My child was in a S Club Juniors, ask me anything

[BeEagerEagle]

In 2001, my child auditioned for a CBBC show called ‘S Club Search’ and got a place in a child pop group who initially were meant to support S Club 7 on a one time support gig basis. This band was called S Club Juniors, later known as S Club 8.

The band ended up taking off and we basically had to sign or children away to Simon Fuller’s management to release a single. The kids were given tutors and chaperones, and spent most of their time in hotels (the ones London based stayed either their parents) or on the road. After that, they went on tour and I only saw my child once every couple of months. It was brutal but I knew that’s what they wanted to do.

they released two albums and the second one didn’t do that well, Simon Fuller tried them on a TV show called I Dream, however that also tanked. My child will admit that themselves. They all got dropped when aged 14-17. He said they had grown out of their roles a bit.

Now they are in their late thirties and trying to get back into the entertainment industry fully but it’s difficult. They’ve never quite got over their time in the band. They released music but it never really went anywhere. They would never say so, but it doesn’t help them that two of their fellow band members went on to become big stars, both were in a chart topping girl band and now are TV presenters.

their band (minus the two still-successful members) were meant to reunite for a TV show a long while ago, but for various reasons it didn’t happen. When S Club reunited, S Club juniors didn’t get asked to reunite as there was ‘no call’ for it and only a few were up for reuniting. (My child, and another boy and girl member)

they are still acquaintances with S club 7 and went to Paul Cattermoles funeral.

I know my (now adult) child doesn’t regret the choices they made as a child, but feels sad as an adult.

AMA- child (now adult) is also here to answer questions too and is happy to answer questions about specific members and music!

I have endless questions you know. You’ll wish you never started this thread haha! Here’s one what’s a misconception about being in a pop group like s Club Juniors that the band would love to correct? Have any of the members got any hidden talents aside from what’s known like Aaron’s dancing daisys Mua ?
Did daisys time in the juniors influence how she approached things with from above and would she have done anything differently looking back? From Aaron dancing for Taylor swift what was she like as a person and do they still stay in contact? You mentioned about Stacey being encourage to go same route as Aaron how come she never did she was a great dancer? Have any of them got any s club juniors stuff they could send photos of in the group chat for this thread to reminisce? Like photos of stuff they still own? Or stuff us old grown up fans might not have seen before????

A common misconception was that it was all fun and glamour. It really wasn’t. I remember times when my child was on the phone in tears to me crying because of the pressure they felt being in the spotlight at that age.

Secret talents…Calvin was good at Skateboarding. Aaron was good at art and liked drawing. Hannah was amazing at sports especially running, she would win every time if they had a race. Jay could rollerskate really well.

Stacey never fancied dancing professionally and always wanted to have a singing career and just focus on that.

Aaron says he didn’t get to know TS super well as she generally got ushered backstage after rehearsals or the shows but she always seemed “really lovely” and always gave her staff bonuses!

Daisy said she would do everything the exact same except not take from above to X factor.

I’d love to hear Hannah’s take on why she didn’t want to continue? I know in her interview she said she wanted to be normal but was there a reason she felt that way? Did she find it all a lot of pressure? Did she not feel confident enough? She’s such a sweetheart and very loveable it’s a shame she didn’t continue. Did she ever again in the future question whether to go back in to it?
Could you to ask them all if they have any dreams for the future as in things they want to achieve? Also who the hell messed up the planes at the beginning of automatic high video (facepalm) how could they get that wrong hahahah! It’s 2 planes was it released and then the error realised or??
How did Stacey find the shows with Brad and Tina? Did she get a positive response? They need to do it again but add some others like Aaron and Daisy for some one offs! Are Stacey and Hannah still close??? I remember them being really sweet together on all the stuff
How many things did Aaron do with TS? was it one off shows or full tours?
As a mum looking back would you have done anything differently?
In the story episodes before they sing Hannah and Daisy are drinking something and making ewww faces what are they drinking?? 😂
I’m curious too do you think they’d be able to get away with doing a group like s club juniors today or do you think it wouldn’t be accepted in the industry (not the music as pop music has moved on but like the idea in general) I feel so many would moan!?? I think they should all interview each other (I know jay did it) but an update again to see how they all are now!

So Hannah (she’s happy for me to say this and says she’s also spoke about it on interviews) more than anything wanted to be a mummy. She met her (now husband) five years after the band ended and had her first child not long after that. She was the youngest in ScJ but the first to have a baby.

