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Westlife World Column

Sunday World Newspaper Sunday 12th November 2000

Beating The Spice Girls Is Fantastic Feeling

But there is no bad feeling over win


Hi Nicky here,

By now you'll have read all the stories between Westlife and the Spice Girls. In particular, Mel C was quoted saying awful things about us in the papers last Wednesday. She apparently told a British journalist that we were "a useless bunch of talentless tossers".

Well, let me tell you that Sporty was on the phone to Bryan that same morning and she was in tears.

Mel told Bryan that she never said anything nasty about us and she was very upset about what had appeared in the papers. So there you go.

Anyway, it's been an incredible week for us. It seems crazy that we caused so much fuss with the release of our second album. It's been a huge media story, even though we've been in the business for less than two years.

But it's been a fantastic buzz as well. Going head-to-head with the Spice Girls, one of the most sensational girl groups EVER, is something we never imagined as we dreamed of stardom.

Actually beating them to the top of the charts is even more amazing. So a big thank you to all our fans.

YOU don't get to the top of the pop charts without putting in the effort. And on Monday we spent 24 hours on the go, literally living up to the title of our album, Coast To Coast, as we visited Glasgow, Manchester, Birmingham and London.

We got no sleep as we jetted around the place, hitting airport after airport, hotel after hotel, record store after record store, meeting the fans and signing our albums.

It was a seemingly never ending series of planes and buses as the Westlife roadshow travelling around the UK.

Surprisingly, I actually managed to stay awake and after the first 12 or 14 hours it just got easier.

YOU would think that when I arrived home to Dublin on Tuesday afternoon that I'd go straight to bed to catch up on all the lost sleep over the previous 24 hours.

Not on your nelly. Myself and Georgina and a few friends headed off to our favourite Dublin nightclub, Tamangoes of Portmarnock, where we bopped away into the early hours of the morning.

Tamangoes is my local club and I love going there for a night out whenever I'm in Dublin. Nobody pays any attention to me there. I'm just treated like one of the local lads.

There's no big star fuss around me and that's the way I like it. I get my round in at the bar like everyone else and it's my favourite place to wind down after the jet-set lifestyle that goes with my role in Westlife.

WEDNESDAY night was an other great homecoming for us as we hosted an official launch party for the media at Dublin's very posh Morrison Hotel.

There were lots of photographs to pose for; lots of interviews to do with the local media and we performed several songs live.

Would you believe that one media guy came up to me afterwards and told me, "You guys can really sing" What must he have thought of us before that?

Most of all, Wednesday night was a great night for our families because they were able to come along and celebrate with us. It's just the best feeling in the world when you have your family around you.

TODAY we'll get the UK charts and it"s predicted that we've won the race to Number One with Coast To Coast. But on Friday we celebrated like mad after getting the news that Irish fans had sent us straight to the top once again.

A big thank you, once again, to all our Irish fans. Hopefully, we'll be able to repay you by putting on an amazing show when we take over the Point Depot next March for ELEVEN nights.