Nicole Scherzinger to make solo music comeback after Pussycat Dolls tour cancelled
NICOLE SCHERZINGER is making a solo music comeback after eight years away. The former X Factor judge had turned her back on making her own music to focus on telly work and the Pussycat Dolls, but she is now back in the studio after the US group’s reunion went down the drain. Announcing her return, […]
NICOLE SCHERZINGER is making a solo music comeback after eight years away.
The former X Factor judge had turned her back on making her own music to focus on telly work and the Pussycat Dolls, but she is now back in the studio after the US group’s reunion went down the drain.
Announcing her return, she said during an intimate show in Los Angeles: “I’ve been doing some writing lately, working on this album.”
Nicole, who had five solo Top Ten singles, including a No1 with Don’t Hold Your Breath, has already recorded several tracks after collaborating with a series of established songwriters.
Nicole’s boyfriend Thom Evans, a former rugby union player turned personal trainer who she has been dating for more than two years, was at her small gig, where she performed one of her new songs, Never Going Back.
In telling lyrics about feeling like she has been beaten down by the industry, she sang: “I’ve been underestimated, undermined, under- rated.
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“If you only knew what it takes every day just to defeat it.
“See you don’t know where I came from, you don’t know what I’m made of, you don’t know.
“If you ain’t living my story, then you ain’t living my glory . . . I ain’t never going back. I’ve come too far for this, I fought too hard to miss.”
It is an entirely different story from a year ago, when I told how Nicole had insisted she was dedicated to the Dolls.
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They had songs they planned to release as a group and were on the brink of signing a new management deal to secure their long-term future. But it never materialised.
I was told back then that Nicole had no plans at all to do anything as a solo artist.
But now a release could come sooner rather than later, after the Dolls’ reunion tour was cancelled in a row with the group’s creator Robin Antin.
During her concert, Nicole teased that she could release an EP or a full album with the title Warrior.
She has a belting voice but she’ll have to be a fighter to get back in the charts now.
HEY HO, WET’S GO
THEY say all trends come back around – and I’ve been waiting on this one for a while.
Followers of the charts will know that lately almost everyone in the top ten who isn’t Ed Sheeran is a rapper with a letter instead of a name – think Aitch, Ardee, Central Cee . . . there’s probably an X, Y and Z somewhere, too.
For the uninitiated, fear not, they all sound the same thanks to an Eighties R&B sample and a lorryload of explicit lyrics not suitable for work but seemingly acceptable on radio.
OK, I’m starting to sound prudish – but it’s about more than that.
This is about embracing a bit of variety.
After all, isn’t that what has made the British music scene the envy of the world for generations?
So it’s great to see indie rock – from a female-fronted band at that – is the runaway favourite to top the charts this week, outselling the competition almost four to one.
Isle of Wight-based Wet Leg fronted by Rhian Teas-Dale and Hester Chambers, came second in the BBC Sound of 2022 poll and are now out in front on the midweek Official Albums Chart with their eponymous debut.
Think Nineties acts such as Sleeper, Hole and Elastica and you’re in the right area. Wet Leg are light years ahead on physical sales and the album is the UK’s most downloaded of the week so far too.
It’s a refreshing return for guitar- based music at the top end of the commercial listings.
Also soaring at No3 midweek is Jack White, with Fear Of The Dawn on course to become his fourth Top Ten.
Camila Cabello is off to a strong start with album Familia, while New York virtuoso guitarist Joe Satriani could land his seventh Top 40 record with The Elephants Of Mars, currently at No9. It’s exactly what the scene needs right now.
Wet Leg are also on track for recognition at the forthcoming Ivor Novello songwriting awards. Here’s hoping the trend continues.
We’re long overdue a great British rock band, and Wolf Alice have been flying the flag solo for far too long.
If girls go back to thinking that picking up a guitar is cooler than being courted by a rapper whose lyrics are less of a romantic invitation and more like an assault threat set to music, that can only be a good thing too.
