What would Simon Cowell say about 5ive today?

[sema608]

The thing is I think Sean was the oddball. He seems to be in his own world. In the video, "Got the Feeling", when J sings "hands up in the air", Scott and Ritchie did the gestures while Sean just looked. That kind of spoiled that moment for me. Did he even bop when they bopped? Look, I don't know any of these guys personally, but I think if anyone were to leave Five, it would be him. He has a great voice and all, but he is too off on his own. You know?

[retro399]

yeah,i agree,i thought that sean didnt seem that interested,he alwys said that he couldnt dance to save his life......

[capricorniangal]

At the end Sean was suffering from glandular fever thats why he was not in any of the stuff for Lets Dance hence the cardboard cut out. j couldnt stand simon and has always said so.
I thought you might like to read this interview that Sean gave to rita and was posted up on her site some time ago.


Sean's interview with RitaGS, Nov 03

I like to explain myself about Five. Because I don't really like myself
portrayed as not speaking to the fans or I don't do this and I don't do that. I
don't think I'm rude or arrogant ... exactly the opposite. From my point of
view, it's a 15 year old chucked into a pool of sharks. Any 15 year old chucked
into that position would handle it different but I've never really been
comfortable with the pop star sort of life.. being recognized for being a pop
star and people talking to me like I'm a pop star. It was a strange thing to
deal with. Now I've experienced it and I'm a little bit older. Bare it in mind
that J was 21 when we started the band and I've just turned 22 now. And we're
all still dealing with it in our own way. I was very very young and I've
struggled to deal with this life.

When Five split up, I wasn't thinking, "Oh, I'm gonna go off and do my own
solo career, do my own music." All I was thinking was, "Oh, I want to be sane.
I want to get my sanity and I want to find myself." And when I found myself,
that's when I decided to do my music again. I actually had no intentions of
carrying on at first. All I knew was that I needed space. We could have been
richer and we could have been more famous, but we'd have all been in mental
health.

When I'm portrayed as a singer/song writer and people come up to me and say,
"I like that song that you wrote, I like your voice... I really like you for
your art," it's the only way I can really deal with it. When I'm doing music in
the future, that's the only way I can deal with being famous, if my career goes
that way again. I've got no interest in being a celebrity. I've got no real
interest in fame, only being respected and recognized for what I do. It never
really came out in Five but I'm not stupid enough to say that I didn't like
Five or I didn't like this or that because I really really do respect Five fans
and Five itself. I wouldn't be talking to you now and I wouldn't be near to
thinking I am going to be signing a record deal and working on websites and
working on an album. I wouldn't be anywhere near that if it wasn't for Five and
I don't resent it in any way shape or form. I guess I'm trying to explain why I
was like the way I was, I suppose.

I was sort of seen as shy but I was in a band with some people who were very,
um, loud. I wasn't shy at all. I think I was just normal. I look forward to
doing my solo career now, when it comes to interviews and I can sit down and
it's a normal conversation. When I've not got to rise to being some sort of
celebrity and be something not normal. Like TV presenters have to go on camera
and be something all 'above' themselves. I can't do that. I can talk about
myself for hours... I've got no problem with that! I've just got no desire
being a celebrity. I've always just wanted to be a singer/songwriter. I think
when I'm doing my own music and I'm comfortable with it, I'll probably handle
it a little bit better.

I've not got that problem now of being recognized. It's not that I'm shy and
don't like the attention. I think everybody likes attention. It's not that I
don't like it. It's the kind of attention I get. It's that pop star attention.
I tend to struggle with that. When people come up to me and it's respectful...
not that I've had it with my own music yet because it's not released. But
sometimes I've been in like jazz bars and gone up and played the piano and sang
a song, and people come up to me after and say they really liked it. I get a
real buzz from that.

I hope fans don't get the wrong idea about me. I know exactly where I am and
exactly why I'm here. And it's not completely because of Five. I hope it's my
talent as well. My reason for going in Five was as a stepping stone for my own
career and anybody who says they just go into a band because they just want to
be in any band and are not thinking about anything long term are lying, aren't
they? You've got to speak the truth. I did it for a stepping stone and that
doesn't mean I didn't enjoy it and it doesn't mean I'm not grateful. I really
want to thank people for their support and I don't think I was able to get that
out in the past. So that's what I want to do now.

