Now United
Now United is a global pop group formed in West Hollywood, Los Angeles County, USA, in 2017 by Idols creator Simon Fuller. Originally debuting with 14 members from 14 different countries, the group has since represented a total of 20 countries and special administrative region and featured 23 official members.
Now United operates on a rotational system, where members may be active, inactive, or return temporarily for specific projects or tours. Some members have left to pursue solo careers, but they are still considered part of the Now United family. The group's motto is: "Once a Now United member, always a Now United member." Their dynamic structure allows for new members to be added and for representation to be passed to a new generation.
History
2017: Pre-debut, announcement, and "Summer in the City"
In mid-2016, Idols creator and Spice Girls manager Simon Fuller began searching for talent to fulfill his plan of creating a global pop group with members from all over the world. The selection took place through social media as well as dance schools and music academies, using expert choreographers, vocal coaches, and songwriters.In September 2017, Fuller indicated that "to recruit the 14 youngsters in Now United, he employed 20 people to travel the world for 18 months, holding auditions with groups of 10 to 20 people at a time". But after seeing the talents of various youngsters he decided to make a group of 14 members of different nationalities, with future possible members. From 11 November to 22 November 2017, each of the members was revealed. On 13 November, the first teaser of the complete group was released, in the song "Boom Boom" by the record producer and record executive RedOne.
On 5 December 2017, Now United released their first single "Summer in the City", on Al Gore's "24 Hours of Reality", a global broadcast intended to raise awareness around the global climate crisis.
2018: Debut, Promo World Tour and Pepsi
In April 2018, the group began its Promo World Tour, where they appeared on many TV shows across the world. The tour began in Moscow, making their first public appearance on television performing "Summer in the City" on the finale of the Russian version of The Voice Kids.On 30 May, Now United was featured in the single "One World" with RedOne and Adelina.
On 5 July, Now United debuted in the United States on The Late Late Show with James Corden performing "Summer in the City". On 24 July, Now United released the single/music video for "What Are We Waiting For", filmed in South Korea. On 20 September, Now United released the single/music video for "Who Would Think That Love?", filmed in Mexico. On 15 December, the group released the single/music video for "How We Do It", filmed in India, featuring Indian rapper Badshah.
2019: Special Olympics and Dreams Come True Tour
On 29 January 2019, the music video for "Beautiful Life", which was also filmed in India, was also released.During the Philippines tour, Now United filmed and released the single/music video for "Afraid of Letting Go" on 17 March. On 28 April, the single/music video for "Sundin Ang Puso", which was also filmed in the Philippines was released. The group also participated in the Opening Ceremony of the 2019 Special Olympics World Summer Games in Abu Dhabi. On 7 June, video for "Paraná", was released. By mid-2019, it was announced that two new members would be added to Now United, and that the first would be from Australia. The selection took place through social media and fan voting. On 25 July, Now United released "Sunday Morning". On 11 August, "Crazy Stupid Silly Love" was released. The month after, video for "Like That" was released on 8 September. On 20 September, "You Give Me Something" was released. The song is a bilingual cover of the song by James Morrison and is performed in English and Portuguese by members Lamar Morris and Any Gabrielly. In October, it was officially announced that the search for a new member from the Middle East or North Africa had commenced. They also shot their music video called "Legends" while on tour, which was released on 14 November. During November 2019, the group embarked on their "Dreams Come True Tour" in Brazil. On 15 December, "Na Na Na", which has main vocals from Sabina, which was filmed at the Municipal Theatre in Rio de Janeiro was released. "Let Me Be the One" was released on the 28th.
2020: Quarantine, Destination UAE and new members
On 12 February, "Live This Moment" was released being the first single of the year. On 28 February, the group introduced its 15th member, Savannah Clarke from Australia. On 7 March, the single "Come Together" featured Savannah Clarke for the first time. The group was set to embark on their "Come Together" Tour between May and June, which was postponed on 20 March due to COVID-19 concerns.On 8 May, the single/music video for "Dana Dana" was released, which was filmed remotely amid the coronavirus pandemic. The song had been teased for several months and included Shivani Paliwal's rap in Hindi. "Stand Together" was released on 23 June of the same year.
On 8 August, "Nobody Fools Me Twice" was released, in the Korean language. On 18 August, "Feel It Now" was released. On 2 September, the Spanish version of the single "Na Na Na" was released as "Na Na Na - Spanish Version". On 5 September, Diarra Sylla announced her departure from the group during an interview with The Hollywood Fix. On 14 September, members Heyoon and Josh announced on YouTube that the search for the 16th member would officially begin. The single/music video for "The Weekend's Here" was filmed in Dubai with Sofya, Savannah, Sina, and Heyoon. On 21 September, Simon Fuller, the group's manager, announced the 16th member, Nour Ardakani from Lebanon. On the 30th, the last single of the month was released, called "Somebody" with the first line from Sina Deinert.
