Write your own pop songs!

Ever wanted to create your own song from scratch? We asked a couple of our friends, Nikki and Mandy, to tell us how they do it! So what are you waiting for? Get writing!

Nikki Webster

TG: Do you write any of your own songs?
N: I’m just starting to at the moment – there might be one or two on my new album. I have been working with a producer though, writing my own songs…

TG: Has it been a good experience?
N: Yeah, I mean it’s just another area to explore, I like it and will see what I can learn from it.

TG: So how do you start writing a song?
N: I start with the words, but obviously first of all you have to have an idea of what you want the song to be about. Every day something comes into your head and you just jot down words and then I meet with my producer. He’s a good piano player so we mix up a theme and a melody and go from there.

TG: Has there been a song that changed your life?
N: Christina’s “Beautiful”. I love listening to that song.
Continue reading Write your own pop songs!

Nikki takes on the big girls of pop

There are now clothes to match the music, and the tweens love it, Christine Sams writes.

Collette Dinnigan, Akira Isogawa, Peter Morrissey . . . and, er, Nikki Webster. OK, perhaps it’s a stretch to compare the Australian pop starlet with some of the nation’s esteemed designers, but 16-year-old Webster has entered the world of fashion with her own clothing range.

At Kmart stores across the country, tween girls are snapping up Nikki Webster jeans, skirts and dance wear. The official launch of the range has been timed to coincide with the release of Webster’s new single, a cover version of Dancing In The Street.
Continue reading Nikki takes on the big girls of pop

So Fresh interview

Best thing about being Nikki Webster?
The best thing about being me is, um, getting to do things I love doing at such a young age. Getting to make music and, you know, just making people smile.

Tell us about Dancing In The Street?
The whole album that’s coming out in February has got quite a few remakes of old songs, and also quite a few original songs. So we wanted to make Dancing in the Street our own style and we did that really well, and it was a song we couldn’t get out of our heads.

What’s changed since your first two albums?
I think the process is a lot more fun. You know, we spend more time in the recording studio and we’re allowed to try things, and I try things with my voice and just see what works, and I have a lot more creative input into what goes onto the album.

How do you balance your career and school?
Well I still go to school, I’ve got one more year to go after this year, so that’s pretty exciting. Um, I think just having a great group of friends around me. They’re the ones that keep my feet on the ground.

If you weren’t being an entertainer?
My mum’s a childcare worker, so I’ve been around her childcare center ever since I was born I think, so um, definitely maybe helping children complete their dreams and just making people happy. That’s what I’d like to be doing.

Your critics?
I think they need to get to know me first. Um, a lot of people who say, you know, mean things about me don’t really know me. So most of the people that I’ve met know that I’m a really down-to-earth 16-year-old and that I’m just happy doing what I’m doing.

Screencaps: Gallery

Too sexy . . . or too young?

By Kristy Sexton

AN ADADEMIC has blasted as “cultural pedophilia” the inclusion of child pop star Nikki Webster un a magazine’s list of sexy women.

The schoolgirl, who turned 16 three weeks ago, was placed No. 96 in men’s magazine FHM’s 100 sexiest woman poll.

University of the Sunshine Coast senior lecturer in popular culture Karen Brooks said tagging Webster with a “sexy” label was alarming. “In light of what has been happening with the events surrounding the Governor-General, I find it fascinating that there are all of these concerns about paedophilia and here we have a leading magazine in Australia claiming a girl who looks no older than 12 is sexy,” Dr Brooks said.

“We are engaging in a type of cultural pedophilia. When we put young girls that look like they are under the age of consent and portray them in a sexual way, that is wrong.”

Dr Brooks said the marketing of padded bras and G-strings at girls under 10 and portraying teenagers such as Webster in a sexual way were “all connected”.

People who marketed the lingerie at children should have “a good, long, hard look at themselves… The crazy thing is it’s the spillover effect and mums wanting a ‘mini-me’,” she said.

Child development expert Elspeth McInnes urged mothers to monitor their children’s clothing choices. She called low-cut T-shirts and bras a “pedophile’s paradise.”

“The wholw notion of training younger girls to present themselves sexually and to think about their sexual presentation is very, very dangerous,” Dr McInnes said.

“We’re not going to stop pedophilia by banning sexy lingerie for children but we don’t need to train our kids to present for them.”

FHM editor John Bastick defended the inclusion of Webster on the list as “a bit of fun”.

“Every year the guys vote for very weird things,” Mr Bastick said.

“I don’t think (Nikki Webster) is sexy, not at all. When she fills out a bit in a year or two, she could be; with a bit of styling and a good bit of marketing, she could be very attractive.

