Xenomania

Xenomania

Xenomania is a British songwriting and production team founded by Brian Higgins and based in Kent, England. Formed after Higgins met Miranda Cooper, Xenomania has written and produced for renowned artists such as Cher, Kylie Minogue, Dannii Minogue, Pet Shop Boys, and Sugababes. In particular, all of Girls Aloud's albums (excluding their debut, Sound of the Underground) have been entirely written and produced by Xenomania. Sugababes' "Round Round" and Girls Aloud's "Sound of the Underground" have been credited with reshaping British pop music for the 2000s. Gabriella Cilmi's "Sweet About Me" and Girls Aloud's "The Promise" were named Best Single at the ARIA Music Awards of 2009 and the 2009 BRIT Awards, respectively.

The team has been referred to as "a Phil Spector" and "a Motown of the 21st-century". Higgins himself has said that Xenomania aspires to be a modern-day version of RAK Records. Of Higgins and Xenomania, Girls Aloud's former manager Louis Walsh says, "He just makes great songs for radio. They just jump out at you and stay in your brain." There are wide influences present in their productions, including electronic, glam rock, Motown soul, punk, and more traditional pop music. The name "Xenomania" means, according to Higgins, "the exact opposite of Xenophobia [...] a love of everything, of all cultures." Current members of the Xenomania writing and production team include Higgins, Cooper, Tim Powell and Nick Coler. There is also a Xenomania house band who work on potential backing tracks; members include Florrie Arnold, Kieran Jones, and Jason Resch. Parisian remixer Fred Falke also frequently works with Xenomania.

Xenomania started a "record label" of the same name in 2008, developing artists and working on material before looking for major label deals. Artists include Alex Gardner, Jessie Malakouti, Mini Viva, and Vagabond.

History

Brian Higgins found early success after producing Dannii Minogue's third studio album, Girl, which gained favorable reviews at the time but failed to enter the British Top 40. However, the success of the lead single, "All I Wanna Do", led to a collaboration with Cher and Higgins co-writing her international #1 hit single "Believe." Although the song outperformed all expectations and won him three Ivor Novello awards, Higgins found himself without a label when London Records was sold in 2000. After eighteen months, he decided to found Xenomania as an independent production company based in Kent, outside of London, because it is "somewhere where concentration would be easy [and] no one 'pops' in." He met Miranda Cooper at the 1996 Eurovision Song Contest when she was a backing dancer for Gina G, while Matt Gray had started his musical career in the 1980s, writing music for the Commodore 64 home computer. Nick Coler programmed The KLF's singles and Tim Powell started out in 1989 "doing hardcore rave stuff". Higgins attempted to launch Cooper as a solo artist under the stage name Moonbaby but failed to find success. "That's when we started writing for other people," according to Cooper. "I'd had writer's block for myself, but as soon as it was for somebody else all these songs popped out." Moonbaby's "Here We Go" would later be recorded by both Lene Nystrøm Rasted and Girls Aloud.

2002—2004: Commercial breakthrough

Higgins says, "We developed this sound of electronics and guitars fusing together but this was in the late Nineties when R'n'B lite dominated pop music and we had to wait for our opening." When Sugababes were dropped by London Records, they recorded "Round Round" with Xenomania, which Higgins says was "fusing electronics and guitars and tempo changes and melody shifts, so that the chorus was the only repetitive melody whereas traditional pop structure repeats verse melodies." The song would later become a number one single for Sugababes in 2002. Xenomania were approached to create the debut single for a girl group formed through Popstars: The Rivals. The eventual winners, Girls Aloud, recorded "Sound of the Underground", one of sixty songs that Higgins and Cooper had written with the aim of launching their own girl group. The song received critical acclaim, with The Guardian exclaiming it "proved a first: it was a reality pop record that didn't make you want to do physical harm to everyone involved in its manufacture." The song was the Christmas number one of 2002, selling just over 213,000 copies in its first week of release. The single spent four consecutive weeks at number one, achieving a platinum certification from the British Phonographic Industry. "Round Round" and "Sound of the Underground" have been called "two huge groundbreaking hits", credited with reshaping British pop music for the 2000s. The Telegraph placed the song at number 15 on a list of 100 songs that defined the noughties, while NME included it at number 39.

