Stillwater native Jonah Marais made his Minnesota State Fair Grandstand debut five years ago. It was the (then) 16-year-old’s second performance ever and he made the most of his two songs and even engaged in some mildly flirtatious behavior with the crowd, which consisted almost entirely of young girls.
The show, DigiFest Minnesota, collected more than a dozen young entertainers who, like Marais, built a following through social media and were essentially unknown to anyone not at the show.
Friday night, Marais returned to the Grandstand with Why Don’t We, a boy band he formed three years ago with fellow travelers from the internet-famous subgenre: Zach Herron, Jack Avery, Daniel Seavey and Corbyn Besson. (Seavey can claim a bit of real-world notoriety, as he placed ninth on the 14th season of “American Idol.”)
The idea was to try to make the leap into mainstream pop stardom. It made plenty of sense, too, as they emerged just as One Direction announced a hiatus most believe is permanent. And no boy bands have stepped up to take 1D’s place, leaving a big hole in the market.
Why Don't We at the Grandstand. pic.twitter.com/wHJhIUym7s
— Ross Raihala (Alpha Male) 🏳️🌈 (@RossRaihala) August 24, 2019
Why Don’t We proved Friday they’re not there yet. They drew a crowd of 5,505 fans, only about 1,000 more than DigiFest Minnesota. But let me tell you, those 5,505 girls (minus the handful of bewildered-looking baby-sitting dads) knew every last song. They yelled between them, scream-sang along to most of them and squealed even louder each time the guys bumped and/or grinded.
Over the past three years, the group has released a steady stream of 19 singles, nearly all of which they performed at the Grandstand. But, so far, only last year’s “8 Letters” made any impact on radio, which turned it into, at best, a minor hit. And they don’t really have anything yet that stands out from a catalog of songs seeped in teen melodrama and soaked in mild innuendo. If Why Don’t We’s songs have a mission statement, it’s “Hey girl, you know, maybe, I might just want to get with you.”
Why Don’t We does have the look and, to some extent, the moves. They changed outfits several times, each look carefully selected, needlessly complicated and finished off with circulation-strangling pants. (I imagine the boys suffer from post-show numbness in their lower limbs.) They also performed tightly choreographed, if totally simple, dance routines stuffed with opportunities for pointing at the crowd (but, really, just you girl) and jumping up and down.
Marais offered one of the few unscripted moments of the concert when he addressed the crowd: “I actually used to work at this fair. I was an ice boy and I’d deliver ice throughout the fair. I’d listen to the soundchecks at the Grandstand and imagine one day that could be me.” (He later added that a few of his grade school teachers were in the audience.)
Three fellow budding pop acts opened, starting with Taylor Grey, a relatively straightforward singer/songwriter who happens to be studying neuroscience at Stanford University on the side. A pair of single-named rapper/crooners, Eben and Max, followed. The former worked on Why Don’t We’s backstage crew on their two previous tours and earned a rapturous response for extremely simplistic songs. Max, meanwhile, offered a slightly dirtier take on Eben’s sound, to the point he self-edited a few profanities out of his songs.
