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Digital Spy settled down for a chat with Michelle about what she's up to at the moment, how she sees the future of her music career, and spoke about weight loss and the media.
What have you been up to recently?
"Recently, I've been working on a lot of separate stuff. I've been doing a bit of presenting for Children In Need up in Scotland. I've got a radio show up there now, too, and obviously we've been working on the DVD that was out on the 26th November. I've been pretty busy with all the press stuff - and then of course there's the new album that's hopefully going to be out in springtime of next year."
Had you done any presenting before Children In Need?
"I'd done a bit. I was over in Memphis with the BBC last year doing Departure Lounge. I was over there and did a piece for them on holidaymakers going to Memphis and what they could see, what they could get up to. Obviously I've got the radio show as well, so yeah, I had done a little bit."
Did you find it very different to what you'd been doing before?
"It was amazing. I did it all live and it was all talkback in my ear. Personally, I was like a larger version of Anneka Rice running about a call centre trying to get people to speak to me! It was quite hilarious. The cameraman had to follow me around the place. It was a great laugh and thanks to the BBC for allowing me to do that!"
Tell us about your new fitness video.
"I don't know if it's a fitness video - it's one of these lifeplan DVDs. I was 23 stone and I'm down to 13 stone now, and so far I've lost ten stone. Obviously at 13 stone I've got a long way to go myself - it's very much an ongoing part of my life, being healthy and continue sensibly losing the weight. A production company approached me and said 'we think that's quite a good amount to have lost, we think people are quite interested in finding out how you did that'. Of course, my first answer was 'absolutely not', because I'm not like Davina McCall and those gorgeous women who put out DVDs, I'm still very much trying to get to that target. They said 'we don't want a quick fix, we want a life plan, something that's achievable and that women can work to', and I suppose that's why the DVD's come out, because they saw where I was coming from."
What's your advice to people who are struggling with their weight and want to make a change?
"Well, it's just one of these things. I found out I was 23 stone and was absolutely petrified and thought...I was one of these people who was happy with the way they looked. I had such a positive body image. I knew I was overweight, but I dressed nice, and I felt attractive, and whatever. Anyway, I found out I was 23 stone, and I was so scared for my health. I just thought 'oh my God', because I thought it was only people from Jerry Springer who weighed that much! I know that's very naive of me to think that, but it's true. It's the mindset you've got going into it - if it's not right you're going to fail before you even start. It's achievable, but it's bloody hard work. I'm not going to lie. I had to give up alcohol, and cut out practically all of my favourite foods from before. But do you know something? I weigh up the pros and cons; you could be healthy and at a healthy weight, or you can eat fattening foods that only satisfy you for a few seconds anyway, and really put your health at danger. If I can do it, anyone can do it, that's the bottom line, because I was the most unhealthy person in the world."
Almost there. This week's clue word can be found on the profile page of the Big Brother contestant at the centre of the racism row.Every time You Are What You Eat is on it makes me laugh - because Gillian McKeith says what we all know already - eat more fruit and veg and get more exercise!
"I'm so glad you've said that, because you're the only person that's interviewed me over the last few weeks who's said that - and it's actually true. That's how simple it is. There's nothing else to it. Most people have the common sense to understand that. If you have the choice to eat two things - an apple or a bag of crisps. A bag of crisps will put weight on, an apple will not. That's how simple it is. I was just one of those people who didn't get that message, loud and clear. I lived on junk food, I lived on copious amounts of alcohol. This DVD that I've done is not rocket science, it's just exactly what you've said. Healthy eating, cut out the junk food and get off my arse to do some exercise, that's it!"
What do you think about the behaviour of magazines like Heat who seem to delight in the supposed weight loss or gain of celebrities?