“We wouldn’t normally put her in but we had to check her age and she is 16 so that’s why she went in.

“It’s a bit of fun. That’s all it is.”

Webster’s spokeswoman Lisa Hamilton said Webster was unable to be interviewed “because she’s in school and busy with exams.”

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My Favourite Thing

NIKKI WEBSTER, performer

The Sydney Olympics may have forever etched Nikki Webster into the national psyche, but for the ambitious pint-sized performer her achievement with hit single Strawberry Kisses in 2001 remains a clear personal highlight. The single went gold within 10 days of its debut on the Australian charts, and stayed at number two for an impressive eight weeks. Reminding her of this career high are the pink maybe-real-maybe-fake leather boots that she wore for the song’s video clip.

“I think they might have brought me a bit of luck,” she says, “because of how well Strawberry Kisses went. You know, I don’t think I’ll get rid of them, even if I grow out of them. It’s a memory that I’ll always hold . . .of that day doing the film clip.”

Webster is a self-confessed fashion junkie but cannot remember exactly where she bought the boots – it was somewhere in Sydney – but says she chose them because they went so well with the pink plastic outfit she had already picked out.

“I saw them and they were really different. It was a few years ago, I think a lot of the same boots are out now, in different colours and stuff, but when I saw them they were just coming out and they were really different. I went, `Wow, that’s cool!’. . . and they’re really comfy.”

She sees her success with Strawberry Kisses as one of the many “stepping stones” on her way to developing her career, getting her music overseas and, ultimately, making her country proud.

Having just released a new song and video clip, I Want To Be Like You for Disney’s The Jungle Book 2 movie soundtrack, Webster is on the publicity and promotional trail again, with interview spots and appearances on pay TV and free-to-air planned. Webster enjoys this process and is certainly not fazed by appearing on television. She feels right at home, it seems.

“I enjoy talking and – I think a lot of people see that – I enjoy my work . . . It feels like second nature to me. I mean, everybody is down to earth, it’s like having a normal chat!”

Peter Barrett

Source: The Age
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Nikki Webster heads into the Jungle!

Nikki Webster has just recorded a cool new version of the Disney classic ‘I Wanna Be Like You’ for the ‘Jungle Book 2’ soundtrack (instores April 7). We asked her about the experience and some other fun things!

Total Girl: Was it fun recording ‘I Wanna Be Like You’?
Nikki Webster: I had a great time recording ‘I Wanna Be LIke YOu’ as it has a great tune, and it is a very happy song!

TG: If you lived in the jungle, what animal would you be?
NW: If i lived in the jungle I would probably like to be a snake so I could slither around and spy on everyone and listen to their conversations without them noticing me.

TG: Did you enjoy playing Dorothy in ‘The Wizard Of Oz’?
NW: I loved playing Dorothy in the ‘Wizard Of Oz’, it was an experience I’ll never forget. I also enjoyed getting to travel with the show as I got to meet alot of you guys in my travels.

TG: What’s your favourite song to dance to?
NW: My favourite song and dance apart from the one in ‘I Wanna Be Like You’ clip is probably the Ketchup Dance as it’s easy and you can all groove along to it!

TG: Who do you admire most?
NW: I don’t admire only one person, I admire everyone a little bit as we all have different qualities.

TG: Who would you most like to perform with?
NW: I’d like to do a duet with someone like Justin Timberlake as I think he has a fantastic voice, but then again I’m not picky! (hehehe)

TG: Favourite all time ever movie?
NW: My favourite movies would have to be ’10 Things I Hate About You’ and ‘I Am Sam’

TG: What’s the best thing about being a girl?
NW: The best thing about being a girl is that you can have girl’s only slumber parties and chats.

TG: Do you have any pets?
NW: I have two dogs called Star and Princess and a duck named Quakers.

TG: What was the last movie you saw?
NW: The last movie i saw would have to be ‘Jungle Book 2’ (what a coincidence!)

TG: Would you ever appear in a reality tv show?
NW: It depends on what type of show it was. If it was something like ‘Survivor’ I think I could survive.

TG: Do you have any advice for the Total Girl Online readers who want to be performers?
NW: To all the total girls out there make sure that you follow your dreams and work hard at whatever you want to be. Remember that if it’s in your heart you can achieve anything. GO GIRLS!

Love Always, Nikki Webster

‘Jungle Book 2’ soundtrack hits stores on April 7. Don’t forget to enter our ‘Jungle Book 2’ pack giveaway!!

Source: totalgirl.com.au