In 2003, Xenomania went on to write and produce "No Good Advice" for Girls Aloud, which reflected his general mood of failure after the deal between Xenomania and London Records fell through. It was said that "Higgins injects an element of instant-catchy-cool to the songs without going overboard in trying to shape uber-chic dance floor hits." Sugababes' "Hole in the Head", another number one, was also co-written and produced by the production team.

Following the success of Girls Aloud's first four singles, Xenomania was enlisted to produce Girls Aloud's entire second album What Will the Neighbours Say? in its entirety. Higgins said, "The pressure to come up with singles was, as always, immense. But [...] we were able to have a lot of fun working on ideas that were maybe a little too odd to be on the radio." The Guardian hailed Neighbours as "a great album: funny, clever, immediate, richly inventive." Stylus Magazine declared, "There is no pop in the world like Girls Aloud today." All four of the album's singles ("The Show", "Love Machine", "I'll Stand by You" and "Wake Me Up") were top five. Xenomania were approached to work with Australian pop icon Kylie Minogue on new tracks for her greatest hits collection Ultimate Kylie, including the single "Giving You Up". Other Xenomania productions proved less successful. Mania was a joint venture between Higgins and BMG. The duo, consisting of Xenomania songwriters Giselle Sommerville and Niara Scarlett, released one single before being dropped. The boy band V, whose single "Hip to Hip" was produced by Xenomania, was short lived.

2005—2007: Critical acclaim

Higgins and Xenomania were once again given free rein for Girls Aloud's third studio album Chemistry. The album's lead single "Biology" was critically acclaimed, being called "the best pop single of the last decade". Despite their near total obscurity in the United States, the song was listed at number 245 on Pitchfork Media's "The Top 500 Tracks of the 2000s" list. It was also listed at number 23 on The Observer Music Monthly's 75 best singles of the decade. Chemistry was praised by critics upon its release. BBC Music decided that the album was "quirky, modern and dripping with attitude" and "holds no disappointments." Virgin Media gave the album five stars, saying it was "bursting [...] with invention, quirky lyrics, tongue-in-cheek sauciness and [...] appeals to grown-up pop fans and music critics as well as to the teenyboppers." In 2008, Slant Magazine said that "Chemistry is probably still their crowning glory". Xenomania also worked with other British artists such as Bananarama, Rachel Stevens, and Texas. They continued their work with both Saint Etienne and Sugababes, producing the single "Red Dress". Xenomania also produced Totally Frank stars Frank's debut album; the group was dropped after their album failed to perform well.

In 2006, Girls Aloud released their first greatest hits collection The Sound of Girls Aloud which featured their singles to date, all produced by Xenomania, including "Something Kinda Ooooh". The song was referred to as "another head-spinningly innovative number from the Xenomania team." The Sound of Girls Aloud has been recognised by the IFPI as a million-seller. Their fourth studio album, 2007's Tangled Up, was labelled "yet another unrelenting pop masterpiece." The Times included it at number 62 on a list of the decade's best pop albums. The single "Call the Shots" was critically acclaimed, with pop music journalist Peter Robinson calling it the "greatest pop song of the 21st century." Xenomania also worked with Alesha Dixon (on the cancelled album Fired Up), Sophie Ellis-Bextor, and produced two songs for Sugababes' fifth studio album Change.

