The girls are loud and mis-teaq the ‘chaos’ of being in a girl group

“For my money, the best pop groups,” says Andy McCluskey, Frontman of Omd and Mastermind behind Atomic Kitten.

“Boy Bands are perfect. They only sell records because lovertruck girls have their poster on the bedroom wall.”

Not the most sensitive observation, perhaps, but McCluskey – speaking to BBC News in 2010 – had a point.

With a few notable exceptions (Blackstreet, Five, One Direction), Boy Bands Coast along with good looks and syrupy ballads that promise you’re the one, girl. “

Their female counterparts, from the Ronettes in the 1960s to TLC in the 90s and Katseye in 2025, are much more experimental, with more versatility and, better songs.

Just look at the anarchic energy of the Spice Girls’ wannabes, or the seven-part pop frankenstein women’s ferocious biology and ask yourself, “Could Westlife have pulled that off?” (Hint: not chance).

But, for a long time, girl bands were the underdogs, dismissed as vapid and cruel. It took 41 years for an All-Female Act, in the form of a small mix, to win best group at the Brita awards.

BBC Documentary is forever setting the record straight, celebrating all that melodic speed while revealing the dark side of the industry.

In the first two episodesLast week’s broadcast, Kelle Byan of the 90s band Forever recalled a terrifying boot camp where the band’s diet was strictly controlled; While a tearful Melanie Blatt of All Saints was described as being told to have an abortion if her pregnancy was at risk by the band (she refused).

This Saturday Last Episode focuses on constantly changing directions; Describe how important the industry is.

“I’m not really bothered that the sugababes have a revolution door, because sometimes the brand can be bigger than the individual, and the sugababes are a brand,” opines beese, “opines Banes in the Band’s” Island.

Looking at the 2009 line-up – which featured none of the original members – he made a chilling observation: “I didn’t even think they were that good [enough] to be a tax band. “

Throughout the documentary, the same story repeats itself, of young singers with high hopes, rejected by an unforgiving industry.

“Only people see the noble side, but we work so hard,” Kerry Katona told BBC News’ atomic Kitten.

“At one stage, all three of us were on drips. We were out of control and had nothing to say.”

In an unknown interview from 2023, the girls loudly told me a similar story to abandon the adrift without an anchor.

Together with the reality of the Itv Show Pop Stars: the opponents, they are left to do for themselves, without a formal daily manager for a year.

“It’s chaos,” said Nadine Coyle. “We are children and nobody is taking care of us.

“The Marketing team wants us to do one thing, the live agent wants us to do another, the TV team wants us on breakfast TV. And no one works a day, seven days a week’.”

Cheryl explained that the band was so bad that they phoned the head of their record label to tell him their washing machine was broken.

“But in the end, we know how every part of the business works,” says Kimberley Walsh.

“It gives us a real strength of character,” agrees Nicola Roberts. “We’re not afraid to say, ‘No, we don’t want to do this’, because we don’t have a middle man to hide behind.”

Other groups were not so lucky. Siobhan Donaghy was just 16 when the Sugababes’ first single – the unsparing Overload – hit the top 10. At the time, she had no idea how to speak for herself.

“We’re too young to know we can make changes,” he told me last year. “We didn’t ask anything, we just rolled with it.

“Now, if something doesn’t work, we know it’s our business and we can get everyone on the same page.”

Su-Elise Nash, who was part of the R & B Crossover Mis-teeq between 1999 and 2005, says the band’s independence (they protect all the songs) protects them from the worst of the industry.

“We’re not afraid to speak our mind and I think that feisty attitude pointed us in the right direction,” he laughs. “People know they can’t get the Mick.”

Inspired by vocal groups in the US such as ent vogue and SWV, Mis-teeq clearly incorporates garage and hip-tat mc-a-tat mc-a-tat mc-a-tat mc-a-tat mc-a-tat mc-a-tat mc-a-tat mc-a-tat mc-a-tat mc-a-tat mc-a-tat mc-a-tat mc-a-tat mc-a-tat mc-a-tat mc-a-tat mc-a-tat mc-a-tat mc

But despite achieving Transatlantic success with songs including and shocking, the Trio faced a constant battle with racism.

A Record Executive Told Dixon That “black girls don’t sell records in the UK”, and the band found it harder than their white counterparts to get press coverage.

“It’s not brilliant, openly saying they don’t think three black women are going to sell magazines, but that’s the nature of people in power,” Nash said, speaking from his home in Australia.

“Instead of getting overwhelmed by it. We just thought, ‘We’re going to work harder to earn their respect and eventually they’re going to come back and beg us for the front cover’.”

Unlike Mis-teeq, bands like girls and atomic knives don’t want to cover photos of phrunken phrunkens of drunken stars on their front pages.

“There are about 40 Paparazzi outside my house every day,” says Kataga, and they’re not looking for flattering photos.

“When I had my first baby Molly, they published [my photo with] a circle of shame around my score marks,” he recalled

“It changes your head. It makes me suicidal. I don’t know how to cope anymore, so I turn to drugs.

“If I didn’t have children, I assure you, I wouldn’t be sitting here today.”

The harassment, and a string of revelations about his private life, eventually prompted him to quit the band.

“I knew I didn’t want the fame or the riches. I wanted to be a mother and a wife. To be a child from a foster home.”

The dream also comes to an early end for Su-Elise Nash. Mis-teeq was in the middle of recording their third album when their label, Telstar, went bankrupt.

“It’s a tough position to be in,” he said. “They went into administration owing us a lot of money.”

The band, in the middle of an exhausting six-month tour, decided to call it a day.

“That same week, my grandmother was diagnosed with thyroid cancer and given months to live,” Nash said. “So I spent the last six months with him, never going back to America, and doing all the things in the diary,

“I have no regrets, because that time I can’t get back.”

The industry has been in decline since the baby boom in the early 2000s. Today, there is a greater awareness about mental health, and more effort to ease the pressures facing young stars.

When the little mix was launched in a TV talent show in September 2020, they insisted that the BBC provided the history of the arrival of the participants.

“We didn’t have that, really, on the show we came from,” Pinnock said of Leigh-Anne, referring to the band’s experiences on The X Factor.

“Everyone just go, go, go,” agreed Jesy Nelson. “I personally don’t feel like anyone cares.”

That being said, the girl groups are still on a regular schedule. The idols of K-Pop Le Sserafim recently said that they spend six hours every day, before fulfilling their other obligations of recording recording sessions, and creating social media content.

So it is not surprising that there is a bond between people who have survived the process.

“After the first episode of the documentary, I woke up to beautiful messages from [Atomic Kitten’s] Natasha Hamilton and Keisha from the Sugababes,” said Som-Elise Nash.

“There’s a lot of good feeling between the girls. It’s not a catty, bitchy rivalry.”

“And since doing the documentary, it really occurred to me how much we wear and how much we change, how many barriers we change.

“So when I quit, I felt proud. I felt proud.”