When I was in Five I heard it so much that I almost started believing that I
was quiet, I was shy, that I had nothing to say. The more people say it, the
more you believe it yourself. That's really why Five ended. It got to a stage
where I had to go find myself. I think we all did by that time, but I can only
speak for me personally. You have all this glamour around you but if you're not
there inside, you might as well be dead. It just got to be too much. Maybe we
was a little overworked in the beginning. If the people who worked with us had
thought of us more like a marathon and not a sprint, maybe we would have lasted
a lot longer. They just burnt us out. We couldn't take anymore and that was it.
And it was a shame because the music was still there, better than ever. In ten
years time maybe it will all make sense.

Since the band ended, I've been going to a lot of boxing. Getting back into
my sport. To be honest with you, I've just been song writing. I've been
non-stop writing. It took me a long long while to get back into it. Because
songwriting is really my strong point and it took me a long time to get back to
what I class as my 'standard'. It took a long while to just find myself really.
I had to strike a balance. I don't have anyone in my life right now. I'm not
seeing anybody. I've not even been playing the field. I just really really want
to concentrate on my career, my music. I've got no desire to go around the
clubs and abuse myself. I've got no interest in any girls that just want to go
with you for the ride. No interest in it whatsoever. I just want to sing songs
and get appreciated for my music... literally.

I don't really play Rugby anymore. I went back and had a few games with this
little club that let me play quietly but I don't know. I do enjoy sport. I
enjoy my fitness. I do a little running and a bit of this and that. I'd like to
do a marathon one day. It's good for the mind especially when you're doing what
I do. I wish I had discovered sport when I was in Five. It probably would have
helped me deal with it a lot better. It's a good outlet and I think I learned
about myself better. Before I got into Five, I was a 15 year old little kid and
I used to do a lot of sport. And I soon as I got into the group, it just
stopped. The biggest lesson I learned was to always keep sport in my life. Have
something to do as an outlet. I think in my solo career that I'll always keep
some kind of sport in there for a good balance. I've stopped the smoking. It's
all well and good saying I want to sing and all that but as far as I'm
concerned now, I was given a gift to sing and me smoking was just the totally
wrong thing to do.

I must say, I'm quite apprehensive about releasing my music. To fans that
were into Five, it may be a little controversial compared to Five's music. A
totally different style. I don't think people will expect it. I hope it not too
diverse. It's definitely not urban, so I can't call it R 'n B. It's not pop in
the sense of anybody else really, it's not cheesy. It's serious. It's sort of
'artist' material. I don't know what kind of words to use to describe it. I
think it's more for an adult market. A lot of the fans for Five have grown-up
and I hope it will appeal to them now.

People I know have compared me to Seal... my voice. I don't know about that
but I'll take it as a compliment. It's not really radio (chart) music. It maybe
belongs in the same kind of market as Coldplay, not that I'm comparing my music
to theirs. I can definitely go as deep if not a bit deeper. You know that
songwritng competition that I won? The Yamaha Young Composers? Chris Martin
(Coldplay) won it the same year as me in the older age group. He was very
ballad-y then. I think he needed to get a band behind him so he could
experiment and go down that sort of rocky, banging-the-piano style he has now.
And that's one thing I've learned as well. I love co-writing at the moment.
It's all very well you doing your own, but now I'm getting different people
involved. Experimenting. If whatever they're doing makes me write something
different, its good. If I just keep writing on my own it can get repetitve.

My manager has only just started taking my music round to the record
companies but there's a lot of interest. I'm going to take my time. The reason
is because I don't want to be a flash in the pan. I'm really concentrating on
building a foundation for a long term career. Just getting everything right.
That's why I took my time and chose a manager that really understood me.
Working with the right songwriters. And I'm still taking my time to find
exactly the right producer and the right record label. I want this to last a
long time.

[capricorniangal]

Hope you can read that interview properly.

here's another posting that was on here but has proberly gone after the hacker.

