Formerly of Big Brovaz, the beautiful ladies Cherise Roberts and Nadia Sheperd have ventured out of the world of British Hip-Hop reinventing themselves as the sexy duo Booty Luv. These girls are definitely injecting the dance scene with some soulful vocal love, not to mention a whole lot of booty!
What inspired you to form the Booty Luv duo, aside from Big Brovaz?
C: While we were recording the Big Brovaz album, our manager told us that the Hed Kandi label were looking for two girls to re-record vocals for Tweet’s Boogie 2nite. It all happened really quickly; we did the vocals and next thing we knew we were shooting the video for it.
Was it a conscious decision to cross over from British hip hop music to the dance scene?
C: We both like dance music, as well as other genres and we’ve always had it in the back of our minds to try something a bit different, but just never really had the time to pursue any side projects so it kind of got dismissed for a while until Booty Luv.
Were you a bit apprehensive about how the pop/dance audience would receive you?
N: When we started we weren’t really thinking about what people would think, we were just enjoying the music and working with good producers.
Boogie 2nite was your debut single and was a massive hit, reaching No.2 in the charts, your second single Shine was also a top 10 hit. Were you shocked at the huge response to your singles and to Booty Luv so far?
C: Yeah! We were in shock at the success of Boogie 2nite, and when it stayed in the charts for another 10 weeks, we were like ‘what’s going on! This is crazy!’. We were both in shock, but at the same time very grateful.
N: The amount of recognition and praise we’re getting from people is amazing, its so overwhelming.
So how involved are you with the whole Booty Luv project? Do you write any songs on the album?
C: We wrote all the songs on the album that aren’t covers, so the majority of the album is written by ourselves which we’re very proud of.
N: It is hard work writing most of the album, but we wanted everything to be said in our own words.
How did you get involved with the Eurovision Song Contest?
N: Well, it started with our manager trying to get us back out there saying ‘there’s never been a hip hop/r’n’b contestant before- go for it!’ We all had mixed feelings about it really.
C: So we went for it and kind of knew what to expect really ‘nil point’ for UK [laughs] but we had fun and have no regrets for doing it!
What’s happening with Big Brovaz at the moment?
N: Lets not beat around the bush now, if its not really working there’s no point in pursuing it anymore. Our minds were beginning to out grow Big Brovaz and we were ready for something new. When your heart’s telling you to move on, you shouldn’t ignore it just to please everyone else.
C: We still see the rest of Big Brovaz, but musically we grew apart.
Why should people by your album Boogie2nite?
C: The album is very melodic, full of catchy hooks and nice vocals. Its not all dance tracks; in fact we decided to end the album with a summer r ‘n’ b anthem, written by ourselves. It’s a melodic track called Summertime.
N: Our album goes beyond people’s expectations, and for our first dance album, we’re really proud of what we’ve put in to it.
Booty Luv’s album Boogie 2nite out now on Hed Kandi Records
Words by Augusta Ettarh
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