Pop
Interview: December 10 on album plans, Simon Cowell's support (but does he barbecue?) and boy band nicknames
December 10 got in touch to tell us all about their latest single Infinity (123), life as a seven-piece boy band and whether Simon Cowell cooks on his own barbecue...
For decades, boy bands have dominated pop music by creating the kind of hysteria most artists can only dream about, from Take That and Westlife to One Direction and BTS. Now, December 10 are rapidly proving they could be next in line to take that crown.
Made up of Nicolas Alves, Danny Bretherton, Josh Olliver, Hendrik Christoffersen, Sean Hayden, John Fadare and Cruz Lee-Ojo, the seven-piece group were formed by pop guru Simon Cowell on the Netflix series Simon Cowell: The Next Act.
In little over a year, December 10 have emerged as one of the fastest growing new acts in British pop, racking up more than 16 million streams, over 8.4 million YouTube views and building a social media following of more than 3.2 million people. Their 50,000 mailing list sign-ups also represent the fastest fanbase growth in Universal Music Group history.
Debut single Run My Way instantly established December 10 as more than just another boy band. The track stormed into the Top 10 of the Official UK best-selling vinyl singles of 2026 so far and became the soundtrack to Toyota’s major UK and European advertising campaign for the Aygo X. Their momentum has continued to build at remarkable speed, with sold out Introducing! live dates across the UK and Ireland earlier this year being followed The Next Step UK and European Tour, including two back-to-back sold out nights at Shepherd’s Bush Empire, the group are becoming one of the hottest live attractions in pop music.
In June, December 10 join a host of pop icons, including RAYE, former One Direction member Niall Horan and Lola Young, when they step on stage at London's Wembley Stadium for Capital’s Summertime Ball with Barclaycard.
Unlike many boy bands, December 10 are musicians as well as performers, collectively playing 14 instruments between them. Nicolas plays guitar and harmonica, Danny plays guitar, Josh handles guitar, cajón and drums, Hendrik plays guitar, bass and piano, Seán adds guitar, piano and harmonica, while John was preparing for Grade 8 clarinet and piano exams before life accelerated dramatically.
They have just unveiled their new UK garage inspired single Infinity (123), which has been written and produced by hitmaker Julian Bunetta - who has previously worked with Sabrina Carpenter and Teddy Swims) - and in the coming months the boys will be releasing their first ever EP.
Contact Music caught up with Danny, Hendrick, Josh, Sean and Nicholas to talk about their latest track, what it's really like having Simon Cowell as a mentor, how does it work having seven members and is there a chance they could get Spice Girls style nicknames...
Contact Music: So guys, tell me about the new single?
Sean: Well, Infinity we recorded it with Julian Bunetta in Nashville. I think this song really speaks well to us because it has a UK garage vibe influence and that energy and passion in the lyrics and the vocals. I remember when we first recorded it and we were listening back to the demo, it was like this song has something special in it.
I could definitely hear the garage influence in the track. Is that a genre of music that you guys enjoy and want to get on your records?
Josh: The song just felt right to us. I think we’re open to any song that feels right at the time. At this time it feels good.
I could also hear a bit of a Justin Bieber vibe…
Sean: That’s good! We definitely like Justin Bieber.
Josh: I appreciate that. I love him.
So this is your third single but how far along are you guys in terms of an album?
Josh: I mean we’re always recording songs. We’ve got quite a lot of songs that we love. It’s just a matter of finding the right songs and building to an album. But I think we now have a lot of songs that we like.
Sean: We have an EP that’s coming out in a little while. We can’t say when, yet! But we’re looking forward that. That’s going to include what you can expect from a full album.
Obviously, you guys got put together by Simon Cowell on the Netflix show, is Simon leading the suggestions with songwriters you can work with and producers?
Danny: He’s definitely got a good say, but we’re lucky that he’s happy for us to give our input a lot of the time. We respect him for doing that.
Credit: Nikola Lamburov
You mentioned you recorded this track in Nashville, what was the experience like being out there?
Nicholas: That city is like the city of music in the US. We were very fortunate to go there. Me and a couple of the other guys managed to go out one day and we went to a restaurant down the main street. But each restaurant had such great live music and it showed how great the city is to make such amazing music.
Whilst out there did you get to work with any other songwriters whilst you were there?
Sean: Yeah, we worked with a lot of songwriters in a songwriting camp. There was a load. And we were recording stuff. That was a really cool experience. There was a bit of going out and it was a good bonding session for us as well to help us understand each other as musicians as well.
Hendrick: The houses we were staying in were just insane! Massive, blimey! It was so surreal to be there. They had the lot. We got spoilt.
Sean: There were two swimming pools!
Do you guys all live together back in the UK?
Josh: We’re not living together right now. We’re in hotels. We were going to get a house a couple of weeks ago, but we’re travelling so much we would never be there. We’re all over the place.
What do you like most about living out of hotels and experiencing a bit of the pop star lifestyle?
Nicholas: I would say the food. If a hotel does great food that makes me love the hotel.
Sean: Fresh towels! Not having to share towels. When you come from being in a family house with five or six people, having your own towel is great!
Hendrick: It’s tidy when you walk back in. It’s like magic!
Danny: You come back and your bed is all made!
And what is the worst thing about living out of hotels so far?
Danny: If cleaners knock on your door at 8am!
Credit: Nikola Lamburov
I know a lot of you guys play your own instruments, is the plan for you to play your own instruments on the songs you’re working on to get a band feel?
