Fed: Scandal us follow Bardot to No.1 popstar debut

AAP General News (Australia)
04-23-2001
Fed: Scandal us follow Bardot to No.1 popstar debut

By Kelly Nicholls

SYDNEY, April 23 AAP - Like Bardot before them, the latest manufactured popstar group
Scandal'us debuted on the Australian charts at number one this week with the single "Me
Myself and I".

Scandal'us is the result of the second series of the popular television program Popstars,
which shows the formation of the group from auditions through to short lists, and then
the final line-up.

Popstars executive producer Andrew Backwell said today he was amazed by the success
of the second series, watched by around 2.1 million viewers across the country.

"It has performed beyond our expectations," he said. "It is a fairy tale, a cinderella story."

The first series on the Seven Network produced the all girl group Bardot, which also
launched into the Australian charts at number one with its debut single "Poison".

Festival Mushroom Australia marketing manager for the Scandal'us project, David Champion,
said no one was more surprised by the success than the young stars themselves.

In less than six months they have been transformed from normal suburban teenagers to
massive stars, attracting a total of 40,000 adoring fans to their recent four instore
appearances.

"They are a mixture of absolutely ecstatic and totally stunned," Mr Champion said.

"It's absolutely extraordinary, in the early stages of the project lots of people wouldn't
have expected that the second series would have captured the public imagination again."

Music historian Glenn A Baker said the Australian music scene was moving away from
the traditional organically grown bands to an era of manufactured acts.

"This is the age of the artificially manufactured pop bands," he said.

"Once there was a band in every garage on every street, but maybe this is how you do it now.

"There aren't as many surprises in pop, there is more calculation."

Bardot began the local phenomenon this time last year when the girl group, modelled
on Britain's Spice Girls, more than lived up to the massive publicity surrounding the
first series of Popstars.

"Poison" was the biggest selling single in Australia last year and Bardot continued
the success with their debut self-titled album and with packed performances around the
country and for Australia troops in East Timor at Christmas.

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KEYWORD: POPS AUST NIGHTLEAD

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