2008—present

In 2008, Xenomania's success continued. Australian singe-songwriter Gabriella Cilmi released her Xenomania-produced debut album Lessons to Be Learned. "Sweet About Me", the debut single, was an international success. At the ARIA Music Awards of 2009, Cilmi won six awards including Single of the Year for "Sweet About Me". In the United Kingdom, Alesha Dixon's "The Boy Does Nothing" was her first solo top five single. Higgins likened the song to "bottled happiness". Xenomania produced seven more tracks for the album The Alesha Show and an additional two for its reissue.

While at work on Girls Aloud's fifth studio album Out of Control. Two members of the Xenomania house band, Jason Resch and Kieran Jones, composed the backing track for "The Promise", which they played for Higgins. He and Cooper, afraid they'd "ruin the moment", waited weeks to write the song's lyrics; they wrote the song in seven minutes. Higgins said, "We knew that was the piece of music Girls Aloud needed to announce them as a supergroup in this country, so we knew we couldn’t drop the ball melodically or lyrically." "The Promise" became Girls Aloud's first original number one single since "Sound of the Underground". The single became the fastest selling single of 2008 until "Hero" - a charity single by the finalists on The X Factor - broke its record the following week. "The Promise" won Best British Single at the 2009 BRIT Awards, Girls Aloud and Xenomania's first win at the prestigious ceremony. The album Out of Control became Girls Aloud's first number one studio album.

Pet Shop Boys' tenth studio album Yes was produced by Brian Higgins and Xenomania. Yes reached number four on the UK Albums Chart on March 29, 2009 (2009-03-29), Pet Shop Boys' highest placing since their 1996 album Bilingual, and their chart-topping Very. The album was nominated in the Best Electronic/Dance Album category at the 52nd Grammy Awards. Don't Stop, the much delayed second album by Norwegian singer Annie, was released in November 2009. The album includes the single "My Love Is Better".

Mini Viva's forthcoming debut album and its respective singles - "Left My Heart in Tokyo", "I Wish", and "One Touch" - were produced by Xenomania. "Left My Heart in Tokyo", which charted within the top ten, was co-written by Annie and Fred Falke. The song was critically acclaimed. Xenomania also worked with a number of other newer artists, such as Alex Gardner, Jessie Malakouti, and Vagabond, to varying degrees of success (see artist development). Xenomania are currently working with Alesha Dixon and Kylie Minogue on their respective albums.

Failed collaborations

Xenomania worked with Britney Spears in 2003 during sessions for her fourth album In the Zone. The song submitted, "Graffiti My Soul", was not chosen for the album. While the record company loved the song, Britney's people felt that it needed more of a chorus. Higgins said that they wanted "essentially 'Sound of the Underground 2'." It later appeared on Girls Aloud's What Will the Neighbours Say?.

The production team were due to work with New Order and Franz Ferdinand, but both sessions proved fruitless. Xenomania was due to produce for New Order's Waiting for the Sirens' Call, but Peter Hook said they "scrapped the Brian Higgins stuff because we didn't like it. I thought he did quite a good job on Girls Aloud but he didn't do a good job on us." Franz Ferdinand's drummer Paul Thomson said, "We wrote with Higgins for a while and initially we thought we'd work more with him but it didn't really work out. We just realized that we're not really a pop group."

Xenomania were reported to have written five songs for Leona Lewis's second album Echo, described by Cooper as "tragic songs with a twist." The songs did not make the album.

Higgins spoke of bad experiences with bigger artists to Literally magazine in 2009:

"Everything about us is about enormous enthusiasm for something. And therefore big artists can come in and they think "they're the flavour of the whatever, let's take their thing and then we'll do what we want with it..." Well, no, that's not acceptable anyway. I've had that experience happen where the big artists were fine until they got into the mix room and then they basically pulled the record to pieces. So I took my name off the record and the writing credits off the record. Because they're assholes. And they sold about 20,000 copies, and they've never been seen since. So big artists are often jerks of the biggest order. And often people say don't meet your heroes because you'll be let down, and I sort of understand why people would say that."

