Currently making waves in the pop scene are hot new girl group Duchess. Inspired by independent women like En Vogue and Destiny’s Child, the group combine heavenly harmonies with a gritty edge to create the perfect pop potion. We caught up with the fierce foursome (Shanie, Jamie-Lisa, Annie-Rae and Nadine) on their road to becoming pop royalty…
Pride: First off, congrats on your debut single.
Duchess: Thank you!
P: Your debut single All The Boyz ft. Scorcher is Sick! I love the beat and it definitely makes us want to shake a little something something!
Duchess: Haha!
Shanie: That’s the idea, that’s the idea! The single is out now. We’re really excited about the release and what people’s reactions will be. We’ve just been busy promoting, promoting, promoting.
P: Cool. You guys have already been compared the groups like Danity Kane. How does that feel? Who else are you guys inspired by?
Shanie: It’s amazing. We definitely support and are inspired by groups like En Vogue, Destiny’s Child and SWV. With us, our core is our vocals so we’d definitely say we’re inspired by groups like them.
P: Who are some of your favourite solo singers?
Nadine: I love Beyonce and Rihanna.
Annie: I’m gonna say Keyshia Cole.
P: Great. So you’ve just collaborated with Scorcher on you latest single. Can we expect any other collaborations on the album?
Shanie: We recently did a collaboration with Biggs and the first ever collaboration that we did was with Chipmunk. We’re not really sure what features we’re going to have on the album yet. We’re actually going to look into that closer to the time.
P: What are your plans for the rest of the year? Any upcoming tours?
Shanie: We have got a big exciting tour coming up but we’re not actually suppose to say who it is!
P: Not even a little clue?
Shanie: Ok! The clue is October…
P: We’ll note that down!
Shanie: We’re going to be supporting on that tour and we’re really excited about it. We’re going to get to go to quite a few places up and down the UK. We recently did the N-Dubz tour and that was really exciting and went well so we can’t wait to get back on the road.
P: Now that your singles are getting more radio spins and your profiles are growing, how have your lives changed?
Annie: Not that much to be honest. We haven’t really had that much stardom! The most different thing is that fans come up to you. That’s the main difference. People seem a bit star struck and you’re like “Why?!” We were actually signing autographs for like two hours the other day!
P: One question we’re dying to ask is how it felt to gatecrash the Black Eyes Peas gig at the O2 arena! What was going through your minds?
Annie: What was going through our minds? We just thought “We’ve got nothing to lose. Let’s just see if we can get backstage!” We managed to pull it off and then we were invited to sing by Taboo and Apl which was an amazing opportunity. We sang, they were impressed and before you know it we were in L.A. working and recording with their main producers.
P: What’s the reaction been like from your fans? What’s the reaction been on sites like Facebook, Twitter, or YouTube?
Shanie: Everyone is really positive. Everyone’s been giving us love, asking when the single’s out and stuff like that. The fans that we’ve gained so far have been really loyal. They’re really excited about what we’re doing so we just hope that the next single- which should be out in October, impresses them. The next single is definitely going to be closer to the sound we’re going for on the album.
P: What can we expect from your upcoming album?
Annie: Ooh…
Nadine: Lots of urban influences. You’re going to see our characters a lot more, you’ll see a little more about who we are and what we’re about. Obviously All The Boyz was more a single for the club, it was to create a buzz and make people have an opinion on us either way.
Jamie: You can expect a big hit! Hopefully! We’ve got strong harmonies in all of our songs. We’re bringing back the vocals in music and making sure that we can portray that in our songs. That’s what you’re going to see with us.
P: Finally, what advice would you give to young people seeking a career in the music industry?
Shanie: It’s a hard industry to get into but if it’s something that you want, just push for it and like everyone says: ‘chase the dream’. Don’t give up, perfect your singing, perfect your writing- just work at your art if it’s meant to be it’ll come to you.
Duchess’ new single All The Boyz Ft. Scorcher is out now!
