In the mind of yours truly, there are four passions that matter the most to me: MTV Reality shows, sports, music and Las Vegas. The first choice is the one that is covered wall-to-wall on this DCBLOG website like no other in the blogosphere, and if you get to see what I'm like in my ideal environment perfecting this craft then typically I'll be hunkered down in my desktop or laptop having the earphones on and plugged to that fourth option.
But if there's a choice of those artists who stood out to me in my DC Playlist in the past year, then it's something that taps into me being a fan of the one event I look forward to most in the sports world, and brings that idea into the world of music. And this week, that artist (or artists) got to visit a place familiar to me and those who watch TV's most exciting reality programming, which gave me reason to introduce you, the visitors of this blog, to perhaps the biggest global pop you've never heard of: Now United.
There are a handful of things that can help to bring the world together: social causes that you are most passionate about, a love or hatred for world leaders or that sports franchise, celebrations for events that make headlines, and sorrow when someone famous dies. There's been a lot of those in the course of the past year and not always for the positive reasons, but there is something on the mind of all of us as we head into what we hope will be better times ahead.
Wednesday marked 100 days to when the world will come together again in the name of sport when the Summer Olympics take place in Tokyo, and they'll do so again six months later when Beijing hosts the Winter Games. Later in 2022, the world's most popular sport of football/soccer will again unite fans of the Beautiful Game together for the FIFA World Cup in Qatar. And it's those three events alone that can unite this divided world through the thrill of athletic competition as evidenced by the various editions of the Olympics and World Cup that hold a monopoly of TV's most-watched global events.
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| Facebook/Now United |
Simon and his team at global entertainment company XIX Entertainment conducted an extensive worldwide search to find talented singers and dancers from different nations for a global pop supergroup unlike any other. It has brought together more than a dozen youngsters from countries who might have histories of hostility and sporting rivalry, but who have been molded into a dynamic, diverse team with representation from each of the world's six inhabited continents. And Fuller took advantage of social media to help bring his idea to life and its members into our social feeds, providing a daily glimpse into this revolutionary experiment turned rapidly growing success.
When the week-long audition process and boot camp in summer 2017 came to an end in Los Angeles, Simon had put together the first fourteen members of Now United. But he never envisioned that the group would really begin to become well known around the world at a most intense and uncertain time: the group's breakout 2020 just so happened to coincide with when we all really needed that sense of unity more than ever when everything shut down, when we needed to be away from each other to curb the spread of a global pandemic, when the world tore apart by way of protests and politics outside our window, and when we needed a sense of hope and optimism during a tough year. And as one of the members puts it, "This is perfect for what the world needs right now."
One-half of Swayleigh, Big Brother 20 houseguest and Challenge Total Madness finalist Bayleigh Dayton, has been hosting an interview series on her YouTube channel, and who's welcomed a fellow occupant of the bunker, Floribama Shore's Mattie Lynn Breaux. Another guest of Bayleigh's World has been Diarra Sylla, who represents the African nation of Senegal in Now United but who's been working recently on solo projects. Another alum of the global Big Brother franchise was only 13 years old when he appeared on the Philippines' version of the show in 2015, and Bailey May has gone from the famed house to global recognition representing the homeland of Manny Pacquiao.
This spring, two other members of Now United have also competed on reality shows in their home nations where the group may not be as well known as they are elsewhere. The current season of the Finnish version of Survivor features Joalin Loukamma, who competed with Sabina Hidalgo to represent Mexico, but in truth Joalin's roots lie in Finland and like Josh she was also given that additional spot to represent the Nordic region in the group and join Sabi too. The other reality star is Krystian Wang, who represents China in the group but who's been back home the past year competing on the third season of digital series Youth With You, China's version of The X-Factor.
The seven others who were chosen at that 2017 bootcamp that made up Now United are: Brazil's Any Gabrielly, Heyoon Jeong from South Korea, Hina Yoshihara of Japan, Lamar Morris from Britain, Shivani Paliwal of India, Sina Deinert from Germany and Russia's Sofya Plotnokova. Last year, the group welcomed three more members: Australia's Savannah Clarke, Melanie Thomas from the Ivory Coast, and Nour Ardakani of Lebanon - whose entry to NU came months after the tragedy in her hometown of Beirut. And soon, the group's 18th member will be welcomed into this growing global family -- a 16 year-old boy from Europe whose identity will be revealed this spring.
Lamar says, "The whole idea is very innovative, very creative... people from all over the world singing songs, bringing happiness to people, make people want to dance and sing." And Sofya adds, "Now United for me: it's a big, amazing project - it's a symbol of friendship and love. It's like a big family."
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| FB/Now United |
Save for an intimate performance in Abu Dhabi last fall, the current global situation still prevents Now United from touring in front of large crowds, but it hasn't stopped them from keeping the Uniters fandom entertained. The same at-home technology that's kept us virtually connected has allowed the band to release half of their 40+ song repertoire in 2020 alone, and dropping weekly episodes of their YouTube docu-series, dance videos and other content that's garnered almost 2 billion views.
When Now United finally got back together in person in the Middle East last summer, they have continued to bring songs, videos and content to their fanbase -- one that has a collective social media following number in at over 140 million followers across all apps. For the past few months, they've been hard at work in North America -- first in Sabina's Mexican homeland and then in Noah's Southern California digs where they reunited with Lamar and partnered with KitKat, joining Pepsi, Jeep, Degree, SAP and Tommy Hilfiger as sponsors.
And this week, the group flew off to Hawaii to continue work on dance and music videos in the company of top choreographer Kyle Hanagami and other top producers as they helped to plot their growing profile. And it was when they made their way to the house they are staying at that right now brings up why we got to feature them in this Someone You Should Know profile.
As a mainly MTV-centric fan blog, we not only offer weekly coverage of all the episodes of the reality shows everyone's obsessed with, but also keep our eyes on this world around us through the prism of them outside of the big moments, the dynamic personalities and beyond. And a key aspect to the shows we cover in the world of MTV Reality are the houses for which these shows are filmed in.
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| Waterfalling Estate |
But perhaps, the most unique house that's hosted a season of an MTV Reality series in recent years is the one the Now United kids are staying in: overlooking the Pacific Ocean in the northern portion of the Big Island of Hawaii is what is called the "Waterfalling Estate." To most who are fascinated with the lifestyles of the rich and famous, this compound that's completely tucked away on a cliffside along the Kamakua Coast is where a number of well-known celebrities and European dignitaries have stayed in on vacation over the years - none bigger than when Justin Bieber stayed here in the summer of 2016. The house is so enthralling, many guests didn't even leave the premises at all during their excursions.
The specifics given by its website and its rental request page state that the Waterfalling Estate is a true paradise: a 10-acre site with a 9-tee private golf course, a tennis & basketball court located above the garage, a 25-meter Olympic-sized swimming pool with a waterslide and diving platform, Jacuzzis, and a helipad on top of the actual house itself. Inside of it are 5 bedrooms, 10 bathrooms, three floors of living space, and an elevator connecting each of those including into the basement game room - which served as the downstairs Shack of Secrets during EOTB Season 1. And the main feature is its own 240-foot waterfall located alongside the property, offering plenty of panoramic ocean views.
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| IG @NowUnited |
And when Now United debuts the next wave of new music videos this summer, when the world gets to drop in on the paradise setting they are in, you might just see this very same house that hosted the wildest of all the romantic reality dating shows there are in TV land. Just seeing these pictures below would make you wish you were there with a group that, soon, everyone in America and everywhere else will definitely know about just as much as BTS, Blackpink and the big names in music.
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