Westlife World Column
Sunday World Newspaper Sunday 21st May 2000
Hi Kian here,
This weekend we set out on a new mission - to conquer America. We flew into Omaha on Friday and our feet wont touch the ground for the next couple of weeks as we jet around from city to city introducing ourselves to the States. We start off with a big advantage as our single Swear It Again, is shooting up the charts and we have some really powerful people backing us here. Top guy Clive Davis of Arista, one of the most respected and successful men in the business, is behind us all the way. He worked wonders for the careers of superstars like Whitney Houston, so we're hoping that he'll weave the same kind of magic for us. We are also fortunate to have made friends with Whitney and Mariah Carey. They really like us and Mariah, as you know, has even offered to record with us. That would be fantastic and would boost our career here in the US.
The States is a fantastic place and I love every minute of it when I'm here. Okay, there are late nights and early morning plane flights, but you learn to cope with that pressure. We came here on the back of our tour to the Far East and that was pretty wild. The fans went crazy in every city. Our shows sold-out in record time and it was a fantastic feeling to be finally out touring with a full live concert. It proved to us that we can really turn on the magic when its needed and, judging by the response we got from the fans, it was a big hit.
This week we learned from the UK that we've been described as the Manchester United of the pop world. The guys at the Guinness British Hit Singles book did a round-up of stars like Robbie Williams and Britney Spears and we came out champs because of our success. Every day we have to pinch ourselves when we realise just how big the band is exploding all over the world. Its growing at such a fast pace now that its taking our breath away. But we're keeping our feet on the ground. Some groups get carried away with all the attention and success, but if you let that happen then you're going to get into trouble. I don't think it will ever happen to us because we all come from normal backgrounds and we have our family and friends to keep us in touch with reality.
At the moment we're all working on songs for our next album as we go along and its taking great shape. All of us have come up with new material, so its going to be a very personal one for us. Every spare moment is taken up with writing lyrics and planning our big shows for next year. We're also talking with our managers Louis and Ronan about who will be joining us as support acts. So we'll let you know as soon as the line-up is finalised. Tune in next week for all the latest gossip.