WEBVTT - Sophie Chats with WESTLIFE! 0:00:00.540 --> 0:00:02.020 Hey 0:00:02.020 --> 0:00:04.340 guys, how are you? It's so good to see you. 0:00:04.340 --> 0:00:06.560 I wasn't expecting you to be in the same room 0:00:06.570 --> 0:00:10.350 but looking great, congratulations on the new album. 0:00:10.840 --> 0:00:11.970 Thank you very much 0:00:11.980 --> 0:00:14.730 the Starlight. I was watching the music video for this 0:00:14.740 --> 0:00:17.840 and I just kept thinking to myself, it just looks 0:00:17.840 --> 0:00:19.720 like you guys are having so much fun. What was 0:00:19.720 --> 0:00:21.850 it like shooting a music video together? 0:00:23.140 --> 0:00:24.910 Well, it was one of the first things that we've done, 0:00:24.920 --> 0:00:27.930 you know, when we got back together. Um well, I 0:00:27.930 --> 0:00:30.280 mean obviously we made the album, but interestingly we made 0:00:30.280 --> 0:00:32.760 our album quite remotely and quite apart. 0:00:33.140 --> 0:00:35.380 We had a mobile recording setup that went around to 0:00:35.380 --> 0:00:36.760 all of our individual houses. 0:00:37.140 --> 0:00:40.800 That was the first and it was definitely something that was, 0:00:40.810 --> 0:00:43.750 that happened because of Covid and lockdown and everything like that. 0:00:43.750 --> 0:00:45.750 We couldn't really travel around to each other's houses 0:00:46.140 --> 0:00:50.060 and so the communication levels were high, but physical interaction wasn't, 0:00:50.070 --> 0:00:52.960 you know, as per the norm during the last couple 0:00:52.960 --> 0:00:55.710 of years. So when we got it, we came to 0:00:55.710 --> 0:00:57.779 London and we started making the video and doing some 0:00:57.780 --> 0:01:00.480 photo shoots and everything for the album promotion and that 0:01:00.480 --> 0:01:02.460 was the first time we were all back together and 0:01:02.840 --> 0:01:05.480 it was the first time we were performing. It was, 0:01:05.490 --> 0:01:07.270 it was the first of a lot of things to 0:01:07.270 --> 0:01:09.830 be honest with the first time back in hair and makeup, 0:01:09.840 --> 0:01:12.149 you know, we got into like cutting our own hair 0:01:12.150 --> 0:01:13.760 and 0:01:14.940 --> 0:01:16.800 not so much makeup at all for about two years. 0:01:16.810 --> 0:01:20.490 So you know, it was just, I mean, yeah, it was, 0:01:20.500 --> 0:01:23.970 it was, it was interesting, was really good, it was interesting. Yeah, 0:01:23.980 --> 0:01:26.630 it felt good to be performing again, you know, um 0:01:26.640 --> 0:01:29.670 choreography was another thing that even though you don't see 0:01:29.670 --> 0:01:30.660 a lot of in the video, 0:01:31.240 --> 0:01:31.959 um 0:01:32.340 --> 0:01:34.509 there's still some stages and right, Mark, you've got to 0:01:34.510 --> 0:01:36.400 stand here and can you stand here and when that 0:01:36.400 --> 0:01:38.900 drumbeat hits in, you've got to walk over here and 0:01:38.900 --> 0:01:42.130 just remembering how to follow all those orders after being, 0:01:42.140 --> 0:01:44.620 I was my own boss for two years and we 0:01:44.620 --> 0:01:47.250 were on our own bosses for like two years. So 0:01:47.640 --> 0:01:50.450 getting used to getting people telling him what to do again. 