devilicious – Nikki Webster Press Archive

Take40 Interview

Jul 23, 2009Oct 29, 2014 2009 No Comments

On what Devilicious means: “To me it just means girl power and having fun, and being a little bit cheeky but in a good way, and being a little bit devilish, and really being positive about self-image and being a girl in a nightclub, dancing away and getting rid of your fear.”

“I’m excited, I’m nervous, I’m you know worried about what’s gonna happen with it, but most of all it’s just great to finally be out and for people to be able to download it and start getting feedback.”

On the feedback: “It’s mixed and it was always gonna be mixed and I’m not gonna lie and say, ‘Oh my god it’s all positive!’ But I think we’re definitely breaking some ground. People are really listening to the track for what it is. It’s been four years since anybody’s really heard me sing and I think this track does what it’s supposed to: it showcases my vocals great and shows that I’ve progressed and I’m a pop diva, pop artist now! So it’s good fun.”

“I’m so lucky to have a huge gay following, and you know, one of my dreams is to get a float at Mardi Gras so [laughs] I think it’s great, and I think the great thing about doing pop-dance is you can get different DJ’s to remix the track and it sounds completely different. So I really wanna hit the clubs and start performing this track. I can’t wait to tour.”

Looking back on the young girl that appeared in the opening ceremony, what advice would you give to her if you could talk to her now?

“I’d probably say, ‘Surround yourself with good people.’ And… yeah, I guess I’d say that but I don’t think I’d say anything else because I think the great thing about what I did was the fact that I wasn’t media fed. It was innocent. Everything I did was innocent. There was no, I’ve said it before, there was no handbook, there was no ‘everybody knew what they were gonna do, this is stage-by-stage’. We were just flying, like we had sunglasses on, no-one knew what was coming next. ‘Okay, they called, let’s do that, let’s do that! Okay cool, that sounds fun, why don’t we do that?’ And we just went with it. If we made mistakes, we did, but I don’t live with regret, so I probably would just say, ‘Go out and have a good time and do what you do best and entertain.'”

What do you think about songs like Strawberry Kisses now, these days?

“I love it! I wish I wrote the track! [laughs] The great thing about it is it doesn’t matter how old people are, they still remember the chorus, and to me that’s a great sign of a pop song. I can be out with my friends and young guys will come up and they’ve had a few drinks and they’ll be singing Strawberry Kisses, and yeah they don’t know all the words, but they know the tune, and it amazes me! I’m like, ‘How do you know the tune? It so wouldn’t have been cool when you were 14, 15 to like Nikki Webster.’ So, I mean they’re taking the piss out of me when they’re singing it to me but I kinda get in there and sing it with them and go, ‘This is great!’ So I think it’s one of those songs that has been passed down in generations for some reason. At my dance studio I have five year olds singing it to me and they weren’t even born, so it’s obviously been passed down. It’s a good song.”

Source: Take40.com
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Now & Then – Nikki Webster

Jun 20, 2009Oct 29, 2014 2009 No Comments

The little girl from the Sydney Olympics is all grown up now – like it or not!

Sydney 2000 Olympic Games Opening Ceremony
“I’d been performing in musical theatre since I was five. It was a dream for me to be an entertainer, but I never thought it would come true at the age of 13! I went through five or six months of auditions and got the role of Hero Girl just 15 days before the event. Flying through the air was great fun. I was mainly trying to dodge the flying fish and jellyfish – I actually hit a jellyfish on the night. I wasn’t thinking about all the people watching on TV. Maybe it was a good thing, because I might have freaked out!”

Dancing with the Stars
“This is when I got eliminated [in 2005, after receiving a score of one from judge Todd McKenney]. I didn’t talk to Todd afterwards. Ian Roberts went up and gave him a stern word, and Todd ran away! Sasha (Farber) and I went out for a while, but that’s all in the past. I guess you get caught up in what goes on in the show. They’re such sexual, sensual dances… and you’re spending seven days a week with this person, eight hours a day. It’s inevitable, really. It’s definitely something that, if I was married, I wouldn’t want my husband doing!”