Artist development

Xenomania spent two years looking for talent worldwide, establishing Xenomania Records. Higgins said, "It's very difficult to get in. Everyone's hand-picked." They write, produce, and rehearse music before they "sell record companies the artists they've discovered and developed." He also noted, "We'd love to be a modern day version of RAK, where the artists are signed and developed here." The goal is to establish an "entertainment company, with Higgins [...] presiding over a pool of talent, retaining key rights to the artists they develop." Higgins also says, "I object to the word 'manufactured' cause I think it's invariably said with a vague sneer. The real phrase is 'producer driven'."

In 2009, Xenomania held a "mini festival" entitled Xenofest in which they showcased their artists to journalists, record label representatives, and PRs. Vagabond were formed through the programme. Vagabond's vocalist Alex Vargas said, "It sounds cheesy, but we really are one big family". Mini Viva, who were formed in 2007, spent two years working with Xenomania before their launch. Other artists discovered and developed through Xenomania Records include Alex Gardner and Jessie Malakouti.

Work ethic

Higgins told The Telegraph in August 2009, "Pop is where the cutting edge of music is but it needs to be done with total sincerity and an incredible amount of skill, otherwise it doesn't warrant its own existence. There is a science to it, but there's magic too. You have to find the space where art and commerce truly meet in the middle, with genuine feeling and sentiment." He has also said, "pop music is maths."

Xenomania are notable for their abnormal writing process. According to an article in Q magazine's October 2009 issue, "they each work on backing tracks, chords or beats, Higgins choosing the best bits and building up songs like jigsaws." The various pieces of music are discussed at daily meetings and the best become the basis of songs. Higgins "separate[s] music, melody, lyric" and strives to preserve "high level of originality, excitement and dynamism in the writing." He also has "the final say on everything [and] establish the creative direction projects will take". If a piece of music "sounds enticing before a vocal has gone anywhere near it," then Higgins and Cooper will "sketch out" the melody and lyrics. Xenomania may also create multiple melodies over the same backing track and then select the best. Higgins said "we're just not interested in the way other people do things. [...] I've trained not just me but myself, Miranda, Tim, we've trained our minds to think that way". Neil Tennant of Pet Shop Boys said that the process "reminded me of working at Smash Hits 'cos [sic] you've got this house full of people and they're all totally into music. [...] They all have comments to make. A truly great atmosphere."

Higgins also insists that artists are involved to an extent. Referring to Girls Aloud in a 2004 interview with The Observer, Higgins said, "We don't let them out of the room till they've given every ounce of melodic instinct that they've got in them, [...] at the end, you find they've contributed really well." Neil Tennant noted that Higgins "works you very hard. He's very headmaster-ly." Tennant's partner, Chris Lowe, said Higgins "puts stars by your work, and comments. It's ruthless. It's fantastic!" Norwegian singer Annie said of Higgins, "he's making music all the time and he's really creative and has a lot of good ideas. Serious and ambitious. It gave me an extra punch to work really hard and that was exactly what I needed."

On Xenomania's relatively low output (compared to a group like Stock, Aitken & Waterman), Higgins says, "If you're a production house, you're supposed to work with anyone and everyone: that's the rule...but if we don't feel excited by the prospect of the artist, then the record's going to be shit." Higgins refuses to work "purely for the fee" for the same reasons. He says, "People are coming to me already with a quality idea in mind, because they've heard it. [...] But people need to understand that when they hear something that we've done on the radio, a process has been followed to achieve that." Xenomania have reportedly turned away Atomic Kitten and Gareth Gates.

Xenomania work from a large English country house located in Kent, where Higgins also lives, and a flat in Shoreditch. The country home formerly belonged to Alice Liddell, the inspiration behind Lewis Carroll's novel Alice's Adventures in Wonderland.

