Five reveal why lockdown finally gave them the confidence to write new music

19 November 2021, 09:00 | Updated: 19 November 2021, 09:10

5ive open up about the inspiration behind their new music

EXCLUSIVE: Ritchie Neville, Scott Robinson and Sean Conlon chat to Heart 90's Kevin Hughes about their new music, world success, and why they wished they’d had more mental health support.

Two decades since they first burst onto the music scene, boyband Five are about to release their brand new song Time.

Over lockdown, Ritchie Neville, Scott Robinson and Sean Conlon worked on their first album in 20 years.

In an exclusive chat with Heart 90's Kevin Hughes, the boys revealed what gave them the confidence to get back in the studio and start writing music again.

Opening up about the track Time, Scott told Kevin: “It’s something you wouldn’t expect from Five.

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"It’s a ballad and it’s a really beautiful song, it’s actually my favourite 5ive song. I love it so much. I can’t wait for people to hear it.”

Richie added: “It’s a song that puts you in a certain space and a few lines in you start to think about your life and you think about time.”

Scott went on to say it was actually lockdown that inspired the trio to start recording again last year.

“When lockdown hit I think it would have been easy to start feeling sorry for yourself, especially in the arts industry,” he said.

“Then we were like what can we do to turn this negative situation for the world into a positive, so we decided to go against what we’d always said.

5ive open up about their mental health

“When you first think about making new music, there’s a little bit of fear because you’re competing against yourselves.

“Fortunately for us our music was very successful so it’s quite daunting but when you get rid of that fear you start to think, ‘alright fans have waited 20 years to hear new music’.”

Sean went on to say the band have now ‘embraced’ being a trio after Abz Love and J Brown decided to leave.

“What you’ve got now is three members that really want to be here,” Scott added.

“We’re doing it because we love it and I personally have never been happier to be a member of five.”

5ive's Scott says he has 'never been happier' to be in the band

While Scott and Richie were 17 when they first joined the band, Sean was just 15-years-old, with the boys saying they struggled with the sudden fame.

Speaking about his own experience, Richie told Kevin: “I wonder how it would have gone for us back in the day if we had the space to talk about mental health and the support.

“It was such a mad experience at such a young age, it would be helpful to have a session with someone every couple of weeks to just talk about it.”

Scott added: “If we would have had the help other people have now, I genuinely don’t think we would have broken up.

“Sean would have had the help he needed, I would have had the help I needed. I was crying in a corridor and Sean had left the band.

“If that happened now, someone would put their arm around you and say stop what you’re doing, let’s take a break from it all.”

Five’s new single Time is out on November 26, while their album will be released on January 28.