NIGHT ON THE GOWN
THERE was pouting aplenty as the big names posed on the red carpet at the Daily Front Row Fashion Awards.
Actress Megan Fox chose a brown frock for the event in Los Angeles on Sunday night, while her fiancé, rapper Machine Gun Kelly, went with a floral jacket.
Christina Aguilera didn’t quite hit the mark in her dress, which looked like it was made out of an old green leather sofa.
Paris Hilton had style advice for her and everyone else at the event.
She wore a blazer dress to accept the Fashion Entrepreneur gong and gave away the secret to her success.
The socialite heiress said: “To be appreciated as a businesswoman means the world to me.
“I feel so blessed to have had the career and empire that I have built for more than two decades. My younger self would be so proud.
“Like my inspiration Marilyn Monroe, when it comes to fashion I’ve always dared to be iconic.
“For everyone in this room, always remember the only rule is: Don’t be boring and dress cute wherever you go.”
ACHY DAY FOR BILLY RAY
BILLY RAY CYRUS really will have an Achy Breaky Heart with wife Tish filing for divorce, again, after 29 years of marriage.
In documents submitted in Tennessee in the US, she cited “irreconcilable differences” and stated that they have not lived together for two years.
The couple, parents to pop star Miley and singer and actress Noah – as well as three other children – have history when it comes to separations though.
Billy filed for divorce in 2010 but dropped it the following year.
Then she did the same in 2013, with that also being withdrawn after they went for therapy.
ED DRINKING OUT LOUD
IT is a good thing Ed Sheeran has a knack for songwriting because he’s a terrible barman.
The superstar shocked punters when he rocked up at The Roost pub in Small Heath, Birmingham, on Sunday night with his rapper pal Jaykae, who lives nearby.
The Thinking Out Loud singer joined in the pub’s pool tournament and a singalong.
Ian Connor, who runs the boozer, said: “He can’t pull a pint, I can tell you that.
“He was absolutely sound, great to everyone, having a laugh and a game of pool with the lads.
“He was absolutely brilliant. As good as gold, really down to earth.”
WORK? I’M DUA-ING IT LIKE CRAZY
DUA LIPA reckons she gets her tireless work ethic from her parents being immigrants.
The Levitating singer’s folks Anesa and Dukagjin relocated to the UK from Kosovo before she was born but later went back and forth.
Dua, who kicks off the UK leg of her 81-concert Future Nostalgia tour in Manchester on Friday, said: “I have this inherent feeling that if I’m not working hard enough the rug is going to be pulled from under my feet.
“Maybe it is the moving around thing, maybe it’s being the child of immigrants.
“I have been described as having an immigrant work ethic and I take pride in that.
“But I also see the downfall of being like, ‘Yeah, I work until I can’t any more’.”
She added on her At Your Service podcast: “But also I’m like, it is nice to take a little break, have a little holiday, take a bath or read a book.”
WES’S 200 SONGS
WES NELSON has been working overtime to make sure his solo singing career continues to take off.
I can reveal the former Love Island contestant has recorded just shy of 200 songs in his quest to perfect his sound.
A source said: “Wes has been working flat out in the studio.
“He’s constantly writing and has managed to do more than 180 songs last year alone. It’s mad.
“The next 12 months should be really exciting for him. He’s got some major collaborations planned.”
One partnership which I’m sure will go down a treat with his fans is with One Direction’s Liam Payne.
The pair have struck up a close friendship over the past few months and that got professional as they hit the recording studio last week.
After a series of lacklustre singles from Liam, I can’t help but wonder if he needs Wes more than Wes needs him.
BLUE LP’S TOUR DELAY
BLUE’s reunion tour won’t just be a Fly By – it will be accompanied by their first new album in seven years.
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The Noughties quartet of Lee Ryan, Antony Costa, Simon Webbe and Duncan James will release Heart & Soul on September 9.
But the timing of their sixth album means they have pushed back their tour of the same name from September to December, so Atomic Kitten will no longer be supporting them on the road.