"I should have kept the name" - Simon Cowell shares his regret of not owning the band name One Direction, weighs in on question of reunion

English TV personality and entrepreneur Simon Cowell recently made an appearance on The Diary of a CEO podcast on Sunday, June 9, 2024, and opened up about his regret of not owning the band One Direction’s name. He said:

"The one thing I regret is I should have kept the name. I should have owned the name. If one of the band members, for whatever reason, say they don't want to tour, it can stop the others from touring. So, if it was me who owned the name, it wouldn't be a problem.”

Simon continued:

“I can be very naive at times, and that was me being very, very naive. So, next time, that will be part of the deal. I have to own the name. They can still make most of the money, but I need to own the name."

Simon Cowell formed the band One Direction in 2010 after the five members auditioned in The X Factor. The popular boy band consisted of Niall Horan, Liam Payne, Harry Styles, Louis Tomlinson, and Zayn Malik.

At the time, he signed the band to his former record label, Synco Music. However, the band was diluted in 2016 after all the members split up to focus on their solo careers.

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Simon Cowell doesn't think One Direction will reform

As Simon Cowell spoke at length about the band he formed in 2010, he stated how even after a decade of the band splitting, he still regrets that he did not keep the name of the band. While speaking to Steven Bartlett on The Diary of a CEO podcast, he claimed that if he kept the name of the band, he “could have made an animation or whatever.”

He then jokingly stated:

“If you're listening, I'll buy it back from you."

During the interview, Simon Cowell also said he “doubts” that the band will ever be reformed. However, People Magazine stated that a few members of One Direction like Harry Styles, Niall Horan, Liam Payne, and Louis Tomlinson were allegedly interested in a reunion, but it never happened.

During the interview, Simon Cowell also reminisced about the time One Direction was extremely popular among the masses, as he recalled the one time they were on a beach in Spain, and people couldn’t stop looking at the boys. Appreciating the members of the boy band, Cowell said:

“It’s unbelievable. Everyone is looking at these five boys as if they’re already stars. They all had great personalities, and they all were interesting people."

While One Direction could not be reformed, Rolling Stone confirmed in an article that Simon Cowell is now on a hunt to form yet another boy band. For this, Cowell is gearing up to host auditions across the United Kingdom in July 2024.

The publication also mentioned that Simon Cowell is also in talks with a few production houses to record a docuseries of the whole process of forming the group.