JLS: The reunion we didn’t know we needed

As JLS said themselves, let’s just get back together, we should have never broke up – the lyrics from their chart topper Beat Again have never rang more true. No one saw the announcement of their return to the stage coming, and it truly has been the reunion we didn’t know we needed.

The boy band announced their plan to tour in February 2020, but by the time we finally got past the Covid regulations, it didn’t start until June of this year and it recently finished in Birmingham. When the tour began, they were quick to let fans know about their new album, 2.0, which dropped last week.

After the past couple of years we’ve endured, we should be welcoming the feeling of nostalgia, which bands like JLS invoke, with open arms. Their music takes you back to when things were simple, and all you had to worry about was whether you were going to listen to JLS, One Direction, 5SOS or The Wanted next.

Although, admittedly, I was more of a One Direction girl myself, you couldn’t not love and know the lyrics to JLS’ songs – and that’s still the case now. Despite not being as hardcore of a fan as others – although I was always a self-confessed blue girl – I had to go and see them on their reunion tour.

And they did not disappoint. I was lucky enough to get tickets to see them in both Sheffield and Birmingham, which turned out to be the final day of the tour and Oritsé’s birthday. Despite splitting all the way back in 2013, their vocals and dance moves were just as good as before – and yes, Aston can still do a backflip.

The harmonious crowds sang along to all the songs and this is a testament to how timeless their music, and they, are. They put on a show and I certainly will be trying to get tickets if they decide to tour again.

For me, this reunion couldn’t have come at a better time. Their tour may have been postponed for a long while but at a time when the world came to a halt, having a part of your teenage years to look back on and look forward to was so important.

You might feel like a traitor for ditching their old music, but why not give their new album 2.0 a listen?

Edited by Hannah Youds