Max George: I named my single Barcelona... Skegness doesn't sound as good

Max George had to name his debut single Barcelona because he feared naming it after a holiday romance in Skegness would not have proved popular.

The singer stars alongside Love Island contestant Laura Crane in the music video for the new track, out now, about a romance he enjoyed as a teenager in the Spanish city.

“It’s about that feeling of reminiscing,” he told A list. “Barcelona was put in the song because I’ve been there a lot and I had a holiday romance there when I was 18. And it sings well. I’ve had a holiday romance in Skegness — but it doesn’t roll off the tongue that well.”

George, 29, said he had no intention of going solo when The Wanted split in 2014, saying his focus then was acting. He landed the role of Clint in US show Glee within hours of relocating to Los Angeles, but a surprise call from singer Jason Derulo inspired him to pursue music.

“I decided I wanted to go into acting so I moved to LA, did Glee for a year and then just after that I got contacted by Jason who was putting a label together,” he said.

“It was slightly unexpected because I’d never met him before. I didn’t know he had my number. It was once I got talking to him and saw his world I was like, ‘I can do that’. Me and my dad put a label together. I copied him in a way.”

He said it was “daunting” going solo but he has been glad to have peace while writing music, after the “hell” of working with former bandmates Jay McGuinness, Tom Parker, Nathan Sykes and Siva Kaneswaran.

“It’s a lot quieter. Less opinions, less words being thrown around. It’s a lot easier actually. When I was in The Wanted it was good when you paired up — I liked pairing up with Jay or Tom — but sometimes they’d say all five of you in a room which was just hell. It was too much ... a lot of the time there were disagreements.”