WHERE THE BLIMMIN 'ECK DID THESE 2010S POP ICONS GO? We Investigate.

Guys, I don’t know if you know this, but Rizzle Kicks are back.

I know. It’s blimmin exciting isn’t it? Unfortunately, their announcement last Wednesday was overshadowed by the fact that Molly Mae & Tommy Fury have split. All the Fiat 500 girls cried into their crushed velvet sofas, XL Bullies by their feet. The comeback of the Brighton hip hoppers, who released bops like “Mama Do The Hump”, “Down With The Trumpets” and “Skip To The Good Bit” back in t’early 2010s, has been well awaited amongst 2000s babies who spent many a primary school break reciting n rapping their tracks in the playground. And whilst the dynamic duo tease new music, it’s got us lot at Dead Pop Mag Society reminiscing n regressing back to 2012. Which, if you know me IRL, you will know I did back in 2022 when I went and healed my inner child by seeing The Wanted on their reunion tour, already knee deep in a mental health crisis and ended up having to go home halfway through a uni term because I couldn’t cope with adult life anymore. ANYWAY, it’s got us thinking- with bands like Ver Kicks, Ver Wanted n JLS making a comeback in recent years (One Direction you know you want to) where the bloody hell are the rest of em? The stars we spent our childhoods bopping to who have somehow disappeared off the face of Planet Pop and haven’t been seen since 2014. So, being the investigative journalists we are, we put our detective hats on and delved deep in t’internet to find out where some of our fave playground pop stars went. WHERE ARE THEY? LETS BE HAVIN ‘EM! 

Jessie J

To me, there was no bigger female pop star in the world back in 2011 than J-J-J-Jessie J. With her black bobbed hair, crazy clobber and badass bangers (“Do It Like A Dude” was the ultimate Kill All Men anthem), us kiddies thought she was the coolest cat on the block. Contrary to popular belief that she’s spent the last decade lumbered with legal drama associated with her abattoir (Fake Showbiz News you never let me down) and as a result she’s stepped back from ver spotlight, Ar Jess has in fact been in the studio in the last 10 years, with her last release, ‘I Want Love’ being released in 2021. Since then, she’s had a babby and been a proud as punch parent ever since- her instagram bio reads “the one that sings the money money money song and sky’s mum.” Perhaps more bizarrely, in 2018, she ended up winning the chinese TV talent show, “I Am A Singer”, the first international artist to do so. 

Eliza Doolittle

get me someone who looks at me the way I look at that album x

I ADORED Eliza Doolittle as a little sprog. There’s even a photo of me as a chubby little 8 year old with the biggest cheesiest grin on my face as I opened her corker of a debut album on my birthday. Cor she had some absolute bops didn’t she? Skinny Genes, Pack Up, Rollerblades, Big When I Was Little- I could go on… She fit into that sickly-sweet-ska-beat bubblegum pop genre we all lapped up like ice cream back in 2011. It was her & Lily Allen against the world. Only releasing two albums under the “Doolittle” moniker, ‘Liza’s still out there, doing an Adele and being the icon she is, she only uses her first name (be honest, how many Eliza’s are out there releasing music?). Her last record, “A Sky Without Stars” (Coldplay shivering their timbers), was released in 2022 and is absolutely chocka with smooth soul jams. Stick it on, dim the lights, cook your fave pasta dish and get doooooooown. 

Lawson

In amongst the boyband boom of the early 2010s, y’know that period of time where you knew at least one girl who was stupidly obsessed with One Direction, JLS or The Wanted, we also had Lawson. Every time I’ve mentioned this lot to people they’ve raised their eyebrows and gone “who?” Everyone seems to have forgotten about ‘em. But not me. I never forgot about Lawson, I never forgot about the banger that is “Juliet” or the fact they were named after the doctor who saved the lead singer's life, or that that same lead singer (Andy…his name is Andy) also happened to be in an X Factor boyband (Avenue) with Max from The Wanted prior to starting Le ‘Son. See, I remember all that. I am that much of a 2010s boyband connoisseur.  Believe it or not, they’re still going. After being dropped by Polydor, they went onto be signed by London indie label, Cooking Vinyl and released an album in 2021. Prior to that, Andy Brown released a solo country album in 2018, citing his near death from liver failure as inspiration- yeehaw indeed. 

Taio Cruz

Christ on a bike. Where do we start? So, Taio Cruz. Name sounds familiar right? Of course it does, this man had the charts in a chokehold in 2009/10 with tracks like “Dynamite” and “Break Your Heart”, not to mention the amount of top tier CHOONS he featured on, “Shine A Light” by McFly and “Higher” by Kylie Minogue anyone? And if that weren’t bleedin’ enough, he’s also penned a coupla songs for a few big poppers, most notably “Without You” by David Guetta & Usher and- a personal highlight- “Made” off Ver Wanted’s debut album. With all these tunes behind him, you’d think he’d be high flying n happy. Apparently not. In 2020 he attempted a comeback via TikTok and was instead “ambushed” with attacks from users, leaving him suicidal. As of 2024, all his social media leads to blacked out profiles and 0 posts. So god knows where he’s gone. 

