Simon Cowell can’t see One Direction reuniting (Picture: Dave M. Benett/WireImage)
Simon Cowell has revealed his one ‘regret’ about creating One Direction.
The music mogul and TV personality has opened up about the mistake he made while managing the British boyband, who have been on hiatus since December 2015.
During Monday’s episode of The Diary of a CEO podcast, Simon reflected on his greatest career achievements, including the formation of 1D on The X Factor in 2010.
The X Factor creator and judge formed the band – made up of Harry Styles, Zayn Malik, Niall Horan, Louis Tomlinson and Liam Payne – after they all auditioned as solo artists.
During the podcast episode, Simon told host Steven Bartlett that he regretted not owning the band’s name.
‘The one thing I regret is, I should have kept the name,’ the 64-year-old admitted.
He formed the band on The X Factor in 2010 (Picture: Getty Images)
They achieved unprecedented global success (Picture: Getty)
He then explained that the What Makes You Beautiful singers have the rights to the name.
‘That’s the problem,’ the entrepreneur continued. ‘Could have made an animation, or whatever, but when you give an artist the name, it’s not yours – and that’s my only regret.’
He then jokingly addressed the singers: ‘If you’re listening, I’ll buy it back from you.’
Simon went on to explain that Harry, Liam, Zayn, Louis and Niall have equal ownership of the name.
‘If one of the band members, for whatever reason, says they don’t want to tour, it can stop the others touring,’ he said.
‘If it was me who owned the name, it wouldn’t be a problem. I can be very naive at times, and that was me being very, very naive.
Simon regrets not owning their band name (Picture: Shutterstock/Tinseltown)
‘So next time, that will be part of the deal – I have to own the name.’
Simon also confessed his ‘doubts’ that the group will ever reunite.
In recent years, the band – who sold over 70,000,000 records together – have enjoyed successful solo careers.
Niall and Louis have both released two solo albums to critical acclaim, while Liam has amassed over 3.9billion career streams since 1D came to an end.
Zayn, who officially left One Direction in March 2015, achieved solo stardom early on with the single Pillowtalk, before releasing an album and dipping out of the limelight, having now made a comeback.
Meanwhile, Harry has undoubtedly become the biggest commercial success on his own, with accolades the band never had to his name – including several Grammys.
The music mogul is on the hunt for another big boyband (Picture: David Parry/PA Media Assignments)
Fans criticised Simon for failing to mention the likes of BTS when he claimed 1D was the last big boyband (Picture: BTS)
Now it’s been almost 10 years since 1D disbanded, Simon is keen to fill the gap in the market and, last week, launched a talent search to find a new boyband.
Londoners were abuzz on June 4 as Simon himself promoted the announcement by putting up an enormous sign that reads: ‘Simon needs you! Future megastars wanted for new boyband. No time wasters.’
However, he faced backlash online after claiming that there ‘hasn’t been a successful boyband since One Direction.’
Many found this statement offensive because it dismisses the global popularity of K-pop boy groups like BTS.
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