My piece for Reveal Magazine. May 2013.

Should already famous acts be allowed to audition for The Voice?

We have had a Hollyoaks star, a MOBO nominee and a chart-topper audition already, but is it OK for people who've already had a taste of fame to try out for talent TV shows likeThe Voice? 

NO says Amy Voce, 30, Gem 106 breakfast presenter

Everyone, at some point, has wanted to be a pop star. I spent several painful years wearing platform trainers, thanks to my Spice Girl obsession, and asking friends to address me as 'Trixie Firecracker'. 

I know that you should never give up on your dream (thankfully, Trixie was just a temporary glitch for me) but it seems totally unfair that someone like Nate James, for instance, should get another go. 

He's already released an album, had two MOBO nominations and worked with stars like Aretha Franklin and Chaka Khan. In terms of confidence, stage presence and experience, he's already way ahead of any contestant plucked from stacking shelves in the supermarket. 

Sean from 5ive is another prime example... I've paid to see him during one of their arena tours in the past, which just proves that he's already lived the pop star dream. He may be hankering for more, but he shouldn't be allowed to do it in place of new faces who might have missed out on a chance because of him. 

Seeing a guy whom I once had a poster of on my wall still desperately clutching at the trappings of fame seems a tad depressing. It spoils the glamour of pop stardom in my eyes.

The music industry is notoriously difficult to crack and over-saturated with so many similar acts, so I think The Voice should be a chance for brand new talent to have a shot.

 

YES says Naomi Kent, 29, Radio Aire breakfast presenter

I'm obsessed with Google-searching 'where are they now?'. I always want to know what people who've had a brush with fame are up to. And, looking at how popular ITV2's show The Big Reunion has been recently, I'm clearly not the only one.

Blue are back in the album chart and even PJ & Duncan smashed a No1 single with their old classic Let's Get Ready To Rhumble. It all just goes to show that we are loving a bit of nostalgia right now.

So I'm all for former stars appearing on shows like The Voice. Watching90s pop heart-throb Kavana ironically singing Crowded House's 'Don't Dream It's Over' in week one, then waiting as nobody swivelled their chair for him, was seriously cringeworthy… and compelling. 

The whole point of The Voice is that it's about singing ability and nothing else – not your looks, not your past – it's called The Voice for a reason. 

Yes, Nate James may have been nominated for a music award, yes, Alice Barlow may have been on Hollyoaks and yes, Cleo Higgins may have been 'comin' atcha' in her band Cleopatra. But I think it's fair game for anyone with a decent voice to have a go –that's the whole point of the show!

It might sound bad, but the best bit of The Voice is waiting to see if the mentors will turn around – especially Jessie J and that hovering hand of hers – so when the performer is already recognisable, we take even more of a sick pleasure in the will-they-won't-they element.

Coachella

I've always wanted to go to Coachella. Not just because the line up is always awesome, but I like heat. And the thought of not waking up in a tent, putting on wellies, thermals and rain mac and stepping out into three feet of mud is beyond appealing. A festival in the desert? SOLD. So when my mate text me saying 'Do you want to come to Coachella, a group of us are going, but we need to know tonight', the pressure and overwhelming fear of FOMO ('fear of missing out' if Mum is reading this) was too much so I instinctively said yes!

A couple of weeks later, I started to think about the camping. People started telling me stories of lying in a tent, sweating profusely due to the heat, having to wake at 7am to get out of it for fear of dehydrating to death. Plus I now had to get camping gear over to the states?! Thank god we weren't flying with Ryanair. Suddenly the mud seemed great fun. Initially I booked a hotel nearby, but with all my friends camping I felt a bit of a wimp. So I found a happy medium. And this was it.

Meet Tattoo...

I bloody loved her. My friend didn't quite share the enthusiasm as her description of it was 'like the steering wheel isn't attached to the wheels'. But she's so pretty!

The first thing about Coachella when you arrive is your surroundings. The backdrop of the mountains is pretty breathtaking. And that's before entering the festival. As it's an arts and music festival, everything is visually stunning. The most notorious of course being the giant ferris wheel. In one tent one morning I made a hand painted necklace. I mean, yes, it does look like something my 5 year old niece would make but the thought was there.

An American festival is very different to the UK. I'm not sure whether it's down to the heat, or because we're rather keen on a (binge) drink or two in the UK, but everyone seemed pretty chilled out. Which is lovely because you get no annoying louts or people throwing up outside your tent. But I have to admit...I missed the binge drinking Brits! Especially during Blur. Whilst I was momentarily fourteen again, going nuts, jumping around like some yoof, moshing, singing badly, everyone else just stood quietly and observed. I felt a little sorry for the boys. It was just a little too civilised. I suppose they never would have quite got the whole Britpop excitement...and possibly the nostalgia I felt watching them but nevertheless I still wanted to shout WAKE UP AND ENJOY YOURSELVES.

