Mutya Keisha Siobhan – five things we’ve learned!
So, the original Sugababes have reformed, but of course they can’t call themselves Sugababes because that’s still Heidi, Jade and Amelle (except when it comes to stationery and gift wrapping, but we’ll ignore that because frankly this is making our heads hurt already). What matters is that Mutya, Keisha and Siobhan – the ice cool trio who scored early Suga-hits ‘Overload’ ‘New Year’ and ‘Run For Cover’ – are back, back BACK!
Now trading under the imaginative band name Mutya Keisha Siobhan, they’ve been secretively working on new material for the best part of a year now and we’re finally close to hearing the first fruits of their labours. Here are five things we learned from their first ever post-reformation interview with the ever-wonderful Popjustice.
The album isn’t out until 2013
Boo! But there is a new single pencilled in for November. Does this mean an X Factor performance could be on the cards? That intro-video would certainly be interesting…
They’ve been working with some interesting people
Teen production whizz MNEK, who co-wrote ‘All Fired Up’ for The Saturdays and ‘Home Run’ for Misha B, is one such interesting person. Others include ex-Blazin’ Squad members Mojam, Spice Girls wizard Biff Stannard and Girls Aloud architects Xenomania! OMG!
Some song titles ‘n’ stuff
‘Drum’ – a repetitive dance track inspired by Rihanna
‘Back in the Day’ – a TLC-esque early 90s jam
‘Too In Love’ – the first song they sang together on since the One Touch days
‘Love Me Hard’ – written with Biff and former Triple 8-er Iain James. Remember Triple 8?
Siobhan’s favourite post-One Touch Sugababes song is ‘Stronger’
She also likes ‘Freak Like Me’. The girls are open to performing songs from post-Siobhan incarnations at their gigs. We wonder what Heidi, Jade and Amelle will make of that?
They wouldn’t say no to a Girls Aloud duet
But they’re not – unsurprisingly – so keen on the idea of getting together with the current Sugababes lineup.
Overall it sounds like the MKS “project” is going pretty swimmingly so far, and the girls are determined not to repeat the mistakes that saw them fall apart the first time around. With some seriously cool producers on-board and fan excitement at fever pitch, this is bound to be one of the most interesting comebacks of the next 12 months. We do sort of hope the “other” Sugababes come back with some goodies too though, there’s plenty of room on pop’s playground after all, and a good old fashioned chart battle could be just the thing to boost record sales for both groups.
Are you on team MKS, or will Heidi and co always have your heart? Have your say in our comments section!
Mutya Keisha Siobhan will release new music before Christmas!
Pop fans let out a collective scream last month after Mutya, Keisha and Siobhan announced they were making their long awaited comeback.
The trio, who first formed as Sugababes in 1998, have been hard at work on their new material with a host of exciting names and it seems we don’t have long to wait to hear what’s in store.
Tweeting earlier, the girls revealed that we’ll be hearing their new tunes before the year is out!
Hey guys, Let’s catch up!!! We’ve been super busy writing & recording our album, it’s hard work but we’ve been having a blast being creative & hanging out with each other. We’re almost there and cannot wait to show you all what we’ve been cooking up together!!! Sooo excited :-D… There WILL be music for your music loving ears this year!!! Thanks for the love!!! Whoooop!!!
Excited? We certainly are! Whilst we anxiously wait for the goodies, let’s reminisce on one of their finest moments to date:
New Carly Rae Jepsen!
Justin Bieber’s protege Carly Rae Jepsen is ready to release her debut album Kiss, and we’ve got all the goss for you!
After ‘Call Me Maybe’ sold an astonishing 1 million copies in the UK alone and spent 8 weeks at number one in America, the follow up, ‘Good Time’ (with Owl City), has had over 6m views on VEVO!
Carly Rae has been collaborating with a team of her “dream producers” including Max Martin (Britney Spears, P!nk), Dallas Austin (Sugababes), Toby Gad (Beyoncé) and Redfoo from LMFAO. She says of Kiss, “these are lyric and song ideas that I have been collecting over the years. The record is pop. It’s inspired by Robyn, The Cars, Madonna, and believe it or not, James Taylor. I can’t wait to share it with everyone!”
