From Westlife to Michael Learns To Rock: Why do evergreen bands love coming to Singapore?

Belting out the song Like A Rose by British-Norwegian boyband A1 in the same theatre where my company’s town halls are held was not on my 2023 bingo card. 

Yet, there I was in The Theatre at Mediacorp last October, a tween again from the opening lyric: “And as I look into your eyes.” I still remembered the lines after, word for word, as though it hadn’t been more than 20 years since I obsessively replayed the catchy ballad countless times. 

On stage, four former teenage heartthrobs serenaded a sea of still-lovestruck mostly millennial and Gen X women, who also seemed to have permanently seared every A1 lyric into their temporal lobe from decades ago. It’d be more realistic to wish for snow in Singapore than expect us not to automatically sing along to our adolescence anthems: Ready Or Not, Take On Me and Same Old Brand New You. 

A1 wasn’t – and wouldn’t be – the only Western band staging “comeback” concerts in Singapore. 

In 2022, Irish boyband Westlife headlined the Formula 1 Singapore Grand Prix, before holding a three-night concert at the Singapore Indoor Stadium in February 2023. 

Then in September last year, Michael Learns To Rock held a fundraising concert for Dementia Singapore – though I’d argue the Danish legends aren’t exactly on a comeback because they never faded into obscurity here.

The renaissance of bands with insanely memorable hits has only continued this year. Irish siblings The Corrs, whose song Breathless once dominated airwaves and my walkman, performed during F1. British boyband Blue (Sorry Seems To Be The Hardest Word) and Boyzlife – comprising a couple of members from Westlife and Irish group Boyzone (Love Me For A Reason) – held a show together too.

Upcoming concerts include those from British pop band Take That (Back For Good), soft rock icons Air Supply (All Out Of Love) and – of course, once again – Michael Learns To Rock. 

WHY THE RETURN OF THE (BOY)BANDS?

No doubt these bands’ post-pandemic presence in Singapore is fuelled by the country’s enhanced positioning as a regional concert hub, along with a fanbase who can now afford to see their teenage idols up close. 

“Nostalgia is a worldwide thing. No matter which part of the world you might be in, chances are you grew up with music in your life. And as you grow older, you will seek out these familiar sounds and emotions,” said Unusual Entertainment’s assistant marketing director Koh San Chin. 

“Singapore audiences are lucky because Singapore is the preferred destination for many artistes so we get to see a lot of them locally.”

The concert promoter, responsible for Westlife in 2023 and Michael Learns To Rock and Air Supply later this year, studies past and present trends before deciding the acts to bring in. And, Koh added, “to some extent, gut feel plays a role too”.

My gut feeling, however, is that the resurgence of such bands here doesn't quite stem from economic viability or a general yearning for the good old days. 

No matter a country’s good infrastructure, easy connectivity and track record in making large-scale events work, I doubt these factors are significant enough to inspire an entire comeback, though they may be catalysts in the decision to eventually hold their concerts in Singapore. Neither are we the only country with millennial and Gen X fans nostalgic for hits from our youth.

Rather, I see the root reason these acts come to Singapore as a particularly curious similarity they seem to share: An immense popularity in Southeast Asia in the late ‘80s to early ‘00s, resulting in their enduring appeal today, with at least one song of theirs every Singapore millennial and older knows by heart. 

And the evergreen allure of their music in the region has everything to do with our deep-seated karaoke fixation.

CATCHY TUNES, EASILY REMEMBERED LYRICS

Hear me out. Karaoke is revered as a social activity in many Asian countries. Few pastimes are as cathartic and unifying as crooning to a song you realise everyone in the room knows, whether they're childhood friends or new colleagues.

Karaoke favourites, regardless of language, hence often have simple lyrics and a melody that anyone can follow even if they're not too familiar with the song. These tend to be ballads, such as A1's Like A Rose. 

A Reddit user on subreddit community r/popheads put it best in response to what Western songs seemed to have significant cultural impact in the 2000s: “Basically anyone with good ballads and songs that are easy to sing along to will always have us Southeast Asians in a chokehold.”

Case in point: Westlife.

The Irish boyband’s KTV staples like Swear It Again, Flying Without Wings and Fool Again have probably earned them permanent residency in any Asian nation, if not a guaranteed spot on any respectable karaoke song lineup. 

In fact, the madly popular group’s initial single show in Singapore last February was extended to three nights after tickets quickly sold out, albeit to no one’s surprise, really. They’re practically gods in Southeast Asia.

Responding to a thread on subreddit community r/Ireland asking what Irish artistes, bands and/or songs have Redditors noticed get more recognition outside of Ireland, one user astutely highlighted Westlife’s popularity across Southeast Asia, “particularly in Vietnam, Cambodia and Malaysia”. They added that “Ireland is barely noticed (by) hundreds of millions of Asians, except (for) our contribution to boybands”.

Beyond karaoke’s social aspect, I find these bands also tend to produce songs that are considered “easy listening” for non-native English speakers, which ultimately turns starting popularity into lasting appeal in Asia. A certain band immediately comes to mind. 

You know it: Michael Learns To Rock.

Echoing this sentiment is a 2007 Taipei Times article that pointed out the Danish band has “undiminished” popularity in Asia because they “avoid messy beats or loops that get in the way of a memorable melody and an emotionally effective verse-chorus-verse song structure”. 

The band’s lead vocalist Jascha Richter said that because they are from a non-English speaking country, their lyrics are “quite easy for non-native speakers to understand”. Many of their fans are also learning English and the band’s songs are sold as MP3 downloads with lyric sheets, the article added. 

When their records were released in England, however, they were told their lyrics were “too naive”, guitarist Mikkel Lentz revealed. But this “simplicity” that’s resulted in them struggling to be heard in Europe and the US is possibly “one of the secrets to our success” in Asia, where the band plays a different set list for concerts.

“In Europe, it’s more up-tempo. They want to freak out, jump and dance. In Asia, you can really sense the karaoke tradition of being into the music. We play, they sing,” he told Taipei Times.

I suspect this winning formula applies to recently-reunited Norwegian group M2M too, whose Asia fanbase has since flooded their social media accounts begging for comeback concerts in their country. Clearly we haven’t forgotten the beloved duo – or the lyrics to their perennial bangers Mirror Mirror, Pretty Boy, Don’t Say You Love Me, The Day You Went Away… You get the drift.

So I have no doubt Singapore’s branding as a premier concert destination is a solid entertainment and economic strategy to attract these bands from yesteryear. Failing which, it seems nostalgia always sells. 

But to me, there’s a more basic driving force behind the return of such bands to the region. It stems from our innate interest in karaoke and an equally instinctive understanding about what makes the perfect KTV song, which creates a culture-shaping reverence for these bands whose songs we've memorised. 

The more entrenched this enduring appeal, though, the more inexplicable it becomes. Eventually, you can't quite pinpoint how or why it started at all – but you can always tell when a band has it.

Some would call it a gut feeling.