Aston Merrygold: “I’m in this game to be the best"

It’s been two years since JLSters the world round were left heartbroken when the group decided to call it quits following five UK Top 40 albums, 12 UK Top 40 singles and five Official Singles Chart Number 1s (the most of any X Factor act in history!).

While Marvin Humes and Oritse Williams returned to the Official Charts ranks earlier this year with their new outfits Luvbug and OWS, and JB Gill took up life on the farm (yes, really), Aston Merrygold has been beavering away in the studio getting ready to make his big solo debut.

Well, *drumroll please* because here he comes!

Hi Aston. You’re back!

I’m back! It feels really good. It’s weird to only just be releasing my first single, i’ve been working for the last 18 months. As soon as JLS had 'the conversation' before Christmas 2012, I thought maybe I should start writing, but I wasn’t sure. I was going to take some time away to just chill and then we had the final shows (of the Goodbye Tour) and I thought ‘No, I really wanna do this’.

It’s not a normal debut, you’ve already got a massive chart record behind you, is that daunting?

I’m hungry for it again because I know what there is to have. I’m in this game to definitely try and be the best. If you ask any footballer or any athlete, they aim to be the best in their lane so of course I want to be able to get my music out there and be the best. Coming from such an amazing platform is quite daunting in a way because I kind of have to live up to expectations and what i’ve come from. That’s why I took so long to bring stuff out, I needed it to be strong enough. It’s not a first impression, but it is at the same time.

How is it doing the day-to-day alone? Do you miss having the other guys around?

That’s the weirdest part, more so than the performing side. With performing, you go into your own zone anyway, but the promo stuff is very different. It’s going from a room full of people to just you and your thoughts.

Tell us about your new single Get Stupid.

Get Stupid just feels good. Whether you love it, like it or you’re not too fond of it, it gets in your head. Normally, if something’s on repeat, I’m like ‘get it off’ but even now, i’ll be singing away and send a Snapchat and then think, ‘Why am I singing my own song?'. I actually enjoy my own song, which is a great thing.

When I wrote the song with Karen Poole and Sonny J. Mason we thought it was a good song but we never finished it and it was kind of just left there for a couple of weeks. When I went back to record it I thought, ‘Bloody hell, this is quite good’ but I didn’t dwell on it too much and then literally within 15 minutes of sending it to the label they were like ‘This is the one!’ Then everything just started moving so fast!

The video has already had over a million views on YouTube. We’re particularly impressed with the shot where you slide down the middle of the escalator, did you nail that first time?

[Laughs] No! I’m not gonna lie and say I did, I didn’t! So, obviously everyone knows how an escalator works, one side goes up and one side goes down. For some reason myself and everyone in the production team were like, ‘Cool, just slide straight down. Piece of cake.’

I went to slide down and everyone said, ‘Make sure you’re holding on’, but obviously then I just started to slowly turn as one side was going up and the other was going down!

There were a few good takes though. There was one where I just flew off the end! Luckily I landed on my feet but there was that awkward moment where it could have been a viral clip.

You’re new album Showstopper is coming out in October, is it all finished?

I’ve got three writing sessions left but it’s never finished until it’s out there and someone says 'That’s the tracklisting, there it is'. When you’re playing it, that’s when you know the album’s finished.

Is Get Stupid a good representation of the rest of the album?

It’s really not, but it fits. The album is drawn from inspirations. The sounds I love are Michael Jackson, James Brown, Prince, Sammy Davis Jr… all those old school showmen who did the live music thing.

I tried to create a visual album where people can go, ‘Ah yeh I love this one, this one and this one.’ Everything’s kind of like Get Stupid in that nothing’s really not to like, if it’s your preference then it will be your preference.

Michael Jackson, James Brown, Prince and Sammy Davis Jr are all massive ‘on stage’ artists, is that the set up you’re going for?

Yeh definitely, that’s what I always enjoyed the most about JLS. The studio stuff is fun and I do enjoy writing songs but if I wanted to be a writer, I would have been a writer. Not performing has been the hardest thing since JLS.

What do you think are the key aspects of a good stage show?

I think that the artist still loves the songs. I’ve been to a few gigs in the past where I’ve only liked one or two or the songs but I’ve left loving it because the artist has been on stage loving life and getting everyone involved.

I’ll be the first to say, I liked a handful of Robbie Williams songs before Knebworth and I left that concert thinking it was the most incredible thing I’d ever seen. It was amazing, forget the songs, he was incredible.

Who are your current chart influences?

Usher, Beyonce, Chris Brown, Rihanna, Lady Gaga, Taylor Swift, Bruno Mars, Miguel – I just love a whole array of artists. They’re winning for a reason, the fact of the matter is they love what they do.

Justin Timberlake is one of my all-time favourite artists, he can come back and reinvent himself and it’s always going to be cool because he believes it in. He’s just doing what he enjoys doing, he’s not trying.

Aston Merrygold’s debut single Get Stupid is released on July 24 and is available to pre-order now.