Simon Cowell has reportedly reached out to include transgender men in his search for the UK’s next biggest boyband.
Hoping to emulate the success of One Direction, Simon has begun auditioning young men across the country.
The process is being documented for a new Netflix show, said to be called The Midas Touch, referring to the Greek myth in which anything King Midas touched turned to gold.
Aiming to attract popstar hopefuls to showcase their talent, the Britain’s Got Talent judge has even put up billboards of his face with the words: ‘Simon Needs You. Future megastars wanted for new boyband. No timewasters.’
Those interested are encouraged to visit his website, Simon Needs You, with the homepage: ‘ARE YOU AGED AROUND 16-18 AND A GLOBAL SUPERSTAR IN THE MAKING?’ Define ‘around’ Simon…
It has now been claimed that the mogul is widening the search and has appealed to the trans community to audition.
A source told The Sun: ‘Simon knows he has to change with the times and loves being a trailblazer.
‘He thinks it could be a game-changer and shows he understands how progressive the industry is.’
Despite widening the search and appealing to young men across the UK, it appeared only a small amount of hopefuls turned up to auditions in Liverpool last weekend.
In one photo taken at the Albert Dock venue and obtained by The Sun, only a few people were queuing, but they were clearly prepared for many more with multiple railings set up to control the situation.
‘They started arriving slowly from about 9am on Saturday but the biggest number in the queue never amounted to more than about 40,’ a source told the publication.
‘By early afternoon, the number arriving had virtually dried up and it was the same story on the Sunday audition.
‘The amount of railings they put up suggested they were expecting hundreds or thousands of people to arrive and pack out the queues but they had a fraction of those kinds of numbers.’
Dispelling these rumours on This Morning, Simon told Alison Hammond and Dermot O’Leary that it was slow at the start but there were plenty of hopefuls at the auditions, adding that they were auditioning more people than they were during X Factor.
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It’s not over yet though, with auditions planned for Dublin later this month, and three taking place in London in August, while a team has been scouting potential stars and asking them to come along to a planned event.
Simon is passionately pursuing this path because, since One Direction, there ‘hasn’t been a successful boyband,’ he claims – although not everyone agrees with this statement, as they feel it erases the success of Korean groups like BTS and Seventeen.
‘Right now record labels aren’t signing enough new talent,’ Simon told Daily Mail.
‘So the amount of UK artists who are breaking worldwide has literally fallen off a cliff because I think there is too much competition online.
‘People don’t knock on your door saying, “I’ve got a new band”. It doesn’t happen. You’ve got to go out there yourself and do it. So that’s what we are doing.’
He’s not the only one trying to find the new boyband, with former The X Factor co-star Nicole Scherzinger reportedly signing up for a rival show.
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Metro.co.uk has contacted Simon Cowell’s representatives for comment.
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