100 Fun Facts About Why Don't We

The name Why Don't We comes from the five singers asking 'Why don't we' do what?

Start a band. All five were solo singers when the idea came up, and the question became a motto they reused months later as the title of an EP, Why Don't We Just.

What was Why Don't We's debut single, released in October 2016?

Taking You. Daniel Seavey called it the perfect opener for taking fans on a journey with the band, and their first headlining tour, in 2017, borrowed its name.

What was the title of Why Don't We's debut EP, released two months after the band formed?

Only the Beginning. The title proved apt: four more EPs followed within a year, all before the band had made a single album.

What name do fans of Why Don't We go by?

Limelights. Each of the five had built his own following as a solo singer, and Jonah Marais called it 'crazy' to watch those separate fan bases 'come together as a family'.

Which major label signed Why Don't We in 2017, a year after the band formed?

Atlantic Records. The deal followed a private set for label chief Craig Kallman, who sat stern-faced through every song and then told the band's manager one word: 'Amazing.'

Why Don't We's fifth EP, released in 2017, was themed around what?

Christmas. The band put the EP out on Thanksgiving Day, mixing originals such as 'Kiss You This Christmas' with carols like 'Silent Night'.

Why Don't We featured on which YouTuber's 2017 single 'Help Me Help You'?

Logan Paul. All five members share a writing credit on the song, which went platinum in the US even though it stalled just outside the Hot 100.

What was the title of Why Don't We's debut studio album, released August 31, 2018?

8 Letters. The title counts the letters in 'I love you', the words the singer of the title track can't quite bring himself to say.

Billboard wrote in 2017 that Why Don't We 'may look like the next' which boy band?

One Direction. The magazine added that the newcomers were more than they seemed: between the five of them, they could play 25 instruments.

Which of these songs was a single from Why Don't We's debut album?

Hooked. Its video sends the five on fantasy dates: one plays a special agent, another a video-game avatar, and one has to rescue his date from a giant octopus.

Which EDM producer worked on 'For You', a track on Why Don't We's second album?

Skrillex. The band grew up on his music, and wrote the song on tour the night they watched a Travis Scott documentary; Jonah Marais calls it the album's most festival-ready track.

Whose album did Why Don't We's surprise EP knock off the top of the iTunes pop chart in June 2017?

Harry Styles. The EP had been announced only a day before it came out, and Corbyn Besson says the band slept through the moment and woke up to find themselves on top.

Which song opened Why Don't We's 2019 run of monthly releases, on January 16?

Big Plans. It began a year of monthly releases that the band kept up to the end: eleven new songs, plus an unplugged version of 'What Am I' in September.

Why Don't We timed the release of their 2019 single 'Cold in LA' to which occasion?

Valentine's Day. The video followed two days later, and the song gave Daniel Seavey one of his first production credits, two years before he produced most of the band's second album.

Which rapper features on Why Don't We's 2019 single 'I Don't Belong in This Club'?

Macklemore. In the video his arrival turns a miserable modern night out into a 1970s disco, and the band end up doing a routine in full period costume.

Why Don't We's 2019 song 'Don't Change' appeared on the soundtrack of which animated film?

UglyDolls. The title fits the plot: the film follows imperfect toys who travel to a town called Perfection, hoping to become good enough for a child to take home.

Which country's fans flooded Why Don't We's social media with pleas to visit, inspiring a 2019 single?

Brazil. Jonah Marais said 'Come to Brazil!' greeted him every time he logged on, so when the song's love interest needed a home, the phrase 'just clicked'.

Which British singer-songwriter co-wrote both 'Trust Fund Baby' and 'What Am I' for Why Don't We?

Ed Sheeran. He was the one hero all five shared: Jack Avery credits him with making him pick up a guitar, and Sheeran already knew who they were when they met at the 2017 VMAs.

Which song did Why Don't We release in the last days of December 2019 to close their song-a-month year?

Chills. Its video, a romantic winter wonderland, arrived a week later; soon afterwards the band logged off social media and released nothing more for nine months.

Which single ended Why Don't We's 2020 hiatus and led off their second album?

Fallin' (Adrenaline). It was the last song written for the album and came together in about 45 minutes, yet it led the record and gave the band their first Hot 100 hit.

Which orchestral instrument does Daniel Seavey call his favourite and play on stage in his solo shows?

Cello. He singled it out among the many instruments he plays because 'it's just really unique sounding', and he has performed one of the band's ballads on it live.

Why Don't We's 2020 comeback single is built on a sample of which track from Kanye West's Yeezus?