Ms Jepsen will be supporting Bieber on tour in the US and Canada, and hopes to make her way over to the UK soon. We can’t wait to hear this album!
Old Sugababes name band ‘Mutya Keisha Siobhan’; MP! now called ‘Chris Grace John Jo Olly Jon Jon Luke Shaun’
You know what, hats off to the Oldbabes. Why sit around trying to think of a completely new band name when you can just call a spade a spade and release music under your actual names? Apparently the group have decided on Mutya Keisha Siobhan as their trade-marked title, and we can’t help but wonder how different the world would be if everyone did that.
Girls Aloud would be Nadine Cheryl Sarah Nicola Kimberley (later renamed Cheryl etc), Black Eyed Peas would be Will.i.am Fergie Miscellaneous Miscellaneous, Marina and the Diamonds would be Marina and the Diamonds… You get the point.
The most interesting thing about the original Sugaba – sorry, Mutya Keisha Siobhan – is that nobody can quit this time. If they do, it’ll just be awkward. Imagine if, in six years from now, the line-up of Mutya Keisha Siobhan was actually Amelle Heidi Jade? Exactly.
But of course the big ‘thing’ is whether or not the public will actually want to buy the music this time around. With Little Mix and Stooshe in full swing, Girls Aloud and Parade working on new stuff and The Saturdays inevitably plotting some sort of forget-that-last-album-ever-happened ‘comeback’, the girlband market has become very packed very quickly.
But hey, we can’t wait. After all, ‘Round Round’ was one of our favourite pop songs of the 00s. Oh wait, wrong line-up… OK, ‘Freak Like Me’ was… Oh. ‘Too Lost In You’? ‘Push The Button’? ‘About You Now’? ‘STRONGER’????? Sheesh…
Still, it’ll probably be better than this, right?
Cover Drive talk lion hair, new single with Far East Movement, Tinchy collab. The Big Interview
In the midst of the very busy and loud Tinchy Stryder party, we spotted the very gorgeous Cover Drive, so grabbed Amanda and the boys for a gossip in the one quiet spot we could find, which happened to be blocking the entrance to the ladies’ loos… needs must.
Hello Cover Drive!
All: Hello!
How have you enjoyed the Tinchy Stryder headphones launch this evening?
Amanda: Oh my gosh it was so much fun! We’re just glad to come out and support Tinchy and to see everybody, it was really good.
You’re big fans of Tinchy; would you like to collaborate with him?
Amanda: Oh yeah we were just talking about that in the hallway, there – we’ll see if something happens!
Is this a Maximum Pop exclusive?
Amanda: Um, well it’s nothing, er, it’s not FACT, so it’s just, you know, we’re just talking. Could be a rumour!
How was it performing at the Capital Summertime Ball?
All: amazing!
Amanda: Oh my gosh, that was probably one of our most memorable moments… 80,000 people, that was crazy.
T-Ray: biggest crowd we’ve ever played!
Where are Cover Drive going to be by the end of the year?
Amanda: taking over the world! We have a single with Far East Movement called ‘Turn Up The Love’. We shot the video for that a couple of weeks back and it’s coming out soon so we’re really excited for that. It’s a dance track; we’ve never done dance before so it was good to do it with Far East Movement cos that’s their style and kinda bring our style with it!
Barry: we’ve got a lot of dates this summer, T4 On The Beach, T In The Park, V Festival and we’re going on tour with Kelly Clarkson, JLS and Olly Murs.
It’s been known to rain at T4 On The Beach.
All: Awww, no!!!
Are Cover Drive going to be bringing the Barbadian sunshine?
All: of course!
Amanda: We always bring it. Always. If the UK wants to receive it.
Yes, always! You’re familiar with the London weather. Amelle from the Sugababes is here this evening, have you had a chance to say hello?
