Flame Awards 2013: Fave boy band of the year

Talk about throwbacks.

We have a whole new wave of boy band mania, thanks to Korean idols and English boys.

They’ve stolen headlines and hearts around the world, and we’ve seen firsthand how crazy their girl and boy fans can get, hence this new category to anoint Singapore’s favourite boy band.

It’s time we see who has the stronger army behind them, don’t you think? In short: Fans, fight it out.

ONE DIRECTION

One album. One movie. One fan day.

That will definitely top the list of accomplishments that the UK boy band will list under 2013.

When The New Paper, together with HOT FM91.3, threw a special screening party for the movie One Direction: This Is Us, 300 local Directioners screamed and cried throughout the film.

And, the five heart-throbs, who released their second album Midnight Memories last month, were not even there.

That same scene was multiplied a thousand times all over the world when One Direction held their 1D Day — streamed live around the world — just a few days before their album release.

But the question remains: Are Directioners more passionate than K-pop fans?

EXO

It did not take very long for this relatively new K-pop boy band to get all of Asia screaming its name.

The 12-man group conquered the Mandarin and Korean music scenes with their EXO-M and EXO-K sub-units, each focusing on a different language.

Just 11 months after they made their debut, EXO took home the accolade for Best New Asian Artist Group at the 2012 Mnet Asian Music Awards.

Their debut album XOXO was named Album of the Year at this year’s Mnet Asian Music Awards, making EXO the youngest boy band to win the award.

Have they indeed dominated enough of Asia for them to win our Flame Award?

BIG BANG

This award-winning K-pop quintet held their first world tour, Big Show 2012, last year and performed at 21 cities in 13 countries.

The Fantastic Baby boys were here this year to open the series of concerts for the F1 Singapore Grand Prix.

G-Dragon, T.O.P, Taeyang, Daesung and Seungri saw a massive crowd of about 35,000 fans squeal and shriek to each song they performed. It had not even been a long time since their previous visit to Singapore for a two-night concert as part of the Big Bang Alive Galaxy Tour 2012.

With so many fans ready to support their work in any way they can, just how many will get behind them to make them Singapore’s Favourite Boy Band?

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