Singer/actor Donnie Wahlberg pulled out of a promotional appearance with his group New Kids On The Block in New York City on Tuesday (02Apr13) after filming over-ran on his hit U.S. Tv show Blue Bloods.

The boyband was forced to attend the album signing at music store J&R as a four-piece because Wahlberg was held up on set, but the star has promised to make it up to disappointed fans during the group’s upcoming tour.

He first alerted followers to his potential no-show with a post on his Twitter.com page which read, “On set of Blue Bloods signing 500 pics (sic) in case they don’t wrap me in time for J&R appearance tonight!”

Read full article at ContactMusic.com.

Almost by definition, boy bands don’t age well. The older the groups get, the harder it is to recapture the magic of when they were at their prime, capturing the hearts of the country and helping define the sound of the era’s popular music. The trick of how to stay relevant, contemporary or interesting as a boy band approaches middle age is one that countless such groups have struggled with over the years—and one which New Kids on the Block, one of the longest-running male vocal group phenoms still making music (and who released their new album 10 today), tackle in a rather clever way with their new single, “Remix (I Like The).”

The song’s title, which also comprises the entirety of the songs hook, is one of the year’s most intriguing you’ll see in passing this year, posing far more questions about the song it represents than it answers. Is it a song about dance music appreciation? Is it supposed to be a remix of itself, with the “original” version still to come? Or is it just a remix of one of their older songs, with the parenthetical and the non-parenthetical parts of the title reversed? Even if you don’t care about the song or about NKOTB themselves, you almost have to listen just to find out the answer.

And the answer, in the most literal sense, is that the song is actually an ode of appreciation to a ladyfriend of the New Kids, a former bookworm type (“She was that girl in the corner / Thick-rimmed glasses…ever the outcast”) who has come out of her shell (“She went from wallpaper / To heartbreaker”) much to the group’s delight (“Went straight from a 2 / To an I just wanna own ya…baby I just wanna own ya.”) The word “remix” is used in a way to imply a new-and-improved version, one that the New Kids prefer to the girl’s original edit. (Basketball analyst Jalen Rose would undoubtedly approve.)

Read full article at PopDust.com.

“We were like, ‘Let’s just give the fans what they want, and put a twist on it,'” Jordan Knight tells Billboard about new album “10.”

The last time New Kids on the Block released an album was in 2008, and the late 80s/early 90s superstars’ first comeback LP was not entirely their own. “The Block,” which followed a 14-year hiatus for the vocal group responsible for hits like “Hangin’ Tough” and “You Got It (The Right Stuff),” was stuffed with collaborations, including guest appearances by Ne-Yo, Timbaland, New Edition, Akon, the Pussycat Dolls and a then-little-known Lady Gaga.

“The Block” has sold an impressive 332,000 copies to date, according to Nielsen SoundScan, but follow-up “10,” released through Kobalt on Tuesday (Apr. 2), finds NKOTB singing with a singular vision — that is, with nary a vocal collaborator on the entire LP. For Jonathan Knight, Jordan Knight, Joey McIntyre, Danny Wood and Donnie Wahlberg, the first NKOTB album with all the members firmly in their 40s is a delightfully close-knit showcase.

Read the full article at Billboard.com.