"I've got to admit, I love the magazines. I buy all the magazines every week, I do, I'm sad, I go and get my magazines. It's very confusing - for instance, [one week] they had Kimberly from Girls Aloud, who is absolutely beautiful, she's stunning, and so what if it's a bad camera angle - you cannot say that girl's fattened up, because she looks stunning and the girls are very petite. Charlotte Church as well - one minute everyone loves her because she's a big, curvy girl, and the next thing she's in a different outfit, and she's put on the weight and she's too big. It's quite confusing for people - and we're living in a day and age where there's this ridiculous notion of a size zero kicking about, which I have nothing against lovely thin women, but size zero, you must have to starve yourself to get there. It's not natural. We're trying to fight that off and give positive body images, and I don't see how that can be achieved when one week we're slagging folk off for being too curvy and the next week we're failing them for being great role models."
It would seem then that magazines are contributing towards a negative body image for women.
"At the end of the day it's not just magazines. I know better than anyone that the work I'm getting just now, I would never have been offered had I still been 23 stone. It's just not acceptable. I went to Andy Scott Lee and Michelle Heaton's wedding a few weeks ago, just cos I'm really good friends with Andy and Michelle. I felt good about myself - I was wearing a beautiful size 16 dress, and I used to be a size 28. I felt really slim and attractive. I got to that wedding and I was by far the biggest person at that wedding! The biggest girl at that wedding. I'm talking about the sizes stopping at a ten and jumping up to a sixteen, which was me. I couldn't believe it. I'm thinking, even still, I'm a bloody monster."
I suppose that's the nature of the industry!
"You're right - I'm a really curvy size sixteen, and I like the way I look, but still compared to other women in the industry, I'm still a lot more than that. I know that it's hard to lose weight - I've struggled myself, and it practically killed me and my social life, to be honest, but it's something I had to do. It's not even the amount of weight I've lost - the biggest thing is trying to keep it off, and the fact I've managed to keep it off is amazing, because I've seen people in the public eye and not in the public eye lose weight, and they've put on double or more than they lost. It's a really hard thing to keep off."
It's interesting that it's so focused on women in the industry - people like Tom from McFly have lost rather a lot of weight in the last year or two, but no one seems to notice...
"There are really no DVDs or health and fitness things out there that are aimed at men, it's all aimed at women. Even the exercises in the DVD that I did are bums, tums and thighs stuff, areas that women tend to focus on. People do it subconsciously now - you say 'weight loss' and you automatically talk about women. Maybe it's cos it's not seen as a very natural thing for men to do, but I know a lot of guys - again I'm massively stereotyping - but you always imagine guys wanting to go to the gym and pump iron and get muscles, and stuff, but I'm sure there are men out there that often worry about how they look if they go swimming, or if they've got a podgy belly, or if their bum's too big."
Tell us about performing in the Vagina Monologues this year.
"That's right, yeah, we did a tour of Ireland with it. And as a result, I've actually been given a tour of Scotland for next year. I'm over the moon about it, because I love the show but I love doing a bit of acting as well."
Is acting something you'd like to go into?
"It's something that I tried when I was younger - I was at the Glasgow Academy of Musical Theatre and Arts. I joined that about ten years ago. It's something I would love to do. The great thing about Pop Idol is that it gives you so many opportunities and opens so many doors to you. If you make the right decisions and don't just do anything for the sake of doing it, do it cos you want to do it, and give it a good try. I figure acting comes under that whole category."
You and Will Young have done pretty well for yourselves out of Pop Idol, but the X Factor lot haven't done that well - do you think the public have become jaded?
"You know, I don't know. Will Young's done a million times better than I have. He's still going now, and has had any number of albums. I've only had an album out and I'm still waiting for my new album to come out. I suppose with longevity, your magazines still want me on the front cover. I'm popular to an extent. Shayne Ward's definitely done well, but Steve Brookstein's not done that well...I think Leona's career is going to take off - I can see her breaking America very quickly. Simon's got big plans for her. She's got fans in America and she could break into America quite easily. I think she looks stunning, she's absolutely beautiful, and she's got the voice to match. You can't really mess that up, can you? She's got a great voice."
How did you find the waves of popularity and publicity difficult to contend with after you came out of Pop Idol?