Amanda: No, we were on our way to speak to her but then you grabbed us!
[MP! blushes] Whoops, we’re so rude.
Amanda: No, it’s fine!
Angel is here too; did you see him?
T-Ray: We didn’t arrive in time, but we’ve met him before on the Dappy tour!
And what do you think of N-Dubz?
Jamar: The first concert we went to in the UK was for N-Dubz. We love them!
Amanda: They’re really cool.
Do Cover Drive have a favourite member of Little Mix?
Amanda: To be honest, I don’t know the name of the members of Little Mix!
Jamar: I don’t either but I do have a favourite, she has green eyes, and wears… help me out, here, guys!
Is it the one with lion hair? That’s Jesy.
Barry: Lion hair, lion hair, lion hair…
T-Ray: Yeh, Jesy.
Jamar: Jesy! She’s sexy.
Amanda: if you haven’t noticed already we’re pretty bad with knowing British popstars!
Barry: Some of them are going out with One Direction so that puts me off…
We should just ask you about Bajan singers like Rihanna and Shontelle…
Amanda: Ah yeh then we know for sure! No, we’re getting a lot better with the British pop, obviously we’re making lots of friends here in the UK so that’s good!
Do you have a message for your fans reading Maximum Pop?
Amanda: Yes! Oh my gosh, just thanks for all the support, guys. You know, keep doing it Bajan style, buy the album and keep supporting and we love you guys!
Thanks so much, Cover Drive!
All: Thank you!!
Tinchy Talks to MP! New single ‘Help Me’, Cover Drive, headphones
After a long wait and a lot of free “lemonade”, MP! grabbed a few minutes with the main man of the evening…
So Tinchy, brilliant performance tonight!
Thank you.
How was it performing high above London with these amazing views?
Wicked, I feel like I was on cloud nine!
Can you see your ends from up here?
I’ve tried but I can’t. It’s hard, there are a lot of tall buildings and in Bow the buildings ain’t high enough to see from here but I can see where I am!
So you have your own headphones – amazing! How are you feeling?
I’m feeling good, music’s my first love so I had to make sure the sound quality was good enough and I got that so I’m lovin’ it.
Who is your favourite member of Little Mix?
[Pause] Would I be rude if I said I didn’t know their names?!
Not really.
I like Little Mix and what they do.
Amelle talks debut album, Sugababes, Little Mix, Stooshe & Parade
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Last night at Tinchy Stryder’s headphone launch MP! caught up with Amelle Berrabah. Just minutes before she took to the stage with the Stryderman we quizzed her about what’s going on with the Sugababes, her solo plans, her views on the original Sugababes reforming and her thoughts on the new girlbands of today!
Hi Amelle! What brings you here this evening?
To support my man Tinchy, I’m so proud of him to have his set of headphones! It’s such a massive achievement; obviously everyone knows about the Dr. Dre ones so to have a headphone brand representing a big UK artist is great.
You had a massive hit single with Tinchy; what’s he like as a collaborator?
He’s a very talented person. He’s a genius in music and I love working with him. I’ve done a track for his new album. When you click with someone it makes everything so much easier. He gets me and he gets my personality, I get him and we’ve always kept in contact, we message and stuff.
What’s going on with you and the girls?
All good, we’re not releasing anything until the end of next year. We haven’t got anything set in stone just at the moment. But I’ve been in the studio literally every single day for my solo album – tonight’s so much fun because I haven’t seen anyone in ages! I’ve nearly finished and my first release should be in the first week of September so I’m quite nervous but I’m really excited. I’ve literally put everything I have into it. I’ve taken my time with it; I said to the record label “you need to let me take my time to do my thing!”
What are Heidi and Jade up to?
They’re taking a bit of time off. I think Jade is gonna start doing her solo album quite soon and Heidi’s doing a bit of presenting and things like that, so yeah, we’re all very happy!
Are you looking forward to hearing what the original Sugababes are going to come out with?
