When you’re in a girl group with all eyes on you — and your body — it can be easy to give in to the pressure to conform. But not when you’re a Sugababe.
Keisha Buchanan believes the ‘rebellious’ nature of the original trio, who recently officially reformed, freed her from the constraints of 00s beauty standards.
As fad diets reigned and plus-sized models were a myth, Keisha – alongside Mutya Buena and Siobhán Donaghy – stood fast in her own image and vision.
‘We’ve always been the rebellious ones,’ the Overload hitmaker exclusively told Metro as she joins forces with SlimFast ambassadors Kelly Brook and Big Narstie for a new campaign.
Keisha continued: ‘I was maybe 13 or 14 years old [when I first started] and back then, there was a lot of pressure for girls to be stick thin.
‘I was always thankful that I was in the Sugababes just because we were sort of known as the anti-that. No one could push us into it, anyway.’
The trio would brush off comments that came their way in the era of thinner-is-better mindsets, bolstered by each other’s support.
‘I think for us, there wasn’t so much pressure on us to necessarily look a certain way,’ Keisha added. ‘Even outside of not wanting to conform physically, I think we naturally did that anyway, but also with our music.
‘We were doing things completely different.’
That’s not to say the Sugababes were immune to the intense conversations around bodies, weight, and looks in the 00s, particularly as women.
One headline from 2008 asked if Keisha was in a ‘bad mood’ at an event due to her gaining weight, with Mutya sharing in 2021 that she felt ‘fat and ugly’ after leaving the band.
Weight management and loss remains a sensitive topic for many artists, with Lizzo recently shedding pounds and calling out those who criticised her at her heaviest.
Keisha shared: ‘I feel like we just need to embrace all shapes and sizes because there are people who are naturally thin, and that is just their natural way of being. You can be unhealthy on either [end of the] spectrum.
‘It is a duty for those of us who are in the public eye to actually celebrate every shape and size and just really encourage everyone just to live a healthy, positive lifestyle.’
For the Push the Button hitmaker, being healthy meant losing some post-Covid weight after months of lockdown meant she no longer felt like her best self.
‘I wanted to start a fitness programme, which entailed me doing a lot of walking because I’m not someone who enjoys all the hard stuff in the gym,’ Keisha confessed.
‘I do love working out, but it was more like I have to enjoy it. So I did a lot of walking, a lot of weight lifting. I really wanted to keep my curves intact.’
Part of her new fitness regime included swapping out the occasional meal for SlimFast shakes, allowing her to ‘lose quite a bit of weight and get into quite a good shape’.
Keisha wanted to be ‘feeling fit and healthy’ before the Sugababes’ triumphant return to Mighty Hoopla and Glastonbury.
‘There’s such an embrace of imperfection nowadays,’ she praised. ‘I definitely feel like social media has a big part to play in that because everyone’s just putting their raw self [forward].
‘For me, that has been great for my own journey because it’s allowed me to be more confident. People would assume that being on stage, you’re the most confident person, but not necessarily.
‘There’s a lot of pressure, but this is the least amount of pressure that I’ve ever felt over the last few years, and it’s because I feel like I can just show up exactly as I am and put my best foot forward. Sometimes that is wearing baggy clothing, and sometimes that is wearing maybe more fitted stuff.’
She laughed and added that she ‘definitely wants to wear more fitted stuff’ now that she’s feeling confident in her body again, thanks to SlimFast.
Walking was a huge part of Keisha’s health journey but now dancing is also coming to the forefront as the Sugababes are back on tour.
Speaking about shutting down West Holts at last year’s Glastonbury, the Jungle singer shared:’We were just as surprised as you. It’s been amazing just to be embraced the way that we have.
‘At Glastonbury 2022, that was the first shutdown, and we really thought that that was just because people were excited to see us back. So to have it happen again?
‘It was an incredible experience. Very humbling as well, and as usual, we had fun.’
Keisha calls Siobhán and Mutya her ‘sisters’, adding there’s a ‘lot of history there’ but they always make sure to have their bonding time.
She said: ‘As much as we’re working, we definitely have that time for ourselves as well to go out together and have girl time.’
‘We’re having the most fun we’ve ever had,’ Keisha concluded.
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