Devilicious
“My single ‘Devilicious’ is a really fun track – so for the promo shots, we wanted to do something a little bit fun, a little bit on the edge. Everyone around me was going, ‘You look great!’ I was like, ‘But it’s bloody uncomfortable!’ I love my shoes in it. I got them in LA after I recorded ‘Devilicious’. With the song coming out and the new shots, people on the street stop me and say, ‘Aren’t you still 12?’ It’s funny. People are always going to have that image, and I don’t want them to forget that – I just want them to accept who I am now as well.

Nikki’s single ‘Devilicious’ is out now.

Source: TV Week
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Nikki Webster Q & A

Jun 18, 2009Oct 21, 2022 2009, Interviews Comments Off

Our Olympic pop sweetheart is pushing her boundaries, writes Cameron Adams.

What has been the reaction to your comeback single Devilicious?
I’ve been working on this track for so long, writing it, contacting the producers, building it up. When you finish it you can’t wait to get it out, but just before that you think, “Oh no, what’s going to happen?” It’s had a mixed reaction, but the people I want to like it are liking it. Everyone else can have their own opinion.

Do you find a lot of people review you before they’ve even heard the new single?
Absolutely. There’s a stigma attached. As soon as some people hear “Nikki Webster” it’s like “Don’t worry about bringing her in” or “We don’t want to play that”. Radio play hasn’t been supportive, but radio interviews have been great.

It must be frustrating, hitting that wall.
Totally, but what am I going to do? All I can do is keep trying other ways and prove – not just to them, but to myself – that I’m an entertainer. I’m not just singing other people’s songs, I’m creating music now. I’m a singer and a songwriter and everything in between.

Is there an easier option?
To break it overseas first. I had that option with the producers I wrote this track with. They were like, “Why do you want to go back?” I said, “I don’t care if they don’t like me, it’s my home. It’s where I represented my country”. I feel Australia is ready for new music from me.

Have you ever wondered why there was such animosity towards you in Australia?
I’ve thought about it long and hard and I have no answers. Maybe I’m too straightforward and simple and they have to create drama. I’ve cried about it, laughed about it, joked about it. I’m at the point now where I don’t really care. I just want to make music and entertain.

You seem a lot more confident now.
I am. That’s from escaping (to LA) for four years and surrounding myself with people who believe in me. The only reason Devilicious is out is because I hunted down people to work with. I sent out emails – “I love your work, do you want to work with me?” – there’s no shame in that. I had to find finance. It’s all me. I’ve always had a record company or someone else to fall back on. Now it’s me saying “Push yourself, Nikki”.

Presumably there’s no baggage being Nikki Webster when you meet producers in America.
That’s refreshing. Sometimes producers Google me – they see it but don’t understand the tall-poppy syndrome. We embrace sports stars; Americans embrace all their talent. They love success. When you meet someone who’s behind you there’s no stopping them. In Australia people are more laid-back. I did Devilicious with Mike Rizzo, who’s a huge DJ in America, and Peter Rafelson, who wrote Open Your Heart for Madonna and has worked with Kylie and Britney. They were really behind this, and that’s really great for your confidence.

You’ve been writing songs. Are there dark moments when you vented against the haters?
I’ve spent four years writing, but a lot of it is self-therapy. I’ll listen back and go “Wow, I was really negative” or “That was when I broke up with that person”. I needed a light-hearted song and that’s where Devilicious came in. Being older helps. I was always 13 or 14 in the studio with producers; we had fun but I was always the kid. Now I’m an adult, I’m dealing with adults.

Can we clarify you are singing “taste my apple, take a bite” in the song?
Yep. I like to push the boundaries a little bit. It’s a little tongue in cheek.

When the video was released, were you surprised that people said you were suddenly sexy? Some people obviously want to freeze-frame you as a little girl from the Olympics.
I’m 22. I’m up against Britney, Lady Gaga and Pussycat Dolls. If I was dressed in a little pink sun-dress singing Devilicious or even Strawberry Kisses, people would say, “Who does she think she is? She’s 22, grow up”. I can’t win. I just have to do what I feel comfortable doing. When I was 18 or 19 I wouldn’t have felt as comfortable being… not as sexy, but as edgy as I am now. I’m a woman now.

Are you still haunted by posing for FHM?
I’m kind of over the question. It wasn’t a porn video but it’s obviously something I’m going to be questioned about forever.

