We Need To Talk About Simon Cowell, And Why Ashton Irwin Is Speaking On Him
So, here’s the breakdown–Simon is trying to bring boy bands back.
Simon Cowell, a name that invokes immediate nostalgia for older Gen Zers and Millennials who grew up watching “American Idol” or “the X Factor.” The music mogul was the notoriously sour-faced judge of a number of music and talent competition style reality shows throughout the 2000s, whose often humorously harsh remarks (my personal favorite being “that was a hamburger performance, and we needed the filet mignon”) built the careers of the stars that are household names today.
While his name may sound like one that you haven’t heard in years, suddenly, he’s reemerging. Cowell was once known for his ability to successfully scout talent and build music careers that launched acts into global stardom. Now, despite still being active in the industry, his role has likely diminished amid the rise in possibility for musicians to be discovered and even signed from their social media content.
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Now, Cowell has announced that he intends to scout the world’s next boy band. There has not been a globally successful male pop sensation since the 2010s, and especially not a boy band. Now, he’s arguing that a new generation needs their own boy band, and he’s on the hunt to form one. This process is set to be documented via Box to Box Films. “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,” Cowell told Rolling Stone.
With Cowell’s track record of success comes controversy. Since the pandemic, the 2020s have ushered a new era of independent artists, some of whom even record and produce their own music. The rise of bedroom pop (think Clairo, and in some ways, Billie Eilish) in part led the conversation on artists’ rights within recording contracts. Also, Taylor Swift’s re-recording process of her first six original masters post Scooter Braungate. Swift’s original label, Big Machine Records, reportedly sold the masters to Braun without her consent, making it so that Swift no longer owns her own music. This in turn has led to Swift dropping re-recorded versions complete with vault tracks of each one.
In some ways, many have long accused Cowell of treating the artists signed to his own label, SyCo, as cash cows, and offering them less artistic freedom or autonomy than most. These feelings of doubt surrounding the mogul only resurfaced when he recently appeared on Steven Bartlett’s “Diary of a CEO” podcast.
In the brief clip of the conversation that has gone viral on Twitter (X), Cowell explains that the members of One Direction owned the name of the band according to their contract. He then expressed regret over giving them this freedom, as if he owned the name, he could have kept making money off of their likenesses without their consent. He then says “if you’re listening, I’d buy it back.”
The clip has sparked a widespread criticism of Cowell’s ways in a music industry forever changed by the pandemic and Taylor Swift. Now, enter Ashton Irwin of 5 Seconds of Summer, the Australian pop-rock group who once opened for One Direction. In a simple comment on the original post on Twitter, Irwin wrote “the worst.” His comment now has many questioning if Irwin, who once toured with One Direction, knows more about Cowell’s management style than he is letting on.
Irwin went on to say that that he does not wish to speak on Cowell’s character, only that artists deserve to own their own names and likenesses.
Simon Says
Perhaps Cowell’s most famous work with any artist is his work in forming and eventually signing One Direction. The boy band, once made up of Harry Styles, Louis Tomlinson, Liam Payne, Zayn Malik, and Niall Horan, each auditioned for “The X Factor” in the U.K. separately, with each being told that they could only continue to compete if they agreed to compete as the group that Simon had placed them together in. The year was 2010, pop music was as celebratory as the end of the 2008 recession, and the teens were itching for their newest obsession. The predecessor boy bands NSYNC and the Backstreet Boys had gone their separate ways, and a new generation of teenage girls needed a new crop of stars.
Enter Cowell, whose undeniable music genius resulted in careers for the five boys far beyond “The X Factor” and dorm room style video diaries on YouTube. Even though the band didn’t win the competition, they rapidly skyrocketed to global pop stardom, selling out countless stadium crowds, playing shows for world leaders, dropping fragrances, and securing major brand sponsorships. The band is largely dubbed as the leaders of the second wave of the British Invasion, a phenomenon coined first in the 1960s when the Beatles music gained traction overseas and particularly in North America. Among some other British acts that rose to prominence during this time period were Charli XCX, Adele, The Wanted, The Vamps, Arctic Monkeys, and the 1975.
One Direction parted ways in 2016, following the initial departure of Zayn Malik. In the years since, each member has forged their own unique solo career and experimented with different genres. Styles, who was often dubbed the group’s unofficial frontman, went on to win a Grammy award for his third solo album “Harry’s House” in 2023, and Niall Horan continues to garner critical acclaim for his folk pop, often collaborating with the likes of Noah Kahan and Lizzie McAlpine. Malik recently returned to music with his soulful album “ROOM UNDER THE STAIRS.” In typical post-band fashion, Payne has found himself in his own series of controversies, and Tomlinson’s pop has found new life in South America.
Do The People Want A Boy Band?
Evidently, even Gen Z wouldn’t mind a boy band resurgence. Such was proven by the recent release of “The Idea Of You,” a romantic comedy starring Anne Hathaway and Nicholas Galitzine. The film follows the pair as they attempt to begin a relationship amid Galtizine’s character Hayes Campbell’s global boy band fame in the fictional August Moon. The fictional band’s real performances in the film instantly hit women with nostalgia for the 2010s pop sound and the energetic fervor that only a boy band can conjure. I must admit, the concert scenes from the film did immediately remind me of my own experience seeing One Direction perform in Pennsylvania over a decade ago.
Following the film’s release, many fans of One Direction joked that they want them to return. Savan Kotecha, one of the songwriter’s behind the real life group’s breakout hit “What Makes You Beautiful,” wrote August Moon’s music for the film, which is likely why it struck a certain chord. For Gen Zers in their 20s, who have already lived through a series of traumatic global events throughout their lives, many feel that they need some lighthearted nostalgia to lighten the load. This in mind, I think the people might be ready for another boy band, both teen girls and adults alike.
However, as Cowell’s journey to recreating the magic of One Direction begins, what truths will come out? Time will only tell, but critics will surely be waiting with baited breath for the true story of his life.