UK and the Jonas Bros have wowed the Disney crowd in the US, a big name boy band is conspicuously absent. And it's not for lack of trying...

This past year has seen the debut of a variety of cookie cutter boybands who are aiming to be the next big thing - from NLT to Varsity to Menudo to US5, it seems the industry bigwigs are all clamoring to make 2008 the official year of boyband goodness. One thing that each successful band has done in each ten year cycle is take the trends of the day and add them to the musical mix. VFactory are probably the most successful act to do that without abandoning pure pop melodies that make the songs so enduring in the first place. Thanks to Poppostergirl, I am discovering the joys of adorable Chris Brown, and VFactory's sounds are not a million miles away from that particular brand of amazingness. The first official single "She's Bad" is described as 'crunk-tinged', but because I don't really know what that means, I can only describe that this isn't your parents boyband. It mixes timbaland-style beats with hip hop elements and keeps a great pop melody running throughout the centre of it. Their EP (you can listen to below) gives a real flavour for the type of music that will be coming up on their debut album out later this year - from urban pop to the necessary but smooth ballad, it's a formula that manager Tommy Page (yes that one! Still!!) believes can take the boys far... and he should know. He capitalised on the formula for his mainstream success with NKOTB back in 1990. And Tommy had this to say about the boys...

"Every ten years the generation changes. VFactory, like Diddy's new band, Day26, aren't your older sisters 98 Degrees. These boys are edgier than NKOTB. The formula isn't the same because urban is more mainstream pop now. The beats are super urban. The dancing is also edgier"

So if you want to get in at the ground floor with a band that thankfully knows how to groom themselves as well as they know how to sing (oh Varsity, sack your stylist) then you could do far worse than VFactory. Plus they are Jadion (Simon Curtis' producer) approved, so you know it makes sense. Hurrah, etc.

STREAM: Round and Round (Windows Media)

STREAM: She's Bad (Windows Media)

STREAM: These Are The Days (Windows Media)