Now United

In mid-2016, Idols creator and Spice Girls manager Simon Fuller began searching for talent to fulfill his plan of creating a global pop group with members from all over the world. The selection took place through social media as well as dance schools and music academies, using expert choreographers, vocal coaches, and songwriters.

In September 2017, Fuller indicated that "to recruit the 14 youngsters in Now United, he employed 20 people to travel the world for 18 months, holding auditions with groups of 10 to 20 people at a time". But after seeing the talents of various youngsters he decided to make a group of 14 members of different nationalities, with future possible members. From 11 to 22 November 2017, each of the members was revealed. On 13 November, the first teaser of the complete group was released, in the song "Boom Boom" by the record producer and record executive RedOne.

On 5 December 2017, Now United released their first single "Summer in the City", on Al Gore's "24 Hours of Reality", a global broadcast intended to work to raise awareness around the global climate crisis.

In April 2018, the group began its Promo World Tour, where they appeared on many TV shows across the world. The tour began in Moscow, making their first public appearance on television performing "Summer in the City" on the finale of the Russian version of The Voice Kids.

Now United on The Voice Kids Russia in 2018

On 30 May, Now United was featured in the single "One World" with RedOne and Adelina.

On 5 July, Now United debuted in the United States on The Late Late Show with James Corden performing "Summer in the City".[3]

On 29 January 2019, "Beautiful Life", which was also shot in India, was also released.

During the Philippines tour, Now United shot and released "Afraid of Letting Go" on 17 March. On 28 April, "Sundin Ang Puso", which was also shot in the Philippines was released. The group also participated in the Opening Ceremony of the 2019 Special Olympics World Summer Games in Abu Dhabi. On 7 June, "Paraná", was released. By mid-2019, it was announced that two new members would be added to Now United. The selection took place through social media and fan voting. On 25 July, Now United released "Sunday Morning". On 11 August, "Crazy Stupid Silly Love" was released. The month after, "Like That" was released on 8 September. On 20 September, "You Give Me Something" was released. The song is a bilingual cover of the song by James Morrison and is performed in English and Portuguese by members Lamar Morris and Any Gabrielly. In October, it was officially announced that the search for a new member from the Middle East or North Africa had commenced.[4] They also shot their music video called "Legends" while on tour, which was released on 14 November. During November 2019, the group embarked on their "Dreams Come True Tour" in Brazil.[5] On 15 December, "Na Na Na", which has main vocals from Sabina, which was filmed at the Municipal Theatre in Rio de Janeiro was released. "Let Me Be the One" was released on the 28th.

On 11 February, the group introduced its 15th member, Savannah Clarke from Australia. On 12 February, "Live This Moment" was released being the first single of the year. On 7 March, the single "Come Together" featured Savannah Clarke for the first time. The group was set to embark on their "Come Together" Tour between May and June,[6] which was postponed on 20 March due to COVID-19 concerns.[7]

On 8 May, the single "Dana Dana" was released, which was filmed remotely amid the coronavirus pandemic. The song had been teased for several months and included Shivani Paliwal's rap in Hindi.[8] "Stand Together" was released on 23 June of the same year.

On 8 August, "Nobody Fools Me Twice" was released, in the Korean language. On 18 August, "Feel It Now" was released. On 2 September, the Spanish version of the single "Na Na Na" was released as "Na Na Na - Spanish Version". On 5 September, Diarra Sylla announced her departure from the group during an interview with The Hollywood Fix. On 14 September, members Heyoon and Josh announced on YouTube that the search for the 16th member would officially begin The single/music video for "The Weekend's Here" was filmed in Dubai with Sofya, Savannah, Sina, and Heyoon. On 21 September, Simon Fuller, the group's manager, announced the 16th member, Nour Ardakani from Lebanon.[9] On the 30th, the last single of the month was released, called "Somebody" with the first line from Sina Deinert.

On 7 October, "Chained Up" was released, which had been in the works for some time, same as "Live This Moment", the song/music video features the group's boys, but with the addition of Heyoon. On 10 October, the single "Paradise" debuted, but this music was only later released as a music video. The music video/single "Habibi" was released on 19 October, it was the first music video featuring Nour Ardakani, who served as the center.[10] On November 7, another single, "One Love", was released. "Pas Le Choix (Manal Mix)" was the group's new single for the first time. On 10 December, this single was officially released, featuring the girls of the group. This marked the debut of Joalin and Hina in singing, Diarra's return due to a contract still valid from the time she was in the group, and Melanie Thomas' first music video appearance. On 30 December, the last single of the year, "Hewale", starring former-member Diarra, and Mélanie, was released.

The group released its first song of the year, "How Far We've Come" on 8 January 2021. The next single, which debuted on 15 January, was titled "Lean On Me". "Lean On Me" was shot by choreographer Nicki Andersen and was set in Emirates Place in Abu Dhabi, UAE. "All Around The World" debuted on 29 January. The video was filmed by each of the members in their native countries.

