Quintet to quartet: Back Home: 2004–08
Less than a month after McFadden's departure, the group kicked off their "Turnaround Tour". A live version from the said tour of "Flying Without Wings" was released as an official UK download, earning them the title of the very first UK Downloads #1. In September 2004, they were about to perform on the world-renowned World Music Awards as they were recognized as the Best Irish Act of that year but the little did know that it wasn't broadcast worldwide unfortunately.[34] They then put out a Rat Pack-inspired album, ...Allow Us to Be Frank, peaking at #3. No singles were released in the UK from this album. "Ain't That a Kick in the Head", accompanied with a music video, was released as a physical single in other European countries. "Smile" and "Fly Me to the Moon", with music videos as well, were released as digital downloads only. Prior to the album release, Westlife scouted for "the perfect fan" to help promote their album from their one-season special show "She's the One", presented by Kate Thornton.[35] After X Factor-style auditions, they found Joanne Hindley, who recorded "The Way You Look Tonight" with the group.[9] To mark this special collaboration, a special programme was televised, showing auditions and live performances. Performers included Joanne, Westlife members' fathers and glamour model Katie Price, Il Divo and Kevin Spacey. Westlife continued to tour Europe as part of their "The Number Ones Tour", before taking a four-month break from work.[36] On 4 May 2005, Westlife lost their battle for European trademark from the German trademark "West".[37]
In October 2005, Westlife returned with their comeback single, "You Raise Me Up", which was taken from their Face to Face album. On 5 November 2005, both the album and the single were at No. 1 in the UK at the same time at the second week of the single. It was the first time that Westlife have held both top album and single position in the same week.[38][39] "You Raise Me Up" was awarded as their fourth Record of the Year in UK for 2005. In December that year, the group released "When You Tell Me That You Love Me", a duet with Diana Ross, as the second single and it debuted at its peak position of #2.[40] Westlife then released a third single, "Amazing", which debuted at No. 4 and marked as the group's lowest-selling single yet.[41] After that, Westlife embarked on the "Face to Face Tour", travelling extensively to the UK, Ireland, Australia and Asia. This tour marked the first time that Westlife travelled to mainland China for a concert.[42][43] In late 2006, Westlife signed a brand new five-album deal with Sony BMG. Their eighth album, The Love Album, was a "love" concept album which consisted of popular love song covers. The album outsold other compilation albums by Oasis, The Beatles, and U2 in its first week of release and went straight to #1. The first single from The Love Album was a cover version of Bette Midler's classic, "The Rose", which became their 14th UK No. 1 single.[44]
On 5 November 2007, Westlife released their ninth album, Back Home, which contained nine new original songs along with three cover songs. The album debuted at No. 1 on the UK Music Charts and it was also 2007's fifth biggest selling album in the UK.[46] The first single released from the album was a cover of Michael Bublé's "Home", which peaked at No. 3 in the UK.[47][48] "I'm Already There", not released as a single, managed to chart in the UK based on downloads alone following a performance on an The X Factor episode. On 15 December 2007, they had a two-hour show called The Westlife Show where they performed 10 of their songs, some voted by the fans through online and some from Back Home. It was hosted by Holly Willoughby.[49] This time, Westlife together with Tesco brought out "The Definitive Westlife Quiz" that asked about the whole history about the group.[50] It was participated by thousands of fans worldwide. Months later, "Us Against the World" was announced and released as their second single in UK and Ireland. Before the release of the second single, they embarked on the Back Home Tour on 2008 February 25. This tour marked the first time that the group have travelled and performed to New Zealand, performing four sold-out shows in Auckland, Wellington, New Plymouth and Christchurch. Meanwhile, "Something Right" was released as the second single and "Us Against the World" became the third single in Europe and the Asia Pacific region. Both songs performed well on several music charts.
10 years: Last two studio albums: 2008–11
As the group ended another successful tour, Louis Walsh announced in the show Xpose that 1 July 2008 is the official start of the longest hiatus of the group so far. He said that it will be a one-year break, from that day up to 1 July 2009. On 13 December 2008, while on a break, Westlife made an unexpected appearance on X Factor Final Performance Night where they performed "Flying Without Wings" with JLS. After the presentation, Shane and Nicky were interviewed on Xtra Factor with Ronan Keating and Stephen Gately of Boyzone. As JLS performed also "I'm Already There", Westlife's version of the song re-entered the UK Singles Chart at No. 63 while a new entry on Ireland Singles Chart at No. 47 due to extensive downloads only. On the last week of January 2009, a DVD entitled The Karaoke Collection was released. It contains some of their music video hits. In 27 February 2009 issue of Herald Ireland, Louis revealed that Simon already picked three new songs which he reckons to be instant hits. Nicky spread the word last 8 March 2009 that Westlife will come back to music charts when they start recording in June 2009 when he received his VIP Style Awards as the Most Stylish Man on X-pose, TV3. On 18 March 2009, they won the Best Irish Pop Act on 2009 Meteor Awards for the ninth consecutive time.
