Before They Were Young Divas - Part 3

The third and final part of my Young Divas special will focus on the magnificent Paulini. Paulini is one of the alumni of the very first season of Australian Idol. She came in fourth after being criticised on national television by one of the judges for being too fat, which is actually quite ironic given the multitude of plus-sized women to frequent later series of Idol - including fellow "divas" Ricki-Lee and Kate DeAraugo. In fact, it seems you have to morbidly obese to even make it to the final 12 of Australian Idol these days. The controversy helped raise Paulini's profile and, as clearly the most talented vocalist to appear on the show, she was quickly snapped up by Sony.

I have already dedicated a post to Paulini's magnificent second album (or third, if you count a shitty Christmas offering), "Superwoman". That album was also recorded before the Young Divas formed but this post will focus on Paulini's number 1 debut album, "One Determined Heart". Paulini's debut single, a cover of "Angel Eyes", sets the tone of the album. "Angel Eyes" is a lovely ballad, which showcases Paulini's impressive voice. It is also pretty fucking boring. I really like "Angel Eyes" but an album of full of ballads and dodgy cover versions was never the best career move. Thankfully, there are a handful of interesting remixes.

"Angel Eyes" hit #1 on the Australian singles chart and remains Paulini's only solo top 10 hit. The follow up, "We Can Try", was written by Audius - whose dubious claim to fame is working with Dullta Good-rim. The original version of "We Can Try" is bland crap but the remixed radio version is sensational. The song made the top 30 and, in its remixed form, remains one of my Paulini favourites. It seems far more suited to "Superwoman" than "One Determined Heart" - ie. it appeals to people under the age of 90.

I hope I'm not sounding too critical of "One Determined Heart" because in comparison to the other Young Divas solo albums it is a work of unbridled genius. There are several excellent tracks and Paulini's vocals are exquisite. Another highlight of the album is the selection of bizarre cover versions. The album contains one of the strangest cover versions I can remember hearing. Paulini's version of "No More Tears (Enough Is Enough)" is notable for being her first cover of a gay classic and surely the only R'n'B rendition of the song. Not only has the song been turned into a mid-tempo soul ballad, it is also sung as a duet with a man - which makes some of the lyrics rather interesting! It's so wrong, it's kind of right.. if you know what I mean!

Actually, I'm mistaken about "No More Tears" being Paulini's first cover of a gay classic. I had forgetten about this live medley from Idol which includes "Don't Leave Me This Way" and "Freeway Of Love". As usual, Paulini's voice is immaculate.

It seems appropriate to finish any discussion of "One Determined Heart" with yet another cover version. The song selection is truly baffling and one of the most random choices is Phil Collins' "One More Night". Paulini's version is rather nice, although it is begging for a remix.

If Paulini rings your bell, why not keep the woman in diet pills by buying "One Determined Heart" and/or "Superwoman" at Sanity, Chaos or Australian Ebay. Both albums are recommended but "Superwoman" is infinitely superior. This ends my rundown of the pre-diva careers of Paulini, Kate, Emily and Ricki-Lee. It will be interesting to see what 2007 holds for the divas. I have a bad feeling that "Right About Now" is being lined up as single number 3. I hope not because it is one of the worse tracks on their fabulous album. I hear rumours that Sony is intent on rushing out a new album with original material in 2007. That can only be good news!

Before They Were Young Divas - Part 2

Rest assured that today's post will include no pictures of naked people (I understand, I'm developing something of a reputation!). Instead, I'm continuing my exploration of the floptastic solo careers of the Young Divas. Today it's Ricki-Lee Coulter's turn to be dragged under the microscope. Ricki-Lee immediately stood out from the crowd when she first appeared on Australian Idol. For starters, unlike the other contestants, she wasn't butt ugly and could actually sing. Ricki-Lee looked a certainty to win the second series but in a major upset, she was knocked out early in the competition. However, her potential did not go unnoticed and Ricki-Lee was snapped up by a record label before the series had even ended.