Was it a mistake?
It was a growing thing. It wasn’t Playboy. It did what it needed to do, stirred up some kind of conversation and made people go “Oh, she’s not 13 any more”. It’s not something I’d do again.

You were one of the first celebrities to change their status on Facebook to single and see it become a story in the gossip pages.
I know. I was a virgin to Facebook, I just changed a status and all of a sudden it was in the gossip pages: “Nikki’s had her heart broken!” That was hard to deal with. My friends said, “If you put anything up on Facebook it’ll end up in the press”. I guess the positive is that I’d get Google alerts when I was in LA that people were still writing about me. It was kind of reassuring. I realised people were ready for something new from me, I could still do something in Australia other than RSL clubs.

Source: The Herald Sun
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Darling Nikki

Jun 8, 2009Oct 29, 2014 2009 Comments Off

Dakota Fanning, Macaulay Culkin, Lindsay Lohan, Miley Cyrus… these are the child stars we have come to know and love. Nikki Webster is also part of this pantheon, but her status as a former child star is one often treated with contempt. After all, we as a nation seem to hate anyone who even remotely appears to be a tall poppy, and with her strawberry good looks, her outright luck and wholesome manner, Webster was a perfect candidate.

Not that she’s fallen from grace. It’s unlikely she ever well. But her media breeding seems to be her downfall – people complain that she’s too ‘nice’… whatever that means. But now that she’s grown up – or 22 at least – Webster seems all set to step into the role of a young woman making a name for herself… and how.

In the clip for her new song, Devilicious, Webster can be best described in one simple word: smoking. She’s part Christina via that Dirrrty faze and a whole lotta sassy siren. But the most surprising thing is not her new look – which is very eye catching – but her mature and incredibly developed voice. She may not look yet like a woman completely, but she sure sounds like one.

‘I worry that I’m not edgy enough, because it always seems to end up in the media that you’ve got to go to rehab to make it, which is just horrible,’ Webster told OUTinPerth in a moment of reflection. ‘I think people think I’m very, very nice or very media trained. But that’s just me: I’m real. I find it hard to lie about things. I’m quite open, straight up and off the ball. I am worried though about how the media is skewed and how the only thing that ends up on the front page are horrible images of artists.’

It’s the film clip that has everyone talking since it was leaked on YouTube a month ago, and with just cause too – it’s simply amazing. Not in a technical way, but in a party-happening-right-there-on-your-screen kinda way. ‘I think the good thing about the new film clip is that we never had a story line. So basically all I gave the director and the choreographer was that I wanted a huge warehouse with heaps and heaps of dancers and everybody hot and sweaty.

‘But I didn’t want a love interest and I want everybody mixing with everybody and it just to be full on about dancing. That was the only description and synopsis we had and it just grew from there. Of course my choreographer, William Forsythe, the genius that he is just threw in 120 dancers. It was really incredible to walk into that warehouse and see that many dancers there supporting me.’

So is it a secret ambition for Webster to see herself vying for the tiara as one of pop’s newest princesses? ‘Of course it’s a secret ambition. I want to dominate the music world! But more than anything I just want to have fun. I think I’ve learnt a lot being in the media for so long and being able to take a step back. I’ve learnt to appreciate a lot of things and learnt now to take so many things for granted and not get pushed around either.

‘I don’t know any different,’ she continued. ‘It’s been my life. I’ve been involved in musical theatre and performing since I was five and obviously thrown into the limelight at the age of 13. It is my life and I don’t know any different and I think that’s why I’m so determined to make it work, because I can’t see myself sitting behind a desk. There’s highs, there’s lows. I’ve thought about not coming back quite a few times. It’s been a tough couple of years but I think I’m in a really positive place at the moment. And it’s good and I’m going to run with it as long as I can.’

Scott-Patrick Mitchell

Quick questions with Nikki Webster.

Favourite destination?
Denmark.

Favourite designer?
I’ve been wearing a lot of Master / Slave lately. They make a lot of one offs for me.

Who would your ‘lesbian love lock’ be with?
I think I would have to say that it’s a toss-up between Lady Gaga and Katy Perry.

Maybe both at the same time?
Why not! Let’s do a threesome I say.

Source: Out In Perth

In the Nik of time

Jun 1, 2009Oct 28, 2014 2009, Featured Comments Off

Nikki Webster is proudly showing off ‘the real me’

Let’s get one thing very straight. Nikki Webster has never done drugs, overdosed on booze, disgraced herself at nightspots, dried out in rehab or even suffered from an eating disorder.

