the BIG razz interview: The Sword; Exclusive The Sugababes lose their sweetness at the mention of them splitting up.
Byline: By Rick FultonTHE Sugababes are fuming and "beyond frustration" at the continuing rumours that they are about to split up Despite completing a fourth album,Taller In More Ways, the group - Mutya Buena, Keisha Buchananand HeidiRange have to deal with whispers that they hate each other and are about to go their separate ways.
And Heidi, 22, admits the trio are so exasperated they are bored with the claims.
She said: "I don't know why people keep saying we're going to split up.
"Even when we were in the studio writing this album there were reports we were doing a greatest hits and that would be the last album we would do together.
"And we're looking at each other in the studio writing the new album and shrugging our shoulders.
"If we were going to split we would tell people. It wouldn't be some big secret.
"But we're not splitting or we wouldn't have written a new album."
Much of the backbiting has been splitting the Sugababes into two camps with Heidi on one side and the two former schoolmates on the other.
And while Heidi is the perfect sunny blonde, all smiles and waves, Keisha - who will be 21 next week - and Mutya, 20, have big reputations for their sulky, moody ways.
Heidi shakes her head. "We're all very happy and enjoying our lives.
"I don't know why I'm always seen as the happy one. Keisha and Mutya are lovely girls as well."
Keisha and Mutya were teenagers when they teamed up with Siobhan Donaghy to co-write urban pop tune Overload in 2000.
Keisha and Mutya were childhood friends and met Siobhan at a party when they were 13 years old.
At a time of manufactured bands like Precious and Girl Thing, Sugababes offered something different with their debut album One Touch.
But in 2001 Siobhan left claiming the other two bullied her. So ex-Atomic Kitten singer Heidi, from Liverpool, was brought in.
Four years later and Heidi somehow still seems like the new girl.
Mutya has admitted she didn't even speak to Heidi at first, but the Liverpool lass shrugs it off.
She said: "She wasn't nasty to me but I'd say for the first few weeks we didn't really speak that much. It was a big change for all of us. They were in Japan when Siobhan left, then before they knew what was going on, a new girl was in the band and they've been dropped by their record label.
"The girls were very young when all that happened.
"So when I arrived, Mutya's way of dealing with all this upheaval was to take a step back and check me out and see what I was about.
"We didn't force the friendship.We came into work and got on with what we had to do and our friendship built from there."
She goes on to claim, again despite reports, that she and Mutya have never had an argument. Instead it's with Keisha that Heidi had her biggest fall-out.
In spring 2004 the band cancelled two nights in Dublin minutes before the first gig was supposed to start because of a row between Keisha and Heidi.
It was over Britney Spear's song Toxic. Heidi said: "We had a row over a Britney song but I'm not going to go into it. It's something stupid.
"I've never had a row with Mutya and that's the only row I've had with Keisha."
She now claims that far from the backstage catfights they are meant to have every time they play live, the trio know each other as well as sisters and defuse any situations long before they happen.
Heidi added: "We know each other inside out so it's easier now to avoid an argument than to have one.We know each other's little ways. It's like how you'd be with your sister or your mum.You handle situations without making it worse.
"You look at the bigger picture rather than get caught up in silly things."
And the bigger picture is a good one. They are the biggest selling UK female act at the moment - their last two albums Three and Angels With Dirty Faces both sold more than 900,000 copies each and went triple platinum in the UK.
They've sold one million singles in the UK and had three number ones: Freak Like Me,Round Round and Hole In The Head as well as a Brit award for best British dance act in 2003.
Their fourth album,Taller In More Ways, is set to be released on October 10 with a new single, Push The Button, out on Monday.
The album's title - a line from future single Ugly - reflects the ups and downs the girls have experienced in the past four years.
Heidi said: "We've been through a lot. "A member left, a member joined, we were dropped, were signed again, there's been weird things written about us, Mutya's had a baby... it's our fourth albumandwe have a lot to say.
"And our sound has really developed. I think this is the best album we've done together.