Ricki-Lee's self-titled, debut album is something of a musical dog's breakfast. Shock records obviously couldn't decide whether to market her as a cute pop star, an edgy bad girl or most amusingly, as a gangster ho - so they basically tried a bit of everything. Ricki-Lee sings Mariah-esque ballads, bubblegum pop and funky hip hop tunes (complete with cheap rent-a-rappers!) with varying degrees of success. The album does contain its fair share of excellent songs but the lows are pretty desperate. And yet, "Ricki-Lee" has grown on me immensely since its 2005 release. "Hell No!", the lead single, sounds like a tragic urban-pop version of Alanis Morissette's "Ironic". The song peaked at #5 on the Charts and has become something of an Australian trash classic. The second single, "Sunshine", was also a top 10 hit but unlike "Hell No!", "Sunshine" is sweet and upbeat enough to grace a Young Divas' album!

The rest of the album is such a mixed bag that no particular song is reflective of the overall sound. I have selected three of my personal favourites to share. "Stay With Me" has an Indian vibe and a chorus that involves a lot of "la la la"-ing. In other words, it's fucking fabulous! "Tell Him" is a mid-tempo R'n'B number that wouldn't sound out of place on the US charts. I mean that as a compliment! The song showcases Ricki-Lee's impressive pipes without ever being bland or boring. The final song, "Let Me Hear You Say (Ft. Nitty)" is here for pure entertainment value. I love it when nice white girls hire a rapper and try to sound like a streetwalker. Ricki-Lee's attempt at an urban party anthem is great, although I'm not sure who she thinks she's fooling!

Ricki-Lee's album is still readily available, so if you like what you hear please buy it. You should be able to find it at Sanity or Chaos. Part 3 of my Young Divas special will focus on Paulini's debut album and include Paulini's first tragic cover version of a gay classic!

Before They Were Young Divas - Part 1

I love the Young Divas. They really are a pop trash addict's wet dream - a manufactured girl group who cover gay disco classics and look like sumo wrestlers in drag. I've made several posts about Paulini and her amazing "Superwoman" album, but I realise I have all but ignored the other three members. Basically, because I thought they were completely useless. However, I have had the near spiritual experience of watching the band perform live several times over summer and the other tragic skanks have won me over. Kate, Emily and Ricki-Lee might be as rough as the Australian cricket team but they can sing and they are amusing, in a car crash kind of way. I have decided to review the (failed) solo careers of all of the "divas". Paulini is my favourite YD and Ricki-Lee's album is actually quite wonderful in an "oh no, she didn't!" manner, so I'm going to start off with the two least trashtastic divas: the ever-expanding Kate DeAraugo and Hawk Eye, aka Emily Williams.

There really isn't much to say about Emily. Apart from the fact that she was runner-up in the third series of Australian Idol, behind Kate DeAraugo. Emily is the only Young Diva yet to release a solo recording. The closest she has come is singing the bonus track for the Young Divas' album, a fairly shocking cover of Dolly/Whitney's "I Will Always Love You". I doubt this offering will have fans petitioning for a solo album. Emily does have a nice voice but she seems disinterested and bored A LOT of the time. During concerts she often stops singing mid-song to talk to the crowd about her life and her sister (who was also on Idol). It was nice and personal the first few times but the novelty has well and truly worn off. Strangely, when the girls sing together, Emily comes across as one of the most competent performers. Emily is growing on me but I still think the most intriguing thing about her remains the fact that she was a forklift driver before entering Idol!


Kate DeAraugo entered the first two series of Australian Idol but was rejected. She made the cut the third time around and ended up winning the whole damn thing. I'm still not sure how she did it. I was less than impressed with just about everything about Kate during her run on Australian Idol, from her dreary choice of soft-rock material to her pleasant but generic voice. Kate's debut single, "Maybe Tonight", hit #1 and the follow up, "Faded" was a substantial hit. However, Kate's album disappeared after a couple of weeks and Sony decided against releasing any further singles. "Maybe Tonight" is actually quite a lovely ballad, while "Faded" (penned by the Veronicas) is a surprisingly good slice of pop-rock. Unfortunately, the rest of her debut album is rather shit. In many ways, Kate is the odd "diva" out. Her musical influences seem to be quite rock orientated and she looks far more comfortable in a tracksuit than a sequined mini-skirt. And yet, it is this fish out of water quality that makes Kate so endearing.

