Charley Bird and Lucy Texeria are the bubbly friends that make-up the music duo 2Shoes. First seen on ITV1’s The X-Factor back in 2011, they caught the nations attention with their incredible singing voices and fun personalities. The twosome have been busy ever since talent show judge Tulisa let them go. Flavour caught up with the lovable Essex ladies to talk music, Rylan and life after The X Factor.
What have you been up to, what are you working on at the moment?
Lucy: We’ve been doing loads of stuff. At the moment, we are working on our second single. Last year we released our fist one. That was more of a dance theme, with a dance label. Now we’re just trying to find our niche.
Charley: We want to go a bit more pop. We are quite a main stream act.
Lucy: We are just picking the first single from a few songs at the minute and that will be out later in the year.
Are you working on your album, or is it just a single for now?
Unison: Yeahhhhhh!
Lucy: We’ve got loads of songs, so I think the next step [obviously] will be the album.
Do you know what it is going to be called yet?
Unison: Totes Emosh!
Lucy: It’s just love songs so, it’s totes emosh.
You were big supporters of Rylan in last year’s X Factor, any Totes Emosh collaborations in the pipeline?
Lucy: That would be hilarious.
Charley: It’s been done before, but just not in public [laughs]. A nice bit of Spice Girls…
Lucy: Oh yeah, we love it. A nice little Spice Girls number… That would be amazing.
Are you and Rylan friends from Essex, or friends from X Factor?
Charley: It’s a really funny story actually… I went to secondary school with Ry [Rylan] and then Shoe [Lucy] met him in Ibiza. From then on Shoe was always like, ‘oh my friend Rylan’ then I was like, ‘oh I know Rylan. I went to school with him’.
Lucy: It’s so weird… like, it was meant to be.
“Rylan’s name at school was Ginger, gay Ross. Me and him were like the outcasts…I was fat and ugly and he was ginger” says Charley
They showed an old picture of Rylan on Celebrity Juice the other day and he was all…
Unison: Ginger! Yeah, we know [laughs] Awww bless him.
Lucy: What was his name in school, Shoe? Tell them…
Charley: His name in school was Ginger, gay Ross. His real name is Ross.
Lucy: How mean is that? Whenever people said that though, you would just know who they were on about.
Charley: Me and him were like the outcasts.
Lucy: She was fat.
Charley: Yeah, I was fat and ugly and he was ginger.
Lucy: But how times have changed…
It’s always the way isn’t it? The people who were popular and good looking in school rarely stay that way.
Lucy: Yeah, always.
What do you think about the changes in the X Factor format? Now, you can sing your own songs and people with past career in music can also now apply.
Charley: I like it.
Lucy: I think its better. They are kind of moving with the times.
Charley: It makes it more credible as well. People can’t slate it if there are proper songwriters and musicians getting noticed on there.
There are rumours circulating that Tulisa has been axed as a judge. She was your mentor on the show. How do you feel about that?
Unison: Oh, we love T.
Charley: We saw her not so long ago and she didn’t mention anything.
Lucy: We don’t really know what the situation is really, but she was a great mentor to us and if she is gone, it will be a huge loss to the X Factor.
The portrayal of Essex and Essex girls has really changed over the years…
Unison: We know!
Lucy: Now it’s all glamorous and flashy isn’t it? Not all of Essex is like that though. There are some dodgy parts [laughs].
Charley: TOWIE has played a huge part in that. It’s great.
What are your staple beauty treatments? There’s a new one in TOWIE every week, you can’t possibly do them all?
Lucy: Well I’ve had my eyebrows tattooed three times.
Charley: You’ve got to have your spray tan. That is a must.
Lucy: We love gel nails… oh and lashes, we love a lash.
Are you on the rich, flash part of Essex then, you are Pop stars after all?
Charley: She is [points at Lucy]
Lucy: One out of two ain’t bad [laughs]. I am, but I’m not rich. Shoe [Charley] is in the Bas Vegas side.
What is Bas Vegas?
Charley: We’ve got our own sign. Like the Hollywood sign, but it says Basildon. Well glamorous. It cost millions that sign.
Lucy: Do you know that sign cost £90k
Charley: £90k! They haven’t got money to house people, but they have money to build a sign?
Lucy: There, see, every day is a school day. [Laughs]
The ladies get distracted by another photshoot [Whispers]
Charley: How amazing does that woman look, Shoe?
Lucy: Oh, lovely, Shoe. Love the shoes.
Charley: Love the shoes.
Follow 2Shoes on Twitter @2ShoesOfficial
Photography by Simon Howard
Make up by Semley Wilkinson and Keiko Nakamura using Earthnicity
Hair by Sabrina Murrell using Sleek Hair
Styling by Charley Van Purpz
Filming by and editing by Charlie Massey
Filming by Daniel Campbell
