The Zone's New Album Filled With 'Rejected' Weekend Demos?
It has been a while since we have heard anything from super cute U.S boy band The Zone and you'd think that after a lengthy break and with stiff competition for the hearts of teenage girls, they would return with a bang. Well if the rumours that are currently going around turn out to be true then it seems like the boys could be facing more of a sophomore slump than a triumphant return to the top half of the music charts. The boys have allegedly re-recorded tracks which Weekend dubbed as 'not good enough' and ultimately rejected which means that the majority of The Zone's new album may possibly sound like a.....well, like a whole collection of crappy pop songs basically.
The Zone officially moved to Weekend's record label, Five Pesky Kids, earlier this year when said label took over Kiss My Pop records which was about to go bust. It's safe to say that the transition to their new label hasn't been a very smooth ride. Blake Williams and Weekend member Dustyn Blue dated for months, became one of the biggest gay couples in showbiz and even had a civil partnership but sadly, things weren't meant to be. The pair broke up a few months back and 'a lack of trust and communication' was cited as the reasoning behind the split. Having you ex-partner control your career can't exactly be good news, can it? If that wasn't enough, Billy Khan has even hit out and the group and expressed his dislike toward the Floridian four piece on several occasions. Insiders say that Billy was not keen on keeping The Zone on the roster and has slated not only their music but their personalities too. Khan took to Twitter a few weeks ago and dubbed both Blake Williams and Chris Adams as "total dickheads" whilst stating that Liam Allen has "absolutely no personality". Youngest member of the band, Jason Ochoa, got off lightly and was titled "the only good one" by Khan. Blake later retaliated and called Billy's outburst "unprofessional" and "immature".
So if there is bad blood between both camps, why would The Zone want Weekend's leftover tracks? According to insiders, Five Pesky Kids have cut funding for The Zone's new album and slapped an extremely close deadline for the project on them. With little time and even less money to bring in multiple producers and writers to work with, it is believed that The Zone have had to act fast and take advantage of anything they can in order to complete their currently untitled second studio album. The group recently announced the title and cover art of their new single,
'Wildfire'. The announcement came as a surprise to everyone as there had been no hype built up for the release nor has there been any mention of it on Pesky's website under their 'upcoming releases' section, again backing up the idea that there may be some foul play going on.
With a new era that isn't being handled well approaching and moderate success in the past, could it mean the end of the road for The Zone? Rival boy band Weekend have topped the charts all over the globe and fellow young pop acts such as Isabel, Teen Titans, Serenity Scott and Michelle Green have all achieved the same feat whereas The Zone have yet to score a number one record or even a top three record anywhere. They have experienced a fair amount of success in the US and the UK but have failed to crack the majority of Europe and the rest of the globe. It's already been confirmed that this new album will not receive a release in Australia after only one of their previous singles,
'Beautiful In Every Way', managed to make a dent in the charts there - peaking at #64. Their debut album,
'The High Life', also came in at a dismal #92 on the Australian charts. After only achieving lukewarm sales with huge backing behind them the first time around, how are they going to fare now without support from their label and a smaller budget?
What do you think about all of this? Do you believe that whole affair is true or do you think that this is just another rumour started by jealous fan bases? Please leave your comments below.
