Union J star JJ Hamblett admits the new album and single is vital for the X Factor foursome.
The guys stormed the charts after their success on the ITV talent show. But a label change and songwriting duties have meant it’s been a while since they’ve had a new release.
That’s all changing with upbeat track Tonight (We Live Forever).
“It’s nearly six months since we’ve released a single and that’s quite a gap,” JJ told The Sunday Post.
“There’s always new bands coming on the scene and doing well, like The Vamps and Five Seconds of Summer.
“But we can only do our own thing and the reaction we’ve had when we’ve been doing radio tours hopefully shows the fans are sticking with us.”
The single out today is the first from their all-important second album and JJ says the band have had a real input.
“It’s more of a live sound and we’ve written about 75% of the songs. That’s different from the first album, which was pretty much done as soon as we came off X Factor.
“I think everything fits better but while we’ve not panicked, we do need to get it right this year. We need to look at things we could have done better and improve.”
JJ and model girlfriend Caterina Lopez have just had a baby boy, the unusually named Princeton J.
“My girlfriend’s American and they like extravagant names,” he laughs.
“I didn’t quite get it at first but I think it fits well now. The rest of the guys have become like uncles although they haven’t changed a nappy yet.”
The album is out later this year with a tour to follow.
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