(This feature originally appeared in the Nottingham Evening Post.)

The Evening Post caught up with Shayne Ward – winner of The X Factor in 2005 – in Dublin, on the fourth day of his first major headline tour. Although an affable, courteous chap, he showed all the signs of intensive “media training”, and never let his guard down for a moment.

So, how was the tour going so far?

“It’s going absolutely fantastic. A great response. I’m really excited about doing this. It’s just really great fun.”

Gee, thanks for the insight. This could be a tough one, folks…

Last summer, following some nasty problems with his vocal cords, Shayne was flown to Los Angeles for an operation.

“It was a great success – and it was the best decision I could have made, because the voice has come back 100 percent.”

The throat problems certainly haven’t been holding Shayne back, even though his British fans haven’t seen much of him for a while.

“I’ve been travelling the world, and doing big gigs abroad. It’s been non-stop – Japan, Hong Kong, Taiwan, South Korea, South Africa – and I’ve been in and out doing some recording. So it’s great to actually come back to the UK and still have that kind of support over here.”

As to what we can expect from the new tour, Shayne wasn’t giving too much away.

“It’s going to be exciting, because there’s a lot of different things in there, and a lot of things which people haven’t actually seen me do. I want to give them a taste of what could be coming from the new album. Not necessarily any of the new songs, but basically something new that I could be doing.”

A new style, a new approach – but the same old songs? Colour me baffled.

“It just depends on how I feel. Do I want to give something new on the tour, or do I want to wait until the time is right? So I think I’m going to wait until the time is right, and let everybody hear something after the tour.”

As for that mysterious forthcoming album, you might need to prepare for some surprises.

“The first album was mainly ballads, so it’s a completely different style. It’s young, it’s fresher – it’s me, basically. I’m 23 years old; I can’t be serious like the first album was. I want to show people that I can enjoy myself as well.”

Remembering Shayne’s stand-out performance of Justin Timberlake’s Cry Me A River on The X Factor, could we expect a touch of the Justins along the way?

“I don’t want to imitate Justin. I don’t want people to say: Oh, he’s trying to be like him. People know my voice, and they know I’m not going to try and sound like Justin. I’m trying to develop a new sound.”

So that would be a no, then. Did we hit a raw nerve?

The new material has been put together with the likes of Max Martin, who provided massive hits for Britney Spears, The Backstreet Boys and Kelly Clarkson. But how much creative input did Shayne have?

“So much, because I was there while the songs were being written. I have been writing myself, but not for this album.”

Hmm. So were there any battles to be fought, in order to put his own point of view across?

“No, that’s the great thing about it. They know what page I’m on, they understood me, and I understood them. We got on so well. It came really easily, working with each other.”

Pop can, of course, be a fickle business. Most TV talent show winners quickly fade away, and there has been no new music from Shayne for several months. With a massive headline tour underway, and a new musical direction waiting to be unveiled, this feels like a huge statement of intent.

“I want longevity. I’m here for the right reasons – because I want to be singing for the rest of my life. I want to be performing to people for as long as possible – that’s why I’m here, to show people that I am going to stay around.”

How did he cope with the immediate aftermath of winning the show? That kind of blanket media coverage can’t be sustained for very long, Was it difficult to adjust after that first period of madness?

“No, because you know that’s going to happen. You’re coming from the biggest talent show in the country. To maintain it, you just have to wait and see. It doesn’t bother me if things die down a little over here, because I’m known around the world. I’ve got the record company believing in me over there, so I know I’m OK.”

So far, so predictable. So come on, Shayne: loosen up a little, and tell us what’s on your iPod right now.

“You know what? Everything. So many different styles, it’s untrue.”

Long pause. Oh dear, he wasn’t expecting this one…

“Keane, I love Keane. Coldplay. Just… everything.”

OK, let’s try a different angle. Take That or Robbie Williams: whose album would Shayne pick?

“I haven’t actually heard them, to be honest.”

Ah well, never mind. At least Shayne has kept up with the recent series of the show which made his name; he has met Ray and Leona, and wishes them every success.