Influences

Of the production group's philosophy and outlook, Higgins says, "What we stand for [...] is everything about the interesting side of music, but with tunes the postman will whistle." There are a number of influences present in Xenomania's productions, including electronic, glam rock, Motown soul, punk, and more traditional pop music. The Observer wrote that Xenomania are "sonically pioneering songs that have combined dance, rock and rave and resulted in the group being championed by NME as often as MTV."

The varied sound of the production house is influenced by Higgin's own wide tastes growing up. Higgins says, "I discovered punk music, then New Romantic music, then dance music, which got me into the music business professionally." Higgins was a fan of punk rock groups such as the Buzzcocks and the Sex Pistols, as well as more electronic groups such as New Order. Additionally, Higgins "was obsessed with synthesisers [...] Duran Duran and the way they utilised synths, which I thought was amazingly clever, and Japan, and Depeche Mode."

In order to stay relevant, Higgins said the team avoids "listening to the radio [or] following contemporary fashions", noting that Girls Aloud's "Call the Shots" "started as a piece of music in 2005, was written as a song in 2006 and came out [...] in November 2007." However, Paul Thomson of Franz Ferdinand said, "He has a team in the kitchen listening to Radio 1 all day, monitoring what's being played. And he has somebody watching fashion TV all day making notes on what kind of beats they're using."

Critical response and recognition

Since their inception, Xenomania has garnered praise from all areas of the international media. Pitchfork Media, which generally focuses on independent music, praised Xenomania for their "deathless hooks and multi-genre pyrotechnics [...] songs stuffed to the gills with one, two, three, sometimes four different choruses, sounding like patchwork assemblages of the best bits of a hundred fantasy pop songs." In 2006, British pop website Popjustice stated, "This cartel of songwriters and producers are the most talented pop powerhouse since the glory days of Cheiron, and could easily become the most exciting British hit machine of all time." Celebrity gossip blogger Perez Hilton consistently praises their work.

Xenomania has been given various accolades and recognition. British music industry trade magazine Music Week said in an October 2008 piece, "As one of song-writing and production team Xenomania, the publicity shy Brian Higgins has been responsible for some of the most life-affirming and innovative pop songs of the last decade." They were named Music Week's Producer of the Year award for 2009. Higgins won the Ivor Novello Award for Best Song Musically and Lyrically for his work on Cher's "Believe"; it was also awarded the sales-based International Hit Of The Year and Best Selling UK Single. It also won the Grammy Award for Best Dance Recording. Xenomania won Best British Single for Girls Aloud's "The Promise" at the 2009 BRIT Awards, while Gabriella Cilmi's "Sweet About Me" won Best Single at the ARIA Music Awards of 2009. Pet Shop Boys' Yes was nominated in the Best Electronic/Dance Album category at the 52nd Grammy Awards.

The Observer placed Higgins at number thirteen in a 2008 list of the twenty most powerful "celebrity makers." The article labeled Xenomania "not only UK pop's most successful songwriting and production team, they're also its most cutting edge." Miranda Cooper was in Harper's Bazaar Power List 2007 as one of the thirty "women who shape our lives today". They wrote of Cooper, "If it's a hit you want, you'd better talk to Cooper. For the rest of us, Cooper has the power to get a tune inside our heads."

List of acts who have performed Xenomania songs

• Alesha Dixon
• Alex Gardner
• Alexis Strum
• Annie
• Bananarama
• Cher
• Chicane
• Dannii Minogue
• Frank
• Gabriella Cilmi
• Girls Aloud
• Jem
• Jessie Malakouti
• Kylie Minogue

• Lene Nystrøm Rasted
• Mania
• Mel Blatt
• Mini Viva
• Moonbaby
• Natacha Atlas
• Pet Shop Boys
• Rachel Stevens
• Saint Etienne
• Sophie Ellis-Bextor
• Sugababes
• Texas
• V
• Vagabond

Brian Higgins/Xenomania production credits

Main article: Xenomania discography

External links

• Xenomania news