Sugababes star Keisha Buchanan has praised the Strictly team and her pro partner Gorka Márquez for calming her nerves with laughter and mopping up tears after she stepped out of her popstar comfort zone to take part in the upcoming festive special.
After 23 years as a chart-topping singer – whose dancefloor filler hits include Round Round and Freak Like Me – Keisha’s bandmates Siobhán Donaghy and Mutya Buena watched proudly from the audience ahead of the show airing on Christmas Day on BBC One.
Keisha says: “The team at Strictly are so kind and so supportive. I’ve never seen anything like it and I’ve been in the music industry for a long, long time.
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“When you’re struggling, on days where there were a lot of tears and things of that nature, they show up. It was nothing like doing music. If you’re an artist, if you mess up, it’s fine – if you forget your lyric you point the mic to the audience.
(Image: PA)
“With this you can potentially step on someone’s toe and break it if you don’t get the steps right. I wanted to get the steps right to make sure I looked good on my partner Gorka’s arm.
“It was about me shining and trying to compliment what he does. It was a really nice experience but so different. Gorka is really funny and gives you laughs and jokes.
“He’s also a perfectionist and very much engaged. I’ve got a newfound respect for professional dancers because it’s not easy.” In 2009 Mutya quit the Celebrity Big Brother house despite being saved from the public vote. So what advice does she have for those taking part in the rebooted series in the new year?
(Image: Getty Images)
Mutya says: “I don’t think I’d ever do anything like that again but everyone has their own experiences. If you’re going in there have loads of fun, meet new people and try new things – it could possibly be a good thing.
“But your privacy is no longer private. You’re on the screen 24 hours a day and people can watch everything you do – you can’t even go to the toilet in peace.
After a hectic year of shows including a sold-out date at London’s 02 Arena, Sugababes wind down 2023 by headlining TrainLive – the first ever festival in a train station on Friday December 8th, hosted by the Trainline website.
(Image: BBC/Ray Burmiston)
Siobhán says: “What we liked about TrainLive is it giving a platform for new artists as well.” Keisha adds: “When we all decided to come together and make music again Siobhán was very used to the Tube and savvy.
“Mutya didn’t know anything about being on the Tube and would constantly get lost. When I’m on a trip with my niece every time the train stops and the doors open we have to see how many words we can make out of the station name until the next stop.”
(Image: Danny Cipriani/Instagram)
The trio went on their Christmas night out afterwards and will see in the new year by going on holiday together before finishing off new music to release in 2024. Siobhán says: “Everyone we reached out to work with us have said yes, which is always a nice feeling. Into the new year our focus is being creative.”
Keisha adds: “I start doing my resolutions from the fourth quarter of the year because I feel like the reset for me is being out of the country on New Year’s Eve. I journal everything at the end of the year and look at my last year and see where I was and what I wrote, say a prayer for the upcoming year and release whatever and step into it. Starting it further back there’s not so much pressure.”
* Sugababeswill be headlining the first ever festival in a train station – TrainLive. Tickets for the exclusive, intimate performance can be won through a ballothosted on the Trainline website. While performances by London’s finest up-and-coming musical talent can be booked completely for free through Design My Night .
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Source: Celebrities - dailystar.co.uk