"I think I was reasonably prepared. You know what goes up must come down. I had such a blast in Pop Idol and I felt so lucky to have won the show. But I was always expecting 'oh, this is going to be over' at a point. And you know, when the single came out and went to number fourteen, that's when the record company said 'okay, we don't want to do any more with you musically'. So yeah, it all started and finished really quickly for me. That's the nature of the game. If it was an easy business everyone would be doing it. You've still got an amazing platform. You've still got two choices - you can think the world's against you, think 'oh my god, I deserve so much better treatment', or you can go away and think 'I'm gonna work'. That's kind of what I did, getting radio shows, doing a bit of presenting, I just kind of filled up some sort of hole there. You just take the rough with the smooth, I think."
With the decreasing popularity of the singles charts, do you think it's fair to judge on single sales, then?
"Well, it's true, because if you get nineteen or twenty...it's baffling, because it's amazing and it sounds great, but I don't think people need to buy any more. Everyone's got music channels, you can download singles, but most people wait for the albums - I know I do that, I'm an album buyer, definitely."
What's happening with your new album?
"We haven't done the artwork for the album yet, so we're really hoping to go for a springtime release for the single, and then for the album to follow soon after that. I'm really excited -it's been so long in the making that the music on it is fantastic. Whether anyone else thinks so, I love it. It's real electropop, you know, I love it. It's really catchy."
Do you have any favourite tracks on the album?
"I don't know if I'm allowed to give out the names yet, I don't know what's happening in terms of the record company. There's one track on there that we think is going to be the new single, and it's diva, '80s pop. It's a little bit like the Sugababes' 'Freak Like Me', although we haven't sampled any tracks. We decided not to, so it's all original, I think, for this album. This is the first album after Pop Idol for me, really, so I needed it to be all original and have nothing on there that was anyone else. I think the great thing about this album is that the first album was done in ten days, and so we did 19 tracks in ten days, and I'm ashamed to say that some of the songs on that album I don't even know the words to, because I sang from a sheet. I never really had time to learn them, and I never went on tour with those tracks. Whereas with this album, I've written some tracks with the help of the guys that produce it. Every song's about an experience I've had or something that's happened to me. It's a very positive album! I'm not doing an Eminem and dragging all my family into it, but it means something, this album. It's very personal, and I think I've evolved - from studio time to hiring musicians to getting involved in the production, it's just been an absolute blast."
Could you tell us a little about your songwriting process?
"I haven't got one! I have no technique. Basically, I write about things that have happened to me - I write lyrics, and I'm terrible at rhyming all the time. They usually turn out like 'thought to myself in a dream, what can I get for Hallowe'en?', something like that! I think of what I want the song to be about, what I want the song to say, and I try to write the biggest load of rubbish, you know, until I find something that sounds catchy and we build a tune around it. That's what we've been doing."
How much musical background did you have before you went into Pop Idol?
"I played violin and I did music at school, I did my exams in music. I play the piano, so I can read and write music, and yeah, I did a lot, I did all the school shows, and sang in the choir. Before I was in Pop Idol I did Phoenix Nights-style pubs and clubs, where I went around and did talent shows and stuff. I'd done quite a bit before it, but obviously at an amateur level."
What do you hope for from the album? Would you like to return to the music industry or stay with something like acting?
"I'm a singer, and I love to sing. I would love to be able to be a musician. I don't really care about being number one in the pop charts - I've been number one, that might never happen for me again - but I care about making good music and having a credible album. If the people who buy them say they really like them, that's more important. I would like to go on tour again, do a small tour, maybe acoustic sets. I just really enjoy singing, so I think that's what I'm hoping to achieve with the second album. But yeah, you know, the bottom line for me is longevity. I want to have a long, credible career doing work acting, radio shows...that might take me years and years to achieve, but I'm certainly putting in the time and effort."
And finally, one musical recommendation?
"I'll tell you what they should buy - Eddie Reader's Sings The Songs Of Robert Burns. I know it's very Scottish and very me, but if anyone likes Eddie Reader or loves folk music, they should listen to this album. This woman is unbelievably talented - and it's a beautiful album. It's not pop, it's not your norm, but if you're looking for something different to listen to, it's so haunting and amazing. She's a great hero of mine."
Thanks for chatting, Michelle!