The first clip, released in March for the single "Paradise" and is called "Paradise - Official Memories Video", debuted on 9 March. Later on March 16 the music video for "Turn It Up" was released, as a part of a partnership with KitKat.[11]

On 10 April, the single "Fiesta" was released, which was filmed in Mexico, in the hotel garden of Cancun where the members were stranded. Then "Baila" was released. When they finished filming in San Luis Obispo, they left the farm on April 5 to shoot. A few days later, on 9 April, the boys traveled from Los Angeles to Malibu. After a few days of filming, they traveled to Hawaii on 13 April, where they shot a few music videos. On 25 April, it was revealed that the 18th member is Spanish. On 28 April, the identity of the new member was disclosed, 15 year-old Mallorca native Alex Mandon Rey.[12]

On 1 June, the group announced that it would hold an online concert, the "Now Love Live Show". The music video released of their "NU Party" was released on 18 June, this featured member Lamar who was on Hiatus. On 28 June, the group announced that it would host its first virtual camp, known as "Camp Now United 2021". The "Now Love Live Show" was filmed at Louvre Abu Dhabi and streamed exclusively through YouTube Premium on 1 July, the online concert marked the group's first major concert since 2019 and the debut concert for Nour, Savannah, Melanie and Alex.[13]

"Camp Now United 2021" began filming on 5 July 2021 in Brazil.[14]

On 15 August, the group announced their first musical, "Love, Love, Love", would be coming soon; it was filmed during their bootcamp (training program) in San Luis Obispo from March to April 2021. A trailer was released the next day on the group's YouTube channel. "Love, Love, Love" was released on 28 August, alongside "When You Love Somebody", "Dance Like That" and "Momento" on the group's YouTube channel. Bailey May described the experience of filming a musical stating that it was not challenging as he was playing his own character.[15]

On 3 October, the group performed "Wave Your Flag" at the 25th Globos de Ouro awards ceremony. A new edition of "Come Together" was released on 4 October, alongside the 12 camp winners. The Bootcampers released their first song, "Good Days" on 7 October. The group released two more music videos, "I Got You" and "Anything for You" were released on 22 October. Another song, "Future Me" which was filmed in Abu Dhabi was released on 30 October.[16]

Sabina Hidalgo announced her pregnancy on February 24, Hidalgo reassured fans that she would continue performing but would refrain from certain songs.[17]

"Heartbreak on the Dance Floor" was officially released on 4 March.[18] On 11 March, the group launched the Wave Your Flag Tour at Porto Alegre, Brazil with two shows. The group performed their new single "All Night Long" with Melanie serving as the main vocals. The group also performed "Jump", "Golden", "Heartbreak on the Dance Floor" and "Future Me" for the first time. The tour also shows the music video for "It's Your Birthday" before they released it on YouTube on Shivani's birthday. On 13 March the group flew to Curitiba, Brazil to perform their tour for two days. On 16 March, the group flew to Any's hometown, São Paulo, Brazil to perform their tour for three days. On 17 March, the group released the lyric video for "Dana Dana" to celebrate Holi, the video was shot during their 2020 bootcamp before the pandemic. On 27 March, the group performed in Recife,[19] the group's last performance in Brazil as part of the tour. On 28 March, the group left Brazil and traveled to Portugal to begin preparations for the tour's performances there.

After a break, the group released a music video for the single "Heartbreak on the Dancefloor" on 20 May, which was released by Vevo. On 14 June, it was announced that the group would start shooting a new musical.[20]

On 21 April, the soundtrack of The Musical: Welcome to the Night of Your Life was released on all streaming platforms, previously was released on the OP3N platform on 15 March.

Now United's status as one of Brazil's most popular music acts, their large fanbase, and social media following have made them attractive to large corporate brands including Pepsi, Forever 21, and KitKat. Now United is the official dance partner of Rexona Brazil, they have filmed several commercials for the brand and have released limited edition products.[23] The group signed with Brazilian licensing agency, Redibra in 2021 which aims to offer exclusive products in the Brazilian market. In January 2019, the group signed a global sponsorship deal with Pepsi.[24] In April 2021, the group teamed up with KitKat to launch a special edition KitKat Bar, which was sold exclusively in Brazil. Since December 2021, the group have partnered with record label Vevo for the promotion of their music videos.

• The Musical: Welcome to the Night of Your Life (2023)

• Dreams Come True Tour (2019)
• Wave Your Flag World Tour (2022)
• Forever United Tour (2022)

• Promo World Tour (2018)
• World Tour 2019 Presented by YouTube Music (2019)

• Now Love Live From Abu Dhabi (2021)

• Come Together Tour (2020)