September 28, 2009

Monday, September 28 2009, 06:18 BST

By David Balls, Music Reporter

With Sugababes imploding from within and Girls Aloud on hiatus, could there be a better time for The Saturdays to establish themselves as Britain’s biggest girlband? Their debut album went platinum after spinning off five chart hits and now – fresh from putting the finishing touches to the follow-up Wordshaker – they’re back with new single ‘Forever Is Over’. We caught up with Rochelle Wiseman to discuss the new record and the ever-changing girlband landscape.

Your new single ‘Forever Is Over’ shows a rockier edge to The Saturdays. Is that the direction you’re going in now?
“I think we’re lucky because as a pop group we can try lots of different sounds and don’t have to stick to the same thing. The single’s got a full-on pop-rock sound and I think it shows off our voices really well. It’s similar to the album in that it’s got a bigger sound production-wise, but not all the songs are as rocky like that.”

Why did you decide to call your album Wordshaker?
“We wanted something that was a bit more grown-up because it’s our second album. We thought about calling it Deeper but that sounded a little bit cringe and cliched. We wanted something unique, so that when you Google it only our album will come up. A ‘wordshaker’ is someone who twists the truth by saying one thing and doing another. It’s someone who’s a bit of a sneak and uses reverse psychology. We’re making it a trending topic on Twitter.”

There were rumours going round that it was called Colonial Masses.
“I know, it’s hilarious! We were doing interviews all of last week and everybody kept referring to it under that name. We were like, ‘What the hell?’ Don’t believe anything that you read on Wikipedia – anyone can edit it!”

Do you think the new sound will stop comparisons to Girls Aloud?
“I think they came to the end quite a while ago. After we released a couple of singles everyone realised that we had our own sound. Obviously at the start people made comparisons because there were five of us, but that was just an initial thing. We still bump into them at the label and they’re such nice girls.”

So you’re not plotting to take over while they’re on hiatus?
“There was a report in the newspaper that was totally twisted about us trying to take over from them. They asked us about Girls Aloud having a year out and asked if we were ready to be the next girlband. We were like, ‘We’re up for it’. But then the next thing was ‘The Saturdays get nasty’ and we were apparently slagging them off. That’s not our style though. We don’t do things like that. The girls know it’s not true too.”

How did you feel when you heard Keisha had been kicked out of Sugababes?
“I was really shocked. I kind of feel that it’s a bit unfair to keep using the Sugababes name if she’s not in it. She was the only original member left even though Heidi has been there a long time. You never know what goes on behind the scenes and I don’t think we’ll ever really get the truth, just what the newspapers say. The new line-up is hot though. I saw a picture of them and it looks like it’s going to be a good video.”

Do you think they’ll still be around in a year from now?
“Maybe, but they’ll probably have three different members!”

Have you noticed that the beginning of ‘Wordshaker’ sounds a bit like ‘Get Sexy’?
“What bit? Oh, the sirens? I hadn’t noticed that, but I guess it does a little bit. That’s going to be stuck in my head now every time I hear it!”

Has there ever been any in-fighting in The Saturdays?
“We’re actually so lucky because we all get on really well. It’s quite weird when you hear about the stuff that goes on in other groups. It must be horrible being in a band with someone you don’t get on with because you’re with each other all the time doing this job.”

You seem never to have any time off.
“I know! We’ve hardly had any time off since we started but we got a week off in the summer and I took my mum to St. Lucia. It was really weird because we got papped and it was in the paper. It really freaked me out because you don’t know where they’re hiding! I felt a bit sorry for my mum.”

Earlier this year you said you wanted to break the US. Is that still on the agenda?
“Absolutely! It’s always been a dream of ours, but we don’t want to leave the UK before we’ve got it nailed here. We want to make sure we’ve done enough here to be properly established before we swan off.”

Will there be another Saturdays single before Christmas?
“Yeah, why not! Watch this space!”

Do you know which song it’s going to be yet?
“We have decided on one, but I can’t tell you yet.”

‘Wordshaker’ and ‘One Shot’ went down well on tour. Could it be one of those?
“Well, maybe not for the next one. I’m not sure… I don’t think it will be one of those two, so there’s a hint! Stop it you with the probing, cheeky!”

Were you surprised when ‘Work’ only reached number 22?
“What happened was that we were meant to release it a lot earlier but then the Comic Relief opportunity came through. We’d already started promoting ‘Work’ so everyone had already started downloading it. Sales-wise it still did well and it tied in nicely with our ‘Work’ tour, but it wasn’t the ideal chart position.”

Do you think you’ll get your first number one from the new album?
“Do you know what, I think we deserve it now! There’s all that stuff about being modest but it’s every band’s dream to get to number one! It’s so nice to be in the top ten, even better to be in the top five, but getting to the top would really seal the deal. We’ve done so well this far, so it would be the icing on the cake and top off what has been a really amazing year.”

The Saturdays release new single ‘Forever Is Over’ on October 5. Their album Wordshaker follows on October 12.

Source: Digitalspy