Girl, Interrupted
In a turnaround that not even the most savvy pop commentators saw coming, Nicola Roberts has done a musical 180°, going from Girls Aloud wallflower to the coolest pop star in Britain in just a matter of months. Celina Murphy hops aboard Team Ginge.
Celina Murphy, 08 Nov 2011
If you spotted Nicola Roberts in the papers a couple of years ago, chances are it was because yet another foul-mouthed celeb had decided to take a pop at her. Fast forward to 2011, soon to be dubbed the ‘Year of the Ginge’, and Ms. Roberts is making headlines for all the right reasons.
Not content with being one-fifth of the most successful reality TV group of all time, she’s currently being salivated over by every fashion editor in the UK while her make-up range Dainty Doll is one of the best-received celebrity lines in recent memory. Then there’s the little matter of her debut solo album Cinderella’s Eyes, which has gotten the four-star verdict from fans and critics alike. We’re guessing Roberts is feeling pretty chuffed with herself right about now.
“Yeah, I am actually!” she giggles. “The reviews I’ve had of the record have just been amazing – like, shocking!”
Surely she can see why critics are favouring her floorfiling Diplo, Dragonette and Metronomy-produced effort over your average schmaltzy pop fare?
“Well, it’s not like I set out to say, ‘This is gonna be quirky’ or, ‘This is gonna be different’,” she assures me. “I mean, I can see very clearly that it’s different. I wanted it to be going somewhere…
“I just... sort of...” she trails a little, before becoming suddenly animated. “I don’t like rules! With anything. With fashion, with the way people look, with music. It angers me a bit and I feel like I want to rebel against it. I don’t like pigeonholes. I wanted to be creative and the melodies that I sang out are just the melodies that I sang out. That’s just the way it was.”
For all the dynamite material on Cinderella’s Eyes, it’s very obvious that Roberts is not a natural born pop star. As a singer, dancer and frontwoman, she’s what Simon Cowell might call “distinctly average”, but then, who needs Adele’s pipes and Robyn’s moves when you’ve got a wicked production team and a knack for writing great avant garde pop?
Page 1/3 <Previous 1 2 3 Next>
©Hot Press 2011. Why be a member? | Terms of Service | Privacy Policy