Shady figures in nightclub bathrooms have offered her pills. Yes, she once trashed Michael Jackson’s hotel room and Rove McManus pretended to spike her lemonade – but that’s the extent of any scandal in the past of the pint-sized singer.

‘So much can go wrong with young performers crossing over into adult entertainers,’ says Nikki, who flew to global fame in front of billions of TV viewers as ‘Hero Girl’ in the opening ceremony of the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games.

‘I’m so lucky to be doing what I’m doing and not to have faded out or ended up in rehab. On the negative side, that means I’m probably not juicy enough to interest a lot of people…’

What about the uproar over her raunchy shots in men’s magazines? The cruel rumour she paid celebs to attend her 21st birthday party?

Still hurt, Nikki admits she attracts more than her fair share of bitchiness. She doesn’t know why but she defies her critics, saying: ‘Nobody’s ever found me drunk in a ditch, and I guess that’s unusual for someone who’s grown up in the public eye. But I’d rather just be Nikki, who creates controversy without doing anything wrong! I’m quite strong-minded. I don’t do anything I don’t want to do.’

Miss independent

At 13, Nikki resisted record company attempts to straighten her trademark curls. And at 22, she still does things her way, with the independent release of her new single Devilicious on June 12.

‘I’ve put my whole heart into it, and this is the real me – I feel like a virgin in the music industry,’ she grins, enjoying a poke at her squeaky-clean image.

It’s taken Nikki four years of experimentation working in LA and Nashville to discover her new direction. Proudly independent, she was often lonely overseas but learnt a whole new appreciation of her Sydney family – parents Mark and Tina, and brother Scott, 24.

‘I tried writing country music and went down the rock road,’ she says. ‘But Devilicious was a natural progression. This is who I am. I’m very pop and dance-based.’

All work, no play

Dancing With The Stars’ Todd McKenney, who gave Nikki one out of 10 for the tango during her 2005 stint on the show, may beg to differ. Yet Nikki got the last laugh, as she often does, by sashaying into a romance with dance partner Sasha Farber until travel and career tore their two-step apart.

‘Yes, I’m single,’ says Nikki, who runs a dance school with her brother. ‘Sasha and I are still very close friends but there was no time to see each other, and I was too young to get locked down.

‘I’ve been in a relationship with my music and dance for the past year or so – I can’t find anyone!’

For the record, her ideal man would be as driven and focused as her, sexy – ‘abs are nice’ – and have a great sense of humour. She says: ‘One day I’d like to have a wonderful man who appreciates me for who I am, and a house with a courtyard and, hopefully, lots of healthy children.

But firstly, I’d like my dance studio to grow and grow, and open branches around Australia. Maybe my music will take off and be given a chance in Europe and America. That would be great.’

Nikki sighs, doubtful she will ever really be given a fair go, then her bounce returns: ‘I don’t really plan for the future. I don’t even know what I’m doing next week.

‘I’d love to get more involved with charities, giving something back for the health I’ve got.’ Her record may be Devilicious, but Nikki still hasn’t released her inner demon.

Source: New Idea
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Sydney Olympics darling Nikki Webster turns up the heat

May 24, 2009Nov 1, 2014 2009 Comments Off

NIKKI Webster has returned to making music – with a grown-up, raunchy new image.

Webster – who is 22 – is about to release a new single called Devilicious, which is accompanied by a risque film clip of the type commonly associated with a Britney Spears or Christina Aguilera.

For Webster, it’s a far cry from the 12-year-old girl who wowed the world during the opening ceremony of the 2000 Sydney Olympics.

On the new single she sings: “All the boys want to kiss me and the girls can’t resist me.”

Webster said the content of the song and film clip reflected her age – she was grown up.

“It wasn’t strategic, it wasn’t like, ‘Oh my God, we’ve got to make it risky’,” she said of the new look and sound.

“But I’m not afraid to say things.

“I’ve grown up now, I’ve experience a lot in my life.

“It’s a bit cheeky, a bit suggestive. But it has to be, the title is Devilicious.”

Webster recorded the track in Los Angeles and it is the first thing she has done musically in four years.

