RACHEL Stevens would like it known she is not a diva. She may be pop's lady-in-waiting, with her eye on the crowns of Kylie and Madonna as she builds her post-S Club solo career, but she is absolutely not a diva.
Dick and Dom may disagree, however. The children's TV presenters recently had Rachel as a guest on their BBC One Saturday morning show Dick and Dom in Da Bungalow. All was going well until it came to the show's finale - a messy game called Creamy Muck Muck in which the presenters, guests and kids get covered in, well, muck.
Rachel reportedly 'stormed' off the set, refusing to be doused in chocolate, and Dick and Dom had to dress a man up as a woman to take her place.
"I don't know what happened," says Rachel, visibly uncomfortable. "I went on the show and," she pauses, "got stuck in with stuff. And that was it." You didn't go off in a huff?
"Not at all," she says. "They were getting gunged at the end of the show and I was just getting ready to run because I thought they were going to jump on me. I was getting ready to get out the way because I had places to go that day. I didn't want to get covered in gunk. So I just left."
Was it the big diva strop it was made out to be? "It wasn't, no."
But you did run off?
"Yeah."
Rachel looks even more uncomfortable when asked if she'd go on the show again, this time making sure she's got nothing on in the afternoon.
"I'm not sure," she says after a long pause. "I'm not saying anything more," she laughs.
You get the feeling the the 27-year-old would rather not have to go on that kind of show. But it's part of her heritage - the former S Clubber still having to keep those young fans from her days in the pop band as she continues trying to establish herself as a successful solo artist.
That solo career has been an up and down ride so far. Rachel may have had a smash hit with her debut solo single Sweet Dreams My LA Ex, released just months after S Club, better known as S Club 7, disbanded. But since then there have been as many misses as hits.
Her debut album Funky Dory was met with a muted response, but Rachel scored another massive hit with the Richard X-penned Some Girls. Since then however she has released strong singles but to diminishing returns - this year's Negotiate With Love and So Good barely scraped the Top 10.
"I'm just doing my thing and I'm really proud of myself and the singles I'm releasing. I'm very excited about the new one as well, I Said Never Again. I'll just keep at it," she said.
With her new album Come And Get It, Rachel seems to be reaching out to an audience beyond that of Saturday morning kid's TV shows. It's a far stronger collection of songs than the formulaic R&B pop that featured on her debut.
Taking the nod from the success of Sweet Dreams My LA Ex and Some Girls, the album combines the best elements of those two songs and the result is an impressive album free of filler and full of sophisticated pop.
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