» Interview: JLS
Thanks to some besotted fans, X Factor’s JLS were the biggest group of 2009. Marvin Humes talks to Bella Todd about life and love in a boy band… and his ultimate seduction playlist
Aston, JB, Marvin and Oritsé
Did you know there’s a whole Facebook page dedicated to deciding who’s the best looking member of JLS?
Who won?
It remains undecided. People are still tearing each others’ virtual eyes out over the question. Can you settle it for us once and for all?
Oh it’s got to be me, hasn’t it? Aston’s the young cute stud in the band, but I’m gonna defend my corner. I’m the tallest.
And the oldest. Sorry, the most mature…
Sometimes yeah, sometimes no! I’ve got more experience in the industry, ‘cos I’ve been in a band before. But when it comes to going out, me and Aston are the party kids in the band and JB’s most mature.
You were in short-lived early 2000s boyband VS (RIP). How different is it this time around?
There’s no comparison in terms of the success. But in terms of being together and knowing each others’ strengths and weaknesses and what buttons not to press, I’ve got some comparisons there. JB’s very grumpy in the morning. Extremely grumpy. On eight hours he’s ok. But on five or six…
Rather sweetly one of your fans has posted the following question on WikiAnswers: ‘What is Marvin Humes’s real name?’
They think that’s a pseudonym! I don’t think Humes is a very pop star name. It’d have to be Marvin Hollywood. People just call me Marvin JLS now. That’s like, my name. It’s annoying when people see you in the street and they point at you and say, oh look, that’s JLS. No! That’s Marvin!
“Our fans are, what’s the most PC way of saying it?… They’re… they’re… mental!”
Recently one of your fans tried to get into your hotel room by zipping herself into a holdall that she’d chosen to match your luggage and waiting to be loaded onto the JLS tour bus. She was only discovered, half an hour later and on the verge of fainting, because the bag had no tags and was, er, moving. WTF?
Yeah, it was craziness. Just the extent of what our fans will do just to get near us. They’ve got to be careful, know what I mean? We had a fan today outside our hotel and she said, I’m 18 now, I’m getting my tattoo of JLS next week. I was thinking, oh bloody hell, like, what do I say? I took her aside. I said, ‘seriously, you should think long and hard, it’s gonna be for life, I don’t think you should do it’. Our fans are, what’s the most PC way of saying it? They’re… they’re… they’re… mental!…. But in a good way! I mean, we love them so much and owe them so much.
Do you think the fact you didn’t win The X Factor has actually helped – people like an underdog?
Definitely. We’re glad we didn’t win the show. We would’ve been signed to Simon [Cowell], and I’ve no doubt we would’ve been successful, but I don’t know what the sell would have been. Even more commercial maybe.
You said the worst thing about The X Factor was going without sex…
You’re on that show for three months, you don’t get any free time, and we’re four young boys, we think about that a lot. But to be honest you’re so focused on what you’re doing…
Talking about being focused, you took that to the extent of all dumping your girlfriends…
Y’know what, when we’re in this position it really is extremely difficult to hold down a relationship. And especially for the girls. We’re on the road all the time, you can imagine the attention we get, the stories that are in the papers all the time. It’s hard. And my personal experience is that me and my girlfriend had been together for six years and it’d come to the end, regardless of my position in life.
Your ex, Jaime Jay, released ‘Cheat Again’, a spoof of your single ‘Beat Again’. Was that a curve ball?
It didn’t come as a surprise ‘cos she told me she was gonna do it. She phoned me up and told me. I said, yeah, whatever, the song’s obviously not about me ‘cos I never cheated on you. Y’know, she agrees with that, that I never cheated.
Oritsé started the group. What was his pitch?
He said he wanted to create a supergroup with all the great elements of the best boy bands – Westlife, Take That, Backstreet Boys, Boys II Men. You wanna be the best, you gotta base yourself on the best.
Did Sarah Harding give you any useful advice when you were papped getting wasted with her recently?
“Just enjoy it”.
Everyone always says that people say that, but surely no one actually says that?
No, she really did! And when Robbie Williams called me the day our album went to Number One, he was like, you know what Marv, this is what dreams are made of, just love every minute of it.
JLS play the Brighton Centre on 9 February and 5 March. 0844 847 1515, www.brightoncentre.co.uk
MARV’S VALENTINE’S MIX TAPE:
“I’ve used this in… situations”
Maxwell: ‘This Woman’s Work’
Brian McKnight: ‘I Do’
Alicia Keys: ‘Butterflies’
Sara Bareilles: ‘Gravity’
Boyz II Men: ‘Water Runs Dry’
Mario: ‘Let Me Love You’
Beyonce: ‘Smash Into You’
