X rated

Go on the underdog! It doesn’t matter whether you genuinely enjoyed Popstars Mk. 1, Britain’s very first reality-TV talent search, or, conversely, whether you found it too much of an exercise in televised sado-masochism (not to mention the mother of all record-industry marketing ploys) to bear to sit in front of it. The fact that the dreadfully pedestrian Hear’Say (who won) have foundered, while the unexpectedly interesting and wonderful Liberty X (who lost) have just released their second smashing chart-pop single in a row, has to make you cheerful.

Upon deciding that they’d form a band, the so-called Flopstars (mean nickname, courtesy the UK press) signed to Richard Branson’s V2 stable and made a firm decision to not make “dead-centre, straight pop,” as Jessica Taylor terms it. “We wanted to do something with a bit of an edge, a bit more flavour,” she says, “like the music we listen to ourselves.” Boyz II Men, UK garage, R’n’B and, in particular, Motown were crucial band touchstones. “That was what our parents listened to, for a few of us. So it was the first sort of music we were ever around.”

Their background shows, on Thinking It Over, their surprisingly diverse, extremely accomplished British urban-pop debut. It’s not as singular and serious as, say, Ms Dynamite, sure, but that said it reeks infinitely less of songwriting-by-committee and US-market arse-kissing than the recent dismal effort from the suposedly credible Sugababes. It also features several killer singles: breakthrough ‘Just A Little’ (a delicious dose of R’n’B slinkiness with just the right measure of lust) and a cover of Mantronix’ ‘Got To Have Your Love’ (a late-disco-era swooner that recalls vintage Madonna and Michael Jackson). And if the ice-pick-pronged violin assault of ‘I Got What You Want’ isn’t being given a single release, well, it should be.

All the more reason to ask the lurking question. Why on earth would anyone talented and ambitious put themselves in a situation where they are ‘asking’ lunkheads like Nasty Nigel (remember him?) to be ‘allowed’ join a band, on the telly?

“The reason why we didn’t just form a band ourselves,” Jessica explains, slightly wearily, “is because we didn’t know each other. Popstars brought us together. If you don’t play an instrument, if you’re a vocalist and a dancer, then it is difficult to find like-minded people, especially if you’re not based in the capital. That’s what’s good about Popstars and things like it,” Jessica continues, her voice building in conviction. “They come to towns and cities where you mightn’t have a thriving performing arts centre, and they draw people together from all over the place.”