Posted: Tuesday 26th August 2008

New Kids On The Block reuniting literally came out of nowhere and caught us all by surprise. If we'd have had to bet on a boyband to reform we probably wouldn't have even considered them. Donnie Wahlberg announced the bands reformation 13 years after they originally called it a day. The first fruits of their new material comes with the release of new single Summertime, oddly getting an Autumn(ish) release here in the UK.

Summertime is a pretty low-key song to choose for a comeback. It's also incredibly familiar sounding which may explain the reason behind its release. NKOTB were the original boyband and their combination of pop/rock won legions of fans the world over. It makes sense that they would re-establish themselves with a song not a million miles away from their old material, keeping inline with what the music scene is doing today. Summertime is a pop track with a R&B vibe copied by many an artist. The end result is a fun, if not wholly original sounding, track.

It'll be interesting to see how this fares in the UK charts. In the US Summertime has struggled and just scraped into the Top 40. The UK are still supporters of boybands so NKOTB should have an easier ride over here. What we really want to hear is the full album The Block, then we'll decide if NKOTB really mean business.