5 Seconds of Summer

This new rock band comes from the land down under.  Yes, these four boys are from Sydney. The band members include Ashton Irwin 20, (drummer/vocals), Michael Clifford 19, (guitarist/vocals), Calum Hood 19, (bassist/vocals), and Luke Hemmings 18, (lead guitarist/lead vocals). Their singles, “She Looks So Perfect,” “Don’t Stop,” “Amnesia,” and “Good Girls,” brought this Australian rock band to a new level of fame. The idea for the band started in early 2011 when Luke began posting covers of himself and his guitar on YouTube. The first cover, posted on February 3, 2011, was “Please Don’t Go” by Mike Posner. Calum and Michael had joined with Luke later on. A few months later, on December 3, 2011 Ashton joined 5 Seconds of Summer after their first gig. When they posted a cover of “Teenage Dirtbag” by Wheatus, Louis Tomlinson of the band One Direction found them. Then 5 Seconds of Summer went on tour with One Direction in late 2012. Along with their own tours, 5 Seconds of Summer has been touring with One Direction since 2012. 5 Seconds of Summer’s debut in America was in March at the Billboard Music Awards, the biggest music award show in the world. They have also made appearances on Good Morning America and on the MTV Video Music Awards. As you can see, 2014 has been a big year for the band, but not just including TV appearances or concerts. The big part of their year was putting out two top selling EP’s entitled “She Looks So Perfect“ and “Amnesia.” They also put out a No. 1 chart holding album on iTunes, self-titled 5 Seconds of Summer. The band has a lot to handle in the coming year, with a world tour that starts on May 4 in Portugal. They will also be coming to the Xfinity Center in Mansfield on August 28.

Shawn Mendes

This upcoming solo artist, Shawn Mendes, is from Toronto is 16 and already one of the Vine’s biggest celebrities. Shawn started out with putting out the six second covers, and then posting full length covers on YouTube. His first Vine video was “As Long as you Love Me.” Overnight, it got 10,000 revines. In January 2014 Andrew Gertler discovered Shawn and brought him to Island Records, where he eventually recorded his single “Life of the Party” in June of this year. “Life of the Party” was on the Billboard Hot 100 making it to the spot of number 24 for the week ending July 12, 2014. On July 28 his first EP came out entitled “The Shawn Mendes EP.” The EP made it to number five on the US Billboard 200.  Shawn also came out with his second single in late November at midnight, the single is entitled “Something Big.” Shawn has not had a tour of his own yet, but he has been the opening act for Austin Mahone. Even though Shawn doesn’t have tours of his own, he will be making an appearance at the Kiss 108 Jingle Ball 2014 on December 14.  Later this year he will be coming out with a debut album.