0:01:50.500 --> 0:01:51.260 Oh 0:01:51.740 --> 0:01:53.450 wait, hold on, sorry, I lost you. 0:01:53.940 --> 0:01:55.400 I mean, yeah, that must have been crazy. Did you 0:01:55.400 --> 0:01:56.660 give each other a huge hug? 0:01:57.740 --> 0:01:59.570 Yeah, we did actually when we saw each other for 0:01:59.570 --> 0:02:02.420 the first time, it was uh it was weird, you know, 0:02:02.420 --> 0:02:04.150 we have been in the, in the same room, the 0:02:04.150 --> 0:02:08.900 four of us for 564 days. Uh we got somebody 0:02:08.900 --> 0:02:11.870 to count it up exactly how long it was, it's 0:02:11.870 --> 0:02:12.950 the four of us were there. 0:02:13.240 --> 0:02:15.820 So it was lovely to kind of be back together again. 0:02:15.830 --> 0:02:18.000 You know, we do nice, we went out for dinner 0:02:18.000 --> 0:02:18.360 and 0:02:18.540 --> 0:02:21.360 reminisced on everything like, you know, some of our kids 0:02:21.360 --> 0:02:23.630 have grown up so much and stuff that happened obviously 0:02:23.630 --> 0:02:26.690 and market had a baby since we saw some last 0:02:26.690 --> 0:02:30.160 and it's been a it's been an amazing couple of years. 0:02:30.160 --> 0:02:33.290 And as Mark said, making the album then remotely, but 0:02:33.290 --> 0:02:36.920 coming together at the end of the recording, it was lovely. 0:02:36.919 --> 0:02:38.730 You know, it was when we did our fourth shoot 0:02:38.730 --> 0:02:39.750 for the album and 0:02:39.840 --> 0:02:42.240 finish the record, and we had all our Children there together, 0:02:42.240 --> 0:02:43.850 and we were in a big castle in Ireland, and 0:02:43.850 --> 0:02:45.450 it was it was pretty cool. 0:02:45.940 --> 0:02:48.780 You're giving me the warm and fuzzies. That's so nice 0:02:48.790 --> 0:02:50.650 about the album though. 0:02:51.240 --> 0:02:53.540 It reflects you were saying that it's an album that 0:02:53.540 --> 0:02:55.389 reflects the times, right? People are going through a lot 0:02:55.389 --> 0:02:58.419 of difficulties and that's what makes it so special. Did 0:02:58.419 --> 0:03:01.060 you intend to uplift us with the music or did 0:03:01.060 --> 0:03:02.060 it just kind of happen? 0:03:02.540 --> 0:03:06.260 Yeah, I think, I think honestly there was a huge, 0:03:06.740 --> 0:03:08.880 well, you know, we all have a conversation as a 0:03:08.880 --> 0:03:10.300 band and we just said, you know, what kind of 0:03:10.300 --> 0:03:12.650 album do we want to make, what's it gonna be like? 0:03:12.660 --> 0:03:13.060 And 0:03:13.440 --> 0:03:16.360 it's really what everybody just immediately sort of said that 0:03:16.370 --> 0:03:17.960 we wanted it to be uplifting. We want it to 0:03:17.960 --> 0:03:18.750 be something that, 0:03:19.139 --> 0:03:20.060 you know, like, 0:03:20.440 --> 0:03:23.830 we know that we're eventually we're going to be performing 0:03:23.830 --> 0:03:26.530 these songs for our fans, or even if we don't 0:03:26.530 --> 0:03:29.600 perform them, they're there on, I was gonna say, cd 0:03:29.610 --> 0:03:30.960 they're there for the 0:03:31.340 --> 0:03:35.060 the fans to listen to on her album, and, you know, 0:03:35.060 --> 0:03:38.040 we were obviously aware now that there's lots of people 0:03:38.040 --> 0:03:40.500 that will wait for our new album and they'll listen 0:03:40.500 --> 0:03:41.660 to it when it comes out, 0:03:42.040 --> 0:03:44.220 and we just felt like a responsibility to give them 0:03:44.220 --> 0:03:46.660 something positive, something to look forward to, something 0:03:47.140 --> 0:03:52.210 uplifting and shiny and bright. And so we we just 0:03:52.210 --> 0:03:55.180 made sure that the album was quite positive and happy 0:03:55.180 --> 0:03:58.130 and it sounded like something, I mean, you