If you haven’t heard of new girl band Four Of Diamonds, you will.
Not only have the foursome just signed a five album deal with Virgin, the first girl band do so since the Spice Girls, been recording with Jonas Blue and releasing their first single Name On It, but they are also appearing at The Big Feastival this weekend.
Which would explain the exuberant mood of the girls when we speak.
In full festival season mode, the four girls; Caroline Alvares, Yasmin Broom, Lauren Rammell and Sophia Saffarian, who competed in the 13th series of X Factor in 2016, have been travelling all over the country performing for the past few months, and this weekend is no different.
“It’s been amazing. Festivals are great because people don’t just go to see one artist, so you get some great crowds who won’t necessarily have heard of you.
“It means the first song is really important, so that you get everyone on board. After that the crowd just gets into it and try out their dance moves.
“It’s the nicest thing and we get quite a lot of new fans that way, ” Yasmin says.
So do the girls get nervous beforehand? “Yes, but Caro is good at getting us pumped up, and once we get out there it’s great because it’s what we are here for, what we love doing.”
It made us realise that all these people in the charts that we put on a pedestal are just normal people
So what’s been Four Of Diamonds’ favourite gig this summer? “Probably British Summertime in Hyde Park.”
And they they all burst out in unison: “We met Lionel Richie. We were on before him and he came over and had a really long chat just before he was due on stage.
“We had to get dragged away because he had to perform,” they shout out together.
“We were so starstruck but he was so nice. He said it as like talking to the Spice Girls, and we thought we’ll take that’, ” they laughed again. “He was bigging us up. Can you believe it?
“It was like someone was sprinkling gold dust down on us, so yes we were really buzzing afterwards. It topped off the day nicely.”
And what of being compared to The Spice Girls. Predictable? Flattering? Relevant? “It’s always a huge compliment but they are big shoes to fill,” Yasmin accedes.
“I went to see the reunion concert this year. I was in my element. I grew up listening to them so I was singing along and it was quite emotional,” Lauren adds.
“But we can relate to them now – what they have said about being in a band, and how they rely on each other, about never feeling lonely, because you have people to enjoy the experience with you. We understand what they meant.”
And do they feel an onus to carry that on? “The Spice Girls started the whole Girl Power movement, and Little Mix are amazing……,” then the Four Of Diamonds all pause before exploding: “I mean where have all the girl bands gone? We need to get them back.”
Isn’t that the point though? To be the new girl band of the future? “We have worked so hard. We only got a development deal with Virgin to start with so we had to wait five months to see if we would be taken on. We were all living together but we had to really prove ourselves and our worth….”
They obviously played it right judging by the five album deal. “Yes but we can’t stop now. We love every moment, but we have to keep going.”
So how was it recording their first album with Jonas Blue? (the multi-million selling artist/producer and 2018 BRIT award nominee who has executive produced their debut album). Another round of shrieks. “Well, it was good and bad. Good because it was him, and he was the first real A-Lister we have worked with.
“And bad because we were all so nervous that all our vocals were all over the place to begin with,” they howl at the memory.
“But he was so nice and normal, and on board with what we were doing and it made us realise that all of these people in the charts that we put on a pedestal are just normal people.
“So we are determined to stay the same and always say hello to people and be as down-to-earth as possible.”
So let’s talk about first single Name On It. “Name On It is about walking away from something that isn’t benefitting you – whether it’s a guy or a job or anything really.
“I feel like every girl has experienced that or will at some point,” says Lauren.
“Value yourself, if he doesn’t want you, he’s not worth it. Someone else does want you,” adds Yasmin. “It’s important to be powerful,” she continues, “We have a responsibility really, anyone who has a platform does. Our song is about standing up for yourself.”
“We hope that all of our songs are empowering and that their message comes across easily. For us it’s all about equality,” Lauren adds.
“And that motivates us to do more, and do it better, because everything is so exciting.”
As for the downsides to the music industry, Lauren says; “We honestly haven’t experienced any yet. But we feel as though we are prepared. And we know how to look after ourselves. But more than anything we have each other.”
As for the future, the girls were uncharacteristically tightlipped. “All we can say is that we’ve got an incredibly exciting few months coming up, but we can’t say why. But there’s some new music coming,” Yasmin promised.
As the girls have been in the studio with some top names, from Dua Lipa’s Caroline Ailin, to Ed Drewett (Jonas Blue), as well as Freedo (Zara Larsson), Cutfather (Little Mix, Pussycat Dolls), Grades (Khalid), Tre Jean-Marie ( Mabel) and Jin Jin (Jess Glynne), the future looks bright.
And in the meantime, there’s The Big Feastival. We can’t hang around unfortunately, because we are playing Manchester Pride on Sunday, but we will give it everything we’ve got.”
Four Of Diamonds are appearing at Big Feastival on Saturday August 24.
The Big Feastival runs from August 23-25 August. For more info and tickets go to
thebigfeastival.com
