Interviews

Unknown Interview (Summer '05)

I read that the Pussycat Dolls first took to the stage in 1993 at the Viper Room. Can you talk about how you all came together?
The concept of the Pussycat Dolls has been around for about 10 years. Robin Antin originated the concept and started the group. It started out as a burlesque cabaret inspired dance group. I wasn’t a member of the original group. I just came on board about a year and a half ago. But they would have guest stars/artists appear and sing and do different spots in the show and eventually the record label came and got word of the concept of the Pussycat Dolls. When they saw the concept, they thought it was something really cool. It was underground. It had a great vibe. It was something that the other artists were drawn to so they picked it up and about two years ago we signed to A&M Interscope records. Now we’re a recording artist group — it’s evolved in time over the years into the group we have now. I think Melanie and I are the newest members and we joined about a year ago.

Are you all trained dancers? What’s your background?
Pretty much we’re all trained dancers but we’re also singers as well. I’m the lead singer of the group, then Carmit and Melody also sing a lot as well and then a couple of the other girls also sing background so it’s a nice blend.

When you came on board were the record company involved?
Yes. I came specifically when the record label was looking for a singer/s and heck yeah man when I knew the names that were involved — Jimmie Lovine and Ron Fair I knew I had to jump in. You know the sky’s the limit with them. I jumped on board and I knew once you jumped on board that train it was going and I was going put everything into it and I’ve been fortunate enough and blessed enough to have them allow me to lead the group and I think we’re doing pretty good.

'Don't Cha' is a huge hit in the US and is taking off all over the world…
It’s crazy right, because we live here so when people say it’s taken off around the world we don’t know what that’s like. We’re like, what does that mean?! But we’re scheduled to go overseas in less than two weeks so I guess we are going to get a taste of what that’s like.

Are you ready for it?
I think so. You know, I’ve been in this business for a while and it’s a blessing to have people recognise you as an artist and to appreciate the work that you do.

What other music industry experience have you had?
I’ve been in a group called Days of the New. They were with Geffen Records and we did an album. After that I joined a group called Eden’s Crush — we won a show called Popstars. I think you guys had that too. So I did that, then I did some solo stuff on my own and I’ve done a lot of acting, that’s what my major was in college and so, now I’m here so you know. The experience I’ve had to lead me to where I am today, to get me through everything.

How do you describe your music? There is that real girl power feeling in the lyrics. You have already been labelled in the UK as the US Spice Girls.
Well that’s a compliment. We can only hope and pray that we are as big as the Spice Girls cause they were glamorous, you know, and I think it’s cool because the Spice Girls blazed the trail for the whole girl power movement. I think we’re taking that torch and making our own with it. We are more like the new school version of it and um we are proud of our album. We worked the past year on it, non-stop. We have the most amazing producers that we’ve collaborated with.

And artists too. I hear your next single...
Is with will.i.am from the Black Eyed Peas. It’s called ‘Beep’. We just did ‘Don’t Cha’ with Busta Rhymes. Our album is very diverse and eclectic and there’s something on there for everyone. We also collaborated with Timberland on the album. He is amazing. He’s always got the freshest, dopest stuff and to be able to do a song with him is an honour, it really is.

The track titled ‘I don’t need a man…to make me feel good…’ has got a real girl power vibe
Yeah. I wrote that song actually with a friend of mine. We wanted it to be a strong song for the girls out there. It’s like a female anthem, you know. We love that song because Rich Harrison did the track for that and he’s also done ‘One Thing’ and ‘Crazy In Love’ so we wanted to make it a big song and we did!

And there is “Tainted Love” – a hit from the 80s…
Yeah. We’ve got Tainted Love and Hot Stuff. I believe Ron Fair our executive producer bought that up and we’d actually performed the song one other time with Marc Almond, which was so wonderful — he’s so beautiful you know, so we put that on the album & then our producer found the song. It was called ‘I Want You Back’ originally by Bananarama and then I had the idea of putting in the hook ‘Hot Stuff’ for the chorus and it just worked out really nicely.

You sing about not needing a man. Do you have a man? Do you have any time left for romance?
I think the majority of us are single because we really don’t have time for a relationship. You know, its hard because when you’re in a business like this you have to make sacrifices and I know for myself I’m married to my job. I’m either in the studio or at home working on music or with the girls touring but it makes me happy and this is where my focus is right now so.

