FEATURE:
Spotlight
SVN
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I feel this year…
is one where a wave of new girl groups will establish themselves and bring about a revival. There have been some great and inspiring girl groups over the past decade or so. Little Mix are the most prominent and acclaimed. Now that they are on hiatus, there is a new breed emerging, each offering their own values and sound. FLO have been especially celebrated, and they were crowned the BBC’s winner of the Sound of for this year. They were also awarded the BRITs’ Rising Star. Predicted to do great things this year, there is a lot of attention and love their way. I think they are leading the girl group market at the moment. Not far behind are the amazing SVN. Another group keeping their name short and uppercase, I wonder why there is a lack of American girl groups – whilst there are a few in the U.K. that are coming through and have the talent to last for years. Coming from a background in theatre, the London seven-piece consists of Aimie Atkinson, Alexia Mcintosh, Grace Mouat, Jarneia Richard-Noel, Maiya Quansah-Breed, Millie O'Connell and Natalie May Paris. I am going to reference a few interviews with the group. I have there are more this year. CELEB MIX sat down with SVN last year. It is clear that they have come into the industry with real intent and a desire to change things:
“If you like girl groups then you’re going to love SVN. Made up of seven badass queens, this new girlband on the block will slay you with their stunning vocals, sassy attitude and a powerful message of self-love.
Who are SVN?
SVN are a seven-piece vocal harmony girl group made up of: Millie O’Connell, Aimee Atkinson, Natalie Paris, Grace Mouat, Maiya Quansah-Breed, Jarneia Richard-Noel and Alexia Mcintosh. The embodiment of female empowerment, this diverse girl group strives to show their fans that they can achieve anything if they put their minds to it. Highlighting a unique friendship, this fierce girlband is all about self-love and kindness, all while showcasing their sensational vocals.
Why do they look familiar?
Once upon a time, these rockin’ chicks were a part of a royally different girl group. Making up the original West End cast of Six the Musical, the girls enjoyed great success as part of the worldwide phenomenon and were nominated for Best Supporting Actresses at the Laurence Olivier Awards in 2019. Since then, Millie, Grace, Aimie, Natalie, Alexia, Maiya, and Jarneia have gone on to achieve individual success in shows including &Juliet, Pretty Woman, Be More Chill and RENT”.
PHOTO CREDIT: Danny Kaan
Before getting to a final interview, there is a particularly illuminating one from The Big Issue from April. Rather than being manufactured to be commercial and fit into a market, SVN have that closeness, shared ideal and connection that means the music seems much more powerful, natural and personal. SVN are a group that want to affect change and use their platform and voices for good:
“Seven women with powerhouse vocals, celebrating women via their pop and soul sound, they are on a mission to shed light on topics that are close to their hearts and help others find their voice.
All seven members of SVN sat down to talk to The Big Issue about their views on gender, parenthood and the pressures and expectations facing women through history and today.
The Big Issue: At the end of Six, the queen characters decide to form a band. How did that lead to you doing that for real?
Maiya: So, Lexi from day one has been like, ‘we should make a girl band, we should make a girl band’ and we were all like, ‘yeah, whatever, Lexi’.
Lexi: Yes!
Maiya: And then in 2020, Aimie made a group and messaged us all and was like, ‘girls, let’s get together and do a show!’ And for some reason, the stars aligned. We were all free and that was the birth of SVN. So, that’s our SVN story from start to finish. Not finished, we ain’t finished yet. Watch out world!
The final song of the show contains the lyrics: ‘One of a kind, no category’… but how would you categorise yourselves?
Millie: It was really important for us as seven women from different backgrounds and lifestyles to make sure there is something cohesive in our sound. We have a lot of influences. Imagine seven different women’s playlists and break down each of their favourite songs and you’re left with SVN.
So SVN is a new genre?
All: Absolutely!
What does girl power mean in 2022?
Jaye’J: Girl power is about connection, saying exactly what we want and being exactly who we want to be. Standing together and having a voice together, not just on our own. And uplift each other. Building empires with women and knowing that we can shine bright all together.
You’ve talked about using your platform to change the world. What big issues would you like to tackle and how would you do it?
Maiya: Gender equality within work. Whatever you identify as and whoever you want to be, equality within the workplace is very important. Putting women at the top of the food chain. I honestly think things would run so much better if we were in charge.