On 7 October, "Chained Up" was released, which had been in the works for some time, same as "Live This Moment", the song/music video features the group's boys, but with the addition of Heyoon. On 10 October, the single "Paradise" debuted, but this song was only later released as a music video. The music video/single for "Habibi" was released on 19 October, it was the first music video featuring Nour Ardakani, who served as the center. On 7 November, another single, "One Love", was released. On 17 November, the group announced the search for the 17th member. On 30 November, Mélanie Thomas, from the Ivory Coast, was announced as the new member. On 2 December, the group announced that a new male member would be added to Now United. "Pas Le Choix " was the group's new single for the first time. On 10 December, the single was officially released, featuring the girls of the group. This marked the debut of Joalin and Hina in singing, Diarra's return due to a contract still valid from the time she was in the group, and Melanie Thomas' first music video appearance. On 30 December, the last single of the year, "Hewale", starring former-member Diarra, and Mélanie, was released.
2021: Now Love, New Member and Love, Love, Love: A Musical
The group released its first song of the year, "How Far We've Come" on 8 January 2021. The next single, which debuted on 15 January, was titled "Lean On Me". "Lean On Me" was shot by choreographer Nicki Andersen and was set in Emirates Palace in Abu Dhabi, UAE. "All Around The World" debuted on 29 January. The video was filmed by each of the members in their native countries.The first clip, released in March for the single "Paradise" and is called "Paradise - Official Memories Video," debuted on 9 March. Later on 16 March the music video for "Turn It Up" was released, as a part of a partnership with KitKat.
On 10 April, the single/music video for "Fiesta" was released, which was filmed in Mexico, in the hotel garden of Cancun where the members were stranded. Then the single/music video for "Baila" was released, filmed in San Luis Obispo. When they finished filming in San Luis Obispo, they left the farm on 5 April to shoot. A few days later, on 9 April, the boys traveled from Los Angeles to Malibu. After a few days of filming, they traveled to Hawaii on 13 April, where they filmed a few music videos. On 25 April, it was revealed that the 18th member is from Spain. On 28 April, the identity of the new member was disclosed, 15 year-old Mallorca native Alex Mandon Rey.
The single/music video for "Let the Music Move You", which was filmed in Hawaii was released on 1 May. The next release was on 8 May, when the music video for the single "Show You How To Love" was released in Malibu, the single had been previously released solely as audio. Over-the-record lyric videos were released the same month, with "Baila" released on 15 May, "Stand Together" on 17 May, and "Come Together" on 26 May. As a part of a Partnership with Forever 21, they released "Nobody Like Us", which was filmed in Hawaii.
On 1 June, the group announced that it would hold an online concert, the "Now Love Live Show". The music video for "NU Party" was released on the 18th, this featured member Lamar who was on Hiatus. On 28 June, the group announced that it would host its first virtual camp, known as "Camp Now United 2021". The "Now Love Live Show" was filmed at Louvre Abu Dhabi and streamed through YouTube on 1 July, the online concert marked the group's first major concert since 2019 and the debut concert for Nour, Savannah, Melanie and Alex.
"Camp Now United 2021" began filming on 5 July 2021, in Brazil. The music video of "Wave Your Flag" was officially released on the 14th. Filmed at Louvre Abu Dhabi, it marked the debut of Alex Mandon Rey. On 15 July, the launch of the Camp Now United competition was announced, with 12 winners being selected for a trip to Abu Dhabi. Now United's music appeared at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, with several songs being played at competitions. A lyrics video for "Wave Your Flag" was released on the 30th.
On 15 August, the group announced their first musical, "Love, Love, Love", would be coming soon; it was filmed during their bootcamp in San Luis Obispo in March–April 2021. A trailer was released the next day on the group's YouTube channel. "Love, Love, Love" was released on 28 August, alongside "When You Love Somebody", "Dance Like That" and "Momento" on the group's YouTube Channel. Bailey May described the experience of filming a musical stating that it was not challenging as he was playing his own character.
It was announced on 6 September, that the group would be traveling to Abu Dhabi for their bootcamp. On 10 September, all three of the "Love, Love, Love" songs were released on all music platforms. "Ikou" Music video, which was filmed in Mexico, was released on the 11th. Following their bootcamp, it was revealed that they would be traveling to Portugal. The official Music video for "Dance Like That" was released on the 16th. It was announced on the 27th, that the group would be partnering with SheinX Rock the Runway online fashion show.
On 3 October, the group performed "Wave Your Flag" at the 25th Globos de Ouro awards ceremony. A new edition of "Come together" was released on the 4th, alongside the 12 camp winners. The Bootcampers released their first song, "Good Days" on the 7th. The group released two more music videos, "I Got You" and "Anything for You" were released on the 22nd. Another song, "Future Me" which was filmed in Abu Dhabi was released on the 30th. "I Got You" and "Anything For You" was released across all streaming platforms on 11 November. It was announced that the group would be returning to Brazil. Any Gabrielly leaked information during an interview that the group would be touring in 2022. "Future Me" was released across streaming platforms on the 18th. It was officially announced on 21 November, that the group would be embarking on their "Wave Your Flag World Tour" with dates announced in Brazil and Portugal, members reassured fans that future dates would be later announced.
Information surrounding the filming of the "Jump" music video was leaked on 5 December. The group performed "All Day", "Future Me" and "Wave Your Flag" on an aired broadcast of Domingao com Huck on the 12th. Due to high demand, 3 new dates were announced on 17 December in Brazil. The official music video for "Badna Nehlam" was released on the 22nd. The group announced on 29 December, that they will release an upcoming song featuring Alta B. On 30 December, their single "Jump" was released, featuring Alta B and R3HAB, the music video was made in partnership with Verizon. Jump reached a milestone of 50 million views in the span of 3 weeks.