Anyway, after the group ended even before she met her partner, I always remember her saying rather than chase the pop star dream she wanted to get a “grown up” job and save some money so when she had met someone she’d be ready to have kids asap as that was all she wanted! She loved her time in the juniors, but for her (so she says now) it was never a long term thing.

Not sure what you mean about automatic high and the planes sorry. Or the story episodes.

Stacey found it a positive response, but they definitely didn’t sell out the types of venues the s club 7 (well 5) reunion did.

Stacey and Hannah still talk and went to each others weddings.

Personally as a mum I don’t know…you do get kidz bop but I can’t imagine people being too happy about chiker n performing live as much as the juniors did.

1:43 can they remember? It made me chuckle that bit!
automatic high video It’s one plane when it comes to land and a different plane when it lands?? How did a team that big make that error? I remember Stacey laughing about it and mentioning it in an interview before I just wondered if the mistake was picked up at the time or only years later? Such a stupid mistake haha!

The plane haha!

Do they receive much in royalties?

Were they encouraged to sing with an American twang? The songs sound like that to me.

Drink- it was their first taste of a cup of tea to try and wake themselves up and not many of them liked it!

With automatic high, the first plane was random
stock footage one of the directors bought online. They wanted more footage of the landing and couldn’t find any with an identical plane so went to the airport the juniors actually landed in abroad and got permission to take the easyJet footage themselves to save money! If you look, the plane footages don’t even have the same background.

Most of the budget for that MV was used on green screen technology for the boys being small and other special effects for the girls trampolining. There was meant to be another scene done inside an airport but the budget wouldn’t allow it. The airport they’re walking out of isn’t even an airport, it’s just an office building they rented with a sign stuck outside it.

Royalties are around a couple of hundred per year. So not a whole lot I guess?

A lot of British singers accents don’t come out in their music. They just sung naturally.

There wad me thinking there was an actual trampoline at the back they were jumping on hahahahahaha! How did they achieve the trampoline thing? In a studio? Like how did it work??
what shows did they love performing on and which did they dread and why? You mentioned about interview training I’d love to know their takes on that like what were they told to do and not? I find that really interesting!
anything the fans used to assume was true but always got wrong ?
did they always get told what to wear when they went to film premieres and stuff ? Or when they weren’t performing but not home to keep up the image?? What used to be in their dressing rooms did they get free stuff? Do they all still remember the choreography??

It was a real trampoline but they were on a harness type thing with a green screen behind them. There’s a bit in the MV of Daisy doing a flip which definitely doesn’t look 100% natural!

they didn’t really dread any, but their favourites were CBBC xchange, the Saturday show, and top of the pops.

the interview training was mainly for stuff like magazine and newspaper interviews. They would have coaches especially at the beginning. They wouldn’t tell them word for word what to say, but there would be topics they’d want them to talk about and stuff they weren’t allowed to say.

film premieres they could generally pick what to wear as long as it met with approval from management. Free stuff wise, they got to keep the outfits they picked off the racks to wear on shoots and in the music videos. But they wouldn’t get to keep makeup from the MUAs or anything. They kept the suitcases they have in the automatic high music videos but someone robbed the keyrings off them while they were in the airport.

Some of them remember parts of the choreography. I would say that Aaron and Frankie have the best memories for that sort of stuff.

I think I was just a vulnerable kid and thought everything was real hahahahaha! I can’t believe looking back at it how obvious it is with the trampoline scenes.
What stuff weren’t they allowed to say? And did they know they had to go back to school but still wrap up interviews? As I know it was kind of over but still do the promo for don’t tell me you’re sorry?
another things that’s making me laugh is look at 2:43 why is jay so far away? Did he have his meeting with management before everyone else and was already on his way back to school hahahaah! I love watching stuff back as an adult. You can tell I’ve gone on a memory lane watching everything back

They weren’t allowed to talk about Connor being removed, or about any up and coming singles or TV shows that had been recorded that management wanted to keep private. They weren’t allowed to mention family members or friends by name and were told not to go off tangent, ie if they were asked what they liked about being in the juniors, give one short sentence reason. Not a whole two minute chat. If that makes sense.

They didn’t get dropped until after I dream. I dream came after DTMYS/ the promo for DTMYS.

Wow, you are one super fan @hayleyhyde !

