If you remember the group known as Danity Kane you might be in the minority since at the time they came out, which wasn’t that incredibly long ago, the public had long since given up on female and male groups that were being fronted by famous musicians/actors and were seeking to be famous for looking good and having pleasing voices. Back in the 90s Danity Kane might have been popular, had they been around, but it’s kind of obvious that, had it been possible for the original group of five, they still would have had a good deal of competition to work around. The fact is that they were brought together on MTV’s show Making the Band, and were signed by P. Diddy, Sean Combs, not long after.
They were popular to start with, there’s no doubt about that, but after a while tensions began to arise and it wasn’t too long after this that Combs took the group from 5 to 3, removing the two members supposedly to end the conflict and move forward. Nicole Briese of Us Magazine wrote an article on how Aubrey O’Day, one of the most prominent members of DK, still blamed Combs a while after the group’s disbandment since it would seem that he broke them up just when it seemed that they were hitting their peak in terms of fame. This might hold some truth, but their fame seemed to already be waning since despite their singing talent and the ability to carry the kind of sex appeal and diversity in their group, they were nothing new. Fame and fortune in the music industry is, as many people might agree, hard to come by if you don’t have help. The truth is that Danity Kane likely would have still found success without Combs, but after his support was gone it feels as though they would have experienced a very big drought when it came to the kind of attention they sought.
Plus, the idea that they were striking a chord for women in the music industry and showing what it was like to go through one hardship after another is true enough, but it’s also kind of laughable since female groups and individual singers that have come before them paved the way some time ago, meaning that DK wasn’t doing anything new, apart from trying to gain attention when it came to how ‘hard’ they’d been working to strike another blow for women in the industry. The rumors of disbandment and then the actual disbandment, as reported on by Jocelyn Vena of Billboard and many others, when differences arose between the members of the group seem to invalidate the idea that Combs was the only problem they shared. As of 2018 it would sound as though whatever problems the group members have had with one another have been squashed, but as it pertains to their careers it might be that they waited a little too long to come back. There’s no doubt going to be a few people that will still think they’re great enough to listen to, but simply listening to their song Neon Lights that was released this year makes one wonder if they forgot that they’re well out of the 2000s and into the teens. Honestly, I’m no music critic but the song does kind of sound like something that has a severe hangover from the 90s and is trying to compensate by adding a little too much to make up for it.
With that being said it’s something of a wonder that the group is still around though they do seem determined to make things work yet again and are not backing down from trying their hand at success once more. Whether or not their determination will win them any more fans or if the competition is just as fierce, if not more so, than it’s been in the past remains to be seen. One thing is kind of clear though, the girl and boy groups of the past still haven’t seemed to make much of a comeback yet, and even a trio of women singing still won’t be the money-making gimmick that some folks think it will. Will they be successful? Probably, and that’s not given in a grudging manner, but a more practical one that works off of the idea that nostalgia and a fan base that is looking forward to their continued presence might rally once again and allow them to stay in the spotlight. But until they do something truly unique and that’s capable of wowing people in a big way it would seem that their music might be something that will be added to a remix and pumped through the speakers of a night club where people go to drink, dance, and more or less stumble out without remembering a single song that they heard that night. In other words, they’re not the worst sound around, but they have some work to do yet if they want to be among the best.
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