In the current climate of anti-reality TV sentiment, it would almost be too easy to denounce Hazel Kaneswaran as tabloid fodder, or as an attention-seeking, fame-hungry wannabe who got duped by the horrendous Popstars TV series. In reality, she is as far removed from this notion as possible, and has more smarts about her than many ‘serious’ musicians can claim to have. With her single ‘Heartbreak Valley’ set for release in October, Hazel is on course to finally silence the critics.

“It was definitely a case of you scratch my back, and I’ll scratch yours,” she notes of the reality TV show, in which she famously strode into auditions eight months pregnant and became a paean of inspiration to young girls everywhere, before being ditched from the lineup for being ten days over the show’s age limit.
“I wanted their publicity machine and they needed my good story and a good character for the show. I didn’t even really want to be in the band (Girls Aloud), I saw it purely as a platform for my own career. Had I made the band, I would have felt like their mammy anyway…”
In fact, compared to the neophytes that make up most of these reality show bands, Hazel is a grizzled, grafting, industry-savvy veteran, having previously been the frontwoman in Dove. Not only is she releasing her single on her own label, her new musical direction indicates that, like Christina Aguilera, she is taking the rockier path.
“Right now I’m listening to stuff like Evanesence and Foo Fighters. Singing a rock song is giving my voice a little more scope, it sounds quite powerful. I’m still listening to Madonna, Diana Ross and Whitney Houston too. The album is going to be pretty diverse, a mixture of rock, pop, R&B and soul”.
Evidently no stranger to multi-tasking, she is also due to give birth to baby number two in the New Year (the famous Pop Idol bump, of course, is now eleven-month-old Oisin). Looks like the hand that rocks the cradle is soon to rule the charts…