If the new album is sufficiently fresh and different, then perhaps we’ll all stop thinking of Shayne Ward as the winner of a talent show, and start taking him seriously as a major league artist. However, a few more flashes of genuine, unspun personality wouldn’t do him any harm, either.

Labels: eveningpost, interviews, popmusic

(Note to regulars: this little Station Ident thingy is ultimately destined for the sidebar, as I've been missing a decent "About this site" page for yonks.)

Hello, I'm Mike Atkinson, and this is my personal weblog.

Firstly, and despite frequent evidence to the contrary, I am not "Troubled Diva". That's the name of the blog, not the name of its author. I dreamt the name up in a hurry, before I knew what I was going to do with this site, and then it stuck, so here we are. I particularly dislike the forced glottal-stop between the "d" at the end of "troubled" and the "d" at the beginning of "diva" - but hey, what can you do. It's a brand, of sorts.

I've been writing Troubled Diva since October 2001, which either places me at the end of the "first wave" of British blogging, or at the start of the "second wave" of British blogging. I've probably got a foot in both camps.

I'm in my mid-forties, I'm as gay as a goose, and I've been sharing my life with my partner K since 1985. We registered our civil partnership in April 2006, and as such are now legal, decent, honest and truthful. Farewell, twilight subculture! Hello, equality under the law! That we should have lived to see the day!

During the week, we live in central Nottingham, where I work as an IT consultant, and where K runs a company which specialises in improving the detection and treatment of cancer in pets. From Friday evenings until Monday mornings, we de-camp to a village in the Derbyshire Peak District, somewhere between Ashbourne, Bakewell and Buxton. We're a little bit country, and a little bit rock and roll. But I'm more rock and roll than he is.

Ah yes, rock and roll. I'm a freelance music journalist in my spare time, and I provide regular gig reviews, album reviews and interview features for the Nottingham Evening Post. I make occasional contributions to Stylus Magazine, and I've also written about the Eurovision Song Contest for Slate and for Time Out in London.

Ah yes, the Eurovision Song Contest. I've attended it in person on five occasions, and I have to warn you that, for two or three weeks a year, Troubled Diva does go Full On Eurovision Crazy. I'll leave you to negotiate around that in the way which suits you best.

As for the rest of the blog: it's primarily a "personal" site, which means that the main subject matter is Me And My Fabulous Life. There are diary-style pieces; there are autobiographical reminiscences; there are various scraps of half-baked commentary on what we must loosely term "popular culture" (as I'm too shallow to engage with anything else); there are competitions and collaborative stunts; there are occasional excursions into podcasting and vidcasting ... but there is also much linkage to other sites of interest, and to other blogs in particular. I'm one of those bloggers who does feel very much like part of an extended community, and blogging has introduced me to many wonderful like-minded souls, many of whom I now regard as good friends.

(Of course, the downside to all of this community-mindedness is that a certain self-referential cliquiness does creep in from time to time. Advance apologies, but it can't altogether be helped. Such is the nature of our medium.)

My "site style" is a wildly inconsistent one, and I have no wish to make it more consistent. Consistency is for freelance work; the blog is where I cut loose, muck around, take risks, and generally do what I damn well please - but, and this is crucial, only if I think it will entertain others. I may swing between wild extremes of self-aggrandisement and self-deprecation - frequently within the same blog post - but I do my best to steer away from self-indulgence. Troubled Diva isn't written for myself; it's written for its readership.

As for frequency of posting, that also varies considerably. I might post six times in a day, and then not at all for two weeks. This depends on all sorts of factors, but mainly on the ever-shifting balance of priorities in my life. I do have a tendency to over-commit, which is a tad awkward when you're as fundamentally lazy as I am. So bear with me, reader. It all evens out in the end.

Troubled Diva has received more than its fair share of bouquets over the years. It has been shortlisted for all sorts of blogging award doo-dahs - most notably the 2005 Bloggies, when it made the final five in the Best Gay Lettuce Bacon & Tomato category. I've talked about blogging on the radio, I've given a lecture about blogging to a writers' conference, and the site has been featured in various newspapers and magazines, both in the UK and abroad - but I shall stop short of listing them all. We've only just met. There'll be plenty of time for bragging later. You'll see.

