The Jewish half of a singing duo making waves on X Factor has said he will be performing “Jewish dancing” for joy if he progresses further in the show.
Joel Fishel, 22, and his singing partner Jack Remington, made it through the first round of live performances in the ITV talent show on Sunday, and will appear again next weekend.
Mr Fishel, who specialises in beatboxing, was delighted at the act’s success, having got through to the live shows on a wildcard entry. He said: “I’ll be doing some Jewish dancing in celebration if we make it through the rounds”.
The act was formed when the pair were both studying at Oxford.
“I met Jack at the very beginning of university”, Mr Fishel said. “We both joined an acapella group called Out of the Blue, which is the all-male acapella group at Oxford… about a year into that we decided to start Jack and Joel.
“It originally started just as a fun YouTube video which we uploaded online. We couldn’t think of a name, and we knew we needed to upload this video – Bang Bang, which we did at our ‘six-chair challenge’ [an X Factor group stage] – and so we just quickly decided that we were Jack and Joel. From then we’ve been making video after video, which has all led up to this moment of X Factor.”
Mr Fishel, who grew up in north-west London, has been a member of the Masorti New North London synagogue, and was involved with Noam, the Masorti Youth group, said he had “taken lots of valuable lessons through… life”, from being in the group.
“I went on camps and shabbatons since I was 10 years old”, he added.
“I stayed with Noam after tour and was a madrich for two years until I went to university, and then I didn’t have the time anymore to continue it, which is a great shame”.
Mr Fishel, who studied maths at Oxford and gained a 2:1 when he graduated in 2016, also described how social media success had led to him having to make a choice about his future – just three days into a new career.
“I had a job lined up as a data manager, ready to go down the maths route – but Jack and I were still releasing our videos. And just as new year 2017 came in, we did a video where we did a mash-up of all the number one hits in the UK for 2016. And that ended up going viral just as I started the job.
“So three days in, I had to make the decision that music was what I wanted to be doing, and that with this video being seen everywhere, being shared by Capital Radio and others, viral pages on Facebook, it was time to make a big decision. And after three days I left my data manager job and we began Jack and Joel.”
He described the support he has received as “remarkable”.
“I can’t really describe it”, he said.
“I try not to look at my phone as much as possible, because it becomes quite overwhelming, in a lovely way. I could sit there for absolutely hours marvelling at the friends and family who are sending me kind words at the moment, as well as fans and followers who have been so supportive. I’m so grateful for all of this, really.”