The second part of my "Before They Were Divas" special will focus on the trashtastic Ricki-Lee Coulter. Stay tuned!

Marcia & The Deni - Remixed!

The duet of the century has finally been released! I've been ranting about Marcia Hines' trash epic, "Discotheque", to anyone who will listen for months (see the November archive). Marcia's craptastic album of disco covers is high on my list for the album of the year and one of its finest moments is Marcia's duet with her extremely fabulous daughter, "The Deni".

"Stomp!" was always the most likely track to be released as a single and the time has finally come to unleash this double dose of Hines' magic on the Australian public. Marcia and Deni have busily promoted "Stomp!" and, in my television highlight of the year, even performed the song on the steps of the Opera House with campy gay dancers on the finale of Australian Idol! I doubt the song will dent the charts given The Deni's impressive string of flops but I couldn't care less. A mother/daughter disco duet doesn't exactly happen every day, so I'm savouring every second of this trashtastic spectacle.

You are seriously missing out if you haven't watched the mind-boggling "Stomp!" video. I've never seen anything quite like it! Watch it here. The dancing policemen still make me laugh.

The CD single contains a handful of remixes, the best being Smash 'n' Grab's effort. This shouldn't be much of a surprise from the team who managed to make Dullta sound vaguely interesting on their remix of "Lost Without You". You can buy the single from Chaos.

Deni and Marcia at the finale of Australia idol. Nice pants, Deni!

Natalie Bassingthwaighte Is A Whore

That ugly bitch has done it again. Just when you thought Natalie Bassingthwaighte could not possibly get any more shit, she unleashes the worst duet of the year. Yes, that badly ageing tranny from the Rogue Traders has taken it upon herself to team up with Shannon Noll to destroy the classic Kate Bush/Peter Gabriel duet "Don't Give Up".

Natalie - "If I pose like this, people might take me seriously"

Shannon - "No, you still look like a whore"

Don't get me wrong, I think Kate Bush and Peter Gabriel are pretty shit too. However, despite my personal dislike for their output, it is hard to deny that they are both artists of some degree of integrity and talent. Which is a hell of a lot more than you can say about a middle-aged woman who has worn hot pants in public so frequently that I could draw her varicose vein stained legs from memory and a man who is better known for his "clit-tickler" than music. If Shannon and Natalie had to destroy a classic, they could have at least made it original or amusing. Instead, Natalie desperately copies Kate's pitch and delivery, while Shannon drones on with enough false sincerity to make John Howard green with envy. In short, this is fucking hideous.

Kate - "Does this brown jumper make me look fat?"

Peter - "Yes"

The clincher for me is the fact that the song is being released to raise money - for depression. Listening to this shit made me want to grab the nearest razor! If you feel the need to own this musical car crash, you can order the album "Songs Of Hope & Journey" from Sanity or Chaos. The single is released next week.

Watch the vile video.

Young Divas - The Gayest Album EVER!

I have already discussed Young Divas at length in my Paulini post but after listening to their debut album for the past week, I thought they deserved their own. Young Divas have done the impossible and put together an album that "out gays" Marcia's "Discotheque"! In fact, both albums share pretty much the same concept. Marcia's album is comprised of covers of disco classics from the 1970s, while Young Divas stick to 1980s pop music. And not just any old 80s material. This album is basically a collection of gay anthems and trash classics! The tracklist itself was enough to get my juices flowing and after listening to the album several times over the past week, I can say that I'm not disappointed!

There are a couple of tracks that have been done to death and really should have been left in peace - but who cares? Paulini and her backing singers breathe life into these classics and will hopefully bring a whole new audience to the likes of Donna Summer and Laura Brannigan. A couple of interpretations are unneccessary and fall flat but, on the whole, this album is gay pop heaven and about as much fun as you can have without being on drugs! I'm obviously not the only one who thinks so because the album beat out some serious competition to debut at #4 on the Australian Album Chart, while the second single from the album, "Happenin' All Over Again", climbs into the top 10.

