Interview #271: Booty Luv

Booty Luv formed in 2006 and have gone on to storm the charts and the dance floors across the country with a string of hits. Their debut single Boogie 2nite refused to budge from the UK charts for 8 weeks and as a result Cherise Roberts and Nadia Shepherd, the sassy young ladies behind this disco-duet, are about to pick up a silver plaque for all their hard work.

Having recently become the faces (or bodies!) of La Senza's new range of underwear 'Lola and Coca' and with plans for a new album and single to be released this year, there seems to be no stopping these glamorous girlies. I like music caught up with Nadia and Cherise to chat about making music, their old band mates - the boys from Big Bruvaz and the best bits of their blossoming career so far...

''I Like Music because… music can be very positive, very uplifting. It can give you so many different emotions, it can make you feel sad, it can make you feel really really happy, it can also give you an amazing buzz and thats why I like music!” Cherise, Booty Luv

''I Like Music because… it free's your mind basically. Especially if you listen to a variety of music. It is enjoyable, happy, fun, sad, its all types of things rolled into one and it is just inspiring to me. Yeah, thats why I like music” Nadia, Booty Luv

ILM: First of all congratulations....You're being awarded a silver plaque for selling over 60,000 copies. Can you tell us about that?

Nadia: It just goes to show that we are accomplishing what we want to accomplish. Hopefully there will be a gold plaque, a platinum plaque to follow. We are just excited right now, it's made us more determined to work harder and be more successfull.

ILM: You've been signed to Sony, you've done your own thing, you've been signed to smaller labels...so you've been through the whole label thing. What's your advice for budding song writers on getting the right deal?

Nadia: You have to have a strong mind, a strong head because it is a hard business to get into. If you want to get a deal and everytrhing you need to do all the background work. It's not just about being on TV, you have to sacrifice things, you can't do a lot of things that you were doing before. You need to put a lot of work into it, in order to understand what it is about. You need to understand what could happen in the long run, because there are a lot of good and bad things that happen in this industry, you need to be strong and have the ability to pull through.

ILM: Out of all the tracks on the Booty 2nite album, which one did you have the most fun laying down?

Nadia: I think Some Kind of Rush for me was the most fun laying down. It's one of the original songs and when we perform it in clubs people go crazy. We know we have written a good song, its fun performing it, fun hearing it on the radio and fun hearing people talk about it. It was definately worth being in the studio racking our brains and writing it! Its a track that a lot of people, even if they are sick of it, it will be in their heads for years to come. They will still remember it and thats the main thing!

ILM: Any idea about the next single?

Nadia: Nope....we are just in the studio coming up with ideas and writing songs and whichever one stands out will be our single but at the moment we havn't got our minds set on a certain single. We do want to have a happy song, like Booty Tonight, we want it to be fun and happy, like a typical Booty Luv track but at the moment we don't know what it is going to be about, what kind of subjects - we will have to wait and see!

ILM: Your first single - Boogie 2nite - released on Hed Kandi - got to number two in the charts and was there for 8 weeks - were you suprised about that or did you think 'ooh yeah - we deserved that'?

Nadia: It was a bit of both, but I think we were more suprised. In the beginning when we recorded Boogie 2nite there were no plans of signing a deal, no plans of recording an album or doing a video and because they liked the single so much they wanted to carry on, do a single and an album. Everything happened so quickly - it was like 'what number 2?! What! An Album?! It was so fast. I guess it was meant to be, so I'm really glad that we went into the studio and recorded it.

ILM: What are your plans for the summer? Are you heading to Ibiza?

Nadia: We don't know. Probably. There might be some Ibiza trips cos last year we went to Ibiza about 3 times, we had a really good time! Hopefully we can have a holiday as well so we can get our heads down and hopefully just chill out and stuff! Also we are the new faces for La Senza Lola and Coco their new range- so there is going to be a lot more travelling, each La Senza store this month - we're going to be going round and saying 'Hi this is us!' So hopefully there will be more work with La Senza and touring and hopefully by the middle of the year we will have our album out and our single so there will be Booty Luv - back again!

ILM: You have obviously had a passion for music for a long time. Do you have any advice for teenagers on following the right path?

Cherise: I just think its good to be positive. Thats the main thing and you need to understand the background of everything. You've got to understand the business or else you'll be in trouble. The main thing is to stay as grounded as possible and just be you. Do what you want to do. Sometimes its easy to get a deal if you do what they want to do but its better to do what you want to do.

ILM: You must be excited about the silver plaque?

Cherise: Yeah. A lot of people are like....oh yeah...it's silver...but to us its a big thing. We have come a long way. We have worked really hard this last year in order to get that silver plaque. Its a head start and we are just going to carry on working really really hard and who knows in the future it might be a gold plaque or a platinum plaque...you never know. We are really really excited about that!

ILM: What track did you enjoy recording the most from the album?

Cherise: Um....I would have to say Some Kind of Rush too cos it was the only original single from the album that we released. But I really like a song on the album called 'A Little Bit' I think it's cos we got to show our sassy sides on it and also it's quite a blunt track and a lot of people sort of go through that thing with other people. Yeah, I love that track to bits!

ILM: Also, we spoke to Randy and I think it was just before 'Big Brovaz' re-entry album and it was cool speaking to him cos I think you had just done the 'Boogie Tonight' track and Jay Rock was doing a film and he was doing some other stuff...I just wondered what those guys are up to at the moment?

Cherise: We keep in touch and we all live quite close to each other but at the same time Booty Luv is really busy and at the moment the boys find it hard to keep up with us. Any spare time we have we call them up and see how they are. They seem to be doing fine, doing their own things and getting on with it really.

ILM: I watched a documentary ages ago about Jay Rock as he was coming off weed....I wondered if you have any tips for teenagers about coming off drugs?

Cherise: There's not really any different message I can give to the kids. They know right from wrong. They know that its wrong. They think its all gunna be all good right now, while they are taking it, whatever it is they are taking, but in the future it is going to creep up on them. Right now they think its fun but soon they are going to look back and think I wish I never did that.

ILM: Are there any highlights that stand out in your career since Nu-Flow right up to now? Moments where you look back and think OMG that was amazing?

Cherise: The one highlight that really stands out when it comes to Booty Luv would have to be Japan. The time we spent in Japan, which was a week, we did 3 shows out there and the people were amazing. I wouldn't even say the shows or the clubs, just the people in general - and just to see Japan and the way that they treat you over there was just amazing. The whole experience was just amazing.

And recording Scooby Doo 2 in Vanccouver and then going to the premier in LA, me and Nadia, as part of Big Brovaz - was another great experience. Just one that we won't ever forget. There has been quite a few highlights, well loads, but those are the two that stick out at the moment.

ILM: What would you be doing if you weren't in music? Did you ever have a plan B?

Cherise: I never did. I was so passionate about this one thing growing up, I wanted to do it and I didnt want to do anything else. Its really weird but I was like, if I can't do it then I dont want to do anything else, which is a really bad way of looking at it but I guess I was persistant and it paid off, you know. I tried my best to get to this position, same as Nadia - she did acting as well.