Simon Cowell has revealed his one regret with One Direction and how he wished he could create an ABBA Voyage-style show around the boyband.
The music mogul and talent show judge appeared as a guest on ITV’s This Morning and opened up about what a potential One Direction reunion would look like. “We would sell out stadiums all over the world,” he said. “I don’t think it’s going to happen. But I’m just saying if they did (get back together).”
After being asked if he had any regrets surrounding the former boyband at all by presenter Allison Hammond, Cowell replied: “I wish I’d owned the name.”
She then proceeded to ask what he could do with the name, to which he replied: “Well, like ABBA. You know the ABBA thing, I’d do that” referring to ABBA Voyage show which is a virtual concert residency by the Swedish pop group that features virtual avatars, depicting the group as they appeared in 1979. It also uses vocals re-recorded by the group in a Swedish studio specifically for the show, accompanied by a live instrumental band on stage.
“Yeah, and I wouldn’t have to ask anyone,” he continued. “Other than that, no. Some of my best memories of my career were around about that time. It was just exciting, it was special and when we saw 20 fans grow into 40 fans and then suddenly 100 and then it went to 2000 and the fans were kind of like really the ones who were making it work all over the world. And being part of that, it was thrilling.”
All five members of the band – Harry Styles, Zayn Malik, Louis Tomlinson, Niall Horan and Liam Payne – auditioned for The X Factor 14 years ago 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.
Previously speaking about his regrets with the band while appearing on Stephen Bartlett’s The Diary Of A CEO podcast, Cowell said: “One thing I regret is I should have kept the name … I should have owned the name,” he stated, explaining how this would have allowed him to use the band name to create some spinoff projects without necessarily needing the members’ permission.
“That’s the problem. Could have made an animation or whatever, but when you give an artist the name, it’s not yours – and that’s my only regret. If you’re listening, I’ll buy it back from you.”
He added: “If one of the band members, for whatever reason, say they don’t want to tour, it can stop the others [from] touring. So, if it was me who owned the name, it wouldn’t be a problem.”
He also suggested that the move could have enabled him to organise a reunion tour regardless of each member’s involvement.
When asked by Bartlett if he thought the band would ever reunite, Cowell responded: “I doubt it.”
In other news, Cowell recently confirmed that he was underway with trying to find the next big boy band, and holding auditions across the UK.
“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,” he told Rolling Stone about the upcoming venture. “The industry tends to focus on solo artists – so it usually takes someone from outside to put a group together.”
“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,” he added.
Auditions for the band are set to kick off this 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.