N-Dubz star Tulisa Contostavlos chats to Linda McGee about what fame means, TV talent shows and why she'd pick the simple life over the red carpet any day!
Keen to give cooking tips and chat about furnishing her house, she's not your typical celebrity... and she's glad of that!
Linda McGee: Can we take you right back to the start for a minute, because we haven't spoken to you guys before? Did you find breaking into the music industry difficult because N-Dubz didn't fit into the stereotypical, teeny-bopper pop act category?
Tulisa Contostavlos: It depends on the act because some acts can't break through to the scene and then some go on 'X Factor' or something like that and break through in like two seconds. Some acts get really lucky, where they'll be together for a year and all of a sudden a record company will say "We want to give you half a million pounds and bring you out as this big thing". Some acts struggle for 20 years and then they finally, they don't even get recognition, they just keep making music for so long that labels can't ignore them anymore. Everyone likes them, they've got fans, so they think 'We've got to pick up this band now'... acts like N-Duz, like The Script... people like that, that push their way into the scene and they're like the biggest acts anyway. It's just a case that the labels won't take notice. They won't take risks. They want their teen-pop because they know it sells. So for us, it took a very long time, ten years of being together. It was only after I'd say our seventh year that we got any recognition.
LM: Were you beginning to feel disillusioned at the time?
TC: Yeah, I'm like that now. This isn't new for me. Some people are on the scene and they're like "This is an amazing journey". For me it is work. I've been doing this for ten years. Just because I haven't been getting recognition for ten years... I've still been doing it for ten years.
LM: So there were probably moments during that time that you felt like throwing the towel in, were there?
TC: Yeah of course, ten years I've been doing it. I'm already at retirement stage in my mind! I just need a break basically. It's a long, gruelling process. But when you get there in the end it is a lot more worthwhile, and you feel more credible, and that you deserve it. You feel like 'No matter what anyone says we deserve to be here'.
LM: On 'The Xtra Factor' recently you guys were talking about how the charts were being taken over by reality television contestants. Do you find it really difficult to watch those acts getting overnight success after having worked so hard for it yourselves?
TC: Yeah, it's annoying. It's annoying watching them just come up there and become worldwide acts selling millions of records after just standing in a queue for an hour. It happens overnight to them. It's very frustrating for all the other acts and artists but, at the end of the day, it is what it is. You can't complain. I mean that's just about numbers and sales. At the end of the day, I know that if I was on 'The X Factor' I would be getting the same amount anyway so you've just got to try to not let it bug you... It's annoying but because I'm selling records, without the power of 'The X Factor', that's all that matters. And half of those acts, if they came out, off their own bat and not on 'X Factor', wouldn't sell ten records so then you've just got to remind yourself of that.
LM: What about your influences growing up Tulisa, did all three of you bring different styles to the group initially or are your personal tastes in music all very similar?
TC: We all had pretty similar influences. Musically, Dappy's dad and my dad, they were in a band together so we were pretty much brought-up on the same music. We all listened to pretty much the same music as kids but we had more of an 80s music influence, 40s music, stuff like that. I would say I'm pretty random. I listen to everything, pretty much everything, when it comes to music. If you look on my iPod, I'm a massive fan of The Prodigy, I love The Script and Kate Nash. They're the only acts that I think 'Wow, I love them, they're amazing'.
LM: In terms of all your hard work paying off, being honoured at the MOBOs must have been exciting, was it? 
TC: Yeah, that was exciting. But we're still always aiming higher for prizes, because we've been doing this for ten years. It's like 'When are we gonna be big-time?'... I want a Brit, that's what I want. The MOBOs is amazing but I want more than that. I want to break America. I want to go over there. I want to win Grammys... it's just so frustrating when I know that other countries would get it but there are other complications. Other labels have to sign you out there to be released there... a lot of politics.
LM: What about collaborations? You guys have teamed up with a few acts in the past. Is there anyone currently on your wishlist, that you'd love to perform with or record a single with?
