Stooshe consist of Karis Anderson, Courtney Rumbold and Alex Buggs. Three bold, boisterous and mischievous girls from South London. Having originally met in Topshop, the girls came together, worked with production duo Future Cut and were quickly snapped up by Warner Music. Having released their “soft single” Betty Woz Gone in November, which gained over 100,000 views in its first day of release, the girls are gearing up for the release of their first official single ‘Love Me’ Featuring Travie McCoy. Punchbowl Blog sat down with the girls for a chat about their album, being nominated for the BBC Sound of 2012 award and their future.
How are you guys today?
[Unified] Fine, thank you!
Congratulations on the success of your first song ‘Betty Woz Gone’. What has the response for that been like?
Courtney: It’s crazy! The views have gone up a lot since putting out the new video, but it was really cool! It got radio play which is great.
Karis: It got play listed on Radio 1… For a soft release, we just wanted to get 100,000 views overall, not within the first day! And we didn’t expect to get radio play, we though it was going to set things up for the next single. We just wanted to raise awareness for the next single and it did and more! It’s been amazing!
You’re about to release your first official single ‘Love Me’. The video was released two weeks ago. What’s the reaction been like for that so far?
Courtney: Crazy!!! It’s play listed on Capital.
Karis: It’s on flippin’ World Star Hip-Hop! I was like “What the hell?!” It’s crazy! But the Americans have picked up on it, obviously we’re reppin’ UK all day, but it’s amazing for overseas to know what we’re doing, and everyone’s just showing us love
‘Love Me’ and ‘Betty’ are quite similar sounding. Is that the type of sound we can expect from your album?
Alex: I think it’s similar in terms of bringing back that old school, bit of Motown sound, I think you can hear that on our tracks, but we have so many different styles. It could be jazz, reggae, funk but you can always tell its Stooshe.
Karis: Obviously, Future Cut have produced the whole album, so they have their own signature sound too.
Courtney: The album has loads of different genres and topics. It’s not all the explicit stuff.
Karis: We put out the two most explicit songs on the album out first. We really threw ourselves in at the deep end!
Courtney: The other songs cover topics like love, work, not having money, it’s quite a diverse mix of genres and topics and we’re really excited for everyone to hear it.
Travie McCoy is on ‘Love Me’. Do you have any other collaborations planned?
Karis: Not on the first album.
Alex: We kind of just did our own thing, really. Obviously, Future Cut and Jo Perry, but in terms of other artists on the album, we’ve just got Travie.
Courtney: But in the future, we’d love to work with anyone whose willing to have a good time. People who want to do it because they enjoy it and they get the vibe and they’re feeling us. That’s how we’d like it to be.
So following on from that, who would be your ideal collaboration?
Karis: For me, I’d love to get in the studio with, and start a rack from scratch with Jay-Z & Kanye, and maybe jump on the track if they like it!
Alex: I’d love to do a song with Beyonce. I love her so much! She’s my life! [laughs]
Courtney: Someone like Steven Tyler or something!
You were shortlisted for the BBC Sound of 2012 award. How did you feel when you were nominated?
Courtney: It was crazy! We were shortlisted alongside Frank Ocean…
Karis: Azealia Banks!!
Courtney: We were like “What??” It was crazy!
How did you find out?
Alex: Weren’t we in Radio 1?
Karis: We were in Radio 1. We’d done three interviews that day at the BBC building, so we’d been in and out all day. We got told at the last interview when we were in our Stooshe Van.
Alex: We didn’t expect to have that kind of news, we didn’t expect to get “tipped” for 2012.
Karis: We were the only girl group nominated. To us, that is such a big deal. It’s an international thing, and it was such a big deal for us!
Were you upset when you didn’t win?
[Unified] NOOO!
Karis: Lady GaGa was nominated one year and she didn’t win!
Alex: Being top 12 with everyone in the world is satisfaction enough. It was unlucky, but it doesn’t faze us.
Earlier in January you performed at the Warner Records new music showcase which we attended. There was a real buzz in the room for you guys. How do you feel the show went down?
Courtney: Amazing! Everyone was just so supportive of us. When we got off and we were walking around and speaking to everyone, like, everyone was coming over, talking to us, asking us questions… It was like “Oh my gosh! This is so cool! We just performed, everyone here who we wanted to make proud seems to be proud!”
Alex: In terms of Warner, we hear everyone’s name, but we don’t get to meet them, so it was really nice to perform for them and prove what we have to prove and get to meet them.
Karis: To know that they can see what we’re working hard, because they’re putting a lot of time and effort into us and we appreciate that.
Alex: We were so nervous! When the curtain was closed, we were like “Oh my god! Oh my god!” Then Christian Tattersfield (CEO & Chairman of Warner Music UK) introduced us and we were like “OH MY GOSH!” Then he said we’re going to Number 1 on March 6! No pressure! [Laughs]
We hear that Simon Cowell wanted to sign you too?
Courtney: We had a showcase for him!
Karis: That was our first ever showcase! Then he offered us a deal straight away, but we couldn’t get the deal right. We wasn’t willing to give up certain things. Warner was the right choice! They were the only label we didn’t showcase to!
Really?
Alex: [Tattersfield] just saw our video online, then met us one day and signed us within a week. He didn’t even see us perform! Future Cut put in a good word for us!
Karis: That was the first time he saw us perform!!
When do you think we can expect your album?
Alex: Definitely this year, late summer. It’s called ‘Swings & Roundabouts’!
You did a lot of live shows and gigs across the country last year. How are the live shows coming along?
Karis: We’ve got a live band with most of our gigs now. We’re really lucky enough to have Ginger, Smooth & Lewie! They’ve been with Jessie J in the past, so very amazing!
Summer is coming, even though it doesn’t feel like it today! Are you going to be hitting any festivals?
Courtney: Yeah, we’ve got loads of festivals but we can only say Isle of Wight at the moment. We tend to get told towards the last minute.
We hear you were supposed to be supporting Jason Derulo on tour?
Karis: Yeah, but we’re not now.
What are you guys going to do now?
Alex: We’ve got other gigs planned. We might be setting up our own mini tour. We’re going to do a radio tour, then maybe our own mini tour.
Besides your own album, what other artists are you looking forward to in 2012?
Karis: Azealia Banks! Oh my gosh, she’s a G! Etta Bond, looking forward to hearing Wretch’s new album, I know he’s been putting in a lot of work lately.
Alex: Lianne La Havas and Lana Del Rey, both of them. All our label mates, Clement [Marfo & The Frontline], All The Young… Yeah!
We’re a month into the New Year; did you guys plan any new year’s resolutions?
[Unified] No!
Courtney: I don’t want to disappoint myself
Alex: Before we went to LA, we started eating really healthy, and we’re just sticking to that, really…
Karis: Eat s**t, feel s**t! [Laughs]
Alex: Positivity! That’s our new years resolution!
Love Me [Feat. Travie McCoy] is released on March 5. Pre-order the single here