She spends half her time in Los Angeles after refocusing following some serious backlash a few years after she was the darling of the nation after the Olympics.

She said Los Angeles was a sanctuary as she thought about the next step in her career.

Luke Dennehy

Source: Sunday Herald Sun
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Nikki channels the devil inside

May 19, 2009Oct 29, 2014 2009 Comments Off

When I was offered an interview with Nikki Webster, I was sceptical. Not that I was questioning her talent, but as a kid I was jealous of her for living the life I dreamed of. That she sang with Kylie at the 2000 Olympics just killed me.

Webster has faced a lot of backlash. The media have questioned her music and career choices and there’s no doubt the general populace was more critical than supportive of her.

Regardless of her past, the singer is back stronger than ever. Thanks to her gay fans — and an appearance at Sleaze Ball in 2007 — she has been inspired to move into dance music.

After spending the past three years in LA, Webster has come back to Australia with Devilicious — a high-camp, raunchy song.

Sydney Star Observer caught up with the singer between outfit changes at an exclusive photo shoot at The Basement.

“Devilicious is about having fun and a little bit about being a woman and walking into a club. It’s a bit tongue-in-cheek and hopefully a great dance track,” Webster said.

“We started with typical dance electronic beats and built on from that. You know I’m a bit of a devil sometimes and naughty as well, so why not be a little bit ‘devilicious’. ”

The tough part for Webster has been dropping the ‘cute kid’ label and succeeding in getting the public to see her as a mature woman.

“It’s fucking horrible. It’s hard because I love what I do and it’s just not about giving me a go because I expect people to have judgement,” she said.

“But before they listen to it, they are like ‘it’s going to flop’ or ‘Nikki Webster and dance track equals a flop’.

“The hardest thing to lose is the tall poppy syndrome more than having been a child star. It’s people making negative assumptions before they have given it a go — it’s an automatic rule that is put up in front of everybody when they hear my name.

“After the Olympics, Kylie and I were quite close and she was a bit scared for me. She told me stuff, and she knew what was to come and of course she was right.”

But what to do? Escape the country, like Tina Arena, in order to chase success?

Webster said the thought of taking on a bigger market has come to mind, but Australia is her home and she really is just a Sydney girl at heart with big dreams.

“I’ve only lived here and I miss home and now I have the dance studio and I missed that. I love travelling and being able to come home,” she said.

“Having time off has allowed me to get my head clear and work out who I want to be and not take myself so seriously. I am quite a shy person but when I’m on stage I’m an entertainer.

“I used to worry what people are thinking and there were nights when I did go home and cry but now this is me and I’m not trying to impress everybody and I just want to have fun.”

But right now Webster has her sights firmly set on the lucrative gay music market — and, all going well, Devilicious will be her ticket back to the top of the charts.

“The gay community has supported me through thick and thin. You know the reason I chose to go dance pop was because I love to go to gay clubs and dance,” Webster said.

“Being in a gay club made me realise where I wanted to be musically. My dream for 2010 is to have a float at Mardi Gras — it’s not too big a dream but hopefully I will see you all next year.”

info: Devilicious is out now on iTunes. For more details visit nikkiwebster.com.au.

Author: Sunny Burns
Source: Star Observer

Webster makes comeback tilt

May 4, 2009Oct 29, 2014 2009 Comments Off

Sydney Olympics darling Nikki Webster is making a musical comeback, five years after her last release.

Webster, now 22, is set to release a new single next month, an upbeat pop dance track called Devilicious.

Having used producers who have worked with the likes of Madonna, Britney Spears, Beyonce and Akon, she says she’s excited about the release.

“I’m really excited about this track as it’s my first in five years and I hope everyone enjoys listening to it as much as I did making it,” she says.

Webster, best known for her starring role in the opening ceremony of the 2000 Olympics, released her third album Let’s Dance in 2004. The following year she released a greatest hits album.

She ended her record contract shortly after, and since then has appeared in musicals and opened a performing arts studio with her brother.

Source: The Age

Why is Nikki our national punchline?

