Simon Cowell is on the hunt for the next One Direction, but his strategy, which will be the subject of the Netflix documentary series The Midas Touch, has fallen a bit flat. Cowell previously announced that auditions would begin last Thursday, July 4, but the early dates were subsequently canceled. The only auditions took place on Saturday in Liverpool instead.
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According to a report from The Sun, only about 40 people showed up to the event, while there were barriers and queues that suggested the coordinators were expecting many, many more. “They started arriving slowly from about 9am on Saturday but the biggest number in the queue never amounted to more than about 40,” one witness told The Sun.
Cowell has previously released a statement on the future of the search and the doc series, expressing fear for the project. In an interview with Hello!, per a report from Nottingham Post, Cowell stated, “I used to do this 25 years ago, before social media, so now, everyone is in their bedrooms. Are they going to audition? I hope so.” He added that The Midas Touch is “one of the scariest things I’ve ever done because I have no safety net.”
That statement has seemingly proven itself true after this past weekend. Is it possible for Simon Cowell to recapture the magic of One Direction? Or has the age of boybands passed us by?
Previously, on the radio show Capital Breakfast, Cowell expressed the thought that “there hasn’t been a successful British boy band since One Direction.” While there are successful K-pop stars like BTS, it’s the fact that the U.K. hasn’t seen an explosion of boyband fame like that since One Direction that is seemingly bothering Cowell. Hence, The Midas Touch.
Simon Cowell Met With Low Turnout for The Midas Touch Auditions, Previously Hit With Scathing Response on TikTok
According to The Sun, there are more auditions scheduled. Later in July, The Midas Touch will search in Dublin, and in early August will set up in London. The dd insult to injury, Simon Cowell was previously met with strong disappointment on TikTok after he asked a local Liverpool singer to audition for the show.
Fin, the lead singer of the local band Stone, was contacted on social media by Simon Cowell’s team and asked to audition. He read the message on a TikTok video, reciting, “‘Hello, Fin. I’m contacting you on behalf of Simon Cowell! We are working with him to scout singers around the age of 16-18 years old for a new boyband, which is being filmed as part of a potential televised documentary following him on his search … I’d like to provide you with further information about how you would like to audition for this, if you are interested.’”
Fin’s response? “’Tell Simon Cowell to go f–k himself. Team 1D,’” the singer wrote in the video, according to a report by The Independent.
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