Lexi: I’m a single parent and I think it’s important that they’re represented, whether you’re a man or a woman. We work really hard and we have dreams. I want to be a voice within the group for parents. Just to say, you can still live your dreams. For me to be a single parent from Birmingham, to being in a West End show with all these beautiful women is amazing.
Millie: I want to reach out to the queer community. It’s really important to us. We want to represent women, queer women, trans women, Black women, POC women. In all our tracks, pretty much, we don’t use gender-fied language. Our pronoun choices are ‘they’, ‘you’, ‘us’, ‘I’. So every single person can listen to SVN are going to feel seen, held and heard.
What do you think is the best part of being a woman in 2022?
Lexi: That’s the money question right there!
Aimie: I think friendship with other women is so powerful. The sisterhood, when you get it, which we have after been part of this experience together for years now, we’re like sisters. That bond between women is like nothing else.
Natalie: There’s that quote, ‘when women come together, incredible things happen’. I feel that not only what we’ve done, but other women, incredible, inspirational women in whatever field it is, when they come together they create incredible things that’s so powerful and empowering too.
Lexi: One of the great things about being a woman is being able to birth a child. It’s such an amazing experience. A sperm and an egg, coming together…nine months later a big-headed baby, gates of fire opening and there you go. We do that!
Jaye’J: I think how different we all are is beautiful. As a woman who loves women, you can look at other women and say ‘that’s so beautiful about you’. We are all so individual. You’re not necessarily exactly the same as someone else but there is something you can relate to.
Millie: Having the capability to have unconditional love for women is something which we have actually experienced first-hand. And that’s the word, unconditional. Learning from other women is another one. I have learned life-long lessons from these six people”.
I am going to go back a bit further and an article from Official Charts. As they were part of the cast of Six the Musical, there is that familiarity and experience. Seamlessly translating to the music industry, songs like Free announce them as a girl group to watch closely. They are certainly going to be among the most fascinating and important groups of this year. If you have not heard their music already, then make sure that you check out the magnificent SVN:
“SVN, hello! We're huge fans of SIX The Musical and love the concept of this group. Whose idea was it to form a girl band?
Maiya: It's was Alexia!
Aimie: Years ago, when we opened the musical in Edinburgh, Alexia said 'we need to be a girl band, we need to do this for real.' We were like 'yeah, whatever Lexie!'
Maiya: She said it constantly, she'd keep pushing for it. Then, in lockdown, Aimee messaged us and we were all free for the first time ever. Aimee got us in a group chat together and asked how we'd feel about doing a show. We managed to put it together with a live, socially distanced audience and live streamed it.
Aimie: It was mad, it was the first time we'd done something together outside of SIX. It was so cool, and so overwhelming to know people wanted to see us as us, not just characters. We had the best time!
What do you stand for as a group?
Aimie: We're not writing songs about chasing after love, our songs are about loving yourself. The message is to love yourself; just be yourself.
Your latest track Free is the epitome of self-love, too...
Aimie: We wanted to write a song that said 'be whoever you want.' That's a message that's deep within us as a group. When we first got together, we didn't even know if we could write songs, but the process just worked.
Natalie: We've always said that we wanted to write empowering, uplifting songs that reached out to so many different communities. That's so important to us. The writing came organically and we really hope we can inspire everyone.
Grace: With Free, it's not just girl power. We absolutely love all of our followers from the LGBTQIA+ community, too. All of our non-binary and trans fans. We wanted to keep them in everything that we do. We're inspired by anybody living as their authentic self; there's nothing more beautiful than that. Being you is the best thing. Being you is enough.
Who are your absolute dream artists to collab with?
Grace: I was recently in the musical & Juliet, which is written by and based on the music of [Swedish pop producer] Max Martin. He's an absolute icon, and also the loveliest human in the world. Max, if you're reading this, we want to do a song with you! If we got to collaborate with him, that'd be so cool”.
A phenomenal force for good, SVN are going to build on their promise and success from last year. I feel they will be busy touring this year, and let’s hope an album is coming too. Alongside FLO, SVN are reviving and redefining girl groups. If you are looking around for a wonderful group who will be around for years and last long in the mind, then make sure that you let SVN…
INTO your life.
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