Do you know what, yeah I am! I’ve got no bad blood; I’m not someone who’s like that. No, I think they’re all very talented. It’s interesting ‘cos I haven’t heard anything from Siobhan in so long – I’m quite intrigued because she’s so talented, her songwriting ability is amazing and she’s done a lot of songwriting for other artists. I’ve been following her silently for a while. Mutya’s obviously got one of the best voices I’ve ever heard. And Keisha, a very talented person who’s also got a great voice. I’m intrigued, I’m intrigued…in a good way!
Can we ask you about some of the newer girlbands on the scene? What do you think of Little Mix?
I love ‘em. I absolutely love those girls. Even during X Factor, I was like “they need to win”. They are stars, each and every one of those girls, and to top it off as well they’re nice people. When you meet people in this industry sometimes the vibe they give off…hmm(!), but Little Mix are beautiful girls, really down to earth and good people.
And what about Stooshe girls?
Stooshe, they’re the three girls, yeah?
Yes.
I nearly swore there, I absolutely love them! Love them.
They swore in their first single so you’re allowed to swear if you like.
Okay, I f***ing love them. They remind me of a modern day Supremes but with a twist. I love their new single. I think they’re very different, they’re fresh and they’ve got the most amazing voices. Apart from Little Mix and the new [old] Sugababes coming up, there’s not many bands who sing, you know? These girls are the competition. Each of those three are as talented as each other and their voices are insane.
Another girl band you may remember from last year, Parade, are also on the comeback trail.
[Excited] Oh are they?
Yes, they’ve been working with MNEK, Ed Drewett and Tim Powell from Xenomania.
Nice! The one I always remember is the one with the short hair, she’s absolutely beautiful and has a lot of star quality about her… Sian! I really like them but I haven’t heard much from them so I’m quite looking forward to hearing what they’ve got!
Thank you, Amelle!
What’s going on with the Sugababes?
Mutya, Keisha, Siobhan, Heidi, Amelle and Jade – the list of girls who’ve been a member of the Sugababes is certainly impressive. But with the current incarnation of the UK’s most successful girl band of the 21st Century on a hiatus, and rumours that the original line-up are working together again, you’d be forgiven for getting a bit confused.
And that’s where we come in. Below is our handy guide to what each girl in (and out) of the Sugababes is working on. Read, revise and rejoice.
Amelle:
Joining the band in 2005, Amelle is still the only girl that’s had a Number One solo single, after collaborating with Tinchy Stryder on the hit song ‘Never Leave You’. Right now she’s working on her own material again, with a single called ‘Rebel’ apparently in the pipeline. She’s also leant her vocals to a dubstep track called ‘God Won’t Save U Now’, which you can listen to here. (more…)
Rihanna breaks record, JLS talk collabs, Katy Perry’s new album, Destiny’s Child reunite and who wants to manage TW? – Gossip!
Rihanna is fast becoming the new Adele of music records after becoming the first female artist to notch up 2 billion views on Vevo. RihRih announced the news on Twitter yesterday straight after she hit the milestone, her total views currently stand at 2,066,920,790. She’s not far off Bieber who has nearly 2.3 billion whilst Gaga is slacking with 1.8 billion.
What’s a man to do when he can’t backflip? JLS’ Aston decided to busy himself during some LA downtime yesterday by teasing us on Twitter. He started off by retweeting a load of fan messages begging the boys to collab with artists like Bieber, Chris Brown, Rihanna and Pixie Lott before whipping everyone up into a frenzy by appearing to have a serious think about the star duets, with Bieber and Chris Brown his top picks. Could these be hints for the next album or was Aston just having some fun?
Yesterday we caught you up on the latest Sugababes news, both from the originals and Sugababes Rebooted. After Heidi hinted at some solo plans, Amelle has now jumped on the bandwagon and revealed more details about her own solo material. The singer has hinted that her first solo single will be called ‘Rebel’ after using the word as a Twitter hashtag numerous times over the weekend. Apparently we can expect to hear the track “very soon.” Excited?
