CNCO talk Little Mix, Reggaeton Lento and breaking the UK: "We're like, is this all really happening?"

Latin boyband CNCO were borne out of the winners of the first series of La Banda, a Spanish-language TV singing competition created by Simon Cowell and Ricky Martin.

Much like the champions of the inaugural series' of Pop Idol here in the UK (Will Young) and US (Kelly Clarkson), the group were an instant hit Latin America after their 2015 win, bagging 15 Latin music awards and opening shows for Ariana Grande, Ricky Martin and Enrique Iglesias.

The resurgence of Latin pop across the world this year has seen their fame skyrocket even further, when Simon hooked them up with Little Mix for a remix of their hit song Reggaeton Lento, which spent 11 weeks in the Top 10 this summer.

Ahead of their first UK performance – a spot on the X Factor live finale – we met up with Richard, Christopher, Joel, Erick and Zabdiel to find out how they’re handling going global.

Hello CNCO! Your first UK gig is a live performance on The X Factor final, which is pretty big. How are you all feeling about it?

All: REALLY nervous!

Richard: “But also super excited. We watched The X Factor when we were little kids, so it’s kind of hard to believe we’re actually going to be performing on it. We’re like, is this all really happening?”

Christopher: “It’s the first time Simon is going to watch us perform live. He can be a little serious, can’t he? But he’s such a great guy.”

And it’s the first time you’re meeting Little Mix and performing Reggaeton Lento (Remix) with them. How much did you know about them before collaborating?

Joel: “For me, personally, I’ve known about them for four years. I saw them on X Factor but not from the beginning. I love their music, so when we were told we would be working with them, it was like a dream. I never thought we’d be collaborating with someone from the UK. It’s such a great opportunity and this single with them has opened so many doors for us, it’s great.”

What’s favourite Little Mix song?

[All start talking over each other] Richard: “Hang on a minute! Erick is going to answer this one.”

Erick: “The Little Mix song that I love is Power! Also Shout Out To My Ex.”

So you’re huge in Latin America but still very new to the UK. How does it feel doing all the ‘new band’ stuff again?

Richard: “It does feel a bit strange, but it’s actually really cool to be somewhere where people don’t notice us. It’s normally a bit hectic. It’s great being able to walk around London – we really want to explore it more.”

Things have taken off for you very quickly for you since winning La Banda. What do you miss about life before CNCO?

Christopher: “I mean, everything to be honest. Everything has been super quick and super fast but it’s been a blessing because we’re doing what we love. We miss our houses, our mums’ cooking – even cleaning the house! It was something I always did and I sort of miss it these days.

“We know that what we’re doing right now is a sacrifice to make our families better. We’re doing what we love, we’re living our dream – we dreamt about this since we were little. We didn’t think it was going to happen this fast, but now it’s happening we’re super grateful and feel super blessed and thankful for people for believing in us and are willing to work with us.”

Did any of you listen to any music by British acts when you were growing up?

Joel: “We all love music in general. I love American music, but my family listened to a lot of Latin music when I was growing up. Chris Brown, Justin Timberlake, Bruno Mars, Drake, Camila Cabello.

Richard: “I also love Ed Sheeran and Sam Smith – I’m really hoping we get to meet him on this trip at the X Factor finale – Zabdiel is a big fan as well, and Erick loves James Arthur.”

For new CNCO fans, which song of yours would you recommend they listen to first?

Richard: “Obviously we recommend everyone listens to our whole album! [Laughs] Aside from Reggaeton Lento we’d recommend people listen to our new single Mamita. It’s our second single from our second album and we really hope it’s going to be as big.”