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5 of Our Favorite Bands in YA
Thanks to the Internet and social media, there are so many new ways to find new bands than there used to be, but my personal favorite way to find them is in the nearest music-centric YA novel. Of course, lots of those feature solo acts, but these are our favorites that focus on both the battle and beauty of being in a band—the closeness (which sometimes means literal close quarters), the slippery grasp on fame, the creative bonding, the creative differences… Basically, if we were making a YA radio station, these are the bands we’d put on heavy rotation.
Melbourne (For the Record, by Charlotte Huang)
Melbourne is one of the hottest bands on the planet, but that’s a tough status to maintain when you lose your charismatic lead singer. Enter Chelsea Ford, who, despite losing American Pop Star, has gained the vacated spot and catapulted herself to stardom. But Chelsea’s a newbie in a group of guys who’ve risen together, and they don’t have a lot of patience for her lack of experience, or for Lucas Rivers, the movie star who won’t stop hanging around her (and by extension, them). The band’s struggles and tension as they travel together in close quarters with a new member feel palpable and true, thanks to Huang’s authoritative writing, and readers will bite their nails over Melbourne’s future every bit as much as their fans do.
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The Disenchantments (The Disenchantments, by Nina LaCour)
Does anything sound like more fun than hopping on the road with your best friend and her band for a summer of touring? It should be the trip dreams are made of for Colby, but when Bev reveals to him that this will be their final trip, and the sojourn to Europe they’d been planning forever is off, the prospect of tagging along with the girls and their instruments becomes a whole lot less exciting. For readers, though, the Disenchantments are a blast to travel with. What the girls lack in technical skill, they more than make up for in passion and personality, and LaCour maintains her status as one of my favorite writers of secondary characters in YA.
The Do-Gooders ( Audrey, Wait!, by Robin Benway)
When Audrey breaks up with Evan the night before a big show, she still shows up to be a supportive fan, but she doesn’t expect to be present for the debut of Evan’s first song about her: “Audrey, Wait!” which details how she stomped all over his heart. The worst part? The song is a huge hit, making both the Do-Gooders and Audrey herself household names, and giving her a widespread reputation as a muse. But are both the band and her one-hit wonders? And where exactly will they find themselves once there’s a new Next Big Thing?
The Ruperts (Kill the Boy Band, by Goldy Moldavsky)
In a clever and hilarious homage to the power of the teenage fangirl, Moldavsky’s debut follows four superfans as they track down their favorite band and kidnap its least popular member. As with all boy bands, each of the Ruperts has his own quirks and position in the group, and the girls their own reasons for loving their preferred Rupert. The combination of their unself-awareness when it comes to the audacity (and illegality) of their actions and their hyperawareness of their own power as fangirls is amazing to behold, and there’s a magic in the way Moldavsky portrays them being borderline rabid without ever slipping into judgment or condescension that makes this a must-read.
Sister Mischief (Sister Mischief, by Laura Goode)
All the instruments are vocal in this debut about an all-girl hip-hop group in Minnesota, determined to start a revolution at their school and make themselves heard. At the heart of it all is Esme, for whom lyrics are one major passion, while her co-MC, Rowie, is another. But when the girls try to form a group at school combining hip-hop with LGBT support, they find themselves faced with opposition from more angles than they—and Esme and Rowie’s secret relationship—can handle.