Popstars II: Over to Oz

Has life been true bliss for the Aussie version of the Popstars telly-created music biz phenomenon? KATHERINE TULICH reports.

This week the five girls of Bardot have been entrenched in an inner-city Sydney rehearsal studio practising for their first full-length live concert.

Their performance will be filmed for a one-hour Popstars special to be screened in Australia tomorrow night and here on Tuesday week. The day after sees the release of their album Bardot and with advance orders of 100,000, it will no doubt, like their single Poison, rocket straight to the number one position on the Australian charts.

When it comes to the pop charts, a "sure-fire hit" is often promised but only seldom delivered. When it comes to Popstars, the formula is undeniable - massive TV exposure through a voyeuristic docusoap equals massive record sales.

The New Zealand-born concept has proved once again it works but what Bardot have yet to attain, and what their New Zealand counterparts True Bliss are struggling to achieve, is longevity.

But from the glowing praise Bardot have been receiving from a mostly fawning media, and in the opinion of their minders and masterminders Warner Music and Grant Thomas Management, Bardot could well be on their way to international, not just parochial, success.

They are already counting the New Zealand success of the show as exhibit one. There's also hot interest for the show and the band in South-east Asia, and the TV production company, Screentime, is currently flogging the show to other overseas markets.

While the initial 13 episodes of Popstars have been extended by two more (the last episode will feature the girls travelling to New Zealand - they're here between May 7 and 13), the show wrap up within in a month in Australia. Then the hard work begins to keep the momentum going without the benefit of an average 2.4 million viewers glued to their TV sets every Sunday night watching the girls.

Warner Music managing director and Popstars selector, Chris Moss, goes so far as to claim Bardot could single-handedly save the Australian music industry.

"CD sales are low. We are experiencing a very soft market at the moment. What we needed was a phenomenon that brings people back into record stores. Bardot has done that," he says confidently, citing figures that have their first single Poison at sales of 60,000 a week, as opposed to the 30,000 a week that had previously been the mark of a number one song on the Australian charts.

But the machinations were well in place to ensure the success of the Popstars. As well as Warner Music and Grant Thomas Management (whose previous clients include most incarnations of the Finn brothers from SplitEnz to Crowded House, and OMC) looking after the music and management side, tabloid magazine New Idea was given exclusive access to the band to build the ongoing hype and Austereo (Australia's largest FM radio network) were also enlisted in the project, ensuring radio airplay.

The objective was to have not only a successful TV show but a world-class music act as well.

"I think we learnt from the New Zealand show. They were recording a song a day but we've had a lot more time to prepare the songs and spent time in the recording process to get the quality we needed," says another of the Popstars selectors, now their manager, Michael Napthali.

"Our company [Grant Thomas Management] would not have got involved if the music didn't come first. The TV show has been a great launching pad, but we are in it for the long haul."

The ongoing juggernaut will include a national concert tour, a promotional visit to South-east Asia, upcoming TV specials, video package releases and licensing products, including a Bardot clothes label.

Moss sits in his Warner's office playing tracks from the Bardot album and pinpointing second and third singles. The first album isn't even in the stores but a second album is already being discussed with the likely inclusion of song-writing efforts from the girls themselves (they are signed to a three- album deal).

"Popstars is a TV programme, but Bardot is an act and we are treating them in that way. We weren't going to sign an act that wasn't worthy," he says. "There was a lot more to the audition process than was shown on TV - we really assessed their character and their ability so we would get it right. But obviously for one we got it wrong."

Moss is referring to original member Chantelle Barry who was dumped in controversial circumstances. "She came across as such a confident person. We didn't spot the problems until she started working and living with the other girls."

Barry's ignominious departure may have caused a ratings surge with many media speculating it was staged deliberately, but Moss felt it put the whole project at great risk.

"We agreed the best way to handle it was to protect Chantelle. We felt we had a moral obligation not to expose her too much, but then New Idea blew the roof by running with the story of her departure," he says. "I thought they were being irresponsible - they could have found themselves with an unstable 19-year-old girl at the bottom of the harbour the day the story came out."

New Idea broke the story that Barry was caught pilfering money from the purses of the other girls. Editor Bunty Avieson stands by the decision. "It was the story and we had to report it. Our lawyers cleared it so we ran with it," she says.

While Barry denied the claims in a TV interview she has not sought to clear her name or take action against New Idea. In fact, she has used the incident to propel her own solo career, recording demos and scouting for her own record deal.

Which may be the point, or the irony, of the whole Popstars exercise. While the chosen five bathe in the glory, those who did not quite make the cut are utilising their brush with TV fame. The five who were not chosen from the final 10 have already formed their own band, Poptarts, and appear regularly on a weekly TV comedy show, Good News Week, to great acclaim.

Rival record company Festival Mushroom Group utilised the TV audition process to scout their own band. They have brought together three of the hopefuls, Dorothy Ghettuba, Natalie Sexton and Cara Tobin (all early rejects), to form a group called Tatu.

"We chose them according to their vocal talents not their popstar looks or their dance moves," says A&R director Peter Karpin. Their first single, already recorded and released, is appropriately titled Imperfect Girl.

It seems Andy Warhol was right. Everyone gets their 15 minutes of fame. Or in some cases, their 22 minutes plus ad breaks.