RH: Before Change you released your Greatest Hits collection,
Overloaded. Was that kind of the end of the old Sugababes drawing a line under
things before moving on?
Keisha: Yeah, it was. But even when Mutya was in the band we already thought, ‘OK,
we’ll do the Greatest Hits.’ And when she left it was even more
necessary, because obviously it was an end of that chapter and the start of
a new one.
RH: Until this album, did you feel like you were living in Mutya’s shadow,
Amelle?
Amelle: Yeah, I did. But now I feel like I’ve found my feet and I’m
part of the band. I didn’t like being known as ‘the girl who replaced
Mutya’. I wanted to be known as Amelle, the singer with a good voice,
who’s a good songwriter and the girl in Sugababes.
RH: How has Amelle changed the dynamics in Sugababes?
Keisha: I think Amelle’s brought a more unified look, visually, to the
band. We’ve never looked as good as we do now and haven’t really
fitted [together] as much as we do now. Also, she just says what she thinks – that’s
what I really like, because it means she’s real. She’s not trying
to be something she’s not.
RH: How did you feel when Mutya quit?
Keisha: I took it very hard, mostly because I was losing a friend. Also, I
kind of felt a bit like everyone I knew around me had gone because we had a
new band, management weren’t the same ones we’d started with, and
even though Heidi had been there a long time, she wasn’t part of the
original line-up, so it was a bit weird.
RH: Did you ever think of giving up completely?
Heidi: No, we didn’t, just because we knew she was going to leave at
some point. It was just something we could see coming, just because she was
unhappy in the band. For a while there were a lot of times when Keisha and
I were performing as a twosome, when she wouldn’t come. Because that
happened so much before she left I think we just kind of knew ourselves that
we did want to carry it on, even if she did leave. And when she left we were
like ‘shall we get someone else? Yeah.’ And that was it…
RH: Are you still friends with Mutya?
Keisha: Yeah, we’re still good friends because first and foremost she’s
a relative of mine - she’s my family, she’s like my blood-sister,
so my parents still speak and our brothers still associate. It’s much
deeper than us just doing a job together. I actually met up with her for a
Chinese meal just after she left the band and we’re still in contact
with each other.
Heidi: I haven’t spoken to Mutya since she left, just because I was really
close to her. She was going through a lot of personal things and I was trying
to be supportive. And then she just left, but she didn’t tell us! She
told the management to tell us and so I kind of accepted that and was waiting
for the phone call off her to explain, or say why. But the phone call has never
come so I’ve never spoken to her. It’s not because we had a fall
out, or there was any bad feelings. I suppose everybody deals with different
situations [differently] and maybe she just needs that time to herself to get
on with whatever she needs to sort out. But it’s been hard, because we
were so close.
RH: Is it upsetting when you read what she’s apparently
been saying about why she left Sugababes?
Keisha: Yeah, it’s not very good for me when I pick up the paper and
read things like her saying, ‘I’d still like to be in the Sugababes,
but I wasn’t supported,’ when I know that wasn’t true. Reading
stuff like that does stir up a lot of things, but I think that if you’re
mature enough to handle the situation, call each other and pick-up the phone,
it’s fine, you can sort everything out.
RH: What do you and your friends do for fun?
Keisha: We actually go to strip clubs – women’s strip clubs. Amelle
and I do that quite a lot and it’s really good fun! I also like to go
on holidays with my friends. I’m definitely happiest when I’m on
holiday with my girls and we’re at the beach, with a margarita in our
hands, we’re meeting new people and it’s all good.
RH: Do you have any pet hates?
Amelle: I hate it when you’re walking down a busy road and someone just
stops dead so you run into them. That really annoys me!
Keisha: It really annoys me when I’m driving my car and someone else
is in the wrong but I’m getting beeped for it, or when they cut you up
on the road, or they stick their finger up and you can’t get them back
because they’ve already driven off! People say I have road rage and I
think there have been a few times where I’ve obviously forgotten myself,
but it just annoys me. It’s like, ‘Why are you beeping me when
I’m at a red light? I can’t move!’
RH: Do you ever worry about them retaliating?
Keisha: I don’t really think about that, to be honest. Most of my arguments
are with men being aggressive on the road, because I hate men who try to intimidate
women drivers. It’s like if a male driver sees me in a car with my guy
friends, they don’t say anything, but when I’m by myself they’ll
just shout, swear and beep their horn.
RH: Do you see Girls Aloud as rivals?
Heidi: No, they’re friends of ours. We get on really well with them and
they’ve got their own style, image and sound. I think there’s no
one else like them who does that type of thing. They’re brilliant at
what they do.
RH: What do you think of people like Ms Dynamite, Kate Nash and Lily Allen
bringing a kind of street vernacular into British music?
Keisha: Yeah, I know what you mean, because everyone’s doing this ‘Eng-er-lish’ accent,
but I guess the person who’s the last one standing is the real one. I
love Lily Allen, but I’d like to see where she goes on the second album
and see how far she goes. The Kate Nash thing is cool too, but I think she
still has to prove herself, because everyone’s jumping off the hype of
the first and second single and it’s all about longevity. And Ms Dynamite,
I don’t see her in that category because I think that what she has to
say is true, it’s honest and it’s from the heart. And she’s
a good writer – her first album was amazing.
RH: What’s the best thing about touring?
Amelle: The parties! Everyone's on such a high and having such a brilliant
time.
RH: Are you looking forward to playing in Cardiff?
Heidi: I love Cardiff. I made some friends there and they came to the tour
last year. People in Cardiff know how to have a good time. They’re always
ready to party.
The Sugababes play the Cardiff International Arena on April 23. Call the box
office on 029 2022 4488 to buy tickets. See www.sugababes.com for the latest
info
Sweet as Suga
Despite another change of line-up things are going pretty well for the Sugababes. Out went Mutya, in came Amelle… and the hits kept coming. James Logan caught up with the girls for an exclusive chat for RedHanded