New Music Report: Emerging Artist of the Week - PRETTYMUCH

Simon Cowell has done it again. With One Direction now disbanded, there is a brand new boyband to fill that big hole in your heart -- say hello to PRETTYMUCH. People are already calling these guys the next 1D. 

The five-member band, from all over the US and assembled by Cowell, consists of Austin Porter, Nick Mara, Brandon Arreaga, Edwin Honoret, and Zion Kuwonu, and after covering artists like Drake, Michael Jackson, and Ed Sheeran, the guys have released their debut single together called "Would You Mind?"

The guys tell iHeartRadio of their very first single, "It's just a very high energy, upbeat song. [It] keeps people dancing [and] feeling good, but at the same, it shows that chivalry is not dead. If you had a nice little party, you see a cute girl dancing on the dance floor, you just gotta politely ask ['Would You Mind?']"

PRETTYMUCH is an interesting title to give your band. But there's a story behind the name, and it stems from a silly voice Zion and his friends from his hometown (in Canada) used to speak to each other in. Zion tells us: 

"Me and my friends back home used to talk in this weird voice. Then, when I moved to LA with these guys, I kept doing the voice, and then that kinda caught on. And the funniest word to say in the voice was 'pretty much.' When we were just sitting around ... we literally spent like, eight months trying to figure out a name. It was in front of us the whole time."

As the guys' fanbase grows more and more each day, many are calling PRETTYMUCH the next One Direction; both bands share similarities already. But the guys tell us of the comparison"It's kinda great. It's like a blessing. It's an honor because One Direction was huge. But, there's no comparison, really, because we're just starting, and they were, obviously, huge. Massive. But, obviously that would be a dream to be like that big. Even just half the success would be kinda tight."

Photos: Rachel Kaplan