"Both vocally and lyrically. It's a lot stronger than our other albums."
Having co-written all but three of the songs on the album, they've collaborated with an amazing array of the world's best writers and producers including Dallas Austin (TLC, Madonna, Pink), Guy Sigsworth (Madonna, Britney Spears) and Cathy Dennis (Kylie).
They have also worked with long-term collaborators Brian Higgins, Cameron McVeigh (All Saints) and Johnny Rockstar (Robbie Williams).The range and depth ofthe album is illustrated by its first and last tracks - the fiery single Push The Button, and the epic, string-laden ballad 2 Hearts.
Heidi added: "Our new stuff is different but we don't want to alienate our fans."
Perhaps the biggest step up the ladder for the trio was working with Dallas Austin - the man behind one of the world's biggest female trio bands TLC.
The producer came to London for a few weeks to get to know the girls before they went to his studio in Atlanta.
Heidi added: "He didn't want to just write a song, he wanted to write something for us.
That's why he was able to write great hits for TLC, because he knew them. He didn't want to do anything that wasn't right for us."
The girls, not wanting to be "like robots" singing other people's songs, hit it off with Dallas so much that he ended up writing five of the 12 tracks on the album, including Push The Button and Ugly.
The girls had a great time hanging out with Dallas at his home in Atlanta - an oval-shaped mansion surrounded by a lake.
"It's amazing," says Heidi. "He has a cinema room and one of the walls is made of glass, and you can see underwater. He also has a lift in his house."
The track Push The Button is about Keisha fancying one of Dallas' studio hands.
Heidi explained: "Keisha had a crush on one of the guys who was at the studio. Dallas told Keisha the guy also had a crush on her. So they started flirting with each other. Keisha would say to the guy that there was a film she wanted to see and the guy would say 'I really want to see that too.When you see it tell me what it's like' rather than asking her out.
"He wasn't getting the hints. Dallas was teasing Keisha that if she didn't push the button he would go over and tell him."
Another of the songs Follow Me Home is about Mutya becoming a mum for the first time - daughter Tahlia was born in March this year. Heidi admits Mutya has really taken to motherhood. She laughed: "She's much more relaxed. She used to love to party but she doesn't party as much now.
"I haven't changed Tahlia's nappy yet but Mutya's boyfriend is such a good dad that when Tahlia's with us, he's usually with us too and he's always off in a corner doing everything for the baby.
"She's too young for me to do babysitting and I don't think Mutya's let anyone babysit her yet except her mother, but I'm sure when she gets a bit older she'll ask us. It hasn't made me broody though. Good God no. I'm only 22. I don't want a baby yet."
Heidi, who dates MTV's Dave Berry, next month celebrates her two year anniversary with the TRL UK presenter - but that's as far as it goes.
She said: "We haven't really thought about getting married.We're looking forward to our anniversary and we're both trying to get the day off work and get away somewhere forthe night. I'm not waiting for Dave to pop the question though, we're very happy the way we are."
The new album took a year onand off to complete and when Mutya took three weeks off before the birth and a month off afterwards, Heidi and Keisha kept recording, leaving gaps for Mutya's voice.
And she added: "I wasn't worried when Mutya said she was pregnant as she was adamant that she wanted to do the album."
The group made their first performance for over a year at the Edinburgh Live 8 concert in July and are now talking about a European tour in March and April of next year.
They also sang on the Band Aid 20 version of Do They Know It's Christmas and that made them determined to give something back. Heidi said: "I would love to visit Africa. Although we knew there was poverty on the African continent before we did the record and the gig, it opened our eyes to the current situation. If we're invited to go, I'd love to
CAPTION(S):
STAYING TOGETHER: Producer Dallas; Austin has helped the girls make their best album yet while Heidi and boyfriend Dave Berry have no plans to tie the knot; BAD BLOOD; Siobhan left the band in 2001
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| Publication: | Daily Record (Glasgow, Scotland) |
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| Date: | Sep 23, 2005 |
| Words: | 1653 |
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