Black Skinhead. Because the original was co-written with both members of Daft Punk, the French duo share the boy band's songwriting credits alongside Kanye West himself.

What was the title of Why Don't We's second and final studio album, released in 2021?

The Good Times and the Bad Ones. It was the first album the band largely wrote and produced themselves, a leap Corbyn Besson called 'a lot scarier than what we've done before'.

Why Don't We's 2020 single 'Slow Down' is built around the guitar riff of '1979' by which band?

Smashing Pumpkins. The band's mixer suggested writing over the famous loop, and the single could only come out once Billy Corgan had heard their version and approved it.

Which of these producers worked on Why Don't We's second album?

Timbaland. He added a little production to the closing track, 'Stay', with beatboxing layered under the drums, which Corbyn Besson called 'the cherry on top'.

Which YouTube Originals docuseries followed Why Don't We as they finished their second album?

30 Days With. Why Don't We were the first act to get the format, and its four episodes showed them writing and producing an album by themselves for the first time.

In late 2021, Why Don't We released a cover of which modern holiday hit?

Mistletoe. The cover arrived a decade after the original and a month after the single 'Love Back'; less than a year later the band had stopped releasing music altogether.

Why Don't We's January 2022 single 'Don't Wake Me Up' was a collaboration with which British DJ?

Jonas Blue. He produced the track and called it a song about finding your true love in a dream; it carried the boy band onto Billboard's dance chart, where it opened at No. 13.

A 2025 jury ordered four former members of Why Don't We to pay their ex-managers how much each?

$1. The management company had sued for $50 million; the jury did find a breach of contract, but set the damages at a symbolic dollar apiece.

What did the members of Why Don't We lose the right to use after a 2025 court verdict?

The band's name. It stayed with their former management company, so if the five ever tour together again they must be billed as 'formerly of Why Don't We'.

Which singer did Jonah Marais watch at a Jingle Ball as a boy and think, 'That's what I want to do'?

Justin Bieber. Marais was in the crowd at a Minnesota Jingle Ball in 2009; eight years later he walked onto the very same stage as a member of Why Don't We.

Before Why Don't We, a 15-year-old Daniel Seavey was a finalist on which TV talent show?

American Idol. He said later that the show was hard because the music 'wasn't really me', and that everything clicked only when he met his four future bandmates.

What was the first instrument Daniel Seavey ever played, taken from his sister when he was four?

A toy piano. It was pink and about three feet long, and he worked out tunes on it by ear; he says he now plays more than 20 instruments the same way.

Zach Herron, the youngest member of Why Don't We, was raised in which Texas city?

Dallas. When the band's first run of arena shows reached the city in late 2017, all five of them stayed at the Herron family home.

Jonah Marais built his first following in 2014 by livestreaming himself on which platform?

YouNow. He began streaming in May 2014, was playing festivals of social-media stars by that summer, and soon swapped school for online classes so that he could tour.

Corbyn Besson's cousins are the sisters of O'G3NE, winners of The Voice in which country?

Netherlands. The three sisters also sang for their country at Eurovision in 2017; Besson met them for the first time a year later, when his Dutch family came to a show.

Jack Avery was raised in the small town of Susquehanna in which US state?

Pennsylvania. Avery was born in Burbank, California; in 2019, aged 19, he became a father, and a bandmate later wrote the song 'Be Myself' after Avery opened up about his anxiety.

In 2024, two former members of Why Don't We co-wrote 'I Got You' for which K-pop girl group?

Twice. Jonah Marais and Daniel Seavey share the writing credit, and in 2025 Corbyn Besson went a step further, releasing the duet 'Blink' with the group's Tzuyu.

In which city were the five future members of Why Don't We hanging out in 2016 when the group was born?

Los Angeles. The five solo singers spent a week there 'just jamming out to music', and Jonah Marais says none of them thought it was going to turn into anything.

Daniel Seavey opened the European leg of which fellow singer's world tour in 2024?

Benson Boone. Seavey made a habit of it that year: in the autumn he opened for Dean Lewis as well, and the two released a duet version of 'Fix You' together.

With which much-covered ballad did a 15-year-old Daniel Seavey audition for the TV talent show that made his name?

Hallelujah. He paired it at the audition with Paula Abdul's 'Straight Up', a song he liked enough to sing two more times on the show before he went out in the final nine.

What is the title of Daniel Seavey's debut solo album, released in March 2025?

Second Wind. Its first single, 'The Older You Get', took off on TikTok before it was even out, as fans set a teaser to nostalgic posts about the bands they grew up on.