Filed under “Not very surprising but exciting news” it’s been rumoured that Justin Bieber’s manager, Scooter Braun, wants to represent The Wanted in the US. Scooter met the group last year when they supported Bieber in London and was the one who secured their now legendary (MP! have it playing on a constant loop) slot on The Ellen show. According to “a source” the manager is “always on the lookout for the next big thing” and his instincts tell him TW could be big news in the US. With Bieber and TW on his books Scooter could soon be our new BFF.
Destiny’s Child reunite! Sorry did you just let collapse in hysterical tears? We’re exaggerating slightly, get up. Kelly, Michelle and Beyonce actually just got together for a little baby bonding session. Kelly and Michelle visited B and little Blue Ivy in New York last week and apparently struck up a bit of singsong to entertain the new addition. We bet B hogged the best lines on “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star.’
Katy Perry has come up with a new plan to squeeze the last bits of cash from her Teenage Dream album, that’s right a re-release! According to reports Katy is preparing to unveil a special edition sub-titled The Complete Confection (clever) in the US in March. Previously leaked tracks ‘Dressing Up’ and ‘Part Of Me’ (which have now been completely wiped from YouTube)are likely to appear on the new edition, alongside new versions of current tracks.
JLS get romantic, Jessie J and her shaven head, The Voice UK’s supergroup and the latest Sugagabes news – Gossip!
One of the best pop events in the summer calendar (in MP!’s humble opinion), T4 on the beach will celebrate it’s 10th anniversary this year. The gig will spend its eighth year in Weston-super-Mare on 1st July, with organisers already promising “this year’s line-up will be the best yet.” Tickets go on sale in March. EEK!
The saying goes that the band that share together stay together, or something along those lines. In which case JLS are gonna be around for a long time. Marvin has shared his romantic proposal to Rochelle with the rest of the JLS boys. Smooth operator Marvin filmed the big event and after viewing it, Aston reckons “it was better than Michael Jackson flying out of the arena on his Dangerous Tour.” Quite the compliment. Marvin has repaid Aston’s kind words by promising to spend Valentines Day with his band-mate because Rochelle is out of the country. It’s also Aston’s birthday on February 13th so Marv better double up on gifts.
The judges on new talent show The Voice have joined forces to form a super-group. The motley crew of Jessie J, Tom Jones, will.i.am and That Bloke Who Replaced Will Young sung together at the taping of the show last week. Apparently audience members “jumped out of their seats” when the group performed ‘I’ve Gotta Feeling.’ Reports that the “jumping” was actually due to Tom Jones’ gyrating are still unconfirmed. In other Voice news, Simon Cowell is apparently pretty peeved that the BBC have scheduled the show to clash with Britain’s Got Talent, he’s called it a “declaration of war.” We’ll see who gets beaten to a pulp when both shows air in March.
After skating her troubles away on Dancing On Ice Heidi Range is ready to take on the world. Speaking to the Sunday Mirror Heidi credits the show for giving her her “groove back” after her recent break-up. In fact she’s even thinking about a solo album. Everyone wave bye-bye to the Sugababes.
More news on that original Sugababes reunion. Despite the girls denying they’re reforming there’s fresh reports that Mutya, Keisha and Siobhan have recorded a song together. The latest rumours are that the band recorded a track called ‘Love Like This’, written by Emeli Sandé and produced by Naughty Boy, at a recording studio last week AND are working on a comeback album. The trio are said to be really dedicated to the project with Siobhan even leaving her job in the City to concentrate on the music BUT Keisha wants to get her solo work out before the band’s new material. Everyone caught up? Good, it’ll be all change this time tomorrow.
Jessie J reckons she can heal the world by shaving her head this year. She’s been chatting about her plan to get rid of her locks in aid of charity and the inspiration behind her much-publicised stunt. When she broke her foot last year Jessie spent time visiting kids in hospital and realised “I need to use being someone that people know to do something good for the world.” Translation: She’ll be going bald. Good luck Jessie! MP! once sat in a bath of baked beans for a Blue Peter appeal and raised £23.50, not quite enough to heal the world.
