Big Time Rush (band)

Big Time Rush
Background information
Origin	Los Angeles, California, United States
Genres	Pop, R&B, dance, electrorock
Years active	2009–present
Labels	Columbia, Nick
Website	http://BTRBand.com/home
Members	Kendall Schmidt James Maslow Carlos Pena, Jr. Logan Henderson

Big Time Rush (also known as BTR) is an American boy band who first found fame with their TV series Big Time Rush which aired in 2009. The band consists of Kendall Schmidt, Logan Henderson, James Maslow and Carlos Pena, Jr.. The group was signed a record deal with Nick Records simultaneously with the television series, and because of production and musical rights to the show, the group was eventually signed to Columbia/Epic Label Group.

The group's first single as a band was the song "with the same name", which was featured on their pilot of their series. The group eventually started recording their studio album and in October 2010, Big Time Rush's debut album, BTR became a success around the world. The album entered the Billboard 200 at three, selling over 60,000 copies in its first week, as well as entering charts including Mexico, Greece, Venezuela, Ireland, Belgium, Portugal, Scotland, Austria, Germany and the United Kingdom and has sold over 5 million copies worldwide, becoming their best effort. Their debut outside of the series, "Boyfriend" peaked at number seventy-two on the Billboard Hot 100 and was certified gold by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). With their continuing success of the series, the group released their second sophomore album Elevate. The album achieved similar success, selling over 70,000 copies in its first week, making it debut at number twelve, but was certified gold in Mexico, becoming their second-consecutive certified album in that country. Elevate also achieved gold status in both Venezuela and Ecuador, & has sold over 2 million copies worldwide as of 2013. The group promoted the album with their tours, Better With U Tour and Big Time Summer Tour, which had supporting acts including One Direction. they are currently in the middle of planning their third summer world tour for 2013. dates and venues are currently unknown.

The group has been presented as a child-appropriate group, due to their TV series and sign with Nickelodeon. The group has released two studio albums, and is due to release their third studio album. According to interviews with many outlets, the group has said that the fourth season of the TV series would expect to end after its fourth season. During their four year career, the band has gained over 10 global certified records, these being both their studio albums (in Mexico), BTR, their single "Boyfriend" (in the United States), "Elevate" platinum in Mexico, gold in Venezuela, Ecuador and "Windows Down" gold in Chile. as of 2013 Big Time Rush has sold over 20 million records worldwide.

History

2009-2010: Career beginnings, deals and BTR

Main article: BTR (album)

Scott Fellows, formerly the creator, executive producer and showrunner of fellow Nickelodeon TV series Ned's Declassified School Survival Guide created and conceived the series of Big Time Rush. Fellow's was inspired by the musical comedy TV show, The Monkees However, the show was not titled until 2009, though it was in production state since 2007.

Casting was set nationwide, and over 1500 teenage boys attended. Maslow and Henderson were the first actors cast, as they thought they were the easiest and quickest characters, Originally, Curt Hansen was to be cast as Kendall Knight and to feature in the band, however he appeared a lot older in the show, testing poorly and was too similar to Maslow's character in the pilot episode, so co-star Logan Henderson had requested that they make Kendall Schmidt an offer for the lead role in the series, Schmidt was already the lead singer-songwriter for a music group called Heffron Drive.

Nickelodeon signed Big Time Rush a record deal in 2009 simultaneously with the television series, Big Time Rush. Then, Nickelodeon partnered with Columbia/Epic Label Group to produce the show and include the original music to the show. For the series, their debut single, "Big Time Rush", was released on November 29, 2009. Officially announced by Nickeloden, the series was first broadcast in the U.S. in November 2009, until it was eventually released worldwide.

It debuted during a one-hour special preview of the series and it is currently the show's opening theme. The series also saw the releases of other singles including "City is Ours" and "Any Kind of Guy". Big Time Rush also covered a Play song titled "Famous". The song was released on iTunes on June 29, 2010. Another song, "Halfway There", was released to iTunes on April 27, 2010 after its premiere on the series. The single has become their first to chart on the Billboard Hot 100, peaking at number 93 due to strong digital sales.

On September 21, 2010, Big Time Rush released a promotional single, "Till I Forget About You", to promote the release of their debut album. The album, titled BTR, was released on October 11, 2010. Soon after the release, the band went to Baltimore on October 12, 2010 to do an autograph signing at Arundel Mills Mall. The album debuted at number 3 on the Billboard 200, selling 67,000 copies in its first week of release. The album also peaked at number 4 on the Internet Albums chart and number one on the Soundtracks chart. Its track "Big Night" debuted on the Billboard Hot 100 at number 79, making it their highest peaking song. The album was later certified Gold for shipments of 500,000 copies in the U.S., over 30,000 copies were sold in Mexico resulting in its second level of Gold and it has sold over 3,000,000 copies worldwide. In November 2010, it was announced that a Christmas special of Big Time Rush would debut later that month, and that a Christmas EP would be released to coincide with the episode. The EP, titled Holiday Bundle was released on November 30, 2010. They covered "All I Want for Christmas is You", originally performed by Mariah Carey, with fellow Nickelodeon star Miranda Cosgrove, but was not released as so. Instead it was released as just them and it came with a new Christmas beat, "Beautiful Christmas". both releases went on to become one of the few best selling holiday songs of all time on itunes.

