Joey Essex made quite the splash this week when he entered the Love Island Villa as a bombshell in a shock twist, sending hairdresser Sam Taylor packing.
The former TOWIE star is Love Island’s first-ever celebrity contestant and has certainly brought the drama.
The 33-year-old has been on a host of reality TV shows from Celebs Go Dating to I’m A Celeb but fans were shocked to find out the self-proclaimed ‘King of Essex’ also has a secret pop career under his belt.
Joey’s musical shocker comes after a long line of Islanders who have also delved into the music industry.
No matter what the stars of Love Island get up to when they leave the villa, there is always at least one hopeful who tries their hand at a music career– some more successfully than others.
Here are just some of the Love Island stars who have had secret pop careers:
Joey Essex- Reem (2011)
Joey Essex hit our screens in 2011 when he appeared on reality show The Only Way is Essex quickly becoming an audience favourite known for his iconic commentary.
The reality star managed to singlehandedly popularise the word ‘REEM’ into UK slang- REEM means good.
Using the iconic word Joey released his debut single in 2011 however the song flopped and didn’t even make it into the UK charts.
Fans have since comically labelled the single a ‘cursed song’ as it makes it’s way back around on social media since Joey’s debut on Love Island.
Fans are now begging him to perform his track REEM for his fellow Islanders in the villa.
Danica Taylor- UGH (2024)
The reality beauty shot to fame on the ITV2 dating show in 2022 and has now released her first music track.
The brunette bombshell issued a defiant message after she received backlash over the lyrics of her debut single UGH, many assuming the song was her taking pride in being ‘light skin’.
The 23-year-old shared a clip of her new song to her over half a million Instagram followers, facing a slew of online abuse and trolling about the new song.
Danica was in a less than happy mood vowing to ignore the haters so that she could carry on with her brand new music career.
Hitting back at the online trolls she admitted that she would not “conform to your opinions”.
The music video has only gained 15K views on YouTube but the star is yet to release her new EP wildcards.
Marcel Somerville- Blazin Squad (2017)
Rocky B aka Marcel Somerville rocked the Love Island villa in 2017 coupling up with fellow islander Gabby Allen.
The TV star became a meme when he made it very known on the show who he was.
Marcel constantly said to his fellow islanders and viewers at home that he was apart of Blazin Squad this becoming a recurring joke throughout the series.
The 10 man band dominated the charts in 2002 with hit songs such as Flip Reverse and Crossroads.
The singer had fond memories of his time in the group admitting: “They were the best days of my life. People do still recognise me when I’m out.
“People the majority of the time want a selfie. I think I look really different these days, though. I feel like I’ve got much better looking!”
Love Island Super Group- No Love Lost (2019)
No Love Lost made waves when they went on a talent reality show in 2019.
The group consisted of Love Island cast members Eyal Booker, Zara McDermott, Samira Mighty and Wes Nelson.
The 4 piece band all appeared in season 4 of Love Island in 2018.
They participated in The X Factor: Celebrity as part of the Groups category mentored by Simon Cowell and were eliminated in Week 3.
The Love Island super group split just three months later.
In 2020 The Sun revealed Wes was working on his own solo career instead spending time in the studio with breakthrough hip hop duo Lotto Boyzz.
Chris and Kem – Little Bit Leave It (2017)
Chris Hughes and Kem Cetinay were a comical duo who became Love Island favourites on back in 2017.
The pairs bromance won the adoration of viewers during their time on the ITV2 show.
After leaving the villa they debuted their hit song Little Bit Leave it which racked up over 6M views on YouTube.
Chris & Kem’s hit song charted at number fifteen on the UK Singles Chart.
The reality TV favourites landed themselves a record deal with Sony Records after debuting their new song at Ministry of Sound on their show, Chris and Kem: Straight Outta Love Island.
However, their music career didn’t last long due to the stars busy schedule’s.
Speaking OK! Online at the time Chris revealed: “We’re not even working on any new music at the minute. We’re busy just doing our own thing.
“We just haven’t got the time!”
Wes Nelson- See Nobody (2020)
Wes Nelson entered the Love Island villa in 2018 and established a solo music career after placing 4th on the show.
In 2020, Wes released his debut single See Nobody with UK rapper Hardy Caprio reaching number 3 on the UK Official Chart Top 40.
This was followed by Wes’ second single Nice to Meet You which was also successful in reaching the UK Charts.
He went back on to Love Island: All Stars earlier this year to perform his hit track Abracadabra with music legend Craig David.
Since the show the world music star has successfully racked up 1.3 million monthly listeners on Spotify.
He has also collaborated with the likes of Clean Bandit, even touring with noughties rap group N-Dubz as their support act in 2022.