"Hi," the singer starts, beaming. "My name is Lily-Rose Cardle, but you can call me Lily, it's fine. I'm 19-years old, and I live in Leeds, in the north of England." The blonde smiles and adjusts her hair behind her ears. "Before Star Factory begun I was a student in nursing at Leeds Metropolitan University. Although I loved doing that a lot, it seems that the show has saved me from being stuck in some sort of 9-5 job forever. I mean, I've had a taste of the spotlight now with some of my best friends in the world alongside me, and it's not something that I really want to stop doing any time soon." She nods and looks beyond the camera, almost as if she is remembering something, the way things are on the stage. She smiles warmly and turns her attention back to the camera again. "You just get this buzz, when you walk out onto the stage and see all those people there, calling your name, cheering, standing up and dancing. As much as I wanted to be a nurse to help people out, I don't think I would have got this much energy, and emotion and joy if I had followed that career path. And at that moment when we finish a song and I just hear the wall of sound with people cheering at us...I just...I can't believe it. These are the best times of my life."
The camera cuts quickly, as if moving to another part of Lily's interview, and she appears deep in thought, as she taps her finger gently on her chin. "Believe it or not, Lashes was originally a three-piece girl band, and we were trying to sing songs like by the Sugababes, and Girls Aloud and stuff. We were very British. I got in when Gemma and I were in the same lectures, and we started hanging out, and then just singing along to CDs. Not to sound big-headed, because I'm not. Not at all, but we found that we were both good singers, and we decided to put up posters to see if we could start a band, just for like fun and stuff. That was how we got Mercedes. She was over from Canada on like an exchange thing, and she fit in with us girls really really well actually."
She starts to laugh a little, and raises her eyebrows as she is asked about Natalya, and how the group became a four-piece. A wry smile creeps onto her face as her lips curl upwards. "How we got Natalya is actually a great story. And as much as she thinks she's boss, and she and Gemma have a lot of debates and stuff, she did do a lot in the shaping of this band." She nods. "Nat actually, we met when we went to a karaoke bar in the city, just the three of us. We got up that night, and we sung a song by Girls Aloud, and we were alright. Right after us though, this scantily clad girl got up there, and sung a Cinzia Ricci song while she was writhing about, and it was so mesmerizing to see her perform. She had a great voice too. After she was finished, she walked up to us and said: 'My name is Natalya. I could be great for your band'. And that was it, she was in." Lily laughs. "Over the next few weeks, she convinced us to be more sexy, and more electro and challenging, to have a sort of a bite to us. Almost like an edge. And we've never looked back."
The camera then fades and comes back, as if to signal a totally different part of the interview, and Lily is still sitting in the same place, but taking a sip of water. As she speaks, the camera cuts to views of Lashes performing at the ballad week, but her voice remains a constant over the top of it. "Last week, with ballads and stuff, we were very worried. After having built up an image, and saying 'This is Lashes', we suddenly found ourselves facing something very different, and for a while we panicked. However, Gemma and Brittany were fantastic together, and they came up with two songs, plus all the choreography, in like one night. It was unbelievable. In the end, I think we pulled it off, and we got great reactions again, so it was really really great that we managed it. We were glad to pull through, and so thankful to everyone."
"Tonight though, we feel like we are moving back into our own territory once again. Stephanie Fierce is so amazing and talented, and when we heard what the challenge was for this week, we all knew straight away what we wanted to sing. She has so many varied and wonderful tracks, but the one we chose was really punchy, really electro led, and it has a strong beat that everyone can clap along to and stomp their feet. On top of that, it really helps us to keep our own theme going. This is all about love, and violence, and how the two really manage to collide at times, and we love that. Are we nervous?" She nods. "Sure we are. But tonight we get to sing a song by one of the greatest artists of all time. Tonight we get a chance to really prove ourselves...and we just can't wait."
Lashes - Love is Like Grenades (Stephanie Fierce cover)When the video starring Lily is finished playing, all on camera goes quiet, and the stage comes into focus amidst a backdrop of cheering and chanting for Lashes. Just then, as is now becoming a tradition for the four girls, the stage is plunged into absolute darkness, and the cheering starts to slowly subside, transferring to a hushed silence as everyone waits to see what Lashes are going to bring to the table this week, after many weeks of eccentric and vibrant performances. The stage sits in an eerie sort of silence for around half a minute, before a slightly pink haze comes across the stage, illuminating the smoke running delicately along the floor of the performance area like some sort of cotton candy cloud.
Suddenly, out of nowhere, the stage flashes bright pink, on one massive beat from a bass drum, and then goes silent and darkened once again. A few brief seconds later, the drums come back, pounding out a steady beat, as the crowd starts to clap along in time. After a few seconds more, the pink light on the stage starts to pulsate, on and off in time with the beat of the drum, as if symbolising the blood being pumped around from a love-struck heart. When this has been ongoing for a little while, the screen at the back of the stage is illuminated once again, as the letters of the band's name start to flash up one after the other, in a stylised font of brilliant pink. The L-S-H-E-Sis written out in a caligraphy style really curvy font, while the A has been turned into the shape of a luminous pink hand grenade. Those in the audience who catch the symbolism start to cheer. Shortly after, within another few thumping beats, the letters have been accompanied by a set of wings, one either side of the name.