On February 15, 2011, "Boyfriend" was released as the band's first official single to mainstream US radio. "Boyfriend" peaked at number seventy-two on the Billboard Hot 100, becoming their most successful song to date. It peaked at number 30 on the Billboard Pop Songs chart in March 2011. A remix of "Boyfriend" which featured New Boyz was leaked onto the internet. Big Time Rush was Nominated For MTV's Breakthrough Band award Honor in 2011 As Well. Big Time Rush has made sevrel appearances at KCA (Kid's Choice Awards.) Also, Big Time Rush was nominated for the prestigious 2013 premios oye award in mexico(which is also equivalent to the Grammys in america and mexico), with their massive global hit single "Boyfriend" nominated for best international English song of the year. they lost to Rihanna's single "DIAMONDS".

2011-2012: Elevate and touring

Main articles: Elevate (album), Better With U Tour, and Big Time Summer Tour

The group announced they would be recording their second studio album, just after Nickeloden re-newed the series for a third season. On July 22, 2011, the band released a promotional single, "If I Ruled the World" featuring Iyaz, in anticipation of their second album, Elevate. Elevate was released on November 21, 2011 and debuted at number 12 on the Billboard 200, selling over 70,000 copies in its first week. Though for a lower peaking than their previous, the album sold more copies than the previous album. The first single, "Music Sounds Better with U", written by the band and Ryan Tedder from OneRepublic, was released on November 1, 2011. The song peaked at number twenty-six on the US Pop Songs.

To promote the release of their second album, the group had their first headlining tour, the Better With U Tour, which took place over sixteen dates in February and March 2012. JoJo opened for Big Time Rush for the first five dates, while One Direction opened for ten of the sixteen dates. In late February, Big Time Rush announced a national summer tour starting July 5 at the Nationwide Arena in Columbus, OH. Cody Simpson, Rachel Crow and Leon Thomas III will be the opening acts in the American venues, whereas Victoria Duffield and Tyler Medeiros will be opening in the Canadian cities.

2012-present: Film debut and 24/Seven

Main article: 24/Seven (Big Time Rush album)

The band announced they would be starring in their full-length 2012 film, Big Time Movie. The movie features them travelling to London, England. In Big Time Movie, the four members of the band Big Time Rush head to London for their first big world tour but instead get mixed up in a mission to save the world. The film was released on 10 March 2012 in the US, while a Germany release was on 22 September 2012. Due to the promotion, the group recorded cover of The Beatles songs and released an EP, Big Time Movie Soundtrack EP. However, the film received mixed to positive reviews from most contemporary film critics, many comparing them to The Monkees but praising their fun, carefree image. However, the film was a commercial success, having over 13 million views in a week.

The group is currently writing and recording new songs for their third album, 24/seven. Their single, "Windows Down", was released on June 25, 2012. With its success, the song peaked at 37 on the US Pop Songs and 15 on the US Heatseekers Songs. The song then debuted at 97 on the Hot 100. It was included on a re-release of the group's second album, Elevate. The title of their third album will be 24/Seven, according to Carlos Pena's tweet from April 14th, the release date has yet to be announced.

On August 6, 2012 Nickelodeon renewed the Big Time Rush series for a 13-episode fourth season, production started on January 7, 2013. The band also released a song titled "Like Nobody's Around" for the new season. It is unclear if the song will be on their third album.

Big Time Rush revealed that a song titled "Crazy for U" will be on their third album "24/Seven."

On April 15, in a interview on Cambio, Big Time Rush announced that "24/Seven" will be released sometime in early June 2013 and that the fourth season of "Big Time Rush" will air on May 2, 2013. On April 18, Big Time Rush revealed that "24/Seven" will be released either June 4 or 11, 2013. On April 20, nine tracks from the album (plus "Song for You" without the Karmin vocals) was leaked. None of the group members have made any remarks on the incident as of now.

Big Time Rush's 3rd album "24/Seven" will be released on June 11th 2013 and revealing the album cover and track list April 29th 2013.

