Nobody survived the 2008 series of X Factor without forming a crush on either Aston Merrygold, Marvin Humes, JB Gill or Oritsé Williams.
The crooning quartet formed JLS, a band that made it to the finals of The X Factor’s fifth season, eventually losing out to Alexandra Burke
You likely still remember hits like Everybody In Love, Beat Again and One Shot, and you can also currently watch JB on this year’s series of Strictly Come Dancing.
But I for one had no idea what their band name stood for ― or that it used to be completely different.
What does ‘JLS’ stand for?
Before they entered X Factor, the band went by Unique Famous Outrageous (UFO), their Apple Music page reads, but changed it before making it onto the show.
They were pretty fond of an acronym, so it makes sense “JLS” isn’t just a random collection of initials either.
The three letters we now recognise the band as stand for “Jack the Lad Swing,” which is how they saw their music style (I had zero clue!!!).
I also had no idea UFO released two songs prior to the competition via Epic Records.
Their early work included a medley of Ben E. King’s Stand By Me and Sean Kingston’s Beautiful Girls, whose sound holds up a lot better than its very of-its-time visuals.
Are JLS still together?
The band broke up in 2013 to work on individual projects.
“We will always remain brothers and friends and we will always be your boys... We want to look at this final year as a celebration of all that we have achieved together. We hope you can look back and remember all the great moments that you have been responsible for,” they wrote at the time.
But they had planned a comeback tour in 2020 which wasn’t able to go ahead thanks to the pandemic, although the group did eventually storm the stage together in both 2021 and 2023.
Strictly Come Dancing fans have JB’s Couple’s Choice routine to look forward to this week.
Unfortunately, his professional partner Amy Dowden is having a week off due to illness, so he’ll be dancing with Lauren Oakley instead.
Here’s hoping something’s in the works for JLS in 2025. Without them, every minute lasts an hour, every hour lasts a day, every day lasts forever...