know, we've 0:03:58.130 --> 0:03:59.750 all like kind of a couple of cups of coffee 0:03:59.750 --> 0:04:02.460 and dance in our kitchen, a couple of gin and 0:04:02.460 --> 0:04:06.490 tonics or whatever makes you dance in your kitchen and, 0:04:06.500 --> 0:04:08.220 you know, over the last couple of years, I mean, 0:04:08.230 --> 0:04:10.260 because we've been kind of House Bank and 0:04:10.440 --> 0:04:13.960 so we wanted people to dance to it, we wanted 0:04:13.960 --> 0:04:17.029 people to love to laugh to feel, you know, some 0:04:17.029 --> 0:04:19.680 of our albums are quite somber and sort of slow 0:04:19.680 --> 0:04:22.880 and ballad driven and you know, we have a lot 0:04:22.880 --> 0:04:24.660 of songs that people play, 0:04:24.940 --> 0:04:27.450 that's sad events such as funerals and stuff like that. 0:04:27.450 --> 0:04:29.880 So this wasn't the album to go down that road, 0:04:29.890 --> 0:04:32.000 we wanted to and, you know, it's not even just 0:04:32.000 --> 0:04:34.980 about our fans, like for ourselves, I think we needed 0:04:34.980 --> 0:04:37.710 to make happy music and we needed to make music 0:04:37.720 --> 0:04:42.080 with beats and with rhythm and something that made us 0:04:42.089 --> 0:04:44.180 made us feel happy and if it made us feel happy, 0:04:44.180 --> 0:04:45.960 it's probably gonna make our fans feel opportunity 0:04:46.339 --> 0:04:49.830 100%. Um you've been talking about a lot about how 0:04:49.830 --> 0:04:52.580 it makes you guys feel. Um you guys came back 0:04:52.580 --> 0:04:55.110 in 2019 as a band that was huge. What did 0:04:55.110 --> 0:04:58.550 your family members, your spouses, your kids make of that? 0:04:59.440 --> 0:05:02.969 It was that was actually really probably the best part 0:05:02.970 --> 0:05:05.610 I suppose, coming back together was how special it was 0:05:05.610 --> 0:05:08.380 for our families and for especially for our Children, because, 0:05:08.410 --> 0:05:10.180 you know, a lot of our Children weren't old enough 0:05:10.180 --> 0:05:12.590 to understand West life the first time around, you know, 0:05:12.589 --> 0:05:13.060 so 0:05:13.440 --> 0:05:16.599 when we broke up in 2012, you know, a lot 0:05:16.600 --> 0:05:20.430 of our kids were very, very young babies, um Nicole 0:05:20.430 --> 0:05:23.270 was probably my daughter was the oldest, she's 16 now, so, 0:05:23.279 --> 0:05:25.260 you know, she still was only like, you know, 0:05:25.640 --> 0:05:28.450 eight, you know, so she was still very young. So, 0:05:28.460 --> 0:05:31.150 I think now looking back, you know, when, when we 0:05:31.150 --> 0:05:33.700 did come back and started playing all these concerts and 0:05:33.710 --> 0:05:36.580 you know, we were going to Singapore, we were going 0:05:36.580 --> 0:05:39.240 all over the world, like, we're going everywhere, and they 0:05:39.250 --> 0:05:41.680 kind of really got to understand what West Life was 0:05:41.680 --> 0:05:43.870 and how big it was and how many fans all 0:05:43.870 --> 0:05:44.750 over the world loved, 0:05:45.040 --> 0:05:47.070 you know what daddy did for a living, you know, 0:05:47.070 --> 0:05:48.849 and this is our job, and they thought this is 0:05:48.850 --> 0:05:50.860 so cool that, you know, the kids coming 0:05:51.339 --> 0:05:55.450 Get over that whole hysteria, that was still around West 11, 0:05:55.460 --> 0:05:58.130 when we came back, you know, we our tour and 0:05:58.130 --> 0:06:00.279 we came back, we sold more tickets than we did 