Why Danny Bretherton’s Rise With December 10 Matters for South Asian Representation

Almost one year to the date since Liam Payne’s untimely death, Simon Cowell is back with yet another boy band. No, it’s not One Direction, and no, it’s not a K-pop group — it’s something different.

December 10 is a seven-member boy band with members hailing from small towns in the United Kingdom to Portugal. The band made its debut on December 10th on the Netflix series Simon Cowell: The Next Act — hence the name. The band has already generated a decent amount of buzz (both good and bad), but this isn’t just another article about a new boy band and who the members are. It’s about one member in particular, and why that’s such a big deal for the South Asian community.

Early on in the auditions, Simon brings in Savan Kotecha, a songwriter and composer of Gujarati descent. He was the writer behind One Direction’s first hit, “What Makes You Beautiful,” which Kotecha admits on The Next Act that he wrote about his wife. He also admits one more thing when 16-year-old Danny Bretherton steps up to the mic.

“Are you half Indian?” Kotecha asks Bretherton on the show. “When I was 17, I got a call from a record label, and he says to me, ‘I got your shitty demo on my desk. I love the song on here, but listen — I can tell by your name you’re a different ethnicity. No girl in Wisconsin is going to put an Indian guy on her wall,’” says Kotecha. He ends with this one line to Danny: “You made me believe someone’s going to put an Indian guy on their wall.”

Growing up in a world where One Direction, *NSYNC, Backstreet Boys, and 5 Seconds of Summer dominated the scene, it was hard for a kid like me to believe there would ever be a time when Indian members of global boy bands could exist. That all changed when Lara Raj, a Tamil-American vocalist, made it into one of the biggest girl groups of the decade.

Now, we have Danny Bretherton — also half Indian — proving that there are more facets to Indian singers, especially those raised outside of South Asia. And yes, the boy can sing. Danny quickly won hearts for his relatable personality — just a goofy young guy trying to figure out his own path in life.

It’s a big shift in what the Indian performer means. It’s not just classical singers, Bollywood artists, or the ones who learn to make it big on Instagram. It’s singers of Indian descent from all over the world, bringing their culture, their roots, and their unique sound to a completely different industry and making it their own.

It’s more than just representation — it’s proving that looks, ethnicity, or a differently sounding name shouldn’t stop your claim to fame. Danny Bretherton, we at Nakhra are your fans, and we can’t wait to see what December 10 cooks up next.