STORY: :: Music mogul Simon Cowell is once again
on the hunt for the U.K.'s next big boy band
:: after launching the hit group One Direction 14 years ago
:: London
:: Simon Cowell, Music mogul and television personality:
"Weirdly, since One Direction there hasn't been a successful UK band, which I don't understand why."
:: In the last few years, K-pop bands have become
hit phenomena building global fanbases
"When I look at (K-pop group) BTS filling out Wembley Stadium, you've got, you say well then of course there's still a market for bands, possibly bigger than ever. I just don't get why there aren't many."
:: Syco Entertainment/Taylor Herring
:: His ideal boy band?
"You want people who have got opinions. That's what I realized with One Direction very quickly. They really, really understood very quickly who they, who they were, what kind of records they liked, what kind of music they liked. So I didn't really do much, if I'm being honest with you, other than suggest they might work well together. That was it. Then I just took a step back and watched them take over the world. It was brilliant. And who wouldn't want to do that again?"
Cowell will hold auditions for 16-18 year-olds in Liverpool, Dublin and London over the summer in a bid to form megastars on levels not seen in Britain since the best-selling One Direction, who found fame on his televised singing competition "The X Factor" before parting ways several years later.
Unlike "The X Factor", which last aired in Britain in 2018, there will be no weekly televised shows or vote but a potential documentary series.
Cowell, who said his ideal boy band are "people who know who they are", started his search earlier this month.
"If not enough people turn up or that I just don't think they're right, then we're gonna have to keep going," he said.
