Go West, Young Men

After five nights of concerts at London’s Wembley Arena, the office of Westlife tour manager Anto Byrne looks like a charity shop. There are crates of fan mail. Piles of stuffed animals. And underwear — boxers, briefs, Calvin Kleins, a pair that says “Babe Magnet.” Enough, says Byrne, so that “none of us ever have to buy it ourselves.”

If only they could get Americans to give them underwear too. In less than three years, the Westlife guys — Nicky Byrne, 22, Shane Filan, 21, Kian Egan, Mark Feehily and Bryan McFadden, all 20 — have become fixtures atop the charts and on girls’ bedroom walls from Slovenia to Singapore. Guinness World Records 2001 lists the Irish fivesome as the only group to have had its first seven singles enter the British charts at No. 1. But Westlife’s squeaky-clean look and ballad-driven charms haven’t worked everywhere. “We may be the biggest band in some parts of the world, but we want to make [hit] records for Germany and America as well,” says Westlife manager Louis Walsh. That hasn’t happened yet. Swear It Again peaked at No. 20 in the U.S., while I Lay My Love on You, Westlife’s biggest single in Germany, got only to No. 50. Top of this year’s agenda: break those markets.

What to do? Some clues are in their Coast to Coast tour, now wending its way through the U.K. and Ireland before heading to northern Europe, the Middle East, Asia and South Africa. First, Westlife has ditched its trademark stools. In the past, the five would perch for a verse or two of each song. Come the bridge, they’d spring up in a burst of key-change energy. But, says Alex Needham, an editor at the music magazine NME, “you can understand why five big lumps sitting on stools was perceived not to cut it.”

The big question is whether stylistic tweaks will. The guys have added dance moves. They’ve promised more up-tempo songs. Three — Byrne, Feehily and McFadden — have redone their hair (they say they just wanted new cuts). But is that enough to propel Westlife into the global pop pantheon alongside the Backstreet Boys and ‘N Sync, the cream of the teenybop crop?

When Westlife did a U.S. promotional tour last year, their record company, Arista, “tried to break us as an Irish Backstreet Boys or an Irish ‘N Sync,” says Byrne. “It wasn’t right for what we are.” Which is? “A ballad band” that can mix it up musically with more up-tempo songs like their forthcoming summer single, When You’re Looking Like That. In the end, the big break won’t come because of dance routines or a lack of stools — and certainly not because of hair. They believe they need a song, the song, a vehicle to flash their vocal cords and sing people into submission.

Famous nonfans — from Spice Girl Mel C to Damon Albarn of the band Blur — hope it won’t happen. They have slammed Westlife for everything from not writing their own songs to being pawns in a giant game of pop marketing. To be fair, the group isn’t pure manufactured pop. Feehily, Filan and Egan are old friends who shared a classic teenage band experience, singing covers and dreaming of stardom together in their hometown of Sligo. (Byrne and McFadden won their spots in auditions.) But given the hostility within the industry, “I wouldn’t blame the general public for not taking us seriously,” says Feehily. “The things some pop acts use to promote themselves are anything but talent.”

Westlife believes it has the talent, even if that’s not always enough. Pop music these days depends as much on promotion as on, well, the music. So Germany is on the group’s summer agenda, and a major U.S. push will consume most of the fall. While there are reasons aplenty to stay this side of the Atlantic — for McFadden, it’s the baby he and his fiancé are expecting in September — all five have pledged to do what it takes to make it, especially in the U.S. Says Filan: “We just have to get to every corner of America, keep promoting ourselves and do TV over and over.”

The group is gambling that current audiences will stay loyal, a brave bet on the fidelity of its largely teen and pre-teen following. Warns Karina Brandt, founder of the Westlife Fans United club: “Being a fan means being in love. The spark needs nourishment to be kept alive,” not easy to do from the other side of an ocean. Westlife’s edgier “new” look may also disappoint those who think of the guys as the sweet, identically dressed boys next door. That image “isn’t very accurate, to be honest,” says Egan. By all accounts, the guys are well-mannered. But like most 20-somethings, they have a wild(er) side and enjoy their late nights out. As for the wardrobe, when the group started out, stylists told them what to wear. Now, says Egan, “it’s gotten to the stage where I’ll say, ‘I’m going to wear what’s me.’ It’s as simple as that.”

Cracking new markets isn’t quite as easy as declaring stylistic independence. Perhaps it’s some comfort then that Westlife fans are as generous with thoughtful advice as they are with underwear. Take Ashley Laurie, a 14-year-old who was at all five of the Wembley shows in March. If you ask her, and even if you don’t, she’ll tell you what Westlife has to do: Get rid of the leggy, female backup dancers. “They’re poo!” she declares. “But if they need a replacement, my last name’s L-A-U-R-I-E and my phone number is …” Got that, guys?