‘WE LOOK BETTER NOW THAN WE DID THEN’
Union J on their healed rift and how it feels to be reuniting after six years apart
They recently delighted fans by announcing the original four members are getting back together after a six-year hiatus. But union J admit the comeback was a complete surprise – even to themselves!
Josh Cuthbert, 29, Jaymi Hensley, 32, and JJ Hamblett,
33, have reunited with George Shelley, 28, after he left the group in 2016, with the band fully disbanding in 2019.
“if you had told me two years ago there would be a union J reunion and i’d be part of it, i would have thought that would make my mental health worse,” Josh admits as he reflects on reuniting with his bandmates.
“We’ve grown and now we can help each other,”
George adds.
ahead of their one-off gig at The london Palladium in may, the lads reflect on the past 10 years since they found fame on The X Factor, and reveal why they don’t think the show should return…
Hi, boys! How does it feel to be back together?
JJ: incredible. To be back and to have George back is amazing. i didn’t think we’d get the reaction we have. i know we’ve always had fans but it’s literally been incredible since we’ve announced our news. Jaymi: it feels like the beginning of our journey. We were together for three years. The beginning was so joyous and the end was quite toxic. But it’s gone back to the positive. i think we had high hopes but low expectations because we had to protect our hearts, but to see the response from fans and the ticket sales… it’s been a big thumbs-up.
Did it take long for everybody to get on board with the reunion? Josh: it wasn’t simple, we’d be lying if we said that was the case. We’ve had to do a lot of healing over the past five or six years. it’s taken a long time for all of us to have confidence and belief in ourselves and our mental health to give this another go.
When did the discussions start to happen?
Jaymi: There have been a couple of opportunities over the years where we’ve spoken about getting back together. There was an
X Factor: All Stars that was being discussed. They reached out to us and we spoke about if we wanted to do it. Some of us were yes and some of us were no. Then, during lockdown, we sat back and realised that we missed each other. That’s what made us heal and what made us address those issues and the relationship blossomed. So when our 10-year anniversary came around, we felt like we could reunite because the majority of those issues had already been fixed. The X Factor is currently taking a break. Would you like to see it make a return?
Jaymi: i think it could do well if it came back with an All Stars version or another celebrity series. i think the nostalgia of it would do well. everyone does love and miss the heyday of The X Factor.
JJ: i know Britain’s Got Talent had its Champions series – that did really well. if The X Factor
did that it would catapult it back up. I don’t think it can just come back as it was, though.
Josh: They need to leave it long enough to give people time to properly miss it. It’s like all us old bands coming back – we’ve left it long enough so people are properly up for it again. There is a real boyband renaissance going on at the moment, with JLS and The Wanted also reforming. Does it feel just like old times? George: It does, it feels really weird. I saw something on Tiktok of all the old bands that have left the scene and are now coming back. It’s been really nice to see how many fans have stuck by boybands.
JJ: I think we look better now than we did then.
Jaymi: Speak for yourself!
Can you believe a decade has gone by?
George: We look back at the pictures of us on The X Factor and can’t believe it – we were so young.
Jaymi: I hate that we wasted those years not being together and I hope that when we reach 20 years, we can look back on the next 10 years full of positivity.
Union J: The Reunion takes place at The London Palladium on 28 May. For ticket details, go to ticketmaster.co.uk