Mar 1, 2009Oct 29, 2014 2009 Comments Off

Nikki Webster’s BACK with a new single – OK, control yourself…

“Really!? Why?” asks my partner, who’s laughing as I tell him that today I’ll be interviewing former child star Nikki Webster. This reaction has been pretty standard, really. You’re probably laughing too, right? Let’s be honest; we’ve made a national punchline out of the poor girl since she hit puberty. So, where is she now? Back in Sydney after a stint in LA recording her new album, Nikki now spends her time as director of her dance school, Dance @ Nikki Webster, working the gay nightclub circuit with a sexed up remix of Strawberry Kisses, and planning her musical comeback which will hit the airwaves this summer.

A household face and name at just 13 when she starred in the opening ceremony of the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games, “Brand Nikki” soon went into overdrive. Within two years she’d signed a contract with BMG releasing her debut album, Follow Your Heart (featuring the infamous Strawberry Kisses), launched a tween makeup range, snagged a clothing line for five- 10-year-olds through Kmart and starred as Dorothy in the Australian stage production of The Wizard of Oz. Somewhere in there, Nikki’s public image underwent a metamorphosis – going from cute to spectacularly uncool.

“I don’t think I ever saw a positive story after I was 14,” says Nikki, now 21, as we sit in the lounge room of her family home, where she’s living with her parents and older brother Scott. “I’m at a point now where I laugh at it – people are still talking about me, that has to be good!” she jokes as she tells me of a gag at her expense at the 2008 ARIA Awards. “I think it’s funny and I laugh it off, but if I look back it has made me quite insecure. I think in the long-term it has created a false sense of who I am. Now that I’m older and going out I’ll meet people and they say, ‘Oh! I had the completely wrong impression of you!’ Every time I meet someone I have to break down a wall so they’ll accept me,” she says.

From bad press to worse

In her mid teens the recording contract was nearing its end. “Kids at school would ask, ‘So, what are you doing now your career is over?'” While Nikki believed she had more to give the entertainment industry, she struggled to find her new place in it as an adolescent. “Suddenly, Barbie magazine didn’t want to put me on the cover,” she says of the tween mag she had previously fronted three times. “I asked who was on the cover that month and they told me it was Paris Hilton – it was right around the time her porno come out. They said I was too ‘nice.'” Nikki’s management advised her to disappear for a while and come back sexy. “I wanted to fill the gap, but they didn’t know how to market me.” The gap Nikki refers to is the void between child star and sex symbol, currently being filled by the likes of High School Musical stars Ashley Tisdale and Vanessa Hudgens.

If at first you don’t succeed…

Despite not seeing herself as sexy, Nikki accepted an offer from FHM to star in a raunchy photo shoot to celebrate her 18th birthday. She saw it as a cheeky coming-of-age move, but the public were weirded out seeing the “Little girl from the Olympics” in lingerie. Again, she encountered ridicule when the pre-Photoshoped images were released by email. Her 21st birthday would be no different. Radio hosts Hamish & Andy played a practical joke on unsuspecting C-grade celebs, posing as Nikki’s publicist and inviting them to her OK! Magazine birthday bash for a fee. Nikki finally cracked and called the radio station, Austereo, but in a bungle was connected to Triple M’s confused Wil & Lehmo whom she berated live on air. “So, you thought you’d take the piss the whole afternoon…” The rent-a-crowd blooper hit the blogosphere and, predictably, we pissed ourselves.

What’s so funny, anyway?

Whether it’s due to tall poppy syndrome, jealousy from a generation of kids who once wished they were her, or public irritation at her refusal to be “cool”, is unclear. Sitting here on her mum’s couch, Nikki is sweet and polite. She talks passionately about her dance school and her role mentoring the kids who hope to follow in her footsteps. She even has the time of day for comedians who’ve used her name for cheap laughs. “Some of them come up and apologise [when we cross paths]. I just tell them I appreciate [it],” she says. Not Rove McManus, though. “If we’re ever in the same room he runs away from me. I think he feels bad, or maybe he thinks I’m going to have a go at him.”

No matter your opinion of Nikki, she has built a successful business at the age of 21 and, despite constant ridicule, and still laugh it off when dickheads come up to her singing Strawberry Kisses at the pub. This summer, Nikki releases the first single off her new album. “I’m happy with [it],” she says. “I know there’s going to be controversy and horrible stories, but I can be humble and… laugh about it. And then there are the moments on stage where I think, ‘Yeah, I can handle this.'”

Caelia Corse

Source: Cosmopolitan
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