Which K-pop boy group released a remix of Why Don't We's 2020 comeback single in January 2021?

AB6IX. The group had done it before, remixing Lizzo's 'Truth Hurts' in 2019, and this remix was released worldwide on Why Don't We's own label.

During their first years as a band, the five members of Why Don't We also did what together?

Lived in one house. 'If we can live together that long, we must like each other,' Daniel Seavey said in 2017, a year into sharing both a home and a band with the other four.

Which 2017 Why Don't We single, also the title track of their second EP, was an early radio hit?

Something Different. It also gave its name to the band's first summer headlining tour, a 19-city run announced only seven months after the five got together.

Why Don't We's 2020 single 'Lotus Inn' takes its name from a casino in which book and film series?

Percy Jackson. In The Lightning Thief the heroes lose days in the Lotus Hotel and Casino while thinking only hours have passed; the band wanted a song about a night nobody wants to end.

As a boy, Daniel Seavey busked with his father's help at the monthly art walks of which city?

Portland. Playing through equipment borrowed from his father's church, he stopped a crowd of a few hundred at his first art walk, and spent the takings on his first guitar.

What was the title of Daniel Seavey's debut solo EP, released in August 2023?

Dancing in the Dark. Seven months earlier he had been calling the project Dancing in the Light; that name went to the tour instead, and the EP arrived with no warning at all.

Corbyn Besson's 2024 single 'Panic' was a collaboration with which Swedish duo?

NOTD. The pair, whose name is said 'noted', went back to the song with Besson six weeks later and released a slower piano version, 'Panic (After Hours)'.

Jonah Marais's 2024 track 'Slow Motion' was a collaboration with which producer?

Ryan Lewis. Marais met the producer through Jason Koenig, a director who had shot a video for Why Don't We, and the song grew from a riff Lewis started playing in the studio.

On which gaming platform did Why Don't We host a virtual launch party for their second album?

Roblox hosted the party over a March 2021 weekend, with a live show, a fan Q&A and digital avatars of all five members. Zach Herron said he had already spent many hours on the platform.

The video for Why Don't We's 2020 comeback single recreates an album cover by which British rock band?

Queen posed that way for the cover of Queen II in 1974 and reused the image in the 'Bohemian Rhapsody' video. Jack Avery strikes the crossed-arms pose in the band's version, against the same black backdrop.

Which French electronic duo had to clear the sample before Why Don't We could release their 2020 comeback?

Daft Punk co-produced the Kanye West track whose beat drives the song, so both acts had to say yes. The band called getting the clearance 'really really cool'.

The laugh that opens 'Look at Me' on Why Don't We's second album is taken from which film villain?

The Joker laugh is Heath Ledger's. Jonah Marais said the flirtatious track drew on experiences the five had not yet lived through when they made their debut.

Why Don't We's 'Talk' video, shot on a 2018 European tour, features which famous London street?

Abbey Road appears alongside the Eiffel Tower and Milan Cathedral as the five chat on their phones. The clip takes in all 16 cities of the tour's European leg.

Which three-word phrase is the title track of Why Don't We's debut album about struggling to say?

'I love you' is what the singer of the piano ballad cannot get out, admitting he has said the words before as a lie. The video freezes all five members in time.

Corbyn Besson of Why Don't We told Billboard he would drop everything to join which band if asked?

The Beatles were his instant answer, and he guessed his bandmates would say the same. In the same interview Jonah Marais picked them as the one act, living or dead, he would most want to see in concert.

Why Don't We played a Labor Day concert in Rockefeller Plaza in 2018 for which TV program?

The Today Show slotted them into its Citi Concert Series three days after their debut album came out. They were booked for the same holiday slot on the plaza the following year.

Jack Avery of Why Don't We has said he would be chasing which sports league if he were not a musician?

The NBA was his pick, though he admitted that at 5 feet 7 the odds were 'not looking good'.

Which sister duo praised Why Don't We's 2020 cover of their hit 'Potential Breakup Song'?

Aly & AJ replied that the harmonies were stunning and that the band could 'cover our tunes anytime'. The 2007 original was the highest-charting hit of the sisters' career.

On which host's show did Why Don't We make their late-night TV debut in September 2018?

James Corden's Late Late Show had them sing their debut album's title track seated in a circle on a moving platform, less than two weeks after the album came out.

Which fan-voted ceremony named Why Don't We its top music group in August 2019?

