Here at Young Adult Magazine we love our young musicians. That’s why we decided to do a roundup of our favorite boy bands of NOW.  ‘Boy band’ is a well used phrase, but each of these bands brings something different to the table. Drum roll please:

5 Seconds of Summer: although they’re the right age to be a boy band, these guys play their own instruments and are decidedly more punk/rock than your average teen fare.  They got their start as Youtube celebrities; they posted videos of themselves covering other artists’ work which led to their stardom.   Although their music and fashion tendencies lean towards the rock side, they are currently touring with One Direction … you can’t get more boy band than that!

The Vamps also operate in the rock n roll space, although they recently featured Demi Lovato on their song “Somebody To You”.  They pride themselves on writing their own music, and they hail from the UK, where apparently the fans get extra crazy.  One day, a bunch found their way into a hotel room where two of the boys had just gotten out of the shower and were nearly naked!  Oh, and did we mention that at least two of the band members currently sport sky-high-hairstyles.

MKTO are unusual in the sense that they met on the set of TV show Gigantic where they were both working, so they are truly a triple threat: singing, dancing, and acting.  They credit themselves with a pop/hip hop vibe and as there are just two of them they have to lean on each other a lot.  Oh yeah, and they’re huge in Australia! 

Rixton met in the UK, and they first garnered attention with their video for “Make Out”, which mocked popular artists from Lady Gaga to Justin Bieber.  Having quickly established themselves as cheeky chaps, they went on to have a huge smash with their first real single “Me and My Broken Heart”.  They are a rare instance of a band that broke in America before anybody had heard of them in their native country.

R5 is a group of five siblings who come from Colorado, and who all relocated to LA a few years ago to pursue show business.  Four of them were in the Rage Boyz Crew on So You Think You Can Dance, and the rest is history!  They cite bands such as Fall Out Boy, The Rolling Stones and the Killers as influences, and are poised to release their next album next month. 

Which boy bands of the moment are your favorites?  Are there any you think we’ve missed?  Let us know!