Alexandra Burke

Picture this: it’s a Saturday night  2008, autumn, you’ve had a crap week at school and you’re counting down to chrimbo. Your Dad wants the footie on, your Mum wants Strictly on, but all you bloody want to watch is X Factor and the battle between Boyband and Burke- Alexandra Burke to be ‘pecific. After that duet with Beyonce, she was crowned the winner and went onto crush the UK charts with a string of singles, “Bad Boys”, “Broken Heels”, “Start Without You” and “Elephant”, the latter of which lead to an infamous Daybreak interview later lapped up by Love Of Huns (you know the one). But where on earth is our favourite Islington icon now? Much like Jessie J, she’s being a mum, having given birth to her first child in 2022 and performing in pantos and West End Productions such as The Bodyguard, Joseph & The Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat. Alexa, play I’m A Survivor by Reba McEntire x

Stooshe

Oh my word. I blimmin’ loved this lot. With a swinging 60s R&B girl group sound came Stooshe. Slightly overshadowed by their peers Little Mix and The Saturdays, Stooshe released one album, “London With The Lights On” back in 2012, which featured the singles “Slip”, “Love Me” and “Black Heart” which was later covered by Gail Platt from Corrie (she sang and she slayed). After gaining most of their royalties from excessive sync use on CBBC in the early 2010s, Stooshe had a spat with their label and left in 2014, going onto sign with indie label, Trilogy Records where they supposedly remain to this day, their last release being in 2016. Much like Lawson, Stooshe are still stepping on stage across the country, performing at Chesterfield Pride in 2021 alongside 80s scouse songstress Sonia, 00s R&B Band Big Brovaz and erm…Black Lace. 

Rixton

There’s been a coupla boybands mentioned here already, but none of em have had a short lived career like Rixton. In 2014, they spawned one hit wonder “Me & My Broken Heart” (a total TUNE by the way) and then, well, they were never seen again. Recently, however, and to be honest, this was another reason I wanted to write this post, lead singer Jack Roche, has had a bit of a resurgence performing in a one man show at Edinburgh Fringe, “Neporrhoids”. A show described as “A (mostly) true story of the meteoric rise and devastating fall of chart-topping boyband member Jake Roche, who is definitely not a "nepo baby", a "one hit wonder", nor "completely irrelevant"” . In case you didn’t already know (pop fact incoming), Roche is the son of Loose Woman, Colleen Nolan and Sid from Flushed Away…or…erm…Shane Ritchie- both of whom also had pop careers in the past. We do not talk about the travesty that is Shane Ritchie’s version of I’m Your Man. Rixton came back after a 3 year hiatus n changed their name to Push Baby in 2019, created their own label, released a coupla EPs and then…erm…went on hiatus again. 

Diana Vickers

Diana Vickers walked so Halsey could run. Our cursive queen may have got laryngitis and missed out on meeting Mariah Carey whilst competing alongside Alexandra Burke on X factor but she still managed to get a record deal outta it and released the absolute BANGER that is Once (or…erm…HUHWONCE). After that, she went onto sing on the advert for One Direction’s Our Moment ad (a perfume that I still have kicking about in my room 11 years later, mouldy and discoloured as ever) and has embarked on a career in the West End, most recently in a theatrical version of Steel Magnolias. She also has a podcast, Ki & Dee: The Podcast, as everyone does nowadays. According to The Guardian, they once sang a “joyful tribute” to alice band enthusiast (and England footballer) Jack Grealish.

Tinchy Stryder

Me n my Tinchy <3

Again, getting personal here. Despite the fact I am the worlds biggest arachnophobic and woke up my whole house screaming after one of those eight legged bastards creeped n crawled its way down my leg the other night (a reminder, never open your window in summer, unless you want the cast of A Bugs Life in yer room), for christmas in 2009, I was gifted a remote control tarantula. Which I named, you guessed it, Tinchy Stryder…The tarantula spider. This was down to the fact that if you asked 6 year old Cezza what her favourite song was, she would’ve said Number 1 by ar Tinch and N Dubz. I also had a goldfish named after Frankie from The Saturdays in 2009, but that's beside the point. Last time I saw Tinchy Stryder was about 2014 when he had a stint in the jungle hanging out with my tinchies relatives. However, after a quick google, he’s still out there performing, having supported fellow pop pals J-J-JLS at ver weekend and over various dates over the summer. 

Cher Lloyd

2010 X Factor was my Roman Empire. Seriously, when I was stuck in bed with COVID last year (I somehow managed to make it to 2023 without getting the dreaded lurgy and it CRIPPLED ME), I ended up bingeing the entire series. It was the series that brought us One Direction, Ablisa, Tesco Mary, Wagner, Katie Waissel and winner Matt Cardle (who, according to a 16 year old Harry Styles, was going to “get so much pussy after this”). HOWEVER, if there was one act that had all of us 2010s girlies in an asphyxiating chokehold, and to be honest, this was all based on her audition alone- it was Cher Lloyd. Yes, her audition. We all did it. We’d stand in front of our bedroom mirrors, hair in messy buns, tangle teasers in hand, singing “Turn My Swag On by Soulja Boy but I’m gonna do the Keri Hilson version”. After ver Factor, Cher went onto release the Stonker of a single Swagger Jagger and some poor wee Scottish gals went viral after they got a bitta grief off their mammy whilst singing her bop with Becky G, “Oath”. Like a lotta artists on this list, she’s had her AWOL moments, but has since returned to the music industry, releasing a comeback single, “Lost”,  in 2020 and performing at Mighty Hoopla in 2024. 

Don’t know about you lot, but we’re now off to stick on our old Pop Party CDs and have a dance about our rooms. S’ Laterz.

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