Here is my track by track review:

What A Feeling: Irene Cara's classic gets yet another workout. I was expecting to be annoyed by this given my affection for all things Giorgio Moroder and Irene Cara. However, the layered vocals work a treat and this anthem can't help but make you dig out some leg warmers and dance around like a poofter. I love it - but it loses a point for the cheap keyboards. 9/10

This Time I Know It's For Real: Young Divas launched their career with this SAW cover and it manages to more than hold its own with Donna Summer's original and Kelly Llorenna's fabulous high energy re-make. The song hit number #2 and is still in the top 50. "This Time" is heavenly. Kudos to the producers for being smart enough to let Paulini do most of the singing. 10/10

Right About Now: Now this is the odd one out! A cover of a Mousse T dance hit from a few years ago. The Divas have turned this into an En Vogue inspired urban groove anthem. The song doesn't really fit that well with the others but it does come as a relief amongst all the cheese. I have a feeling this could be the next single as the girls sang it on the final of Australian Idol last Sunday night. It could be a grower but it's not my favourite. 7/10

Gloria: This is one of those songs that should never be messed with. Laura Brannigan's original would definitely make a list of my 20 favourite songs of all time. So, I was a more than a bit reluctant to listen to this. It is a butchery, but such a big, bright, gay hatchet job that I'm ashamed to say I LOVE it. I just hope Laura isn't spinning in her grave. 9/10

Happenin' All Over Again: The second single from the album takes on Lonnie Gordon's big hit. It's fun but hasn't grabbed me like their cover of "This Time I Know It's For Real". I would take Lonnie's version over this any day. That said, "Happenin' All Over Again" is still top shelf pop. 8/10

Searchin': This song has always amused me - pop music's most infamous lesbian singing about hunting down a man. Hazell Dean's original is a high camp classic and this version stays pretty true to the original but injects some much needed attitude. Such insipid trash - I ache for it! 8.5/10

Woman In Love: By far the strangest interpretation. While most of the cover versions "gay up" the originals to an even greater extent, Young Divas turn Barbra Streisand's classic into a slow groove R'n'B number. I'm not sure it works. In fact, it doesn't. Barbra's version shits all over this. 6/10

It's Raining Men: How many people have covered this song? It would have to make the list of the most covered songs of the past 20 years. I was dreading another version after that filthy Halliwell bitch (Geri - not Deirdre!) destroyed it for the Bridget Jones' Diary soundtrack. This version is much better than fat Geri's. In fact, it almost matches the heights of Deirdre Halliwell's "It's Raining Jizz"! The Weather Girls still take the crown but this is surprisingly excellent. 8/10

Let's Hear It For The Boy: I adore Deniece Williams and was fearing what the Divas would do with her 80s classic. I was relieved and delighted when I discovered that they had given the song a bubble gum pop makeover! This would make my shortlist for the next single. Deniece fans will probably pull their hair out in disgust but admit it - this is insanely fun! 9.5/10

She Works Hard For The Money: Another Donna Summer classic gets a Young Divas makeover and just like their cover of "This Time I Know It's For Real", this is an absolute winner. Another possible single, this is just about irresistable. 9.5/10

Say I'm Your No. 1: Yet another Stock Aitken Waterman cover, this time it's Princess's turn. "Say I'm Your Number One" is one of the classiest songs ever to come out of the hit factory and Young Divas do it proud. The slower pace comes as a bit of a relief after the onslaught of gay disco that comes before it. Paulini's lead vocals are sublime. 8.5/10

You'll Never Stop Me From Loving You: Yes, that ugly, red troll -Sonia- gets a Young Divas overhaul. The Divas shit all over that hideous beast. They seem to save their best for SAW covers and this is another superb track. A great way to end the album. 8/10

Overall Verdict: This is fuckin' gay and essential for all homosexualists. Order your copy at Chaos or Sanity.