0:06:00.279 --> 0:06:02.710 on our, you know, our farewell tour, you know, it 0:06:02.710 --> 0:06:05.260 was it was incredible the amount of people that came 0:06:05.260 --> 0:06:08.779 to our shows the last time. Even Singapore, we've been Singapore, 0:06:08.920 --> 0:06:10.360 indoor stadium, you know, and it was 0:06:10.440 --> 0:06:11.460 come back, 0:06:11.540 --> 0:06:14.880 We miss you. Yeah, it was it really showed that, 0:06:14.880 --> 0:06:16.560 you know, there was people coming and maybe they were 0:06:16.560 --> 0:06:18.650 bringing their boyfriends this time, or they were bringing their 0:06:18.650 --> 0:06:21.060 moms and dads, or they were bringing their kids, whatever 0:06:21.060 --> 0:06:23.550 it was, West Life turned into a kind of a 0:06:23.560 --> 0:06:27.040 kind of a family event, you know, and everybody didn't 0:06:27.040 --> 0:06:28.960 want to miss it, which was lovely to feel and 0:06:29.040 --> 0:06:31.539 and our families got to see that and they realize 0:06:31.540 --> 0:06:32.960 now what West Life is and 0:06:33.339 --> 0:06:36.360 it makes them very excited. So it's cool, it's cool 0:06:36.360 --> 0:06:45.750 dad vibes for sure. What are your favorite songs from 0:06:45.750 --> 0:06:47.260 the album? Because I know that you all had a 0:06:47.260 --> 0:06:50.420 hand in different ones and they're very personal to you specifically, 0:06:50.430 --> 0:06:52.800 depending on the member, but if you guys had to 0:06:52.810 --> 0:06:53.560 had to say, 0:06:54.440 --> 0:06:56.000 what would it be? 0:06:56.460 --> 0:06:59.180 Yeah, there's a few. I mean, I think it is actually, 0:06:59.180 --> 0:07:03.110 we're pretty happy with the fact that across the board, 0:07:03.120 --> 0:07:03.460 like 0:07:03.839 --> 0:07:06.300 it wasn't like, you know, in the past, we've we've 0:07:06.300 --> 0:07:09.210 written sort of a few songs on an album, you know, 0:07:09.220 --> 0:07:11.670 everything between one song on an album, to like four 0:07:11.670 --> 0:07:13.920 or five songs on an album. But this time we've 0:07:13.920 --> 0:07:16.300 kind of wrote most of it to be honest with you. 0:07:16.310 --> 0:07:18.670 So we got to kind of say that we've wrote 0:07:18.670 --> 0:07:20.960 the album was supposed to a couple of songs on 0:07:20.960 --> 0:07:23.550 there and we 0:07:23.740 --> 0:07:25.700 I don't know like I mean it kind of changes. 0:07:25.710 --> 0:07:28.260 It changed a lot and we've been very busy and 0:07:28.260 --> 0:07:30.420 promotion the last couple of weeks. So we've been listening 0:07:30.420 --> 0:07:32.660 to Starlight and my hero a lot because we've been 0:07:32.660 --> 0:07:35.210 singing them a lot, but I actually haven't listened to 0:07:35.210 --> 0:07:37.580 the album in a week or two. Whereas for a 0:07:37.580 --> 0:07:39.370 while there I was listening to it about 10 times 0:07:39.370 --> 0:07:42.410 a day, you know, because we're making it picking the 0:07:42.410 --> 0:07:43.310 songs and everything. 0:07:43.320 --> 0:07:45.460 Getting on the final mixes, you keep listening to 0:07:45.460 --> 0:07:46.560 listen. Listen Yeah, 0:07:46.640 --> 0:07:50.030 Was Your Daughter Like Enough Enough Dad, No more of 0:07:50.030 --> 0:07:52.510 the album. They were starting to pick their favorites, which 0:07:52.510 --> 0:07:54.650 was nice to see, you know, I think 0:07:55.140 --> 0:07:57.070 there was different songs on there, as Mark said, you know, 0:07:57.070 --> 0:08:00.370 like but while Dreams as a song, because it's the 0:08:00.370 --> 0:08:01.890 title of the album, it was one of it was 0:08:01.890 --> 0:08:03.410 one of the first songs that we wrote for the 0:08:03.410 --> 0:08:06.660 album and it was that kind of essence of we 0:08:06.660 --> 0:08:09.790 want we want it to be a bit more, you know, upbeat. 