The music then halts, and for a few seconds, there is nothing happening on the pink lit stage. After a brief pause though, an arrow flies across the screen, plunging itself into the hand grenade in the middle of the Lashes name. This sets of a massive explosion, and the dark stage is showered by pink fireworks falling down all over it. The steady beat then starts again, as the light bathes the stage once more, this time showing that Lashes have arrived on stage, the four standing in a circle,facing out the way, slowly dipping and bending their knees in time with the steady beat of the bass drum, as the crowd cheers for them, and yet another amazing entrance to the stage.
The first to sing, as always, is Natalya. The former stripper, dressed in a way that resembles how she might have been clothed in her former profession, the singer lifts her microphone to her face as the girls all continue to stand back to back, and she makes her way through the first verse, its electro bears and heavily synth-led musical backing showing a place where these girls feel really at home. The dancy track leaves each of them moving and swaying almost as one unit throughout Natalya's perfectly executed opening, her voice having a different quality to it, as it tries to lend itself to the dangerous and explosive nature of this Stephanie Fierce track. When she reaches the word Cupid, each of the girls reaches to her left hand side,putting her hand on the thigh of a band mate, and running it up to the hip slowly, before they all sigh. The backing vocals at this point are very electronic, almost as if the voices of the other three are being projected through some sort of machine, which lends to the song amazingly well, and adds to the very dance-oriented feel behind it.
There is a way, to maintain a healthy heart
There is a way, to prevent a heated war to start
But damn it, there’s Cupid
He is hiding, (he’s so stupid )
Setting ammunition , (On a mission)
To make us fall in love......After the first verse, it becomes apparent that the girls are standing on top of a small platform, as it spins slightly to leave Gemma Kane facing the front of the stage instead of Natalya. She smiles as she sees the audience for the first time, and blows a kiss towards Hayden before lifting her microphone to her face, her shimmering gold clothing reflecting the pink lighting and leaving a sort of hypnotic feel within the arena. As she begins to sing, there is a cheer from the crowd. When the word hands is sung this time, the stage lights around the platform shin brighter, and the little platform lifts slightly, raising the girls above the stage where four dancers, male and muscly as always, and dressed in very little, claw at their legs and try to grab them. In time, at the end of each line that Gemma sings, the girls kick out and send the guys staggering backwards, only for them to come back each and every time and try to grab them again and again. At the end of the verse though, the platform starts to spin slowly, and the heavy bass drum beats for a few seconds before going silent, at which time an electronic voice on the PA shouts, "Love Feels Like Grenades."
There is something in his hands
and he thinks I don't know that 'he’s a bad man,
with the heart of Venada city
and I'm a sinner,
just a sinner, with a heart of the pity
I'm not ready to battle cause....
At the point the electronic voice stops, an explosion rocks the stage again, and sends all four of the dancers sprawling backwards, where they lie flat out, as if dead across the front of the stage. The girls leap down and sing the words of the chorus, which is more upbeat and catchy, but still retains that aura of a dance club, as they start to march towards each of their individual men. When they reach them, each of the girls place a high heeled shoe into the man's chest and move their foot from side to side as if stubbing out a cigarette on a floor. At the word dead, and with a foot still in their chest, each man convulses and then lies still before the girls march away from them and into the centre of the stage. From there, they continue to sing the chorus, as they bend their knees in time to the track and slowly sing each and every word with that same sultry tone that has now come to define their group vocals. As the chorus comes to and end, Lily is highlighted just in time for the music stopping, as she chants the last line of the chorus over and over, backed by just one bass drum repeated at the end of each line. When she stops, the bass gets progressively faster, as if introducing the next segment of the track, before which three of the girls have retired to grab their man, and Mercedes has dropped to her knees, staring out Hayden and Scott.
Love Feels like Grenades
it blows in the air, the smoke chokes you up until you're dead.
(Love feels like Grenades)
Little heart shaped grenades can blow you to shreds.
You just won’t believe it, oh no
(Love Feels like Grenades)
So explosive you just won’t believe it, oh no
There’s must be a way
to turn it off
To turn it off
To turn it off
The stage lights go red as Mercedes crawls towards the male judges and sings about spilling blood. She stares into each of their eyes, one after the other, before she gets very close to Hayden and starts to breathe slowly into his ear. She kisses her cheek and then crawls back to the stage as she seductively makes her way through the slowest part of the track.
Gotta cut the right vein.
(It’s worth to feel the pain)
cuz, Love Feels Like Grenades
There’s an arrow on my chest
Wasn’t ready for this yet
After another explosive chorus, the stage goes dark once again, the trademark that says Lily is about to end the song with her sweet voice. But this time, as a pink spotlight illuminates her, the singer smiles, tearing off her trousers to reveal a pair of shimmering short shorts, much to the amazement of the audienece. She sings the final bass-heavy section of the song with a real attitude and style that has never before been seen from her, and in the end, she is flanked by the four girls, who writhe around her, their hands all over her body, as they seemingly attempt to bring an all new aura of sexiness to the style of their bandmate.
Are you ready.......
Boom Boom (da da da da) x4
Imma suicide, suicide this love away (is the only way)
suicide this love away
goodbye, goodbye, goodbye, goodbye, goodbye... At the sound of the last "goodbye," there is another explosion, and the stage is showered in pink fireworks again. The girls stand there, grinning to each other as the crowd goes absolutely wild....