The Teen Choice Awards gave them Choice Music Group, a category they had lost the year before. Later that month they were up for Best Group at the MTV VMAs.

Which famous New York venue did Why Don't We headline in April 2019 while touring their debut album?

Radio City Music Hall was a big step up from the Gramercy Theatre, which they had headlined less than two years earlier. In between came three sold-out nights at the PlayStation Theater.

Which singer dropped by the studio and told Why Don't We how to finish the melody of 'Love Song'?

Khalid told them to resolve the melody at the end of the hook, singing it over and over to make the point. He also played the band some of his own songs before they were released.

Daniel Seavey wrote 'Be Myself' for Why Don't We's second album after Jack Avery opened up about what?

Anxiety had made it hard for Avery, by then a young father, even to come to the studio in 2020. Corbyn Besson called the result one of the band's first songs that is not a love story.

What does the nightclub in Why Don't We's 'I Don't Belong in This Club' video turn into midway through?

A '70s disco takes over, complete with bell bottoms, servers on roller skates and a Soul Train line. Before that the video sends up line-skippers, entry fees and DJs who all play the same songs.

Which Pretty Little Liars actress stars in the video for 'Help Me Help You', featuring Why Don't We?

Shay Mitchell stars in the clip, which came out on the same day as the single in May 2017. The single was later certified platinum in the US.

Corbyn Besson of Why Don't We was born in Texas but grew up and went to high school in which state?

Virginia is where he went to high school, in the Washington suburb of Centreville. He put out his first solo single in 2014, two years before the band formed.

Why Don't We wrote 'For You' in a hotel suite straight after watching a documentary about which rapper?

Travis Scott's Astroworld documentary had the five gathered in Corbyn Besson's upgraded hotel suite during a holiday radio tour. They wrote the song the same night.

Which EP did Why Don't We release on the eve of their first anniversary as a band in September 2017?

Invitation topped the iTunes albums chart, above Imagine Dragons and The Killers, and gave its name to the band's 2018 tour.

Which management company released Why Don't We's early EPs on its own label and later sued the band?

Signature Entertainment was the name on the band's first five EPs. In 2021 the members asked California's Labor Commission to throw out their contract with it.

Why Don't We recorded a cover of 'Lucid Dreams', a 2018 hit for which rapper?

Juice WRLD's song stayed in the band's live show: their 2019 tour set included a medley that ran from it into a Post Malone hit.

Which British singer taught Why Don't We to hold the mic out to the crowd when a lyric slips their mind?

Liam Payne passed on the trick, and Jonah Marais admitted using it the one time he blanked on stage. Asked who was likeliest to forget the words, though, all five named Jack Avery.

At the 2020 MTV EMAs, what was Daniel Seavey playing while he sang Why Don't We's comeback single in falsetto?

Drums were his job that night, a feat one reviewer summed up as pulling a Phil Collins. Every member played an instrument for the performance, part of the band's rockier relaunch.

Corbyn Besson's emergency throat surgery in 2018 forced Why Don't We to cancel a show in which Asian city?

Hong Kong lost its date because his surgeon would not let him fly until mid-August, weeks after an infection in his throat. Shows in Bangkok and Seoul were moved rather than scrapped.

Why Don't We's oddest venue, said Corbyn Besson, was a converted World War II bunker in which country?

Germany was the place: the band played inside an old bunker tower with walls so thick that, Besson joked, 'you know we cranked the bass'.

In which country did Why Don't We play the final show of the 2019 world tour for their debut album?

New Zealand got the closing night, at Auckland's Spark Arena, eight months after the tour opened in Phoenix. The run took in around 90 shows across four continents.

Why Don't We's 2020 comeback single gave the band a first-ever entry on which Billboard chart?

The Hot 100 had eluded them for four years, even with radio hits to their name. The song arrived at No. 37, and the band cheered it as their first self-written, self-produced release.

Which holiday standard did Why Don't We record for Spotify's 2018 collection of festive cover versions?

Feliz Navidad was their pick for a playlist of 15 new recordings that also featured John Legend, Meghan Trainor and Tony Bennett.

Why Don't We's 2019 video for 'Unbelievable' sends the band dancing through what kind of landscape?

A desert is where the five meet sandy tornadoes and floating tesseracts before an oasis blooms. Their manager at the time, David Loeffler, co-directed the clip.

Where does the video for Why Don't We's 2019 ballad 'What Am I' find the band and their friends?

On a beach is right: the five serenade their crushes with guitars and fall in love around a campfire. The song was the eighth of the monthly releases the band put out that year.

