Meet TikTok's New Pop Group
Credit: Dennis Leupold
After a year of collaboration with TikTok and a 5-week search competition on the app, Simon Fuller has unveiled the lineup of the new pop group, The Future X. As the creator of the Idol franchise, founder of XIX Entertainment, and former manager of Spice Girls, Fuller is no stranger to the world of competition or pop groups, but the approach taken for The Future X is the first of its kind.
Singers Angie Green, Luke Brown, and Maci Wood form The Future X alongside dancers Jayna Hughes, Sasha Marie, Tray Taylor and Drew Venegas. Each member was discovered by the #NextInMusic competition, which saw TikTok users upload content in hopes of being selected for Fuller's next pop group.
The 7-piece are currently living together while working on new music in Malibu. Alongside the group’s lineup announcement, The Future X also began sharing a glimpse inside of their new life on their TikTok account. Unsurprisingly, in less than a week, The Future X have already posted 15 videos to their account. So far, their content has earned them 38.7K followers and 186.5K likes. Those numbers are no doubt boosted by the group's pre-existing, collective following of 4.4million. The majority of those followers belong to Tray Taylor - whose dance and comedy content has earned him 3.8million followers on the app and reminds us of how powerful personal platforms can be.
The Future X have also teased their debut track, ‘This Kind Of Love’ via the account - complete with a TikTok-friendly dance. The group are set to make their live debut opening for Now United - also founded by Fuller- across their sold out shows in Brazil.
We know that some TikTok users tend to be skeptical when it comes to trending artists. Just recently, one of the platform’s rising stars was accused of being an industry plant. So we can’t help but wonder how a group manufactured via the app will fare with users. If there’s one thing the new group has on their side, it’s the transparency of the project. The #NextInMusic campaign generated 300 million views, so it’s not like anyone is pulling the wool over TikTok users’ eyes - The Future X area manufactured pop group, and they don’t claim to be otherwise. So will users get on board? Only time will tell.
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