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Say hello to Annie, Shanie, Nadine and Jamie who make up Duchess; a new girlband who hope to break the current trend for boybands with their big vocals as well as an empowering urban-pop sound. Ahead of their debut single 'All The Boyz' and currently working on their debut album with RedOne (Lady GaGa), James Faultenroy (Rihanna) and Prince Boardz (Black Eyed Peas), we met up with the girls to get ourselves better acquainted.
How would you sum up Duchess and your sound?
Nadine: "Duchess is four very different girls from very different places. We're all about empowering women and positivity."
Shanie: "Four different vocals and personalities that blend really well. You'd never think we'd go together until you hear us sing!"
How were you put together?
Shanie: "Originally, Sony were looking to put a new girl group together and they went to stage schools up and down the country...except none of us were actually from stage schools! We were supposed to sign a deal with Sony but the label boss left so we worked on our vocals as a group independently and later got picked up by Universal."
Nadine: "It was a blessing in disguise that we were able to do it all for ourselves - we got to know each other and become a unit. We feel less like a manufactured act now."
How did you come up with the name?
Nadine: "Make no mistake, we had some terrible names before we thought of Duchess - one of which was These Girls...atrocious!
Annie: "Brown Eyes was another one. It's so embarrassing thinking about it now! We ended up hearing about a new boyband called Dukes from our manager and she suggested Duchess and we loved it.
Jamie: "I came up an awful one too - Casino. Oh, and Aphrodite!"
Are there any girlbands from your childhood that you look up to?
Shanie: "Destiny's Child is a group that we all loved. Their sound an their independent women attitude is something that we want to represent today. Vocally, we aspire to be like En Vogue - they were all about the vocals and we like to think we are too!"
What role do each of you bring to the group?
Shanie: Annie's a loud and proud northerner - literally the loudest person you'll meet. I'm from south-east London and I'm quite feisty and like to look after the girls."
Nadine: "I'm from Aylesbury in Buckinghamshire, so I'm a small town girl and I guess a little bit weird."
Jamie: "I grew up around north London in Highgate and went to the same school as Amy Winehouse. I guess I'm labeled as a bit of a daddy's girl and a socalite!"
Tell us about your debut single 'All The Boyz'.
Shanie: "So far, 'All The Boyz' has been a bit misunderstood. It's supposed to be about confidence - a bit like 'Don't Cha Wish Your Girlfriend Was Hot Like Me' or 'Single Ladies'. It's a club tune that's supposed to be fun and about feeling confident."
Annie: "Our next single which will be out in October is closer to our normal sound - big pop choruses with an urban influence...'All The Boyz' isn't what we're known for but we wanted to come out with a bang."
We hear you've had a lot of interest from producer RedOne...
Shanie: "We wrote a song a while ago called 'Mr Popular' that gained some interest, and suddenly RedOne was calling us for a meeting and wanted to work with us! We recorded some tracks with him in LA between his sessions with Kylie Minogue."
Jamie: "He wanted to take on the whole project, but we didn't want to abandon the producers that helped us out in the beginning - James Faultenroy and Prince Boardz have been with us from the beginning and they're incredible."
The market seems to be quite tricky for girlbands at the moment, are you feeling confident about your chances?
Annie: "I think there's room for everyone. We're all huge fans of the other bands out there at the moment, but we think there's definitely room for us."
Shanie: "It feels like it has been the year of the boyband, but it's time for the girls to come back!"
Watch an exclusive clip of Duchess performing SWV's 'Weak' below:
Duchess release 'All The Boyz' on August 22. Their debut album follows next year. You can follow the band on www.twitter.com/OfficialDuchess.
How would you sum up Duchess and your sound?
Nadine: "Duchess is four very different girls from very different places. We're all about empowering women and positivity."
Shanie: "Four different vocals and personalities that blend really well. You'd never think we'd go together until you hear us sing!"
How were you put together?
Shanie: "Originally, Sony were looking to put a new girl group together and they went to stage schools up and down the country...except none of us were actually from stage schools! We were supposed to sign a deal with Sony but the label boss left so we worked on our vocals as a group independently and later got picked up by Universal."
Nadine: "It was a blessing in disguise that we were able to do it all for ourselves - we got to know each other and become a unit. We feel less like a manufactured act now."
How did you come up with the name?
Nadine: "Make no mistake, we had some terrible names before we thought of Duchess - one of which was These Girls...atrocious!
Annie: "Brown Eyes was another one. It's so embarrassing thinking about it now! We ended up hearing about a new boyband called Dukes from our manager and she suggested Duchess and we loved it.
Jamie: "I came up an awful one too - Casino. Oh, and Aphrodite!"
Are there any girlbands from your childhood that you look up to?
Shanie: "Destiny's Child is a group that we all loved. Their sound an their independent women attitude is something that we want to represent today. Vocally, we aspire to be like En Vogue - they were all about the vocals and we like to think we are too!"
What role do each of you bring to the group?
Shanie: Annie's a loud and proud northerner - literally the loudest person you'll meet. I'm from south-east London and I'm quite feisty and like to look after the girls."
Nadine: "I'm from Aylesbury in Buckinghamshire, so I'm a small town girl and I guess a little bit weird."
Jamie: "I grew up around north London in Highgate and went to the same school as Amy Winehouse. I guess I'm labeled as a bit of a daddy's girl and a socalite!"
Tell us about your debut single 'All The Boyz'.
Shanie: "So far, 'All The Boyz' has been a bit misunderstood. It's supposed to be about confidence - a bit like 'Don't Cha Wish Your Girlfriend Was Hot Like Me' or 'Single Ladies'. It's a club tune that's supposed to be fun and about feeling confident."
Annie: "Our next single which will be out in October is closer to our normal sound - big pop choruses with an urban influence...'All The Boyz' isn't what we're known for but we wanted to come out with a bang."
We hear you've had a lot of interest from producer RedOne...
Shanie: "We wrote a song a while ago called 'Mr Popular' that gained some interest, and suddenly RedOne was calling us for a meeting and wanted to work with us! We recorded some tracks with him in LA between his sessions with Kylie Minogue."
Jamie: "He wanted to take on the whole project, but we didn't want to abandon the producers that helped us out in the beginning - James Faultenroy and Prince Boardz have been with us from the beginning and they're incredible."
The market seems to be quite tricky for girlbands at the moment, are you feeling confident about your chances?
Annie: "I think there's room for everyone. We're all huge fans of the other bands out there at the moment, but we think there's definitely room for us."
Shanie: "It feels like it has been the year of the boyband, but it's time for the girls to come back!"
Watch an exclusive clip of Duchess performing SWV's 'Weak' below:
Duchess release 'All The Boyz' on August 22. Their debut album follows next year. You can follow the band on www.twitter.com/OfficialDuchess.
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