What Makes A Man(/Men)...

...make you cry a lot? Turns out in my case, they need to form a band, churn out multitudes of pop songs, more specifically ballads, defy the odds and do this for fourteen years, announce they're splitting and then go on a farewell tour. 
I am, in case you don't already know, talking about Westlife. Now don't get me wrong, I know most people hate them. Hell, I even agree with many points that people use as their defence for said hatred (I'm actually going to go for "dislike"... Like everyone says, hate is such a strong word): 

• "They don't sing a lot any original songs" (Actually, the majority of their songs were written for them, and many - about 30 or so - were actually written BY them. So that's 195 songs recorded by Westlife, 126 of which were original, and 32 of which were written by members of the band.Or so Wikipedia tells me.) But I get it, the songs they had a reputation for only doing covers, and yeah some of their most successful songs were covers. But really, I don't care.
• "They only sing slow songs" I actually really like ballads. I like depressing songs, I like slow ones, acoustic versions, etc. That's just my taste. Also, these ballads sold well, so why change it? They did many more up-tempo songs on their albums - all it meant was they tried to dance on tour, and that although funny, could sometimes get a little cringy :)
• "They don't play instruments" They weren't formed as a band to play instruments. They actually do, but their fans, the ones that bought all their albums and went to all their tours, don't really care if they do or not.

Many people just hate boybands. And fair enough, they're not the coolest things ever. But at the end of the day, Westlife were still selling out tours, and what's more they were selling out every date, and playing Croke Park, and 85,000-capacity stadium, to sold out crowds. This year, they did that twice. So to be honest, they did well. 

This weekend however marked the end of Westlife. I saw them live two weeks ago for their last show at the MEN Arena. That was the 13th time I'd seen them live. I cried a lot, like the saddo that I am. But honestly, I love to sing, and the people that got me singing? Westlife. They're always my go to when I just want to mindlessly sing along to something nowadays, because theirs were the first songs I loved. Well, I loved Boyzone too, but that progressed onto Westlife, naturally. Their last ever concert was at Croke Park Saturday gone. It was emotional, and I would've given anything to be there (damn you money!) but they streamed it to cinemas across Europe. It was amazing, and I cried so much more. But alas, that is the end of Westlife. (Before you say it, I know everyone thinks they'll do a reunion. But they themselves have vowed not to do one, and they don't really need it to be honest. They've done it for fourteen years now, and they're all moving onto other things that will keep the money coming in.)

On other notes, week off work because my good friend Ollie is coming to stay after spending 3 months sweltering in Spain. We're all jealous right? He seriously makes me kind of want to do languages, just for the year abroad thing. Then I remember that I always get a bit embarrassed in speaking exams so I don't bother :)

Song of the Day: What Makes A Man, Westlife obvs. "This isn't goodbye, even as tears fill my eyes, I swear I won't cry."