Have you been star-struck or met any of your idols? I haven’t been start struck but I think I would flip out if I met John Heder from Napoleon Dynamite. I think I’d flip out if I met him because I’m a big goofball and we all love Napoleon Dynamite. I have met Mariah once and I think that she is such a princess and is so beautiful and has really got a gift and I really admire her. And I’ve met Whitney Houston who I’d always wanted to meet and I think, that’s when I was truly a dork. When I met her I was kind of shaking and I was like knock it off Nicole, be cool, be cool! But for the most part everybody is cool and we just try to play it cool, you know.

The Black Eyed Peas are very cool...
They’re like family to us, you know. They are label mates and I’ve worked with will.i.am a number of times in the studio. I discuss different concepts and ideas with him sometimes. We’re all in it together, you know. We’ve all been in this industry for a long time so we all just support each other.

How do you describe your style?
The best way I could describe it like our song ‘Don’t Cha’ says — we’re hot, we’re raw, we’re freaky and we’re fun. And we’re like that in our music and our dancing and in our style. And we’re always evolving and trying new things. The album has got a real diversity of music on there you know. But it’s a little different. A little freakier, a little rawer than the normal pop group.

And it looks like you will be setting some trends with your style. Do you all take on a different personality, each like the Spice Girls did?
Slowly but surely we are getting there. I think they kind of dress me as the diva or something — with bows and big things and they kind of dress Ashley as the dainty one, everyone’s a doll in their own way. Jessica they do more pinstripe and sailor stuff. Carmit is more of the cheerleader, schoolgirl, and Melody’s more of the young fun baby girl of the group and Kim’s more of the punk rocker of the group. So we’re all slowly finding our visual identities of the group too.

What are your ages?
It ranges from 20 to 27 or maybe a little older. Let’s just say early 20s to late 20s and we all get along so well. It’s a blessing, that’s what keeps a group together. Past guest dolls include Charlize Theron, Christina Aguilera, Scarlett — I was not around for those two but I was in the group when we had Scarlett Johnnson play host.

What was that like?
Scarlett is just so darn gorgeous you know. And a couple of times I caught myself starring at her and was like, oh no is she starring at me back? So it was kind of freaky but she’s just cool man. She’s the rawest of raw. It was cool to have her do her thing. She MC’d for us and she took control. Robin who created the group says inside every girl there is a Pussycat Doll and her Pussycat Doll came out that night so it was cool. And then obviously we opened the Pussycat Lounge and Eva did it with us and Busta Rhymes did it with us too. It’s awesome. I think the reason these artists and actors are attracted to the show is because they get to do something out of their own element, you know, and get to really stretch themselves as artists in different ways and its fun for them you know.

What about Eva from Desperate Housewives? Eva is so beautiful but just so down to earth too. But the coolest thing about Eva is her sense of humour. I think she used to be a comedian before what she was doing now and we’re all a bunch of goofballs, we don’t take ourselves too seriously and she was just a lot of fun. She took the pressure off us, that’s for sure.

The five of you together are very sexy, but there is a fine line of being sexy but don’t overstep…
I think the group has evolved a little more away from the cabaret burlesque visual aspect. We just did the Teen Choice Awards so we are totally PG, family friendly! We have more clothes. It’s more stylish, more fun and free spirited. And other teenagers can wear our stuff too

Who would you love to work with?
Oh man so many people. I think we would love to work with Prince. Prince would be such a great collaboration because he’s so funky and soulful. Stevie Wonder is beautiful. Just the great, you know. Bono’s my mentor so to be able to do a song one day with them for like, a charity event will be beautiful.

In what way is Bono a mentor?
I look up to him but I also know him as a friend. I want to be like him! He’s an amazing example of a human being and I’ve learnt a lot from him but that’s just something that I’m kind of lucky to have to learn from. And MIA I think is from London actually and she is like the coolest thing man. If we were to work with a female right now, it would be cool to work with her. She is off the hook.

What about Australian artists?
Oh man. Kylie Minogue. So I really think Australia is gonna like ‘Hot Stuff’ cause everyone says it kind of reminds them of Kylie Minogue and that’s such a huge compliment cause we all love Kylie.

You may be visiting Australia. What have you heard about the place and what would you like to do while you are there?
Our schedule is so crazy and jam-packed but we would just love to go to Australia. Hopefully we are going to be able to squeeze it in before the end of the year. I was born in Hawaii and I hear Australia is such a beautiful place so hopefully if we get there we can do a little bit of surfing, so that will be fun.

There will be plenty of guys at Bondi Beach that will be able to assist you if you’d like to surf
Oh man! We are goofy though! We are girls! We’ll be lying out but also boogie boarding and surfing at the same time too so it will be fun.

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