Sugababes | Girlhood Firsts

The boys in our band nicknamed me Coolio for a reason.

[Mutya] Oh, the hair.

So basically it was the China bumps,

which was like, so nineties, so cool.

But it was the China bumps.

It was, it was China bumps and spikes.

And spikes, yeah.

Do you mind saying one, two, three for us?

[All] Hi, we're the Sugababes.

And this is Glamour's girlhood firsts.

The first single I ever bought was Charles & Eddie,

Would I Lie To You?

I love that song. Mm-hmm.

I went to like Woolworths and bought it.

The first, it was the small vinyl

that my brothers bought me,

was New Kids on the Block.

So I bought two CDs,

and the first was Robson and Jerome Up On The Roof.

And Jay-Z and Foxy Brown, I'll Be Good.

That pulled it back. The same day.

That pulled it back. ♪ Up on the roof ♪

♪ I'll be good ♪

That was a remix.

It just shows you my taste in music.

It definitely varies.

Very eclectic.

The first gig we went to together

was Backstreet Boys. Backstreet Boys.

Yeah.

Which was a vibe.

We were very into them.

We all fancied different members.

Yeah. Yes.

I liked Kevin.

I really liked Brian.

I swang between them all, literally.

I couldn't decide.

Ronnie Scott's, wasn't it?

Our first gig.

Our first gig was Ronnie Scott's.

And I remember our mum was there.

Mine and Siobhan's mum decided to have-

Have the same hairstyle.

Have matching hairstyles.

Oh my God.

It was the press and curl.

Like, honestly, they look so much younger today.

It wasn't just that night.

That was always, back then.

It was a thing back then, wasn't it?

It was just like the press and cut.

It was wild.

The fringe curled under and the...

Yeah, the bob.

I often send that to my mum to troll her.

It was very groomed.

I mean they looked fabulous,

but I love that it was like a jazz venue.

And I remember even years later,

I think Time Out did like top 10

best ever gigs at Ronnie Scott's

and we were in that list and I was like flawed.

So I've always held onto that in my memory.

Love that.

I was gonna say first beauty mistake-

Go on.

I was gonna mention one for you both.

Oh, you're...

Oh no, go on.

Well, no, you always...

Well, I actually love it as a look,

but you used to do it so...

The black eyeliner liner. Oh the lip liner.

It was eyeliner on the lips.

I feel like it could have been a just a slightly...

Like, a chocolate brown or a...

Yeah, I think it was in and I think it was-

It very much was.

Yeah, it was in.

And they're doing it now as well, but just better.

I was probably just sad that I couldn't pull it off,

let's be honest.

And I think my one was,

I really plucked the eyebrows.

I had the thin eyebrows.

And we all know what I'm gonna say.

The boys in our band nickname me Coolio for a reason.

[Mutya] Oh, the hair.

So basically it was the China bumps,

which was like so nineties.

So cool.

[Mutya] But it was the China bumps.

It was, it was China bumps and spikes.

And spikes, yeah.

And basically-

It was very cute though.

It was very cute.

Yeah, but it was just like going every which way

and then with a black lip liner, and I-

But it was in.

No one could tell me nothing.

I remember, I used to...

To be honest, I look back on that footage now

and I think it's very cool.

Yeah, I'm embarrassed by it.

In terms of women that I really admired,

we had like a VHS of a Dolly Parton...

Like, her on tour,

and I've been like a super fan ever since.

And then probably someone like Sinead O'Connor

because I always felt like that rebellious side of her

and obviously that connection to Ireland

and always grew up in London but always felt very Irish.

So I kind of looked to her as someone

who was always very much like herself to a fault.

And that stuck with me that you just...

You didn't need to bend,

you could be yourself and that's okay.

I would say for me it was Brandy.

I absolutely was obsessed with Brandy.

My first love was actually acting, loved acting,

obviously singing and dancing,

and like to me she was like the triple threat.

I used to watch her show Moesha.

And I feel like for me being that young

and seeing someone who looks like me on TV

and doing it so big,

'cause she was the biggest pop star, wasn't she,

at the time, really?

And being so young as well, a teenager,

obviously we weren't...

I wasn't a teen at the time,

but just, I was absolutely obsessed

and she gave me, I guess, the confidence

to believe in myself.

Yeah.

So the first woman I looked up to was probably Monica.

I just loved everything about her.

And it's so funny because actually,

one of the memories I do have is of me and Keisha

singing in a Filipino festival,

singing brand new Monica, Boy Is Mine.

Our first trip- Oh, that's Belgium.

No.

Oh. Yes.

Yeah, you're right.

But was it that or... When I had the hair.

I think you're right,

I think it was Brussels. It was Brussels.

Brussels. Brussels.

And we were shot by Anton Corbijn

and we wouldn't have known who that was at the time.

And I brought that-

Very lucky.

I brought that same hairstyle, didn't I, to that shoot.

I think I had my-

Yeah you did actually.

I had my eyebrow pierced.

And that was the first time I cut all my hair off.

Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah.

Keeping it real, three of us.

Yeah.

My favorite clothing item a teenager

was the big Spice Girl boots.

The big Spice Girl boots were everything,

like the trainers, and it had like the big, like...

What is it called at the bottom?

The platform. It was like the bubble.

It has the, like, yeah...

And it had the bubble and I had like them

in white and black,

and I absolutely loved them.

They were like my favorite like piece to put on.

I had white PVC like, high wedges,

that I guess were a bit Spice Girls as well,

but I don't think I can live by like...

Stand by that taste now.

I think mine was the pedal pushers.

Yeah. Oh my God.

It's come back in.

Pedal pushers with the little crop.

I had it in like...

I remember having like different colors in army

and pink and yellows and pastel colors.

[Siobhan] I remember when we got our first-

With loafers.

Do you remember we got our first...

I wonder if we all went and bought that

with our first money from London Records.

Because I remember...

Well, it was like the first time we got paid,

I went to like Morgan in Brent Cross and-

Oh my God. Oh my God.

You remember Morgans! Morgans!

I felt like a high roller. Yeah, yeah.