New Kimberly Interview

"When I grow up, I wanna be famous, I wanna be a star..." sing the Pussycat Dolls on their part-autobiographical, part-satirical new single. With their debut album selling seven million copies and yielding no fewer than five top ten hits, there's little doubt that the girls' dream came true. We called up Kimberly Wyatt - the Doll on the left with the funky haircut - to find out more about album number two.

The new single seems to be rather tongue-in-cheek. Was that the intention?

"Um, I think we try not to take ourselves too seriously ever, but at the same time it does stand for a pretty big message that we've all lived through. We always believed in our dreams and our passions and as little girls we always just shot for the stars. This track's like a life story."

A lot of people think you're singing, 'When I grow up I wanna have boobies...'

"Oh yeah, everybody everywhere is thinking it might possibly be boobies. It's actually 'When I grow up I wanna have groupies', but I guess I wanted boobies when I was growing up too so it's fine!"

Maybe it's the shots of boobies in the video that's confusing people.

"Haha! The video was a lot of fun to shoot, but it was also a lot of hard work. I think we made climbing scaffolding look a lot easier than it really was."

Do you know why Britney got cut from the video?

"I honestly am not so sure. You shoot a lot of things when you do a video. Some things stay in but other things don't make the cut and Britney just didn't make it. I've seen a little clip of her performance and she looked adorable so I really wish she was in it! Hopefully we'll work together in the future."

What can we expect from the new album?

"Really it's Pussycat Dolls to the next power. We worked with some really great producers - Rodney Jerkins, Sean Garrett, Cee-Lo Green, Timbaland. There's some really uptempo, fun songs but there's also songs that show the sensitive side of the Pussycat Dolls. We've messed around with a lot of genres."

What sort of genres?

"Well, there are songs that show the more vulnerable side of the Pussycat Dolls. The sound is something different than we've really done before, it's a little more Coldplay-ish. It's kinda got an indie-rock vibe."

Only Nicole had writing credits on the first album. Did you all contribute this time?

"We definitely all had input. We're all artists and we're all very creative people and at the end of the day we just want what's best for the group. This album's really awesome because there's going to be a special edition where each of us gets a chance to do our own song. And we'll all get a chance to do our own thing on our next headlining tour, which begins in January."

Has losing Carmit affected the group?

"It did affect the group because she had huge energy and was an incredible performer. When you lose an incredible performer everyone else has to fill those shoes. If anything it's forced us to step up."

You've recently recorded a track with New Kids On The Block...

"Yes! It's awesome because we all grew up listening to New Kids. We were in rehearsal a couple of weeks ago and all of a sudden they showed up. We were in shock and didn't really know what to do. We were all like, 'Oh my God it's New Kids!'"

Are they still sexy?

"Um... I guess sexy in a different way. They have wives and kids now."

They get their tops off in their new video.

"They do?! I don't think I've seen it. I don't know... I never thought they were real sexy, but my sister was really into them at the time. She had the bed-sheets and the posters and she really liked Jordan. I'll have to watch that video I guess."

'When I Grow Up' by the Pussycat Dolls is out now.