2012: The X Factor Australia and formation In 2012, Trent Bell, Julian De Vizio, Zach Russell, Jayden Sierra and Will Singe successfully auditioned as soloists for the
fourth season of
The X Factor and progressed to the
super bootcamp stage. After failing to make it into the top six of the Boys category during super bootcamp, the judges
Ronan Keating,
Guy Sebastian,
Natalie Bassingthwaighte and
Mel B decided to put them together to form a boy band for the
home visits stage, thus qualifying for the Groups category. During home visits, they travelled to
London, England and sang
Rihanna's "
We Found Love", their first song as a group, in front of their mentor Keating and guest mentors
One Direction. Keating later selected them, along with Fortunate and
What About Tonight, for the live finals—a series of ten weekly live shows in which contestants are progressively eliminated by public vote. During the official launch for
The X Factor at the Museum for Contemporary Art in Sydney on 13 September 2012, Keating announced that the group would be called The Collective. He stated, "We put it up on the web and had a lot of different names and the fans themselves picked it." For the Judges' Choice-themed first live show, The Collective performed
Jessie J's "
Domino" and received positive comments from the judges, with Keating calling it "the best performance I've ever seen on X Factor anywhere in the world". Bassingthwaighte described their performance as "phenomenal", while Sebastian said it was "unbelievable". For the third and fourth live shows, The Collective performed
New Kids on the Block's "
You Got It (The Right Stuff)" and
The Beatles' "
A Hard Day's Night" respectively. For the '80s-themed fifth live show, they performed
Madonna's "
Like a Prayer" and received a mixed response from the judges. Bassingthwaighte thought it was not the right song choice for them, while Mel B said "sexy is back". For the Latest and Greatest-themed sixth live show, The Collective performed
Ed Sheeran's "
Lego House" and again received a mixed response from the judges. While Bassingthwaighte said they "looked fantastic, sounded great", Sebastian felt that Singe, who was on main vocals, looked and sounded nervous and that it was not a perfect performance. For the Made in Australia-themed seventh live show, The Collective performed
Timomatic's "
Incredible". Following their performance of
Justin Bieber's "
Beauty and a Beat" in the quarter-final, The Collective landed in the bottom two for the first time with Shiane Hawke. Keating, Mel B, and Sebastian voted to send The Collective through to the semi-final in the
final showdown, resulting in Hawke being eliminated. However, voting statistics revealed that Hawke received more votes than The Collective, which meant that if Sebastian sent the result to deadlock, Hawke would have advanced to the semi-final and The Collective would have been eliminated. In the semi-final, The Collective performed two songs,
OneRepublic's "
Apologize" and
Chris Brown's "
Yeah 3x", and received standing ovations from the judges for both of the performances. That same week, The Collective landed in the bottom two again with Bella Ferraro. They received two votes each from the judges, and the result went to
deadlock. The Collective received the most public votes and advanced to the final, resulting in Ferraro being eliminated. They joined
Samantha Jade and Jason Owen for the grand final. During the first part of the final on 19 November, the three finalists were required to perform three songs – their audition song, last shot song and winner's single. The Collective's last shot song was
Karmin's "
Brokenhearted" and their winner's single was titled "
Surrender". The following day, it was announced that The Collective were the last contestant eliminated.
2012–15: The Collective and subsequent releases On 22 November 2012, two days after
The X Factor ended, The Collective signed a recording contract with
Sony Music Australia. Their song "Surrender" was released
digitally the following day as their debut single. It debuted at number six on the
ARIA Singles Chart and was certified gold by the
Australian Recording Industry Association for sales of 35,000 copies. The album debuted at number 11 on the ARIA Albums Chart and was certified gold. At the 2012 Poprepublic.tv IT List Awards, The Collective won the 'Favourite Australian Group' award and were nominated for 'Breakthrough Artist of 2012'. Their third single "
Another Life" was released on 28 June 2013, and debuted at number 47 on the ARIA Singles Chart. They performed "Surrender" and then "
Payphone" as a duet with Shidqia. The Collective was the supporting act for
Jessica Mauboy's
To the End of the Earth Tour in
Melbourne on 9 November 2013. On 26 January 2014, band member Zach Russell announced on
Twitter that he had left the group. The remaining members of The Collective served as the supporting act for
Reece Mastin's Restless Tour in
Canberra on 7 February 2014. and debuted at number 34 on the ARIA Singles Chart. "
The Good Life" was released as The Collective's seventh single on 19 September 2014, and debuted at number 74 on the ARIA Singles Chart. The remaining members of The Collective disbanded that same month to also pursue solo careers. ==Members==