It’s just really nice to be able to have questions answered you always were intrigued by as a kid and also the background scenes of the band as everything on tv, magazines, social media always looked perfect but it’s nice to know they were all normal people and not everything was a smooth ride!! I was definitely a big fan when they were around but never got to meet them sadly and definitely still have them on in the car sometimes on playlists! I’m just really happy they’re all content in life and have all found their happiness! I also hope they know they were a massive impact for so many when we were younger regardless of us all being older now!

This is such a great thread for nostalgia but also to get insights into things most of us would never know or experience! Thanks for starting!

I wondered what it was like being on TV shows or events with other celebs. Were other bands/artists nice to them? Towards the end especially the older ones were 15-16 right? So at that point were they still seen as kids or did they form industry friendships?
Any crushes on other artists/bands? At that age I think me and my friends would've had so many celebs crushes! Haha

Towards the end of the band management weren’t sure where to place them, that’s one of the reasons the band broke up. They were created as a tween pop band, that’s what they were known for, and they’d essentially grown out of their roles. So fuller didn’t know what to do with them. The name change was his attempt to try and rebrand them as adults, but they didn’t want them to sing songs with “too adult” lyrics as the youngest was still only 14 years old. Whereas the eldest was almost seventeen so he was way past the puppy love/ one step closer vibe.

The eldest formed a friendship with some of the other older I dream cast members. An older lad from another band also started texting one of the girl members during the sundown era, which I remember her mum not being happy about when she found out. But in terms of hanging out with other celebs, no. They barely even saw s club 7 and everyone bar the oldest member still had to be chaperoned right up until the end so rarely got left alone to form new friendships.

they met quite a lot of the pop idol contestants, they obviously met s club 7 and briefly met oasis, / couple of the spice girls (they’d broke up) and Robbie Williams. But when they bumped into celebs it was more of a meet and greet rather than a proper friendship.

Absolutely love this thread! I was born in the mid-90s so SC8 were absolutely the “cooler older kids” when I was in primary school. I remember one of my friends swearing blind her older sister was in the band despite us all knowing her sister, and having seen a photo of the band on a magazine!

Do you think they’d ever come together again for a long in-person chat/interview or anything like that?

And weird question I’ve picked up while reading your answers - what was the line in Sundown you thought was iffy for them to sing? Even when I was younger than them I remember being shocked they were allowed to sing the songs they did. 🤣 Sundown was my absolute fave though, and I still listen to it on occasion!

They did some interviews on Jay’s Instagram during lockdown. I haven’t personally watched them (for shame!) but they’re meant to be quite good.

the line was something like “I’m a little hot too, cos I can only think of you, hoping tonight you’ll find out what I like” I think. I remember the producers had Frankie sing it without much diction, it sounded like “liiiiiiiiiii”/ lie rather than like. I think they knew!

dont tell me you’re sorry had several lines parents didn’t approve of too. 😆

RE coming together as in all 8 of them in a room, I doubt it. They’re all too busy. Hannah has a new job now running a nursery. Jay is massively busy in the west end. Aaron has his choreographing and is often abroad on holiday in the little time he has off. He likes to explore all the gay friendly resorts. Rochelle and Frankie obviously have huge presenting jobs. Calvin has literally just moved back to UK and is still settling in. They also all live in different parts of UK, only 3 are based near to London.

the only ones I can see that would be free at short notice is Stacey and maybe Daisy.

How do you leave a thread this is going on and on now

….thanks. I can’t help if people are interested. 😬

three dots at the top of original post, click unwatch.

Crushes. In the early days of the band, Rochelle and Stacey liked Bradley from sc7 a LOT. Calvin liked Rach Stevens, it was the whole premise for the puppy love music video. Calvin later got a massive crush on one of the SC7 background dancers, but obvs it never went anywhere as she was in her twenties! He had a celeb crush on Britney Spears. There’s an interview somewhere on YouTube where Calvin and Aaron talk about her. Aaron had a real “girlfriend” in around 2003/4 back then from his hometown, bless him though he sounds so awkward when he talked about her. 🤣 One of the other girls at the time (she doesn’t want me to identify her but is happy for me to mention it) was texting someone from blazin squad (a rival band) when she was 14/15 and he was 18. I remember all the parents finding out as another girl in SCJ told us and we were all wildly unimpressed that it had been allowed to go on. We were not happy with the chaperones who were supposed to be checking the kids mobile phones and keeping an eye on them.

The whole point of the thread is to ask questions? Just unfollow? That’s like signing up to a gym and getting angry the payments taken from your bank? Hahaha?

Or just don't open the thread, it's not hard...

I'm loving coming back to check on this thread, so keep going Op. People don't need to read it if they are not interested.