After chatting with Now United member Noah Urrea, we were interested in chatting with more members from the 18 member band. Josh Beauchamp is the Canadian member of the group. Similar to Urrea, he got started in the dance/music scene at a young age and since has found his way into the spotlight with Now United. We chatted with Beauchamp about his upbringing in the industry and much more.
How did you get started in music as a dancer, as a singer, as a performer. How did you kind of find your way into the music industry?
It’s kind of a long story, but, I started as a dancer. I started when I was six years old. My mom put me in my first dance class. Fun fact, I sat out for the first month because I was terrified, but from there I just took dance lessons. I was just doing it as a fun hobby. And then I got to, like 14 years old/15 years old. I went to LA for the first time. That’s when I was like, I want to pursue something in the entertainment business. I’ve always wanted to be an artist. I’ve always wanted to be like a Chris brown and Michael Jackson Usher kind of artists who dances and sings just as like a full package.
I really never saw, like a path to do that. So, when I heard about Now United, and I got asked to do Now United and I was like, this is it. This is for me. So, I took singing lessons for about a month before I went to the audition and then I made it in from the audition obviously. From there, I just have been kind of practicing vocally, having a bunch of vocal lessons in the past four years. And I’ve been writing a bunch with Noah and a bunch of other producers. Noah’s kind of gotten me into, um, the production side of making music. I’m super passionate about that now and yeah, that’s kind of where I’m at.
How did you score the audition for Now United?
This is funny, because I’ve told this story like the past two days to a bunch of different people, but, it’s kind of long. I guess I was in the middle of dance competition season and I was on my way from one competition to another. My mom was driving me, and I was just checking my emails.
this is when I just turned 17. There was an email and it was from XIX Entertainment, who’s like Simon Fuller’s pop group/label. They said they were searching the world for the past few years for talent and we’re bringing everyone to do this international pop group.
I thought it was fake. There is no way this is real, but I responded anyways. And then I got on a zoom call with two of the employees at XIX and that’s when I was like, oh shit, this is real because then there’s just these two beautiful assistants that are talking to me and I was just like, what the heck is going on? And so, from there, I was flown out to LA for the American audition. I was originally auditioning to be an American candidate cause Canada wasn’t included in the 11 countries that were supposed to be the first ones in Now United.
There was four of us picked from the American audition. And then at the end of the month, there was the full audition where, two to four people from every country they auditioned in, came to LA to audition all together. Then, there’s a whole documentary about this on the YouTube page, but basically at the end of the week, the day before he was supposed to actually choose, he chose on the day before, he called up the first 11 because it was always supposed to be 11.
Noah was called up for America. So, I thought I was out, but then he was like, Just kidding. You’re from Canada.
Do you have a favorite memory from the last four years being in Now United?
There’s so many, and we’ve been asked this a few times and I don’t think anybody ever comes up with one answer. Cause there’s so many, but one that sticks out for sure that I can, hands down say. One of the biggest things we ever did was the biggest and best things we ever did was the Dreams Come True Tour in Brazil.
That was our headlining tour. Opening night, when we first walked out onto the stage, I think that would have probably been the craziest.
We asked Noah this, What is your favorite music video you’ve shot so far?
I think probably “Wave Your Flag.” I think that one really just represents everything Now United is, and it was shot in such a cool place. Um, I think that is like, um, uh, you know, on Twitter, how you can pin that. If now it was Twitter and you could pin a music video to show like, this is what name it is. That would be the one.
What was the concept behind the “Love, Love, Love. A Musical?” What was it filming it for you like?
It’s three different songs and we act throughout the whole thing. We had acting lessons throughout the week before, leading up to it. We got the scripts and it was written by Simon, Phil, his brother, actually. It’s all about love, the title is love, love, love.
There are three new songs that come with it. Do you have a favorite between the three?
Yeah. Dance Like That. It’s the second one in the musical. That one is. Is one of my favorite songs we’ve ever had.
If you could set up a fan in a setting for them to listen to your music, what setting would that be?
Well, I mean, one of our shows that would be great. If they’re just alone with their headphones, I think, that is hard. That’s a hard one to do. I would just put them like in a place in your country where you live that really represents your country. Like for me, I would be playing hockey or something with my headphones in, I think just something that really makes you feel like I’m proud to be Canadian or whatever you are.
What is one quote that you’ve heard in life that you’d want to ECHO out to your fans?
I have this one quote that I have always loved ever since I was 15 and I have a tattoo for it actually. It’s more of like a metaphor. I would say it’s not as much of a quote, but it basically just says, the further back an arrow is pulled the farther it shoots forward.
You can watch the new musical, “Love, Love, Love. A Musical” on Now United’s YouTube channel now!