Cute Is What We Aim For is a rock band from Buffalo, New York. Formed in 2005, they are currently signed to Fueled by Ramen. They released their debut album, The Same Old Blood Rush with a New Touch, in 2006 and their second album, Rotation, on June 24, 2008. The band was formed in January 2005 by OTHS as a side-project by Cherry Bing singer Shaant Timothy Hacikyan (born November 7, 1986) and lead guitarist Jeff Czum after tensions in the band rose. The band's name originated from the phrase "cute" on a phone call between he and Fred. ("Cute" had become his trademark expression in high school as a synonym for "cool"). However, in high school, Shaant was often seen as an outsider. When they decided to devote themselves fully to Cute Is What We Aim For, parting ways with their other bands was less than amicable. Some members of Shaant's former band, Cherry Bing, blamed Shaant for the demise of the group. Despite their efforts to start anew, Cute Is What We Aim For has been criticized for their past engagements and their band name, as well as allegations of plagiarism.[3] Nevertheless, the band went on to record demos with multi-platinum producer Shep Goodman and Kenny Gioia, and managed to rapidly build a fanbase. A considerable amount of the band's swift success is likely thanks to the large amount of coverage received from online magazines. One such webzine, Absolutepunk.net, featured band on their "Absolute Unsigned" feature, only to have the website's founder, Jason Tate, openly harass the band via the site's message board, accusing them of being marketing marionettes of their label and excessively using Auto-Tune on their debut album. Hacikyan and the album's producer, Matt Squire, admitted to using some Auto-Tune but denied the other allegations in the following AbsolutePunk interview.[4][5]