The TV’s on and turned to the tune channel. Your face flashes across the set.
Do you scream and shout or sit and pout? Find out how the fun-lovin’ lads of
Five Handled seeing themselves on TV for the first time.
Abs, Sean, Scott, J and Ritchie knew it had to happen sooner or later.
And the psyched songsters thought they knew exactly how they were going to
handle it-totally in control-when, BAM!, there they were on the tube, singing
the first notes of their single "Slam Dunk Da Funk"! "We just sat there
watching [TV], not expecting our song to come on," Ritchie Neville, 19,
remembers. 'And all of a sudden the video came on. We were like, 'Who's
that? Oh my God!' We were really excited."
Calm, cool, collected crooners the funky fellows weren't when they first
saw their debut video, which has only been released in Europe. "We were
jumping up and down on the sofa and stuff going, 'I don't believe it!'" Scott
Robinson, who turns 19 next month, laughs. "It was all so new to us."
Of course, the second time around-when their first U.S. single and video for
'When the Lights Go Out" from their self-titled CD were released earlier
this year-wasn't such a shock for the video veterans. "People know who we
are now," 19-year old Abs Breen relates. "So it was
a bit different, definitely."
As the novelty wears off a bit, the Brit babes may not go as bonkers over the
release of their upcoming videos, but that doesn't mean that it gets any
less weird that being on TV isn't just a dream anymore. There's only one
way Sean Conlon can even begin to explain to you how it feels to turn on the
set and actually see himself singing and dancing. "Well, it's like, you know
when your mom films you on a camcorder, and then she puts it on and plays
it back?' Sean, 17, asks. "It's kind of like that." Well, that doesn't sound
strange at all, especially if you're a shy guy (or gal) like Sean, who isn’t
exactly into having the spotlight shining on him. But then think about the ]
fact that even if you're at home alone, or just with the fam, thousands
of people around the world are watching and criticizing your every
move, too.
Stressing about their tresses
Still okay, you say?! What if you're having a bad-hair day? "I feel like there's
always something wrong with me," soft-spoken Sean confides to BOP about
how he thinks he looks on television. "I look a bit uglier or something." Well,
Sean may be hard to convince, but Boppers like you know that this guy's got
the goods no matter where he's spotted. But, believe it or not, even these
babely boys come equipped with pesky insecurities, just like the rest of
us, that prevent them from being totally confident about themselves. Take
totally gorgeous Abs; for example. Even though the dark-haired dude looks
to-die-for when he croons straight into the camera (especially in his solo rap
section), the handsome heartthrob doesn't get as much delight as we do
watching him in "When the Lights Go Out." "I don't like watching myself,"
the sweet natured singer sighs to BOP. 'I like performing, but I don't like
watching myself."
Still, you'd switch places with him in a split second if you could only be on TV,
Wouldn’t you? But remember the time that, even though your friends said
you were gorgeous, you refused to pass out your school picture to your pals
because you thought it was absolutely atrocious? Well, these babes can't
just keep their videos in their pockets if they don't like them. "All the others
can say, 'Abs, you look really good," the modest mate shares. "I am like,
'No, I look stupid." (Hardly!)
Knowing how unbelievably hot he is, you can get an idea of how your friends
will feel the next time they try to convince you how good you look, too. But
Abs isn't the only babely ballad better who has reservations about how he
translates on TV. "You always think, 'The way I acted on TV, that isn't actually
how I act,"' 22-year-old J Brown worries, "but that's how everybody else is
going to see me." And Sean, his best bud, totally relates: "I think, 'Is that
really how people see me?'"
Showing the real deal
Making sure their fam, friends and faithful fans like you see how they really
are is super-important to the songsters. Obviously, the crooners are not
worried about things like looking a little silly (like when their faces look kinda
funny in the fish-eye lens in their video), but they are concerned about the
image they project to people.
And that's why, J explains, you will never get to see the supersexy version
of their video the way it was originally written because that's just not them.
"There was this one part in the American version of 'Lights,'" J explains to us,
"when it was supposed to be like this fabric hanging down, and a fan was
supposed to blow it against our bodies so it sort of clung to you. But straight
away we said to everybody that we don't do that kind of thing. So that got taken
out of the script."
Standing up for themselves and asking for the script to be revised so that they
feel more comfortable with it may not have been the best part of making the
video, but the boys still had a blast. "Videos are really fun to do," Scott, the
most outgoing guy of the group, raves. 'Yeah, big time," Abs agrees, adding
that they've got many more in store!