I also administer a site called Post of the Week, which ran as a regular feature on this blog before being launched under its own domain in January 2007. It's basically an attempt to promote good writing on personal blogs, and to draw people's attention to blogs they might not have heard of before.

To get a flavour of to what expect around here, I have assembled 25 of my favourite posts on their own dedicated page. There's a massive archive to dip into, and I've provided links to the highlights on my sidebar. Ooh, it could keep you busy for months.

I hope you enjoy the Troubled Diva Experience. Comments are encouraged - indeed, I can be quite the petulant little madam if I feel I'm not getting enough of them - and a range of quality souvenir merchandise is available in the foyer.

Labels: introduction

Thanks to the wonders of New Blogger Labels, and following exhaustive research, I have plonked twenty-five of my favourite stand-alone posts of all time on their own dedicated page.

(I say "stand-alone", because the various serialisations are in the process of being assembled on their own separate label-enabled pages, and linked from a suitably elevated position on the sidebar.)

Take a look and see what you think. Are your favourites included? And if not, which posts would you have marked for inclusion? I might be tempted to do a supplementary page, incorporating some Readers' Choices.

Mike loves ferretting about in his archives.

Labels: meta

Blessed are the RSS watchers; for they shall see the "inappropriate humour" posts, slapped up on a whim and hastily withdrawn. Context is key, and I sometimes forget that not all who pass though these doors are necessarily equipped with that context.

Cursed are the RSS watchers; for they shall be burdened with scores of old posts, re-published in order that New Blogger "labels" might be added. My apologies for the intrusion.

I'm loving these new-fangled "labels", though - as they are helping me to bestow retrospective order upon the more unkempt areas of my archives and sidebar. For while most people - normal, sensible people with a sense of perspective and a functional set of priorities - are happy to let their archives grass over, I like to tend to mine, keeping them neat and clipped and accessible, with their more prominent features clearly marked.

It's a time-consuming process to be sure - but there's something about grinding monotony in the service of neatness and tidiness which appeals to something deep and primal within me. In Neolithic times, while others were out a-hunting and a-gatherering, I would have been the one stuck back in the cave, ranking mammoth tusks by size, or age, or curvature, or pointiness. Or maybe organising a "Mammoth Tusk of the Week" poll amongst my fellow Neanderthals.

Anyway. Before the SHEER UNADULTERATED JOY of Which Decade Is Tops For Pops kicks off again on Monday, I'm having a behind-the-scenes Maintenance Week.

And interviewing pop stars. And getting some order back into the Nottingham house, after the kitchen refit. And sourcing a 20-second "walk" interlude for the dressage music (thank God for BPM analysing freeware, and iTunes smart playlists). And keeping a watchful eye on Post of the Week. And savouring home-grown leeks, donated by lovely fellow bloggers. And purchasing the word "bottom", twice. (More explanation here.) And enjoying exceptional posts written by good friends. Busy busy busy!

Labels: meta

(An edited version of this article originally appeared in the Nottingham Evening Post.)

Hands up, who remembers “grime”, the critically acclaimed new wave of British hip-hop which spawned a generation of stars such as Dizzee Rascal and, er, Dizzee Rascal? Although Lady Sovereign originates from the same scene, 2006 saw her achieve a major commercial breakthrough in the USA, while remaining largely unappreciated over here.

Such Stateside success is all the more surprising when you consider the sheer Englishness of Lady Sov’s lyrics – which she spits out at breakneck speed, like a blend of Vicky Pollard and Betty Boo on helium. You have to wonder what American audiences make of references to Lambrini, Maccy D’s, the Vicar of Dibley, “Katie Price’s boobs” and “the ginge from Girls Aloud”. It must all seem very exotic.

Despite hanging out with Jay-Z and roping in Missy Elliott for a guest appearance, Sov remains the gobby, cheeky North London kid with the razor-sharp tongue and streetwise attitude, who’ll give you the finger if you call her a chav. This is light-hearted, knockabout stuff, with an almost cartoon-like humour and energy, which will irritate some and delight others. ****

Labels: albums, eveningpost, popmusic