TC: Do you know, I'm not massively big on collaborations, to be honest. For me, it's all about making music myself... and, if you think about it, I collaborate on a daily basis because I work with two boys... so I can write my own stuff and there's one on the new 'Against All Odds' album where I've written it, start to finish, myself. It's actually my song. But I feel like I collaborate on a daily basis because I work in a group of three people and we write all our own stuff. It's a constant collaboration of ideas and blending it together so, for me, my ideal thing is to make a load of songs, just myself. So I've pretty much had enough of collaborations to last me a life time.
LM: Do you still enjoy meeting other artists that you're a fan of award ceremonies and festivals? Do you like the scene or could you do without the whole showbiz element of it?
TC: I'm not one of them kind of people. I don't get starstruck ever. It's really weird. I find the whole industry quite shallow, poncy, needy. They are the words I'd use for it. It aggravates me. I don't like it. I spend as much time away from it as I can.
LM: So it's always just an element of work? You never do the whole red carpet and glitzy parties thing for fun?
TC: No way. I hate it. I'd prefer be in my tracksuit reading a book. I think it's just such a shallow industry to be in. Sometimes I feel like I'm sinning. I ask God for forgiveness. I'm like 'God forgive for being in such a silly, shallow industry' because it's based on giving other people power and putting other people up and letting other people look up to them. It makes them feel like they're below them. So it's an industry revolving around people being more important than others and they haven't really done anything to get there in the first place. Just because I'm talented and I can write good music, it doesn't mean that I should be looked at as 'wow' anymore than you should, because it doesn't make a difference... Who cares? There's so much more going on in the world. There's kids starving in Africa and we're sitting there glitzing up on the red carpet.
LM: Speaking of which, you like to do your bit for charity, don't you? Tell us about how you got involved with War Child?
TC: They approached us and when I heard about it I thought 'I've never heard about this before' and I thought 'Well, if I haven't heard about it then no-one else has probably heard about it', which made me want to get involved.
LM: How was the experience?
TC: I like anything to do with charity. If I can give back that's the main thing. Even if I'm not necessarily passionate about a charity, if I get offered charity work then I'll do it because, for me, it's your duty. You've got all of this, this amazing chance of your life to stand on stage. Yeah, it's gruelling and it's tiring but I'd rather be doing this... I can't complain.
LM: You guys always seem to be having fun during your live performances. Is the live experience what it's all about for you?
TC: The best experience is like when I have a glass of wine and then I jump about and I really let go of myself and all the fears and stuff and I just embrace the moment. It can be such an amazing feeling when you're up there, with a thousand people, what a buzz. It is amazing but I still feel like it's odd. On a daily basis I just go back to normal. I think 'This is so shallow. What a load of rubbish'.
LM: So you still like having the chance to live a normal life when you're not working?
TC: That's all I ever do. All I want, my ambition for this year is to just get my house and spend a month decorating it. I'm really excited. I can't wait. I want to go to IKEA and do a whole day there from like 8 o'clock in the morning... it's all I've been thinking about. I'm going to write a massive list of every single item that I need and I'm going to sit there and decorate the whole house and then just kit it out with all the little things that I want and need and then I'm just gonna sit in that house and I'm gonna get a load of cooking books and I'm going to sit down and just cook, make something nice for my boyfriend. I love that.
To me, that's fun. I'd love to have six months off and just get into a routine. I want to do tennis, funnily enough, like go to the gym every day and do tennis, which is something that I really enjoy doing... I want to learn kick-boxing and tennis, those are the two things that I want to do. I could do with six months of routine, of literally having my house, everything organised in it, in place, everything that I want, cooking fresh food every night... and going out for lunch on a Friday with my mates and then going to a rave on Saturday night and then just doing that all over again, for six months... That's what I want to do. I do not want to do red carpets. The funny thing for me is, as soon as I can retire I probably will. I'll do it because I love the music and I love writing the music and who doesn't want the money? But there's nothing I can honestly say about the fame side that intrigues me... Other celebrities are so up themselves, like 'It's all about me!'... It's such a selfish career to have because everything just revolves around you 24/7. It's not about other people.
N-Dubz's latest album 'Against All Odds' is out now.
