A lot of times when we’ve had something good from the U.K., I’ve seen it spread all over the world. I’m always optimistic when you’ve got something good. But they were really, really good and there was absolutely no doubt in my mind at that point that they were gonna be chosen.Īnd, honestly, at that point could you see a glimmer of all that’s happened since, or was that beyond your wildest prediction? That was when they went to your house and sang for you? And they came back six weeks later, and you would’ve thought they had been in a band for a year or two by that point the chemistry was incredible. What was interesting was that they had about a six-week gap from when we said to them that particular night, “OK, you’re in a group …” They had another stage of the competition they had to come along to next, so they had to get to know each other, and they had to work on a couple of songs, and they had about six weeks to do it. I didn’t realize at the time quite how different they all were and what role they would play. Like I said, because I’ve done this for so many years, certain times a group like that may not work, but this particular year it felt like the right thing to do, and we were just lucky that we had these five guys, all with different strengths. But it didn’t make any difference because I was gonna sign them anyway.Įven when I look back at American Idol, you’ve always kept teen heartthrobs in the mix even when some older people didn’t like them as much. But on The X Factor in the U.K., there’s an awful lot of women over the age of 30 who vote, and in that particular year they voted for who they liked. It was a bummer because I actually thought they were gonna win, because every time that they appeared on the show the energy level was incredible - you could feel them getting more popular. It’s interesting that they didn’t actually win. When the five of them walked out onstage I had to make the decision: “Do I bring four back? Do I bring five back?” And it literally took me 15 minutes to get it sorted.
And I’ve done this many times and had a lot of success putting groups together.
So what did you see in these five people?Ī combination of everything: some particular people who I didn’t want to lose - Harry being one of them the fact that the groups that year were actually pretty bad there was actually a gap in the market for a group like them at that particular moment and then doing what I always do since I’ve run a record label - you have to rely on your gut instinct sometimes to make this decision. Yes, I’m sure we got it on tape somewhere where I actually say, “You should say it.” I may have asked her to say it, but it was definitely my idea. Well, we’ll find the tapes it was definitely me.
It was her who suggested it on the show … Was it, in fact, Nicole Scherzinger who had the idea of putting them together?