17-year-old Emmanuel Vélez Pagán (from Alto Trujillo, Puerto Rico) is Puerto Rican and proud.  Ask him what’s different about him from the rest of the group and he jokes, “I’m the one with the accent!”  Like the others, he’s living a dream right now, one that started when he saw another famous “boy band” on TV:  “The reason that I’m singing right now is *NSYNC,” he says.  They’re my idols.  I just love their concerts.  I just love to perform.  When I saw them, that’s what inspired me to take this career.”
 
If he’s a little less talkative than the others, he’s also the one that gets everybody laughing immediately.  “I’m kinda funny sometimes,” he says deadpan.  “I don’t try to be, but people seem to laugh.”  What does he bring?  “I’m the Latin guy,” he says.  But wait, Monti said he was the Latin guy?  “Yeah, he’s like the Latin salsa and all that, but I’m the reggaetón one!”