The Extremely Fabulous Marcia Hines

Stop your groaning, bitches! Marcia Hines IS fabulous - she just hides it well behind that annoying fucking 'earth mother' persona on Australian Idol. Marcia is basically the equivalent of Paula Abdul on American Idol, a vacuous waste of space who has something nice to say about everyone and is moved to tears by even the most tone deaf contestant. Then there are her multitude of annoying catch phrases that I think she picked up from some Spike Lee movie in the 1980s. Everyone is "da bomb" and anyone who manages to almost sing in key is greeted with "that's what I'm talkin' about, girlfriend!" - someone desperately needs to tell Marcia that black slang has moved on!


OK, so I've got the requisite Marcia bitching out of the way. Now let me explain why you need to get correct and open your heart to all things Marcia. As I'm sure most of you know, Marcia Hines was the original queen of Australian pop. That is pretty astounding when you think that Marcia arrived in Australia as a 16 year old to sing in the musical "Hair", got knocked up with superstar daughter Deni, continued performing in "Hair" until someone found a naked, pregnant teenager a little too uncouth, then simply decided to stay and make her mark. I respect anyone tenacious enough to survive as a single, teenage mother in a foreign country but the fact that she not only survived but thrived and went on to Australia's biggest female pop star of the 1970s is nothing short of amazing.

One of Marcia's Three "Queen Of Pop" crowns

If you're not familiar with Marcia's 1970s gems, then hurry up and buy one of the many compilations floating around (I recommend the one below).

Chances are, you will recognise more songs than you think. Mixed in with Marcia's own classics such as her signature song "You", are covers of soul classics and a more than her fair share of showtunes! Watch Marcia sing Until Your Love Broke Through in 1976 or better yet, enjoy Marcia's stunning performance of You on Countdown in 1977. I love this clip, Marcia looks stunning in her red dress and her dancing was always ahead of it's time! What an extraordinarily beautiful woman.


Fans of 70s Marcia and tragic showtune loving poofs (like me!) should get wet at the prospect of hearing Marcia sing "What I Did For Love" from "A Chorus Line". If musicals are not your go, you should probably give this a miss. If you have exquisite taste and love a good, old fashioned showtune listen to "What I Did For Love".

Moving into the early 1980s, Marcia embraced a more modern pop sound and cranked out hit after hit. In my mind, Marcia reached the zenith of her early career with the 80s classic, "Your Love Still Brings Me To My Knees". This song is one of my all time favourites. If "Your Love" doesn't make you want to groove around the lounge room, exit this page immediately because you are a loser and no longer welcome on my blog! Watch Marcia's exquisite and rather amusing Countdown performance from 1981. What on earth is she wearing? The 80s were so unkind. Do you think she regrets leaving the house in MC Hammer pants, with a black feather duster as an accessory? The song is still inspiring drag queens to this very day. Check out some Townsville ladies workin' it in an amazing drag interpretation of Your Love!

As with any true diva, Marcia's career went to shit in the mid-80s and she was disregarded as a relic from an earlier time. Marcia spent most of the decade playing to senior citizens in RSL clubs. In one interview, Marcia stated that she played an entire set to an empty room. I don't get it - surely if NO ONE was there, she could have just had a cocktail at the bar? Anyway, I digress. My point is that Marcia is a trooper. Things started to pick up for Marcia when her illustrious daughter Dohnyale (otherwise known as Deni) scored a series of top 10 hits as the lead singer of The Rockmelons. Deni went solo and became a star, which gave Marcia the inspiration to lose 30 kilos, get treatment for diabetes and stage the first of many comebacks with the hugely underrated album "Right Here And Now".

Surely the fact that Marcia expelled goddess Deni from her juicy loins should be reason enough to worship her but if you still need more convincing allow me to share an anecdote from the late 90s when this blogger had gay training wheels and was beginning to explore the dance party scene:

Picture it - Sydney, late 1990s, "Frisky" dance party. Yours truly is busily working it on the dancefloor to Cher's "Believe" when a sea of drugged-up gay boys parts to reveal a beautiful black woman crawling along the dancefloor on hands and knees, followed by a gaggle of hysterical queens screaming "Marcia Hines is in the K-hole!".

