- Thu, 2010-08-19 10:56
Formed in 2007, girl group The Saturdays have spent the three years since establishing themselves as hot property in the British pop scene. Having scored six top-ten singles over the course of two full-length albums, the release of new mini-album Headlines looks destined to add to that tally.
I Like Music chatted with Una about Headlines, what it’s really like to be in the Saturdays, the ups and downs of fame, and her family; the other girls!
“I Like Music because…the world would be a very sad place without it. It makes me happy!” Una, The Saturdays
ILM: What can fans of The Saturdays expect when they press play on new album Headlines?
Una: When they press play, they won’t press stop! It’s an eight track album, which is quite a new thing. Keane released one, so did Justin Bieber, and Miley Cyrus. It’s quite a nice thing to have between your big twelve or thirteen track albums. Each track is of a really high standard, and just really fun pop music! The first single that comes off it is Missing You, which is out now. Then there’s a track called Higher, which is possibly the next single, and is in the same vein as Up. There’s also one called Karma, which we say is like Ego. You know, they aren’t the same as them, but we’re not going in a new direction. We’re staying with what we know the fans love. All the lyrics are really catchy, really melodic, and the tracks are great for if you’re getting ready to go out, or are out. It’s a good party album!
ILM: How did the album come together?
Una: The next album is out next year, but we just recorded some really good tracks and were excited to get them out there rather than wait ‘til next year. It’s kind of an in-between album.
ILM: You've been a Saturday for three years now, what's it been like?
Una: We’ve been in the studio loads, performed loads and we've just had loads of incredible experiences! We travelled over to Asia and we’ve just written our first autobiography which is out in September. We’re actually being followed around by a TV crew at the moment to give people an insight into what it’s like. It’s very difficult to explain to people! They know what we’re like from what they see of photo shoots or performing, but to describe the actual day-to-day reality is so hard. It’s a really fascinating world. If I wasn’t in the band I’d definitely watch to see what it was like!
ILM: How have you found the fame side of things?
Una: You have to be famous for people to know your music. Your profession is public. With that comes the good and the bad. We love to go out there and perform to loads of people, but at the same time my personal life can be invaded, which gets very upsetting at times. It’s not all brilliant and glamorous, but at the end of the day my passion is music so I just have to suffer the consequences.
ILM: How are the rest of the girls?
Una: They’re all very happy, and very loved up! Well, Vanessa’s single, but the guys are queuing up to date her! Rochelle is dating Marvin, Frankie’s with Dougie and Mollie’s with Andy, and they’re all really happy. We all live with our boyfriends and have really lovely homes and lots of dogs! We have ten dogs as a band! The boyfriends and dogs together we call the ‘BAGs’! All the girls are in great form and we’re blessed to be really good friends. We have so much fun together, which is how we get through it all if we’re tired or upset about something.
ILM: It’s like a small family!
Una: They are my family! I spend more time with them than anyone. I know them very, very well!
ILM: What can we expect from the latest live show?
Una: We’ve just done loads of summer dates, doing festivals and our own shows. With our headline shows we have a full band and do an hour and fifteen minute show. We perform past hits, current ones and future ones; there’s everything in there!
ILM: What music have you been listening to recently?
Una: I love everything pop! I also have another side to me, which people probably know because I play acoustic guitar sometimes, which is acoustic music. A massive inspiration for me growing up was Sheryl Crowe, and I’ve recently just got her new album but it was a little disappointing for me. I love her for what she plays - that country rock - and on this album she went down the soul route and did quite a lot of covers. It’s not that she doesn’t do them well, but it bored me a little. I just always go back to her Greatest Hits! I’m particularly enjoying that song Billionaire at the moment too and I find Lady GaGa really fascinating. The Script are also one of my favourite bands.
ILM: What are your future plans, both with the band and on your own?
Una: We can only take each day as it comes really. We’re doing this documentary, which we’re also filming performances for, so we’re working on them next week. Then in September the autobiography comes out, as does our jewellery range! Then we’ll release a couple more singles from Headlines and beyond that we don’t know really. We can’t really look too far into the future, we just have to work hard and take each day as it comes.
ILM: Have you got any plans to play your guitar at any point along the way?
Una: I play it quite a lot in The Saturdays. We did a version of Justin Bieber’s Baby, and I’m playing the guitar on that. I perform acoustically with the girls live, and in the Live Lounge and that kind of thing. But at the end of the day we are a pop band and I can only do a couple of numbers on the guitar with the girls!
ILM: I imagine it’s quite hard to do a dance routine with an acoustic guitar!
Una: Exactly!
