Shane Filan: Away from Westlife

MANILA, Philippines - Amidst the resurgence of boy bands and the reunion of disbanded ones, Shane Filan of Westlife is firmly putting his boy band past behind him to be his own person (or rather artist).

After 14 years of togetherness that resulted in 50 million albums sold worldwide (with 14 No. 1 singles in the UK alone such as Swear It Again, If I Let You Go, Flying Without Wings, Against All Odds with Mariah Carey, etc.), the Irish band — which holds a Guinness World Record as UK’s top-selling group of the 21st century — took its final bow last year. But even before the members officially went their separate ways, there were already reports of music labels battling it out to sign up the Westlife lead singer as a solo act.

So, how’s life after Westlife?

“So far, so good. It’s very new to me,” the 34-year-old Shane told The STAR during a 15-minute phone chat ahead of his return visit to the Philippines this coming weekend. “I’ve been in a band for 14 years and you get used to it. But I’m loving it (going solo), I still get to sing and do what I love. I’ve had a good start with the songs; people love the songs. It’s nice to get off to a decent start.”

Shane is currently promoting the EP Everything To Me in support of the release of his first single (with the same title) from his forthcoming full-length album under Capitol Records titled You & Me, slated to world-debut in November.

He named the studio album after the last track, You & Me, because “the title is dedicated to the fans standing by me, because together we make this happen. I make the music, and they come out and support me, and together, we hopefully make something amazing, and make this a really good story over the next few years.”

Unleashing the songwriter in him is one of the best parts yet of his “solo” experience. For six months post-Westlife, he wrote on the songs, which were then recorded in studios in his base in London and in Nashville in the US, working alongside Grammy-winning producer Martin Terefe (Train and Jason Mraz).

Shane related, “(The difference now is) just that you get to have a lot of control on what you do, you make a lot of decisions yourself, you get to write the whole album. It was an amazing experience that I never got the chance to do before. I never thought I was actually good at it (songwriting) and so far, it has turned out quite good and people are happy with it. That’s a massive positive (thing) for me.”

More than having an engaging, sing-along hook, his first single Everything To Me exudes a very positive vibe.   

He said, “Everything To Me is a very positive song, it’s about what’s important to me — my wife and my three children. I think you get through life, (thinking) I gotta do this, I gotta do that, I gotta look after this, you gotta buy this and that, that you realize sometimes that the most important thing you have is your family, nothing else matters. My wife and my kids are everything to me.”

The song sets off the celebratory feel and flavor to be expected from his entire album, and anyone who has followed his career would know where this is coming from. In many of his recent interviews, Shane credited his family for inspiring him to soldier on through his “well-documented” financial woes during the latter part of his Westlife career (reportedly because of investment deals gone wrong) and to continue making music.    

“I think I made a very honest album,” he said. “Lyrically, it’s quite positive, about stuff that’s important. A lot of the songs are love songs, actually about my wife, how much I love her and how amazing she’s been to me through the years. It’s quite upbeat because I’m in a very positive place in my life now, and I look forward to the future to see what it brings. A lot of the songs are about that — being happy — because I felt that was the most natural thing to write about.”

Shane also somewhat deviated from the signature sound of Westlife (largely defined by ballads) in his solo effort, which he hopes will appeal to Westlife fans at the same time, bring in new converts, especially among those who dismissed his former band.

“I think there’s definitely a flavor of Westlife in there,” he said. “But it’s quite different. It’s still definitely pop music, but there’s a touch of folk and country music, there’s a lot more instruments in the album, there’s some edgy kind of soul, rock as well… I want it to be slightly different. I didn’t want it to be just a solo Westlife album. I want to create a style for myself. I think Westlife fans will like this album. But I hope to get new fans as well.”

As for his former bandmates, according to Shane, they’re happy for him. After all, there was no drama or bad blood among them when Westlife broke up. His bandmates had an idea what he was up to, but “I did not (show my songs to them) till the very end because I think I wanted to try and see for myself what I did before I play anything for the boys. But they’ve all been very supportive, they call me and text me how happy they are hearing my music, which is nice. I spent half of my life with the boys so their support is important to me.” 

Asked on what he misses about the life with Westlife, he replied, “We had an awful lot of fun when we were young. I miss all that hysteria at the beginning. But we have memories, we have footages, we could always look back and remember how incredible that was. Yes, I miss that part when we were young and having so much fun. It’s more a career thing now, more serious.”

Is he open to regrouping in the future like what the ’90s boy bands Take That, Backstreet Boys and New Kids On The Block are now doing? “No plans to. When we decided to finish the band, I think that was the best exit, we kind of achieved everything,” he said, adding, “all of us, individually, are trying to find our fate in life. (If before in Westlife) every year, we would know what we were doing, for the first time in our life now, we don’t know where we’re going, we’re still finding our paths. But we’re still great friends, that’s the most important thing.”

For Shane, striking out on his own is like starting all over again, from scratch. He’s drawing encouragement from the solid fanbase of Westlife from all over, including the Philippines, which he is revisiting for a series of shows at SM Malls.

He has fond memories of his previous visits here; the very first one was in 1999, the year Westlife also successfully penetrated the music industry. He recalled, “I could never forget that — the hysteria even from the airport. We were treated like the Beatles! We had amazing success there.” 

Now, Shane is thrilled to (re)introduce himself to the people, but not without acknowledging the hard work ahead.

“Everything is new to me. I’m starting again to a certain degree. I still want to get out there and work hard and try to get as many people to hear my music as possible.

“For me, it’s never been about being famous. I just want to be a successful singer. I wanna work hard... If I’m in the papers, grace, but I want to be there for the right reasons — for my music.

“It’s all brand new for me. People hearing my name Shane Filan is weird as it’s usually Shane Westlife, so, I have to work hard to get my name out there, over the next few years, and I’m looking forward to where this goes.”

(Shane will perform on Sept. 28, 6 p.m. at The Block of SM City North Edsa and Sept. 29, 4 p.m. at The Podium to promote his brand-new EP Everything To Me exclusively distributed by MCA Music - Universal Music Philippines. You can also get Shane’s EP on Smart Music and iTunes. For more details, visit MCA Music’s Facebook and Twitter. )