The Wanted

Max George, Siva Kaneswaran, Jay McGuiness, Tom Parker and Nathan Sykes gave the group a recognisable vocal spread. The low register and conversational passages mattered as much as the climactic notes. Their debut hit All Time Low introduced that contrast in 2010: a tense verse, a rising melody and a hook with enough room for the whole group. The self-titled album established the approach, while Battleground made the production brighter and more openly connected to club pop.

Glad You Came distilled the idea especially well. Its opening keyboard figure is small and immediately identifiable; the chorus expands the scene without overwhelming the voices. Alongside it, Lightning and Gold Forever show how effectively the group worked with momentum, taking short melodic phrases and making each repetition feel a little bigger.

The later catalogue opens out in several directions. Chasing the Sun leans into a more insistent electronic pulse, while I Found You makes room for a striking falsetto and a slightly older soul-pop theatricality. Those differences make the singles more interesting together than a quick description of the band might suggest. The 2021 collection Most Wanted brought the early records back into view alongside new material. For this archive, the appeal is in the original recordings: energetic, direct pop whose dramatic lifts still make sense well beyond the first wave of attention.