Don’t label us as a new Girls Aloud, says Saturdays singer Rochelle Wiseman
Mar 29 2009 By Mickey Mcmonagle
Pop sensations The Saturdays are the biggest musical success of the last year – but they are determined not to rest on their laurels.
The five girls are already working on a follow-up to their debut album Chasing Lights and plan to release it before the end of the year.
And they are about to embark on their first headline tour – plus they will top the bill at our Young Scot awards on April 9.
The girls – Una Healy, Mollie King, Frankie Sandford, Vanessa White and Rochelle Wiseman – are loving their hectic lifestyle.
Una said: “It has been an amazing year or so for us, an incredible roller coaster – just fantastic.
“It may seem to those on the outside that it has all happened very fast…but for us it hasn’t.
“We have been together for two years but it’s only in the last three or four months that we have become more known and recognised.”
The success of the debut album took many industry insiders by surprise – but the girls always knew it was something special.
Una said: “When we heard it back in the studio the first time we knew how good it was and luckily the fans agree. It is still selling all the time, we expect to go platinum soon.”
The band share a management team and record label with Girls Aloud so it’s hardly surprising the two have been compared. But Rochelle insists they want to be recognised in their own right.
She said: “Fingers crossed we’ll be successful for years to come and anew girl band will come through and they’ll be compared to The Saturdays. It’s just a cycle, it’s the way it goes.
“We are still building ourselves up and forming our fan base, Girls Aloud are way ahead of us in those terms.
“It is flattering to be compared to such a successful band but we are at the stage where we want to be recognised in our own right.”
The Saturdays have played many support slots – including a tour with Girls Aloud – and their headline tour features a show at Glasgow’s Clyde Auditorium on June 8.
Rochelle admits they could not help but be inspired by the amazing shows they saw every night on the road as a support band.
She said: “Obviously Girls Aloud were inspiring to watch. When we saw them perform, headlining their own tour, we were all, ‘Wow, this is exactly where we want to be.’ “Our own tour is absolutely huge for us, we are so excited. We keep having big meetings to plan it all and find the right stuff to do to make it amazing.
“It will be really personal, we want it to show us off for who we really are. It will be in smallish venues – theatres and stuff – but still amazing.
Mainly we are inspired by each other, we’re all coming up with lots of ideas.
“It’s brilliant that there are five of us so if someone has an idea someone else elaborates on it, spins off into something else and it really builds.”
The girl group are about to release fourth singleWork from their debut album but are already working on the follow-up.
Una said: “We are doing bits here and there. We try to squeeze in little bits of studio time wherever we can as we are so busy now.
“We are definitely aiming to release it this year.
We are certainly not sitting around enjoying fame, we’re working all the time.”
The five bandmates are all involved in writing the songs for the second album and plan to take all the time they need to get the sound bang on.
Rochelle said: “We are making sure we have the right songs and that we get it exactly right.
“On the first album we did get our own direction, our own feel – that was the point, to make sure it was us.
“This will be a progression from Chasing Lights, so people who got into the first record will get this one too. It will follow on.
“We all write songs anyway but when we first got together as a band it was hard to bring together all our different ideas on music.
Now we have done that so we can write easily.
“The new record will still be pop but with a few more personal tracks.
“We’re working with big people – we’ve got Rihanna’s producers. There will be no urban stuff though. The Saturdays don’t do urban.
There will be no collaborations either.
“We are just going to keep it all about us as we are still quite new. It is early stages so you never know but I don’t think we will team up with other vocalists.”
Next up for the girls is their headline slot at the Young Scot awards in Glasgow – and Rochelle is thrilled they can help honour our winners.
She said: “We always try to get involved in things like this. It is refreshing to hear good things about young people for once.
“We hope we can help make the night as special as the nominees deserve by performing and showing our support and respect for them.
“We are over the moon to be a part of it.”