ISLE GO MY OWN WAY THANKS, WES TOLD SI

LOVE ISLAND HUNK REJECTED COWELL

ES NELSON feels he has achieved the impossible b by turning down Simon Cowell and a string of l lucrative TV deals to go from Love Island totty to b bona fid fide hi hip hop h star.

The 23-year-old Geordie is on a hot streak after going his own way. After his first song, See Nobody, reached No.3 in the charts, he has dropped a new tune, Nice To Meet Ya.

Wes, who reached the Love Island final in 2018, told Guilty Pleasures: ‘A lot of people were telling me it’s impossible to go from reality TV into music.

‘You have seen it so many times, people have not succeeded. Now I just want to become a credible music artist.’

He admitted: ‘That’s not going to happen overnight... but first hurdle jumped.’

Now signed to EMI, Wes built his own music studio from scratch after rejecting

Cowell. ‘I was talking to Simon’s A&R,’ said Wes, who also appeared on The X Factor: Celebrity two years ago.

‘I didn’t feel ready to commit to anything. I didn’t know my sound, I wanted to go away and learn how to record myself and experiment.’

As for other labels, he was hindered by his reality reputation, explaining: ‘It was detrimental in terms of record deals, they looked at it as more of a negative.’

It wasn’t only Cowell that Wes turned his back on. ‘All the TV stuff I turned down, it would have been my biggest financial year,’ he said.

‘So many massive contracts on some of the biggest shows. I turned them down blind, not knowing I would get a record deal.’

But the former Thai boxer has ‘no regrets’ about appearing on shows such as Love Island. ‘They are amazing learning curves,’ he said. ‘I wouldn’t be as confident if I didn’t do those shows.’

The real deal: Reality fave Wes is a bona fide hip hop star