It was posted by the webmaster

As Ritchie told me, it was more a case of they accomplished everything that they felt they could AS a pop band. They wanted to move farther on musically as Five, experiment & have more artistic/personal freedom, & take a long break from everything to rethink but it wasn't what their record company wanted. BMG were pushing for another pop single right away and another huge world tour asap. BMG offered them a lot of money to keep going as usual. In the end, the lads talked about it for almost 2 months... everyone around them knew they wanted to either be allowed to break-out & do something radical or just quit pop while they were on top.

I get the feeling BMG thought they were bluffing and wouldn't give in, thinking they would change their minds at the last minute. But Five just said, ok then and made their own arrangements to be on MTV the day before Scott married (the date was chosen purposefully) & quit anyway. I think everyone in the industry was caught by surprise that Five actually went thru with it, though all knew something was about to happen.

Because of the suddeness of their break-up, Five left a lot of people in the business quite angry with them for various reasons. Both Abs and now Ritchie are feeling the backlash and thats why they're having a rougher time then they should. Abs, because a lot of people were upset because he wasn't exactly like "Five" anymore (what a surprise!), and Ritchie because he's taken two years and come back all changed: personally, physically and musically. This is gonna be hard people.

Abs has had to basically promote & market himself while most of the record company budget for him seems to have been spent on his videos & back-up dancers. The poor bloke didn't even have one piece of merchandise available... not a poster, not a t-shirt, nothing. Man, EVERYONE has merchandise. I don't think he ever had a cd signing scheduled or appeared on almost anything but kiddie TV shows. Hard to be taken seriously that way. Even after Abs had several singles out, they never scheduled a tour for him even just in the UK. A lot of people are frankly surprised Abs accomplished all that he even did with such poor support from his own label. The man works like a dog. Hats off to him & best of luck with his new music.

[†.Va¢hE.†]

thank you sooo much for the information capricorniangal...that helped me to understand all the reasons of the split...thank you

[sema608]

WHOAH. Those interviews are extremely insightful, especially the second one. It looks like Five matured and wanted the freedom to expand. I guess BMG thought they had the upper hand and really underestimated the band. I have to admit Sean is such a calm person, but I still don't see it. I still think there's a side of him that isolates him from the public. I can't help it, but that's how I feel.

Poor Abs and Ritchie. I didn't know it was THAT hard for Abs. Now I know why his record label dropped him. They didn't support him in the first place. I was shocked when I heard his music. I like about 2 songs from the album, but it definitely isn't my taste. I can't imagine the hooplah back then. Now Ritchie is having a hard time? I know taking 2 years has an impact, but I don't see what's wrong with his appearance now. He seems to be in a better place and I like the new image. I could see him doing pop, but I could also see him doing rock. And no, this wasn't because he went rock. I saw Ritchie's interests in rock in Five. I just can't believe Ritchie is having a hard time. He has good music, yet record labels aren't knocking on his doors?

I didn't know that J dislikes Simon. Is it because of Simon's personality?

[†.Va¢hE.†]

I think Ritchie is having a hard time because it's hard (for other people) forget him as "the Pretty Boy from the boyband"...it's really sad, but it's true...Let's hope his future record label could accept him like he is....and don't try to become him in a "Pretty boy" again

[retro399]

i think you are right.....

[†.Va¢hE.†]

that's my opinion....I think Ritchie was the only one with a really really change in everything!....

[retro399]

ritchie has worked really hard-he deserves to have success!

[†.Va¢hE.†]

I'm totally agree!!!! ;D.....I hope he is OK and I know he will be a really successful artist!

[retro399]

i hope so too!

[Mrs J.Brown]

I've never heard J say he didn't like Simon. Simon has a job to do and if he sounds harsh thats because he has to be. If a new artist or wanna be new artist can't handle Simons honestly then they have no place in showbiz since the media and fans are way more harsh about celebrities and their biz.

In alot of interviews all the guys in Five said Sean wasn't the quite one it's just he didn't like the limelight. It's just he wasn't jumping up and down and answering every question and dating celebs to be noticed.

[retro399]

yeah,i think that too,it was always said that he didnt want to be in the limelight....

[†.Va¢hE.†]

and Sean was really REALLY talented....his voice is really nice