Artistry

Musical style and themes

Because the group is associated with the TV series and children network Nickelodeon, they have been presented as a "child-friendly" group, but have musical differences. While reviewing their first studio album, BTR, Jessica Dawson from Common Sense, she stated "Big Time Rush is a standout, not only because of their boyish charm and good looks, but because their music is a cool blend of synth-pop, hip-hop, and boy-band harmonies." The music found on BTR is mainly pop and R&B. The music found on the album is child-appropriate, as it serves as not only their debut album, but the soundtrack to their self-titled series.

Their second studio album, Elevate, presented a more dance-oriented song, along with general pop music and R&B.

Success and public image

Carlos Pena, Jr. was interviewed September 2012, and talked about if Big Time Rush could exist outside of their series, where he replied;

"I think the music could stand alone, but I don’t know if it would be as powerful. The show has definitely been our main audience. We have four million kids watching. So when you put a song out, four million kids hear it. When you put a song on the radio, you’re not going to have four million people listening. It’s a blessing and a curse being on Nickelodeon — it’s gotten us where we are now, though some people are standoffish to us because of that. But we have to be grateful that Nickelodeon gave us this opportunity. Abandoning the show would not be the best idea."

With their success, the group has been compared to recent boy bands such as One Direction and The Wanted. However, in most reviewers, Big Time Rush has been divided with positivety and negativity from onlookers. However, recent boy bands including One Direction and The Wanted have also not received rave outcomes. Michael O'Connell from The Hollywood Reporter said "One Direction is but one group in this resilient and timeless fad. They follow the recent success of fellow Brits [The Wanted] and Nickelodeon's cross-market creation [Big Time Rush]. One [One Direction] is fluke. Two [The Wanted] is a coincidence. And three [Big Time Rush] is a trend that you want to father your unborn children.' In August 2012, the group was voted the Best Boy Band in the World, with over 800,000 votes cast on them. Melinda Newman from Washington Post stated "In the grand tradition of boy bands, these acts share certain traits with their similarly manufactured pop ancestors: Members of the Wanted and Big Time Rush auditioned for their parts at a casting call. The members of One Direction were put together by Simon Cowell after trying out individually for the British edition of “The X Factor.”" However, she positively compared them to The Monkees by saying "Big Time Rush is similar to the Monkees with its own TV series as a launchpad, and the group appeals to kids, tweens, Teens and also Adults. critics and media have considered Big Time Rush to be one of the 21st Century's biggest & most successful boy bands. they are also credited as the pop group that have once again restored creditably, Relevance and for relaunching Boy bands back into the public eye once again."

Discography

Main article: Big Time Rush discography

Studio albums

• BTR (2010)
• Elevate (2011)
• 24/Seven (2013)

Extended plays

• Holiday Bundle EP (2010)
• Big Time Movie Soundtrack EP (2012)

Awards and Nominations

Year	Award	Category	Recipient(s)	Result
2010	2010 Australian Kids' Choice Awards	Fave International Band	Big Time Rush	Nominated
	Golden Bravo Otto Awards	Best International Boy Band		Nominated
2011	2011 Kids' Choice Awards	Favorite Music Group		Nominated
	2011 Australian Kids' Choice Awards	Hottest Guy Hottie		Nominated
	Kids' Choice Awards Mexico	Favorite International Artist		Won
	Kids' Choice Awards Argentina 2011	Favorite International Singer		Nominated
		Favorite Song	Boyfriend	Won
	MTV Europe Music Awards	Best Push	Big Time Rush	Nominated
	Youth Rocks Awards	Rockin' Group of the Year		Nominated
	Astra Awards 2011	Favorite international actor/Personality		Nominated
	MTV Breakthrough Band	Favorite Breakthrough Band		Nominated
2012	2012 Kids' Choice Awards	Favorite Music Group		Won
	Kids' Choice Awards Mexico	Favorite International Artist		Nominated
	Kids' Choice Awards Argentina 2012	International Artist or Group		Won
	Otto Awards	Best Pop Band		Won
	Hollywood Teen TV Awards	Favorite Music Group		Won
	Pop Crush Music Awards	Video of The Year	Windows Down	Won
	Premios Telehit	Artist Popular	Big Time Rush	Nominated
		Best International Pop Band		Nominated
	Z Boy Band Awards	Best Current Boy Band		Nominated
2013	2013 Kids' Choice Awards	Favorite Music Group		Nominated
	Teen Choice Awards	Choice Music Group		Pending
	Premios Oye!	Best International English Single of The Year	Boyfriend	Won
	2013 Bravo Otto Awards Germany	Best Global Band of 2013	Big Time Rush	Won
		Favorite Internet Superstar of 2013		Nominated

External links

• Big Time Rush at the Internet Movie Database
• Big Time Rush at TV.com
• Official site
• Big Time Rush on MTV.com
• Blur's Song 2 The song that Windows Down sampled