“I Met Nikki Webster”

D-Girl reader Edwina was lucky enough to be our roving celeb reporter, and got to interview one of her fave singers, Nikki Webster!

DG: How many music lessons do you have a year?
N: Probably one a week but sometimes none, so it just depends. If I’m performing, my performances are kind of my music lessons I suppose.

DG: When you were in The Wizard of Oz how did you go to school?
N: When I was doing Wizard of Oz I had a full-time tutor. My school work was sent home and I worked with the tutor. He also went to the shows with me. But otherwise, I go to school.

DG: Do you have any pets?
N: I do. I have two dogs. One called Star and one called Princess. I have a bird called Cheeky and I have a fish called Angelwings. I also have a duck who doesn’t live with me anymore, but his name is Quackers.

DG: I like wearing the Nikki Webster clothes. Do you design them?
N: I do. I design them straight from when I’m drawing them on a piece of paper, to seeing them designed on the computer, to actually seeing them made, and then seeing you walking around in them.

DG: What is your latest album Let’s Dance like?
N: It’s mostly dance but it’s got a kind of rock feel. Basically, it’s for people who like to dance, so it’s full of really upbeat songs. There are six original songs that have been written specially for the album and six remakes. It’s different from my last album because it has a story to it, and really different beats and perspectives.
Continue reading “I Met Nikki Webster”

Smells like tween spirit

Nikki Webster is now 17, but is she acting her age? Craig Mathieson reports.

In an empty auditorium at the Yarraville Club, Nikki Webster is singing to her past. Standing on stage, running through Somewhere Over the Rainbow as part of her pre-show soundcheck, the 17-year-old pop star is clad in black: leather jacket, jeans and boots.

A few metres to her right, on a large video screen, is an image of herself as a 13-year-old, all perfect teeth and an explosion of pink. She’s older now but her image is still the sweetly precocious girl thrust into the public eye at the opening ceremony of the 2000 Sydney Olympics.

It’s the last day of the Victorian leg of Webster’s latest national tour, which has taken in locations from Ballarat to Ferntree Gully. She hits the road during school holidays; shows are at either 11am or 2pm – sometimes both – and feature Webster singing, in a strong voice for her size, over a recorded backing track while four dancers run through choreographed routines behind her.

It’s a sturdy business framework. Nikki Webster is already a brand name. She’s released three albums, appeared in musicals and now has a signature clothing range. A new line, designed by Webster, appears every two months, in competition with the range by America’s titans of tween, 18-year-old twins Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen. Continue reading Smells like tween spirit