By Casey Clark
Staff Writer
Rising boy band, In Real Life (IRL), is taking the music industry by storm. Made up of Sergio Calderon, Michael Conor, Chance Perez, Drew Ramos and Brady Tutton, IRL has risen to fame from their win of ABC’s hit music competition “Boy Band.”
“Boy Band” is a new television series where singers battle it out to become a member of the next great music sensation. The show’s viewers at home will vote live for their favorite five band members during every show. Rita Ora hosts the show and the industry professionals that make up its cast include Timbaland, Nick Carter, and Emma Bunton.
After their win, IRL signed with Hollywood Records and released their first single, “Eyes Closed,” which has racked up nearly 1.5 million views within the last two months. “Eyes Closed” also shot up to the top 10 of the iTunes charts soon after it was released.
“Eyes Closed” was written by Justin Tranter and it was a dream come true for them to have a song written by such a high ranking industry professional. Upon working with Tranter, Tutton revealed in an interview with iHeartRadio that “he’s a role model in a lot of ways too. Not just his success, if you talk to him … My thing is you should never be able to tell if someone’s famous. And him talking, he’s just like a regular guy, and that’s the coolest thing. He’s so nice.”
Working with well-known songwriters and collaborators is one of several ways this popular new boy band has caught the eye of their millions of fans across the globe. IRL differs from other boybands PrettyMuch and Why Don’t We in the sense that the members are diverse in their talents and abilities.
Calderon speaks Spanish and French, Perez has a distinct high range of vocals, and Ramos has some of the best pipes. Conor is skilled at rapping and IRL has mentioned that they would not hesitate to incorporate some of it into their future music.
IRL recently released their new Christmas song titled “I’ll Be Home For Christmas” alongside a music video in which the guys are seated on the rooftop of a high rise enjoying the winter weather and snow. IRL is currently working on new music which fans can look forward to hearing early next year.
In an interview with Idolator, Calderon said, “Charlie Puth is my idol. He can do anything from singing to songwriting to producing, to actually performing. I’ve always looked up to him, because he’s got a little bit of everything and I feel like as an artist, that’s very important.”
It can be seen from “Eyes Closed” that IRL is nothing short of exceptional in terms of their vocals and song quality which is going to bring them success. IRL has recently hinted at possible touring and traveling internationally to perform early next year, which fans should look forward to.