I'm sure Marcia probably just dropped a contact lense (*back-peddles furiously*) but I decided then and there that this woman was someone deserving serious attention. At that stage Marcia was embarking on her second comeback attempt with the album "Time Of Our Lives". Unlike the soul sound of "Right Here And Now", "Time Of Our Lives" was aimed squarely at the gays. The album was not a massive success but it established Marcia as a "local star" on Sydney's gay scene and she was a regular at gay dance parties and discos for a couple of years. I once had the chance to chat with her for five minutes while waiting in line for the bathroom at a disco. Classy.


After the lack of success that greeted "Time Of Our Lives" despite the fact that it was brilliant and they released about 6 singles (including a cover of "What A Feeling"), Marcia disappeared again until Australian Idol and then rapidly embarked on yet another comeback with her new high profile. The results were immediate and "Hinesight" reached #12 on the Albums chart. This year, Marcia moved up a notch in my book by revisiting the gay diva vibe of "Time Of Our Lives" with her magnificent album of disco cover versions "Discotheque".

"Discotheque" debuted at #6 on the Albums chart and remains in the top 25 two months later. The album has gone gold and looks like being Marcia's biggest seller in about 30 years. I have raved about this album on Toy's Forum and shared some tracks, which generally received a favourable response. Here are some of the other songs for your listening pleasure. If you like what you hear please support Marcia's trashy career and buy the album from Sanity or Chaos. You could also try Australian Ebay for a cheaper copy.

The CD/DVD version is highly recommended for the hilarious sight of Marcia and Deni recording their amazing duet "Stomp". Poor Deni desperately tries to steal Marcia's thunder but is roundly ignored by everyone in the studio. Poor thing! "Stomp" is being released as a single and I for one, can not wait. The tracklisting looks amazing and the video is my favourite Australian clip of the year. How cheap can you get? Marcia and Deni "driving" a car against the worst blue screen in the history of digital technology! Gold! Watch Australia's second most fabulous family after the Minogues perform live on Rove. Buy the single from Chaos

Back to Marcia's disco album. It could be the most desperate plea for a gay audience since Sheena Easton's "Fabulous" and just like that record, "Discotheque" is utterly amazing. I hope you this post allows you to look past the Australian Idol facade and embrace the diva goddess that is Marcia!

Oh, I couldn't resist this - watch Marcia sing a duet with Russell Crowe at the AFI Awards - I think Russell is checking Marcia out! As if he even stands a chance!

Talking of duets, if anyone has transferred the tracks from this duet album with Jon English onto CD, I would LOVE to hear it!

Paulini = Superwoman

Paulini single-handedly justifies the existence of Australian Idol. Without her, the show would be one long exercise in making talentless losers famous for a week, until they crash and burn back into oblivion where they belong. Such has been the fate of most contestants, particularly for those who missed being one of the two finalists. Paulini is an exception. She came fourth in the very first series of Australian Idol, yet she has managed to carve out a solo music career and become part of the surprisingly successful "Idol-reject" girl group, Young Divas. The reason is simple - unlike her embarrassing alumni, Paulini is actually talented!

From her first appearance on Australian Idol, Paulini was my favourite. She might have come across as a boring-as-bat-shit bible basher with the fashion sense of a Fijian drag queen, but the girl could sing. Unfortunately, the pimply school girls and bored housewives (who constitute a large portion of the voters) were apparently more interested in Guy Sebastian's man boobs or too busy fantasising about Shannon Noll's goatee rubbing against their clits to worry about anything as trivial as stage craft and vocal talent. The final straw came when Paulini was told she was too fat to be a celebrity and was kicked off the following week. The rudeness!