0:08:09.790 --> 0:08:11.400 We wanted to be a bit more fun. We wanted 0:08:11.400 --> 0:08:13.050 to be even a bit more contemporary. 0:08:13.240 --> 0:08:15.660 Um and myself and Mark, 0:08:15.740 --> 0:08:18.320 I wrote that song and we started the whole idea, 0:08:18.320 --> 0:08:18.860 kind of 0:08:19.240 --> 0:08:21.600 we were apart and we were sending each other like 0:08:21.600 --> 0:08:23.460 boys notes, guitar notes, different things. 0:08:23.940 --> 0:08:25.470 And it was the song that we wanted to get 0:08:25.470 --> 0:08:27.170 one of the producers have done a couple of songs 0:08:27.170 --> 0:08:29.650 on the album, Grammy. Yeah, cause he was like the 0:08:29.650 --> 0:08:31.620 guy that wrote when You're looking like that back in 0:08:31.620 --> 0:08:34.620 the day, So he's a really, really top world class producer, 0:08:34.620 --> 0:08:36.219 and we thought we'd love to get him involved in 0:08:36.220 --> 0:08:38.730 this album. And that was the song that did it. 0:08:38.730 --> 0:08:39.360 And then 0:08:39.540 --> 0:08:42.290 Fast forward nine months later, it's the name of our album. 0:08:42.290 --> 0:08:44.059 It's the name of our tour. It's 0:08:44.140 --> 0:08:47.179 it's just a very proud feeling as as obviously writers 0:08:47.179 --> 0:08:50.079 and collaborators and, you know, this is our band, you know, 0:08:50.080 --> 0:08:52.100 and as Mark said, you know, a lot of songs 0:08:52.100 --> 0:08:54.010 on there are coming from the band. So, for the 0:08:54.010 --> 0:08:57.280 first time, I think Lockdown gave us the opportunity and 0:08:57.280 --> 0:08:58.560 and Covid and fairness, 0:08:58.940 --> 0:09:02.079 the whole pandemic gave us the opportunity to spend time 0:09:02.080 --> 0:09:04.660 on this album and really take our time and really 0:09:04.660 --> 0:09:07.470 kind of experiment behind closed doors when nobody even knew 0:09:07.470 --> 0:09:11.110 we were making an album. And we found an inner, suppose, 0:09:11.110 --> 0:09:14.280 an inner and inner belief in ourselves and confidence that yeah, 0:09:14.290 --> 0:09:15.700 we can we can do this and we can do 0:09:15.700 --> 0:09:17.059 a lot more of this and we really, 0:09:17.340 --> 0:09:19.860 really enjoy the process of it, which is the most important. 0:09:20.340 --> 0:09:22.839 Oh, that is fantastic. I think we've run out of time, 0:09:22.840 --> 0:09:24.130 but thank you so much and I want to say 0:09:24.130 --> 0:09:26.240 good luck for the tour and we really hope that 0:09:26.240 --> 0:09:27.729 you come here because we've 0:09:27.730 --> 0:09:31.040 missed. We're going to be in Singapore. Very sick. Well, 0:09:31.040 --> 0:09:32.849 I don't know how soon, but very sick. 0:09:32.940 --> 0:09:33.770 We're going 0:09:33.950 --> 0:09:35.969 to, we're definitely going to be there on this tour, 0:09:35.970 --> 0:09:38.490 whatever that were. So stay tuned for news on that too. 0:09:38.500 --> 0:09:40.830 Cannot wait. Thank you so much guys and thank you 0:09:40.830 --> 0:09:42.490 so much for taking the time and have a wonderful 0:09:42.490 --> 0:09:43.309 rest of your day 0:09:43.480 --> 0:09:44.640 to talk to you today. Thank 0:09:44.640 --> 0:09:45.270 you very much.