Rak-Su is a four-piece boyband hailing from Watford who can currently be seen competing on ITV’s X Factor competition.

All aged 24 and 25, the young men got off to a shaky start in their audition when Simon Cowell interrupted their rendition of Justin Timberlake’s Señorita to say: “That’s not working for me. Can I hear a different song?”

They then performed their own original tune, I’m Feeling You, for which they already have the music video below.

They were almost in trouble again at Boot Camp but pulled it back with another original song, Knock Knock. They then breezed through the Six Chair Challenge with yet another one of their own tracks, Change Your Mind.

The group is made up of Ashley (rapper, songwriter and poet) Jamaal (singer, songwriter) Myles (rapper, producer) Mustafa (DJ, dancer, beatboxer).

Find out more about them…

Watford Observer:

What makes you stand out from the rest of the contestants in your category?

Ashley: I’d say, one, that we’re doing original songs. We’ve done originals so far and it’s gone quite well, so we want to carry on doing that. And I guess also the fact that we’re friends. We never really got round the table and said ‘You know what? Let’s make a band’. We grew up with each other, spend a lot of time with each other and love making music. It kind of just grew into what it is now - Rak-Su. It happened naturally.

Describe your mentor in three words?

Mustafa: Honest. Knowledgeable. And humble.

How would you describe your own musical style?

Jamaal: I feel our style is very relatable. When it comes to music, we make music that we feel happy with and that we can all connect with in some certain way. Whether that’d be from an emotional point of view or whether that’d be from an honest point of view.

Of the remaining contestants in the competition, whose album would you buy?

Myles: It would be Sean and Conor Price’s. They’ve just got amazing vocals. They’re very humble people, a lovely group of lads and I just love their whole vibe. I just love that whole Irish guitarist acapella vibe.

What has been the toughest part of the competition so far?

Jamaal: I’d say the toughest thing for us was probably Bootcamp. Just because everything was so full on and we had to learn and develop on the go. It brought out the best in us, so that’s a good thing that came from it. We had to learn a lot really, really quickly. We’re better for it and we feel like we’ve developed as artists, as well as friends.

Where do you see yourself in five years’ time?

Mustafa: In about five years’ time… It’s very hard, because we’re all learning so much and we’re finding ourselves as artists at the same time, so it could be from anywhere to doing a global tour as Rak-Su, or..

Ashley: Fourth album and a world tour!

Mustafa: Yeah, in five years’ time, that’s the target - fourth album and a global tour.

Which artist inspires you the most?

Ashley: I think between all of us we probably have a few different ones, but for me I would say Kanye West because he seems to set himself goals. At the time people tell him that it’s something that is unrealistic and he just manages to go ahead and do it anyway. I feel like for us, we’re probably not the typical band or group you have on The X Factor, but we’re going to give it our all and try to be successful anyway.

What would it mean to you to get to the live shows?

Myles: It would mean everything! It would honestly mean so much to us. We’re in this competition for a reason. We’re not just here to have fun. We do take it very seriously. IT would mean the world to all of us. Doing the journey with my brothers and with my family is honestly a very emotional situation to be in. We all want to get there and show what we can do!