It’s hard to believe, but JLS’s self-titled debut album – one of the biggest UK pop albums of this century – is about to reach its 15th anniversary. Never ones to pass on a celebration, the JLS boys – Oritsé Williams, Aston Merrygold, Marvin Humesand JB Gill – will mark the milestone by releasing ‘J15 – Anniversary Edition’ on November 8th. It’s a new Deluxe Edition of the album which adds four previously unreleased tracks. The quartet launch the record by sharing Paul Woolford’s new ‘Beat Again 15’ remix. Listen HERE.
Best known for his huge Diplo collab ‘Looking For You’, Paul Woolford’s ‘Beat Again 15’ remix gives the song an invigorating new house energy while keeping the focus on one of the most unforgettable pop hooks of the decade. ‘J15 – Anniversary Edition’ also adds stripped-back unplugged versions of ‘Everybody In Love’ and ‘Crazy To You’ to the original album tracklist, as well as a fresh ‘One Shot’ remix from Jess Bays – a solo artist (‘Temptation’), remixer (Becky Hill, Rudimental) and radio DJ (Capital Dance, Rinse FM).
Rewind back to 2009. After winning a huge audience the previous year with their performances on ‘The X Factor’, JLS’s first two singles – ‘Beat Again’ and ‘Everybody In Love’ – shot to #1 and immediately made them the new kings of the British pop scene. Further fuelled by another Top 10 single in the shape of ‘One Shot’, the ‘JLS’ album instantly catapulted straight to #1. But it was no flash in the pan, spending a total of nine weeks in the UK Top 10 and reaching 4 x Platinum status in recognition of more than 1.2 million sales. Its popularity spread across Europe, too, with a further million+ sales across the continent.
The album’s three singles plus ‘Close To You’ and ‘Only Tonight’ are still huge crowd-pleasers to this day, as proven when performed throughout all of their 46 UK and Ireland arena shows during their 2021 and 2023 tours.
‘J15 – Anniversary Edition’ is now available to pre-order / pre-save HERE. In addition to digital formats, it will also be released on white double-vinyl (with the original album tracklist followed by the new content on Side D) and on CD.
JLS’s phenomenal success continued long after their debut album. They landed another three #1 singles plus four more Top 10 hits, while their following three studio albums all peaked at #2 or #3. They signed off with 2013’s ‘Goodbye: The Greatest Hits’ but made a triumphant return in 2021. Their arena tour that year saw them perform to over 350,000 fans, and they soared back into the Top 5 with the ‘2.0’ album.
‘J15 – Anniversary Edition’ tracklist:
- ‘Beat Again’
- ‘Everybody in Love’
- ‘Keep You’
- ‘Crazy for You’
- ‘Heal This Heartbreak’
- ‘Close to You’
- ‘Only Tonight’
- ‘One Shot’
- ‘Private’
- ‘Don’t Go’
- ‘Only Making Love’
- ‘Kickstart’
- ‘Tightrope’
- ‘Everybody in Love’ (Unplugged)
- ‘Crazy for You’ (Unplugged)
- ‘Beat Again 15’ (Paul Woolford Remix)
- ‘One Shot 15’ (Jess Bays Remix)