Sean: We definitely aspire to do that, especially on the songs we write ourselves, we’d like to have that influence. When we’ve been recording these songs we’ve left a lot of the instrumental stuff to the songwriter to do as they please with the song. When we’re live we like to perform with the instruments to show what we can do. It’s a big part of our act.
Have you all been doing a lot of writing as a collective with your instruments?
Hendrick: Any second we get we’re writing, really.
How many songs have you written?
Danny: It’s hard to count, really.
Josh: We’ve done loads of demos. Lots of songs get written.
Sean: Sometimes I might write a song by myself, and then another time I’ll do it with Danny and Hendrick. A common theme with us is just to constantly record and show our passion for music and our hunger for this, which is really important. We’re always recording. We probably could have an album at this stage and just keep writing songs and working with songwriters. That’s the important thing that makes us musicians.
Because there is seven of you, I imagine that you are all bringing different ideas and musical influences so it’s a good way to be writing and collaborating?
Josh: Yeah, everybody is bringing their ideas.
Hendrick: I love it!
That way no one gets to be the Gary Barlow of December 10 and then another member becomes Robbie Williams and slags him off for a decade...
Sean: We can avoid that issue!
With there being seven of you how do you decide who is going to sing what parts?
Sean: I feel like it’s quite an authentic process. At this stage we all know each other’s voices really well and who suits what. So if we sing on a demo or we write a song we can say ‘that part would suit his voice’, we just do it like that because we know each other really well. Parts are important but they’re not the be all and end all of the song. The main thing is that the music is good and that it sounds good.
And how do you get on practicing your harmonies?
Nicholas: The harmony kings are Sean and Hendrick. I think we’re all getting better at harmonising but we really rely on Sean and Hendrick for the harmonies. And John as well, John is really, really good at harmonies. We have to give credit where credit is due.
Could we ever see you guys each get a nickname? Like the Spice Girls? What would the December 10 nicknames be?
Hendrick: Ooh, I don’t know. I looked like Wreck-It Ralph yesterday. Maybe that, Wreck-It Hendrick.
Josh: I don’t know. We’ll have to wait and see if we get given any.
How has Simon been as a mentor? Are you in regular contact with him?
Danny: Yeah, we talk to him a lot. We were all at his house the other day for a barbecue chilling but also talking about the next steps that we’re going to go through. We couldn’t ask for anyone better to guide use what we’re going through at the minute.
When you say barbecue at Simon’s house is he getting his apron on and getting on the grill?
Danny: Nah!
Sean: We had chef Jeff to do that!
In terms of getting to speak to Simon regularly have you taken the opportunity to pick his brain about his career and what he has achieved with other artists?
Nicholas: Obviously with Simon he’s had so many years in this industry and he has so much experience so every opportunity we get to spend time with him he’s always imparting his wisdom upon us. It’s just a really good thing to have him as our mentor we’re really lucky to have him by our side.
You guys are heading out on another tour in July, how are the rehearsals for that going?
Nicholas: It’s been going great. We’re all practicing the guitar, practicing our instruments in general, our moves. We’re beyond excited for this new tour. We’re going across the UK and to Europe for the first time. So that’s going to be pretty awesome. We’re going to go to countries we haven’t been to before. We’re going to go to Portugal, I’m going to take the guys to Lisbon, where I live. It’s going to be a really cool couple of weeks. We’re really excited.
So we can expect some old school boy band dance routines on stage?
Nicholas: You never know!
Sean: It’s mysterious…
Are you going to be standing off stools like Westlife or doing some breakdancing like Five?
Danny: You’re just going to have to wait and see!
Hendrick: Our next goal is to perform at the Capital Summertime Ball. We are just so excited to get on stage.
It’s an incredible line-up at Capital's Summertime Ball, are you guys looking forward to bumping into artists like Niall Horan and RAYE backstage?
Josh: That would be insane because Niall has had a similar journey to us, so it would be so fun to listen to all his stories.
Sean: I want to meet RAYE. She is really talented.
Nicholas: I want to meet Jason Derulo, his TikToks always come up on my for you page.
Who would be at the top of your list to collaborate with from the acts at the Summertime Ball?
Danny: Calvin Harris, definitely!
Nicholas: I’d have to go with Calvin as well.
Sean: I would say Fatboy Slim, mix it up a little bit.
Josh: I would like to write with RAYE, she is just so talented.
I could see you guys doing something very cool with Calvin Harris or Fatboy Slim…
Sean: A little party tune. Or something like that.
DECEMBER 10: THE NEXT STEP tour dates click HERE for info:
Fri 26 June (matinee) - Tolhuistuin, Amsterdam
Fri 26 June (evening) - Tolhuistuin, Amsterdam
Sat 27 June - Kavka Zappa, Antwerp
Mon 29 June - Frannz Club, Berlin
Tue 30 June - Luxor, Cologne
Wed 1 July - Les Etoiles, Paris
Fri 3 July - Sala Wolf, Barcelona
Sat 4 July – Sala Mon, Madrid
Sun 5 July - LAV Sala 1, Lisbon
Tue 7 July - Santeria Toscana, Milan
Fri 10 July - Assembly Rooms, Edinburgh
Sat 11 July - O2 Academy Liverpool, Liverpool
Sun 12 July - Styles, Leeds
Mon 13 July - Electric, Sheffield
Wed 15 July - Wulfrun Hall, Wolverhampton
Thu 16 July - O2 Academy, Bristol
Fri 17 July - O2 Shepherd’s Bush Empire, London
Sat 18 July - O2 Shepherd’s Bush Empire, London
Mon 20 July - Ulster Hall, Belfast
Tue 21 July - National Stadium, Dublin
