In Real Life, the 2017 boy band composed of five vocalists from a reality television competition, surprised Woodside High School with a live performance this Tuesday.
The group formed from ABC’s show Boy Band in late August 2017, where America voted for their favorite five members after watching thirty singers compete for ten episodes. The winners Brady Tutton, Michael Conor, Sergio Calderon, Chance Perez, and Drew Ramos became the members of In Real Life and performed their first single on the show’s final episode.
Calderon, who is originally from Redwood City, explained why In Real Life decided to come to Woodside.
“I have lots of friends here, and my sister works here… so I felt like Woodside was a great school to visit,” Calderon stated during an interview with the Woodside Paw Print. “Also, they showed support for me and the rest of the guys on the show, especially when it came to final voting… so we came to play for you guys as a thank you.”
Although the Woodside community knew that there would be a surprise concert in the old gym Tuesday, nobody besides the organizers knew who was performing— until the reveal on the announcements before fourth period.
“I was really excited because I know one of my friends really loves the band,” sophomore Caden Hansen said, elaborating, “and her excitement kind of rubbed off on me.”
Hundreds of students attended the concert in the old gym at lunch, and the band sang their two singles and a cover of Camila Cabello’s “Havana.”
Conor, rapper and violinist of In Real Life, noted that his favorite part of performing is definitely “the energy from the crowd.” Perez added that “performing is always fun, but when you have a great crowd it always makes it better because you feed off their energy and you know they’re enjoying [as much as you are].”
Since their win on Boy Band, In Real Life has released several singles and accompanying music videos, the most popular including “Eyes Closed” and “Tattoo (How ’Bout You).” Together, the two music videos have over 2.5 million views on YouTube, with “Tattoo (How ’Bout You)” hitting 1 million views the same day as the Woodside concert.
“I was very happy and so proud of them when I found out they hit 1 million on their music video,” exclaimed sophomore and fan Jazmin Carrillo Morales. “I think they will just continue to grow their fan base.”
After their show, In Real Life definitely gained some new fans from Woodside. The crowd clapped and sang along if they knew the lyrics, and overall the performance was met with extreme enthusiasm.
“It was really good,” junior Arianna Montalvo remarked. “They’re really good singers, and they seem really nice and cool.”
If you’re doing this to make money or become famous, you’re going to be done in two years— but if you do it because you really like music and you love performing, you’ll go far. — Brady Tutton
Some students who had not originally planned on attending the show ended up enjoying it anyways, including Christian Vazquez.
“I would say their performance was really good. They’re really talented guys,” Vazquez declared. “I noticed that there were a lot of people joining, [so I came to watch]. They were singing really well… [and] I appreciated that [Calderon] was playing the guitar, too.”
Once the concert ended, students crowded to the corner of the gym where the band took photos with fans.
“I thought it was really fun,” sophomore Emma James mentioned as she stood in line with friends. “I heard about [the concert from the announcements] and thought it would be really cool to see them.”
The boy band has also performed on Jimmy Kimmel Live, as well as making appearances on Good Morning America and Live with Kelly and Ryan. The group also attended the MTV Video Music Awards and were later nominated for the iHeartRadio Music Award for Best Boy Band.
“One of our goals is to actually perform at the VMAs,” Conor expressed, “whether that be this year or next year. I think that’s a solid goal. [We also want to go on] a tour, and put out a body of work.”
In Real Life also described how being in a band is significantly different than having a solo musical career.
“You can do a lot of things together,” Calderon commented. “You feel comfortable on stage, more prepared, and you feel like you can rely on [your group].”
During their time on Boy Band, In Real Life also had the opportunity to learn about the music industry from musical mentors, including Nick Carter of The Backstreet Boys, Timbaland, and Emma Bunton of the Spice Girls.
Tutton shared some advice he learned from the show: “If you’re doing this to make money or become famous, you’re going to be done in two years— but if you do it because you really like music and you love performing, you’ll go far.”
Despite the excitement while traveling with friends and performing for thousands of fans, there are personal difficulties of committing to a band.
“[It’s hard not] seeing your family all the time,” Calderon explained. Tutton, the youngest of the group at age 16, described that you lose a lot of “the aspects of being a kid in high school. There’s some things that you miss.”
Besides their growing popularity in music, In Real Life also has a significant presence on social media, hitting 100k followers on their group Instagram account @inreallife Tuesday.
“We’ve been a band for six months now, and it makes me think— what’s going to happen a year from now?” Perez asked. “We’re recording a bunch of songs we’re really proud of, and we’re really excited to release them.”
Ramos had some additional advice for Woodside students— especially those following their passion.
“At the end of the day, don’t let people tell you that you can’t do it,” Ramos encouraged. “If you’re really driven towards a goal, you should go for it. If you don’t believe in yourself, then how do you expect other people to?”
