Simon Cowell is underway with trying to find the next big boy band, and is holding auditions across the UK.
The decision for the music mogul and television talent show judge to form a new hit pop band comes nearly 14 years after he famously formed One Direction during the 2010 series of The X Factor.
All five members of the band – Harry Styles, Zayn Malik, Louis Tomlinson, Niall Horan and Liam Payne – auditioned for the show as solo artists and were ultimately put together as a group by Cowell during the series. They then went on to release five Number One albums and become one of the most successful boy bands of all time.
Now, over a decade since forming the group, Cowell has confirmed that he wants to embark on the process once more, and will be holding auditions around the UK to find singers who he will put together in a new group.
He opened up to Rolling Stone about the upcoming venture, saying: “Every generation deserves a megastar boyband and I don’t think there has been one to have the success of One Direction in over 14 years.
“The industry tends to focus on solo artists – so it usually takes someone from outside to put a group together,” he added.
“There’s always a high degree of risk, and I genuinely have no idea what’s going to happen! We might uncover an incredible group; we might not get there. What if no one shows up to auditions? That could be awkward. There is no guaranteed path to success – anything can happen, but that’s what’s exciting for me, and that’s why I’m doing this.”
Auditions for the band will begin next month, and will be held across Newcastle, Dublin, Liverpool and London. The process will also be filmed with the hopes of releasing it as a “potential documentary series”. The series will be produced alongside Box To Box Films, the outlet states.
Currently, details about the series remain scarce and there is yet to be a streaming service attached to the potential project.
In other Simon Cowell news, earlier this year the American Idol, Britain’s Got Talent and X Factor judge spoke out following the critical comments Sharon Osbourne made about him while on Celebrity Big Brother.
When appearing on the ITV reality show alongside fellow former talent show judge, Louis Walsh, Osbourne referred to Cowell as someone who “doesn’t know how to keep friends”.
Speaking with The Daily Mirror, Cowell responded to the comments, saying: “I still consider Sharon and Louis really good friends, we could pick up the phone to each other tomorrow.”
“I don’t have a phone but from what I heard, what they said about me was actually quite funny,” he added. “If you put Sharon and Louis in the house, that’s what you pay them for, they’re going to be controversial.”