Thankfully, the news wasn't all bad. Paulini used her Idol notoriety to score a record deal and hastily released her rather boring debut album, "One Determined Heart". The album and her debut single, a cover of "Angel Eyes", both made #1 on the ARIA chart. Watch the video for Angel Eyes here. The album was an all filler, no killer collection of ballads and mid-tempo rubbish. A further single was released, but the album quickly disappeared. Paulini's career appeared to be going nowhere very fast when she made a special guest appearance on "Home & Away" and released a Christmas album. Her career nadir followed shortly after, when she turned up as a contestant on Celebrity Overhaul and got into trouble for sneaking chocolate into the house and was berated for her poor attitude towards exercise. It was around this time that I really started to enjoy Paulini as a celebrity. She did have some kind of trashtastic edge, after all!


Paulini made her musical comeback this year with the song "Rough Day", which surprised everyone by being very good. Paulini had finally been given material worthy of her vocal ability. The song was popular on radio and Paulini promoted the song relentlessly, with promo performances in gay clubs and on breakfast television. Watch the video clip for "Rough Day" here. The follow up to "Rough Day" was better yet, "So Over You" shows Paulini in full urban diva mode and the hilariously cheap video shamelessly rips off Beyonce's "Crazy In Love". Sadly, the song just scraped into the top 50 despite being a favourite on music video channels. The failure of "So Over You" on the charts turned out to be a bad omen for Paulini's third album, "Superwoman", which was released in August and made #72.


I find it so incredibly depressing that talent free zones like Ciara and Cassie sell well in Australia, while someone local releases an album as hot as "Superwoman" and people run away in droves. "Superwoman" is a great R'n'B album from beginning to end. There is the sufficient quota of pop, a couple of hot ballads and some funky R'n'B beats thrown into the mix. You can buy this gem online from Sanity or Chaos.

Around the same time that Paulini released "Superwoman", she announced that she would be part of an ex-Idol girl group, to be called Young Divas. Despite the crap name, Young Divas' debut single (a cover of Donna Summer's 80s classic "This Time I Know It's For Real") turned out to be excellent and surprisingly successful, making #2 on the Singles Chart and staying in the top 10 for months. Watch the video here. Given the success of the single, it was no surprise when the record announced that the Young Divas would be staying together and releasing an album.

I imagine that Paulini is a bit torn over the band's success. It must be nice having hit singles again but it spells the end of her solo career for the time being. In fact, Sony has pulled the plug on the third single from "Superwoman". "I Believe" was scheduled to be released in September and despite Paulini filming a video clip and remixes being commissioned, the single remains unreleased. Watch a live performance of "I Believe" here.

Young Divas' second single was released last Monday and is another cover of a Stock Aiken Waterman classic, Lonnie Gordon's "Happenin' All Over Again". The track remains faithful to the original and is another slice of pop heaven in the gloomy world of Australian music. The single debuted on this week's Singles Chart at #12. You can buy the single from Chaos and watch the video here.

The girls are releasing their self-titled debut album next week, and the tracklist is so gay it hurts. The album appears to be made up exclusively of cover versions, ranging from The Weather Girls' "It's Raining Men" to Laura Brannigan's "Gloria". It looks like a lot of fun and I have already pre-ordered it but I wonder if singing gay classics with a bunch of ugly no-hopers is the best case scenario for Paulini's long term career. Whatever the answer to that may be, the album itself looks delicious. Order it online from Sanity or Chaos.

I should finish up by saying how pleasantly surprised I am by Paulini's dramatic personal life. Ok, she's no Lindsay Lohan, but she has made her fair share of gossip columns recently due to her relationship with her footballer boyfriend. Firstly, there were rumours that Paulini was being bashed (not funny at all), then rumours that Paulini got it on with one of his team-mates as payback (more amusing!) and now it seems they are back together. Only, her boyfriend looks like he's going to prison after driving without a license. How ghetto, I love it!

I've included some tracks for your listening pleasure. If you like what you hear, please buy the respective album!

You might also enjoy watching Paulini's national embarrassment when her microphone malfunctioned while singing "So Over You" live on breakfast television and a beautiful live rendition of Superwoman's title track. Watch a clip of Young Divas covering ABBA's Supertrooper and Paulini singing ABBA's Knowing Me, Knowing You with fellow Young Diva, Ricki-Lee, both from the recently televised "Abbamania".