What one word did Why Don't We add to their own name to title the surprise EP of June 2017?

Just completed the title, Why Don't We Just, which was also the name of one of the EP's songs. The band announced the release only a day before it came out.

Which member of Why Don't We's touring team won an iHeartRadio Music Award of his own in 2020?

The photographer, Zack Caspary, beat rivals who shoot Ariana Grande, Billie Eilish and Post Malone to the fan-voted prize. He had been nominated the year before as well.

Asked in 2018 about each member's role in Why Don't We, Zach Herron gave Corbyn Besson which label?

The brains was Corbyn's tag. Zach called Jack Avery the funny one, Daniel Seavey the musical genius and himself, deadpan, the janitor.

In a Billboard bandmate quiz, Why Don't We voted Jack Avery the member most likely to sleep through what?

An earthquake would not wake him, the band agreed. Corbyn Besson was judged the likeliest of the five to survive a zombie apocalypse.

Corbyn Besson joked in 2017 that Why Don't We would be caught 'jamming' whenever which 90s R&B group came on?

Boyz II Men were the exception to Jonah Marais's claim that the five felt closer to Drake than to the classic boy bands. The harmony group also appears on the band's own list of influences.

On their 2018 tour Why Don't We performed a mash-up that paired 'Shape of You' with a hit by which rapper?

Lil Pump's 'Gucci Gang' slotted into a 20-song set built on simple, synchronized moves rather than big dance routines. The band kept the idea for their next tour, swapping in newer hits.

Jack Avery of Why Don't We was born in which California city, home to several major film studios?

Burbank was only his birthplace, as he was raised on the other side of the country. He became a father in April 2019, aged 19.

Which song, first written with Why Don't We, was Corbyn Besson's first single after the hiatus?

Love Me Better dates from the low point of the band's dispute with its management, when the five could neither tour nor release music. He chose it for its message about loving yourself first.

Which co-manager did the members of Why Don't We back when their two managers sued each other in 2021?

Randy Phillips, once chief executive of AEG Live, had been fired by his business partner that summer. He said after the 2025 verdict that he 'took a bullet for the guys' and would do it again.

Which producer oversaw Why Don't We's first session in a big studio, for the 2018 single 'Trust Fund Baby'?

Steve Mac struck Jack Avery as 'really awesome and humble', and the takes came quickly. Until then the band had recorded its EPs in the members' own rooms.

Which singer opened every North American show of Why Don't We's 2019 world tour?

EBEN opened every North American date and also played the legs in Japan, Europe and Oceania. A year earlier, fans in New York were chanting for the headliners the moment his set ended.

What is the title of the first solo song Jack Avery released after Why Don't We, in June 2025?

Please Don't Go arrived four months after the court case that ended the band. He followed it with 'Aphrodite' and 'Take the Wheel' before the year was out.

Which Philadelphia rapper guests on 'Like That', a 2024 solo single by Corbyn Besson of Why Don't We?

Armani White joined him on his second single since the band's hiatus, two months after the first. The rapper's own breakthrough, the viral 'Billie Eilish', had come from TikTok in 2022.

The title track of Why Don't We's debut album samples a drum break by which 1970s soul group?

The Detroit Emeralds' 1973 single 'You're Gettin' a Little Too Smart' supplies the beat beneath what is otherwise a piano ballad. The original was a top-ten R&B hit.

Jonah Marais of Why Don't We grew up on land beside a lake in Stillwater, a small town in which state?

Minnesota's Stillwater is close enough to the Twin Cities, he says, not to feel like the middle of nowhere. As a boy he would rather run down to the lake with his dog than play video games.

In 2016 Daniel Seavey described Why Don't We's sound as the baby of two solo pop stars and which EDM act?

The Chainsmokers completed his recipe for the band's style. Seavey later said the duo's 'Takeaway' helped inspire a track on the second album.

At what point in making their second album did Why Don't We create its opening track and lead single?

Last of all, said Zach Herron: it was the final song made for the record and 'the one we needed to pull it all together'. Jonah Marais said it 'kicks the door down' for the album.

Which Japanese boy band sang on the Japanese version of 'Don't Wake Me Up', months after Why Don't We's original?

BE:FIRST added Japanese vocals to the track in July 2022, six months after the original came out. By then the original had passed 54 million Spotify streams.

Which skill did Daniel Seavey demonstrate when Why Don't We were asked which member would most likely join the circus?

Juggling was his party piece in a Billboard bandmate quiz. In the same video the band unanimously chose Jonah Marais as the member most likely to cry during a movie.