Drunk-driving incidents, wild all-night parties, a secret baby born out of wedlock - the boys of Blue have quite a reputation to live up to. To many, they're the pop music equivalent of Oasis: loud, obnoxious, and having the time of their lives. Hence, it was with slight trepidation and much excitement that UrbanWire met Lee Ryan and Duncan James from Blue for a roundtable interview session at Bar Opiume, Indochine, on Valentine's Day.
It was a busy afternoon for Blue, as they had interview sessions with various media, with Simon and Anthony fielding questions at another roundtable session. Such was their tight schedule as they had no time for lunch. Just before he settled down for the interview, a bowl of soupy Tom Yam noodles arrived for Duncan and he spent the rest of the interview eating (and handling the chopsticks admirably) and answering questions.
Cynical Blue
In town to attend the MTV Asia Awards, Blue looked freshly scrubbed and sprightly
this Saturday afternoon, possibly charged by their well-received special appearance
at an exclusive showcase at Zouk the previous night . Much to the surprise of
those who expected a naughty and boisterous bunch, the boys of Blue were on
the contrary quite serious and no-nonsense in attitude and behaviour
"Fame has made us quite cynical," Duncan stated matter-of-factly of the effect success over the past 3 years has had on him, "[when] before, you're quite naïve."
Lee elaborated, "You think everyone is your friend, when really, if we said something, [the media] would turn it around and go make a story out of it, not in a nasty way, but probably in a vindictive way. But if it was to harm our career, I don't think [the media] would really think of that."
A regular figure of gossip in UK tabloids, Lee obviously has a lot to say with regards to the subject of media-celebrity love-hate relationships. "Before, we really didn't understand that. So now, we think about what we say. Before, I'd be like, "Bleah!" Lee makes a funny face and sticks his tongue out, and continues, "Because I'm quite an open-minded person, I'm quite an honest person as well. But you have to be quite business-like when you're in this sort of business," Lee ranted.
It was quite clear to those present that Blue had some issues with the press because they brought us up several times in the interview.
So when Britney Spears's and Janet Jackson's publicity stunts (a lesbian-like makeout session with Madonna and a quickie marriage annulment for the former and a bodice-ripping, breast-baring performance to an audience of tens of millions for the latter) were brought up, Duncan pounced on it. He said rather vehemently that, "You lot [ the media] lap it up, That's why they do it, because you lot write about it and it's front page news in every bloody country, that's the reason why they do it."
All about Music
The boys do cheer up when the topic is changed to music and their single, 'Guilty',
which was co-written by Duncan and ex-Take That member Gary Barlow.
"'Guilty' is very personal to me. It was a great opportunity for me to work with Gary on a 1-on-1 basis, and he's such an incredible artiste, such an incredible talent. Sometimes [when] you write with other people, you just don't get a vibe, but with Gary, we got a vibe straightway and we wrote 'Guilty' in about 2 hours," Duncan passionately explained.
The seriousness about their music is just as evident on the subject of who they
would like to work with next after having collaborated with greats such as Elton
John and Stevie Wonder, Duncan replied, "Lee, Anthony and Simon,"
to smiles from the reporters, before we realised that he was serious.
"We've been perceived as collaborating with other people, and we want to just collaborate with ourselves. We don't want to be seen as…a collaborator group, we're not like that," Lee chimed in.
Of course, talk of solo projects comes up. Fans of Blue can rest easy for they have no plans of splitting up. Lee must make your day when he said, "I think, inevitably, we'll take a break, but I think it'll be stupid, absolutely ridiculous for us to split up. We'll go off, maybe go do a couple of movies, and do our own thing for awhile, and then come back fresh."
When asked what Blue would do if they could change one thing about the music industry, Lee's well considered response showed a never-before seen mature side of Blue.
Said Lee, "I'd say that rap artistes would stop promoting violence. I can understand where they're coming from, where they come from and everything, but I come from a rough area, from an area where there's guns and knifes. You don't have to sing it, kids don't need to know about that. They're glamourising it. You teach the children, but don't glamourise it."
Mature boys
Lee, everyone's favourite party-boy, is really impressing reporters with his
new-found maturity, especially when the inevitable question about his drunk-driving
incident last year came out.
Sounding earnest and sincere without coming off as too rehearsed, Lee explained that he "wouldn't say to anyone out there that it's a good thing to drink-drive", but he had a couple of glasses of wine and he "honestly didn't know [he] was over the limit" and that he was "just over 2 times over the limit. So that's about 3 glasses of wine too much."
Duncan, like the big brother of the group, rushes to help Lee out. "He's learnt his lesson; he's had his car taken away. You live and you learn, don't you? Everyone makes mistakes."
Indeed, it seems as if Blue has learnt from their past interview mistakes too. As Lee admits succinctly, "[Blue] gets a lot of people thinking [they're] arrogant", but this time around, they come off as articulate and mature adults.
"We realise [our musical career] is a job now. This is our bread and butter. This is how I pay my mortgage. This is how I survive, so I realise now it's not just a piss take. It's not just a lot of fun. It is fun as well, but it is work," Duncan intones gravely.
Ah, such is the life of a world-touring, millions-making pop group. If UrbanWire could impart some advice to Blue, we would say: Guys, cheer up and have some fun! We miss your wild and wacky antics.