Just over one month ago, Anthony Key, Evan Papier, Zachary Sobania, and Darshan Magdum debuted their new boy band, Boy Throb. Clad in pink tracksuits, this unknown, unassuming group boldly proclaimed they were going to win a Grammy. There was just one problem, which they made very clear in their first video.
While Key, Papier, and Sobania were dancing together in front of their new rental home in Los Angeles, Magdum was edited in. Boy Throb’s fourth member was “stuck in India,” as he put it. He hadn’t even gotten his tracksuit in the mail yet, further separating him from his bandmates. Without Magdum, the band was incomplete. The solution? Gain one million followers in order to get him into the United States.
Boy Throb’s introduction struck many people as odd. They’re no One Direction or BTS, to put some of the nastier comments nicely. Their first TikTok, one of many goofy and humorously edited videos, ended with an outrageous proposition. “Do you really need one million followers to get a visa?” people asked, over and over again. The band kept making videos, creating parody versions of popular hits like Sabrina Carpenter’s “Manchild” or Alex Warren’s “Ordinary” about their quest to get Magdum a visa. About half the internet wrote the group off as one big joke — “satire,” as many social media users love to (incorrectly) call it. It didn’t help that this group seemed to come out of nowhere, although long time fans of the individual members knew better. Boy Throb addressed their doubters in a post, assuring people that they are serious artists. The skeptics doubled down.
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Haters or not, those million TikTok followers accumulated within a month of their first post. While this ostensibly helps bolster Magdum’s application for an O-1 visa, which is reserved for individuals with "extraordinary ability in the sciences, arts, education, business, or athletics,” they needed more material to strengthen his case. So they put out a direct call to journalists, singing their pleas for press coverage.
This journalist took the bait, unable to resist the opportunity to ask all the questions that people have been posting online. Speaking to Teen Vogue on a video call, Key, Papier, and Sobania gave me some answers. When asked if Magdum would be joining us, Papier says that “time zones will not be in our favor for this call today.” He is actually based in India, despite what conspiracy theorists in Boy Throb’s comments may believe, and it is about 1:30 a.m. there when the rest of the group meets me.
So, the question on everyone’s minds: Is Boy Throb real or fake? They want to make it clear that they are totally serious, but Key understands why people are divided.
“We're doing parodies of songs to get our boy Darshan into the country, right?” Key says. “We look at it as, you gotta do what you gotta do. It's fun content, might make you laugh a little, but [if] you look at any successful artist, there's gonna be something funny that they do, usually there's something there. But we are a real band.”
Fans, or Throbbers as they are now known, may be wondering how the group came together. Some have speculated that they are a product of Anthony Po, the creator and performance artist behind stunts like the viral Timothée Chalamet lookalike contest. (Papier says he “didn’t know who that was” before people started commenting his name under Boy Throb’s posts.) Others have theorized that the group was part of some elaborate social experiment concocted by Nathan Fielder. While the band thinks it’s fun that people are so invested in their journey, their origins are much simpler.
Key and Papier both auditioned for American Idol in 2021, although neither advanced past the first audition. Seeking someone to vent about the process with, Papier connected with Key and the two hit it off. The duo met Magdum online a while later and found that they all gelled together musically. The only piece missing in this fledgling band was a bass singer. About eight months ago, they found one in Sobania.
“Joining Boy Throb felt like walking straight into the dream I’d had since I was a kid,” Magdum said in an email statement. “For the first time, I wasn’t making music alone — I had incredibly talented guys beside me, harmonies that felt bigger than anything I could create by myself, and a shared vision that instantly felt right. It grounded me, challenged me, and honestly changed my life in ways I didn’t even expect.”
Depending on which side of TikTok you are on, you may have already been familiar with Key, Papier, Sobania, or Magdum. They had all been posting their solo music and dancing online for a long time before coming together as a group.
“It's very tough when you're just trying to get your music out there, and sometimes, if you really want to make it, sometimes you're better together,” Key says.
Each of the members has received their share of negative comments on their individual work, which steeled them for the reactions they’ve gotten to Boy Throb. In the best cases, critics were snarky, but in the worst ones, they spewed straight vitriol. Papier in particular has gone viral numerous times partly because of the trolling he’s been subjected to as far back as 2020.
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But amid all the hate each member has gotten in the years they’ve been pursuing music, they have also gained real longtime supporters. Many of these fans have come out of the woodwork to debunk all the videos calling Boy Throb fake, highlighting the real passion they have seen from the members online and IRL. When asked about this support, Papier got emotional.
“This is one of the more touching things for me because when you get cyberbullied so much online, and you have these people who have been in your corner hoping that you will make it … it's just like seeing all that love from people who have been with me for that long, it really makes my heart fond,” he says.
Boy Throb is dropping their first single, “Finger,” a sugary, K-pop-influenced earworm that would feel at home in an animated movie like Trolls or Seeing Red. Citing KATSEYE, *NSYNC, and The Jackson 5 as musical influences, the boys hit back at their critics while serving impressive harmonies that might convert some of them into fans. Ahead of the track’s release, the group shared snippets on TikTok, which got a lot of positive responses.
“My favorite comment is when someone says, ‘I'm unironically gonna listen to this,’ because that means you've changed someone's mind,” Papier says. “That is such a powerful thing in music, because when you have your first impression, some people never change from that.”
Sobania says the group wrote and produced the record together with some mixing help from a friend from his alma mater, Berklee College of Music. Despite the time differences and oceans between them, Magdum contributed his vocals via WhatsApp voice messages. All of this — and their dreams for a Grammy — would be made much easier if Magdum was able to join his three bandmates in Los Angeles.
So, will more than a million followers, some press coverage, and a debut single be enough to secure Magdum’s O-1 visa? It’s difficult to know how long the process could take or if the application will be approved. As the Trump administration has implemented more anti-immigrant policies this year, various visa applications have become more expensive and involved stricter vetting, including H-1B employment visas for highly skilled workers. In general, many visa applicants are also facing longer wait times and increased scrutiny under the Trump administration, meaning it could take awhile for Magdum to potentially meet his bandmates. Boy Throb has created a strong foundation to prove Magdum’s “extraordinary ability,” but the U.S.-based members say it’s a “wait-and-see” situation.
“It isn’t just a document for me—it represents a real chance to keep growing and sharing my music with the fans who’ve supported me from day one,” Magdum said of the O-1 visa. “I’m grateful, I’m hopeful, and I’m ready for whatever opportunities come next.”
