ALL SAINTS ALL IN
1990s girl group reunites for a ‘very honest’ fourth album,
As kids growing up in Toronto and Hamilton, Nicole and Natalie Appleton would belt out tunes by Madonna, Taylor Dayne, Whitney Houston and Wham! in their bedrooms. Flash-forward about 30 years and they’re pop icons in their own right, having shot to slinky-pop fame in the late ’90s as half of the girl group All Saints.
Nearly 19 years after hits “I Know Where It’s At” and “Never Ever” cemented them as the Pepsi to the Spice Girls’ Coke, the group has reunited for its fourth album, Red Flag.
“Lyrically it’s a very honest, true album,” says Natalie, 42. The debut single, the slow-burn dance groove “One Strike,” was written by All Saints’ Shaznay Lewis about an hours-long phone call she had with Nicole, 41, after her then-husband, Liam Gallagher of Oasis, told her he was expecting a child with an American journalist. Nicole filed for divorce in April 2014.
“It brought tears to my eyes,” says Natalie of when she first heard the song.
“I knew what it was about. I didn’t cry because of the song. I cried because I remember. I went through it with my sister. We were there when it all happened. It just reminded me of what happened at the time, so of course it’s emotional.”
She finds the bridge, which includes the stripped-back, sing-spoken lines “I don’t want to stay, time to go/I don’t want to be in this home,” particularly poignant. “That’s the bit that gets to me,” she says quietly.
Nicole swears she’s not joking when she says it’s Gallagher’s favourite song on the album. “He’s the biggest All Saints fan!” she insists. “Always!”
Working on their first album since 2006’s poorly received Studio 1, Nicole says the foursome, which also includes her childhood best friend Melanie Blatt, speak their own language in the studio.
“We share this really silly sense of humour,” says Natalie. For example, in studio, Nicole is known as the Fonz. “She looks like a Fonz!” insists Natalie.
During their hiatus, both Nicole and Natalie put their musical lives on the back burner. “I felt like the industry can be a bit daunting at times, so I enjoyed putting that on the shelf for awhile,” says Natalie.
“I was just a mom,” says Nicole, who has a 14-year-old son with Gallagher, Gene, who plays drums and guitar and loves rock music. “It was nice to walk away from it for a bit. It was nice to have a little bit of me time and a little bit of son time.”
But it’s All Saints’ camaraderie that has brought them back together.
“It’s just been amazing,” says Natalie. “I’m just so grateful and fortunate that I get to see my sister every day and I get to see my best friends every day.”