Forging Ahead

It is fair to say that Union J were a superior example of the young pop group – they had better than average songs, some good guidance BUT sadly very mainstream and unambitious music production. Their records sounded too similar to rivals. 

Now, former Union J band member, George Shelley, having shot to superstardom (or notoriety, depending upon your stance) in 2015 as runner-up on ITV’s strangely popular ‘reality’ show, I’m A Celebrity Get Me Out Of Here!, and done some radio work with Capital  now has a chance to strike out in his own name and we trust create something more personal, more forceful but just a tuneful. In an interesting industry first; ‘Originals’ will see the young singer-songwriter release six original songs, each with its own unique music video, over the six weeks leading up to Christmas, in a bid to satisfy to his loyal fanbase.

Back in the Sixties, releasing a bunch of singles at once kind of backfired on the wonderful West Coast band Moby Grape, but let’s wish George the best of luck with this notion. What we would like to see given his strong voice is a sense of adventure in his music. When Shane Filan went solo from WestLife, his first solo album seemed far too similar to the boy band’s output – safe arrangements, flimsy songs. We said so and his fanbase agreed! Because he was clearly capable of much more than Westlife Lite

Shelley’s first video, entitled ‘360’ aired on Sunday November 20^th followed by ‘Soldier’ on November 27^th.  A further four videos will be released every Sunday throughout the festive season, culminating on Christmas Day. Furthermore, he will play his inaugural live show at Under The Bridge in Chelsea on December 18^th (tickets go on sale on Monday November 14^th). This is the best venue in London, indeed we were chatting to Canadian guitar ace there before his set just a week ago

George explains his creativity:

“This is an outburst of creativity, the whole project is. I spent a lot of the last few years holding back so now this is all kind of like an explosion of expression showing the different parts of my mind. It’s my little art project. Through school, college and uni I always had art projects on the go, I loved them. I was the first kid in my school who was allowed to do 2 Art GCSE’s at once, only because I would fly through the projects; I get so obsessed with them.”

This is a serious undertaking as a first solo project for any artist, as ‘Originals’ not only breaks new musical ground, and highlights the young performer’s true musical ethos BUT has he written all the songs, he’s co-produced all the tracks, he’s directed and edited all the videos, and he’s even running his own social media campaign, having accrued a healthy following along the way. Could he be the hardest working young man in music right now? Quite possibly. This sort of effort does demand some respect from the likes of us.

George – give it your best and we’ll join your trip

Pete Sargeant