THEY are the product of a rival show, but JLS singer Aston Merrygold reckons he has the solution to Alesha Dixon’s problems on Strictly Come Dancing…
The boy-band singer, whose act were runners-up in last year’s X Factor final on ITV, thinks Alesha would win over her detractors if she gave them a flash of her legs.
Aston and his mates are talking to Saturday Plus! in the HQ of their record company in London’s plush Kensington when the subject of the rival TV show comes up.
While his three JLS colleagues fall over themselves to keep out of the controversy surrounding the singer’s new gig as a judge on Strictly Come Dancing, the 21-year-old is happy to share his thoughts.
“Her legs, man, wow,” he says. “She’s a lovely girl, Alesha, but maybe she should sit in front of that desk they’ve put her behind.”
It’s all he gets to say on the matter. His bandmates then speak over the top of him, protesting that they “haven’t seen the show” or “haven’t heard about” the Alesha issue.
Four young men signed to a major record label are obvious choices to be given rudimentary lessons in media training — especially as their core market is teenagers and kids.
They may well have been told to avoid answering certain questions. And, like a well-oiled footballing defensive partnership, they cover for each other perfectly.
Like many products of the manufactured pop market created by The X Factor and shows of that ilk, JLS have garnered a formidable profile.
Young boys think they’re cool, young girls think they’re gorgeous.
They’ve gone from watching The X Factor to being on it, nearly winning it, then landing a record deal they never thought they would get off the back of it.
And last week in Glasgow, they landed two prestigious MOBO awards — Best Newcomer and Best Song, their No.1 single Beat Again — at a glittering ceremony in the SECC.
The upsides — fame, attention, the chance to make a living having a laugh with their mates — are obvious.
So, what’s the downside? Again, it’s Aston who speaks most honestly.
“You can’t do all the stuff you did before, such as going out with your friends and having a quiet drink,” he says. “Now there is always someone trying to say something to you, or asking for a photograph.
“That’s a good thing in one way but not if you’re just out having a catch-up with your mates.”
To be honest, Aston looks like he would have trouble getting over the door of a nightclub let alone be troubled for autographs once he’s in there.
JB (Jonathan Benjamin Gill), meanwhile, hates the attention that he gets any time he’s seen with a girl.
“People always write that she’s your latest girlfriend,” he says. “They jump to conclusions because we’re high-profile and people pay attention to us.”
Then Oritsé Williams intervenes. Although two years younger than JLS’s elder statesman, 24-year-old Marvin Humes, he has the aura of the “big brother” of the band.
He says: “The biggest bonus for us is that we do what we’ve always wanted to do for a living.
“We’re very fortunate we even got a deal from the show. When we went in, the only person who was getting a record deal was the winner.
“That’s why we looked so sad on the show. It felt like if we didn’t get a deal then we’d have been back to square one.
“To get a deal was a dream come true — especially with Epic, because of the calibre of people they had on their label. The first person I thought of was Michael Jackson.
“I thought our manager was having us on at the time. It was exciting for us. Now we get to come in here all the time and get on people’s nerves. But there are too many pluses to even start thinking about negatives.”
Every now and then, there’s a break away from that feeling that JLS are a band who say what they think a band should be saying. Some of their chat is stock cliché for the newly famous who are maybe a touch guilty of thinking they are more famous than they are.
At other times, they almost seem a bit embarrassed — especially in the case of Marvin, perhaps because he has done the “band thing” before with Simon Webbe’s short-lived act VS, and also because he worked in the altogether less showbiz world of property sales before having another crack at pop.
But, for the most part, JLS have the repartee you’d expect from four young guys who work and live (in the case of Marvin and Aston) together.
Aston teases Marvin about which team he would support if he was forced to pick one between Celtic and Rangers, trying to trip him up in front of a hack from Glasgow, having himself made headlines for saying he would wear a Celtic top on stage, for a bet with an ex’s dad.
Then Oritsé teases Aston about his appearance on a kids’ show years ago, and jokes about ITV mistakenly using footage of one of JB’s primary school mates on last year’s X Factor thinking it was him.
Oritsé himself ‘fesses up that he didn’t play football when he was young because he wanted to go off at break times and sing with the girls. Soon, they’re all laughing at each other. Is it always like this? Marvin says: “We’re business partners, best mates, family. Every single day we’re having a laugh with our mates.
“Of course, it’s hard work but you’re doing it with people you love and having a great laugh. I live with Aston and we went to Ibiza the other day. We spend a lot of time together.
“When we go abroad to places like LA or whatever, it’s different from here and Europe. We can do stuff like go shopping and no one recognises us. And going to clubs there was totally different.” Why, because you had to stand in a queue like everyone else?
“Yeah, more or less,” he says, smiling.
They’ve already had one No.1 single but, once the album is released next month, the foursome can expect that to change.
While they’re careful not to say anything about The X Factor’s rival show, Strictly Come Dancing, they are happy to talk about the talent contest which made them stars.
Do they watch it? Yes, unanimously.
“Me and him were in a hotel the other week in Manchester, going out with some of the boys,” says Aston, nodding to Marvin. “The guys were desperate to get out but we wanted to stay in and watch The X Factor before going out. We got a bit of stick for that.”
Do they have a favourite this year? Rikki Loney. Ah, but of course. These boys really do know how to play the papers. Speaking to the Scottish press? Give the Scottish guy the “big up”.
Marvin says: “We’re rooting for Rikki. He’s a genuinely great guy and he’s so hungry for it.”
Oritsé adds: “We know him from last year at boot camp. He has a great voice, very powerful. He could be flying the flag for Scotland this year.”
After that, Aston says he likes Danyl, and, before long, Rachel and Jamie “Afro” Archer are in there too.
Four guys, four points of view.
As a band built round four-part harmonies, do they agree on who is the best singer in JLS? “Yeah, the backing track,” says Aston, with a wry smile.
Flatmate Marvin considers it more seriously.
“We all have our strengths and weaknesses,” he says. “That’s the best thing about being in a group — we all know each other so well. So, yeah, we’re all good singers. But I reckon there’s an acknowledgement… that I’m obviously a better singer than anyone else…” And then they’re at it again, shouting and laughing, like a class full of schoolkids after a lunch break of blue M&Ms.
“Marvin always says it’s like being on a rollercoaster,” says Oritsé. “We keep going up and up, and we’ve not started coming down the other side yet. Hopefully we never will.”
JLS’s new single, Everybody In Love, is out on November 2. The album is released on November 9.
Source: Daily Record
Marvin Humes, from popband JLS, is fronting a new drive to raise awareness of ChildLine’s new online service.
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
JLS ladies man ORITSE has earned himself a Boombastic new nickname courtesy of his services to Shagging — Mr Lover Lover.