ONTD Original: Where Are They Now? (ONTD Tags Edition)
Every so often, you scroll past a tag when preparing to submit a post and find yourself baffled by how that (group, individual, series, etc.) possibly managed to get one of their own. With that in mind, I decided to take a closer look and [Tiffany Pollard voice] do some research into where a few of the people who have tags while BLACKPINK does not are now.
Warped Tour 4ever
( afi / davey havok / hunter burgan (above), alkaline trio, jack's mannequin)
Yes, you read correctly. AFI, Alkaline Trio and Jack's Mannequin were all deemed worthy of their own tags by ONTD's mods once upon a time. Perhaps the only thing more surprising than this fact is that they've all been used within the last decade (on posts that netted 53, 11 and 19 comments respectively). It seems that AFI, like many acts, had big plans for 2020. Unfortunately, a headlining gig at the Two Thousand Trees Festival in July was pushed back a year in April, as was the release of the band's first album in three years. Alkaline Trio fared slightly better, releasing a three-track EP in March with a promise of more music to come. Jack's Mannequin reunited in 2015 to celebrate a decade of their debut album Everything in Transit, but in the years since founder Andrew McMahon has moved on to new projects-his third solo album, Upside Down Flowers, dropped in late 2018 and was supported by a North American tour.
Big Time... Not So Much
( big time rush)
Though they never reached the heights of the Jonas Brothers who came before them, Big Time Rush had a respectable run between 2009, when their eponymous Nickelodeon series and debut single premiered, and 2014. As individuals, however, the foursome have struggled to find real success. Group leader Kendall returned to the duo he formed prior to his time with the group (Heflon Drive) and guested on Hilary Duff's underrated 2015 album Breathe In. Breathe Out.; "handsome" James hit the gym hard, covered a few men's magazines and placed sixth in the US' inaugural season of Celebrity Big Brother; "wildcard" Carlos starred in a handful of Hallmark original movies and married Spy Kids' Alexa Vega; and "brainy" Logan released his debut solo album, Echoes of Departure and the Endless Street of Dreams, in 2018.
Death by a Thousand CDs
( keri hilson)
It's been eight years since a tweet falsely attributed to Keri Hilson, in which the singer-songwriter admonished members of the Beyhive for throwing their queen's CDs at her on the street, went viral. It's been nine years since she told 106 & Park that she'd begun work on her third studio album. Since then, she's appeared on a handful of other artists' singles and, last summer, performed with the likes of Amerie and Brandy on the Femme It Forward Tour, but new material has yet to see release. Given her recent assertion that 5G is responsible for COVID-19, maybe that's for the best.
"The Next Mariah?"
( leona lewis)
The comparisons to the Elusive Chanteuse that pervaded Leona Lewis' winning 2006 run on The X Factor only grew stronger when, the next year, her album Spirit became the fastest selling debut in the UK's history, propelled by its smash hit lead single "Bleeding Love." (Carey, of course, didn't see it.) But Lewis struggled to maintain the same momentum that saw Carey through the first decade of her now-storied career. Her third album, 2012's Glassheart, was only released stateside last year, and after the underwhelming performance of its 2015 followup she shifted her focus toward acting and modeling. She most recently made headlines last month, when she opened up about her experiences with racism as a biracial woman in the UK.
It's been 84 Dayz & 84 Nightz...
( xzibit)
What's Xzibit been up to since his tag was last used in 2013, you ask? No, I know you don't, but I'm gonna tell you anyway! Since appearing as part of the all-star ensemble cast of SEAL Team Six: The Raid on Osama Bin Laden, the multi-hyphenate born Alvin Nathaniel Joiner has done a little acting (on series like Empire and Hawaii Five-0), a little rapping (on someone named Apollo Brown's 2014 single "Giraffe Pussy") and... well, that seems to be it.
Special thanks to britneyspears for the idea for this post!