Sky's Boyzone: No Matter What joins the likes of Dirty Pop and Boybands Forever as the latest documentary to peel back the shiny veneer of the '90s and get closer to the truth of the popstars' experience.
Bypassing the paparazzi-dazzling glossiness of the era, No Matter What offers what feels like a naked tell-all that exposes an intimate pain of the once-baby-faced darlings of pop, Ronan Keating, Keith Duffy, Shane Lynch, Mikey Graham and the late Stephen Gately, better known as Boyzone.
The raw and emotional documentary tracks their rise to fame from the boys' perspective and that of their manager Louis Walsh, whose manipulation paved their journey.
The brotherhood which they'd forged through resentment, grit and trauma survived their ordeal, including the tragic loss of Stephen and their combative final tour in 2019 – save Mikey, who has cut ties.
While Ronan, Keith and Shane could be seen in the documentary sharing laughs at a pub, Boyzone: No Matter What cut to Mikey in a separate pub (or the same pub at another time, who knows?) drinking alone. The Raheny-born star intimated how difficult it would be to reunite with them in person, stating his future was more important than his past.
So what happened to make him so isolated from the band?
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What happened between Mikey Graham and the rest of Boyzone?
Boyzone's 2019 tour 'Thank You and Goodnight' was the breaking point that sent them on separate paths, but none more so than Mikey, for whom there was no going back.
Tensions reached their peak during the Tokyo leg of the tour when frustrations arose concerning Keith and Shane's behaviour and professionalism.
"It was the worst I had seen in all of our years," Ronan commented, referring to their performance, which included Keith and Shane's drunken behaviour on stage, while Mikey dubbed their "carrying on" as "infantile".
Ronan, disgruntled by the fact that he was putting in more effort than the rest, "went at them all."
Shane explained that Ronan believed they weren't pulling their weight comparatively but countered that it was his role as the lead singer to carry that load, stating that the others didn't have the opportunity or responsibility to do as much as him.
"It had reached a complete state of malignancy," Mikey said reflectively, adding, "I'd had enough."
He and Keith clashed the following night, however, out of respect, no details about what happened are shared in the film.
"There were things that happened that were cruel," said Keith. "I'm not going to express any more than that."
The fractured band left Japan, some of them not on speaking terms, but still went on to perform their final five nights in the Palladium.
Ronan remembered the experience as "going through the motions. [It was] a very, very big anticlimax."
"I just wanted to get out of there, get away from that toxic environment," Mikey stated, before revealing that he hasn't seen the rest of the band since that last night.
"That's when I began to understand that I need to make some changes," he explained.
Despite the deep wounds and the share of hurt that was tossed around, Mikey doesn't appear to be holding on to any bitterness.
"I am so grateful for all that I have endured and experience, good and bad because it's brought me to be the man I am today," he said.
"Every single day I have something to do with music, waking up with a spring in my step. The guy I was before I joined Boyzone was slim, healthy, fit, full of vitality, full of confidence, full of passion. That's the guy that's returning. There's a great sense of liberation."
While the ex-popstar has no desire to trek down memory lane, he has a fondness for the boys with whom he rose to superstardom.
"I wish them the absolute best in their lives," he said. "I wish them nothing but happiness. I hold no grudges, no animosity, nothing. However, I don't want to go back to how I felt for many years, and to see them, if it were for too long, would remind me of that and my future is far too important to me to waste it looking back at my past."
Keith shared that one of his biggest regrets of that time was that he clashed a lot with Mikey, saying that the two were "very, very alike."
"The amount of time that we didn't get on, that took its toll on me as a human being but you can't get those years back."
Mikey also expressed regret, saying, "It didn't have to be that way," but that their lack of skill in understanding one another was what got in the way.
He still insists that his Boyzone journey was worth it. "It's a hell of a ride, success, and all of the good times really do outweigh all the bad times."
Will Boyzone ever reunite?
When it comes to their future as a band No Matter What had a ring of finality to it... for the most part. There are little nuggets of hope to be found for those looking for a happier, more unified ending.
When asked about the possibility of another reunion show Mikey gave a heavy sigh and replied:
"Well, now that's a question."
Referring to the performance aspect of it all he said: "That, I would love to experience that again. Who wouldn't? But there's so much more going on backstage."
While Ronan shared that got out in order to put himself first, he responded to the idea of a comeback with "perhaps leave well enough alone, or maybe."
Meanwhile, Shane, who had declared that he couldn't survive in that world any more answered: "If they said they're going on tour again, I'm not getting left behind. You're mad."
Keith is perhaps more likely to be swayed as he believed he still had so much left to prove to himself, and claimed he was tempted by the "spark of excitement" in his mind at the thought of the roar of the crowd. "Who knows," were his final words on the matter.
It's clear, though, that it is the bond they shared that remains paramount.
"The music and the stage and the lights, I can leave that behind but the friendship I think is what it is more than anything else," Shane said during the documentary.
Ronan echoed the same sentiment when he said: "I couldn't bear to lose any of the boys."
Boyzone: No Matter What is available to watch now on Sky and NOW.
TV writer, Digital Spy Janet completed her Masters degree in Magazine Journalism in 2013 and has continued to grow professionally within the industry ever since. For six years she honed her analytical reviewing skills at the Good Housekeeping institute eventually becoming Acting Head of Food testing. She also freelanced in the field of film and TV journalism from 2013-2020, when she interviewed A-List stars such as Samuel L Jackson, Colin Firth and Scarlett Johansson. In 2021 she joined Digital Spy as TV writer where she gets to delve into more of what she loves, watching copious amounts of telly all in the name of work. Since taking on the role she has conducted red carpet interviews with the cast of Bridgerton, covered the BAFTAs and been interviewed by BBC Radio and London Live. In her spare time she also moonlights as a published author, the book Gothic Angel.