Their tenth album, Where We Are, was released on 30 November 2009 in the UK and peaked at No. 2 on both Irish and UK Albums Chart. The new single "What About Now", was released a few weeks earlier on 23 October 2009, with digital downloads being available the day before. The said single peaked at# 2 on both Irish and UK Singles Chart. Daughtry's original version of the song gained exposure on the audition rounds of The X Factor prior to Westlife's release. They were also part of the Haiti charity single in early 2010, "Everybody Hurts", an R.E.M. cover which was organised by Cowell.[57] The tour in support of this album is called "The Where We Are Tour". The video album for this said tour will be released in DVD and Blu-ray format in 29 November 2010.[58][59] The eleventh album was recorded and processed with songwriter/producer John Shanks in London and Los Angeles. It was entirely produced by Shanks.[60] On 19 September 2010, the single "Safe" was heard first on X Factor as a snippet; the group later performed the song on the show on 14 November 2010. The single was released on 14 November 2010. It debuted on the UK Singles Chart on 21 November 2010 at No. 10, giving the group their 25th Top 10 single in the United Kingdom. It is also their lowest charting lead single to date in the country. The new album named Gravity was released on a 22 November 2010.[61] It went to No. 1 on Ireland and No. 3 on UK. On March 2011, they started their eleventh major concert tour, Gravity Tour. On this tour marked the first time that the group travelled to Oman, Namibia, Guangzhou and Vietnam for concerts.
Vocal ability
The boyband concept is designed to have different parts and roles. Filan, Feehily and McFadden (pre-departure) all took part on the main vocals while Byrne and Egan usually perform the backing vocals and very occasional solos in songs up to the recent date. These are the classifications on vocal abilities: Filan has 'the popular tune' (mid-range to high voice) and thus sings the tenor-like melody most often, whereas Feehily has 'the soulful voice' and can go from quite low baritone notes through to a very high tenor voice. He sometimes sings falsetto. Byrne has 'the husky voice' and can sing high harmonies effortlessly, while Egan has 'the rocky voice' and usually does low harmonies.
Instruments
Westlife's main key instruments are their vocals. However some of them can play musical instruments, most notably Egan who plays piano, drums and guitar (he can be seen playing piano in the videoclip for "Angel"), and Feehily also plays piano. During their gigs and concert tours, they are accompanied by a band, acoustic and rock, and do not usually play instruments onstage.Songwriting
Over years of their career, Westlife's music has evolved from teen pop to a pop sound, with an emphasis on ballads. Most of the group's hits have been composed by experienced songwriters, most notably Steve Mac and Wayne Hector. For the band's list of own songs composed, see Songs written.Music and image
The band identify themselves as a pop band recording pop songs which comprises ballads and love songs. Westlife has been known for their teen pop songs during their early days with slow, mid, and uptempo songs. Albums known for teen pop sound are Westlife, Coast to Coast, World of Our Own and Turnaround. As the years progressed they tried different genres like jazz and big band in 2004 with Allow Us to Be Frank album and pop-rock in 2009 with their album Where We Are. As they also mature, they verge into adult contemporary being most evident on their cover album, The Love Album. Matured pop songs are also found on their LPs, Face to Face and Back Home, and Gravity. Filan answered when he was asked about the radical change in their music: "We’ve definitely changed – our music has evolved, but not drastically. Westlife is never going to drastically change, but I think we can get more exciting, different and more fun for the fans."[99]Every Westlife album have always been a mixture of genres. R&B genre is evident as a sound of the band since the start where their voices were harmonising and blending with each other. We can hear it on their songs "When I'm With You", "How to Break a Heart", and "Sound of a Broken Heart". Acoustic genre also took place as they have its versions with their songs "My Love", "Flying Without Wings", and "If I Let You Go". Club or electronic sounds were also heard from their remixes on each singles released. Dance music is also a genre of Westlife as heard on their songs "When You're Looking Like That", "Bad Girls", "World of Our Own", "Beautiful Tonight", "No One's Gonna Sleep Tonight", and "Uptown Girl". Live music has came to their way as they have officially released recorded live sounds such as "You Raise Me Up" (Live at Croke Park) and "To Be With You". They did country music too like their recording of "Daytime Friends, Nighttime Lovers". As a pop band they are also inspired to cover songs that were different and put into their own genre which is pop (With the likes of "Home" from jazz music, "I'm Already There" from country music).
During their starting days, the band's musical content was mostly about love and inspirational songs but as they grew older, they have given the chance to have the songs that were from an individual's everyday experience in life. As for their image, they publicly begun as boyband with wholesome and clean-cut image. Now, they call themselves a manband with a more broad and manly looking image as they grow older.[100]
Discography
Main Article: Westlife discography, Westlife songlist, Westlife videography, Westlife filmography
- Westlife (1999)
- Coast to Coast (2000)
- World of Our Own (2001)
- Unbreakable - The Greatest Hits Vol. 1 (2002)
- Turnaround (2003)
- Allow Us to Be Frank (2004)
- Face to Face (2005)
- The Love Album (2006)
- Back Home (2007)
- Where We Are (2009)
- Gravity (2010)
- Greatest Hits (2011)
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