This area however, was a little different. When it's 30 plus degrees heat and you're dancing in the middle of a desert, what's the one thing you want? A GIANT JET WASH PLEASE. Awesome DJ's and relentless fun all.day.long. here.

The music was brilliant, favourite being local boy Jake Bugg. There's something very exciting about seeing someone from your region on the other side of the world. You feel like you know them. Sadly I don't. 

But I did make friends with this guy and his snazzy umbrella.

General fun...

 

Umm am I on acid or is that a giant snail?!
*at no point was I on acid*

Oh that's just me driving a giant bug.

So pretty by night...

After several magical days we moved onto our next destination. We were extremely excited by the prospect of fresh sheets, a proper shower but more importantly to see VIIIIVA LAS VEGAS! From the moment I arrived I loved it. We stayed at the Hard Rock hotel. This was my view. Decent. Spent hours walking round the biggest hotel I've ever seen with all it's Michael Jackson, Kurt Cobain, Beatles memorabilia to name but a few. At one point, in the wee hours I got obscenely lost and was banging on a hotel room which wasn't mine. Better leave that story there...what goes in Vegas...

Vegas was everything I expected...and I loved it for that.

Everything in the states makes me feel like I'm permanently in a film. But the highlight of my trip was jumping into a convertible with a few mates and taking the 3 hour drive to the Grand Canyon. Partly because of the road trip. Incredible. Yes, we got lost and felt a small fear of death when our sat nav led us down this dusty road....

Nice wheels Grandpa!

Luckily we didn't perish and after a rather tense-4 hours longer than it should have been journey-we arrived at our destination, and it's fair to say it was well worth it...

I AM NOT POSING AT THE GRAND CANYON

If you have a list of places to travel to then I'd make sure this is firmly added! And if that didn't quite wet your appetite here's a little vid of our trip. Apologies for shoddy filming. And singing.

Fasting Isn't Fast Enough

I tweeted today about how I'm fasting and a lot of people asked why I was doing it so thought I'd share my food deprived day and the reasons behind doing something which I anticipated being something I would never achieve.

Now I'm always a big fan of a good British winter. I'm not sure you'll find me in a happier state than sat with a dripping hot Camembert, dipping bread, drinking red wine-to warm me up of course. Or equally on a Sunday afternoon, snuggled up in front of a fire whilst drinking gallons of tea, washed down with a generous serving of chocolate. And of course you have the added bonus that if you do add a few winter pounds, you need to wear twelve layers, hat, scarf and gloves so it can go unnoticed. 

I'm also a big fan of winter thawing out in March. At this point the winter stodge should be naturally transforming to lighter options. Fish, veg, salad, fruit seem tastier. The chocolate cravings lessen, the weather is more 'running friendly' and naturally I'll lighten up a bit. Not this year. Yes. I am officially blaming the climate for weight gain. 

I'm always concerned with healthy eating and living but I'm not interested in dieting at all. I'm not aiming to look like Victoria Beckham, thank god. Beyonce would be nice though. I don't own a pair of scales, never have. I entirely judge my weight by how my clothes fit and look and how I feel. So when I pulled on a pair of jeans that actually ripped in February, ACTUALLY PHYSICALLY RIPPED, I decided to take action. Throw into that the fact that I booked a holiday which has creeped up on me, in two weeks in fact, where I will be bikini bound! Gulp. So, I joined a gym, started going regularly, even enlisted the help of a personal trainer to get me kick started. That's all good but then I feel I need to get out of the cold weather stodge temptation. As I find once you get into healthier eating you're less inclined towards the stodge. Then I heard about this fasting diet. 

Now, I'm not endorsing this, but have decided to give it a go to get me started. You are basically supposed to fast for one day a week (or limit of 500 calories). The guy who originally told me about this really sold it when he said 'it gives your organs a rest'. I liked the idea of that. They've been ever so busy the last 30 years and they've NEVER had a day off!

So today I began. Because I was at work this morning, where I actually have to be pretty chirpy and focused (no, seriously) and my day starts at 4.30am I allowed myself a small bowl of bran flakes at 6am. Then just lemon and ginger tea. I also ate a banana at 11am. It's now 8.30pm and I've just devoured 3 delicious, enticing celery sticks for dinner. Apparently you actually burn more calories physically eating them?! Ideal! And to my surprise, I actually feel fine and not as sapped as I thought.

From just one day of doing this I have noticed a lot! Firstly, that I definitely don't need to eat as much as I do, but that I mainly eat for enjoyment. Eating good food is without question my favourite pastime. Not in a binge, sit on the sofa eating pizzas & chocolate all day gorge type of way. I just look forward to it SO much. So much so that this evening when I didn't have an evening meal to look forward to and prepare I felt a bit...lost. It feels like such a waste! A good meal is often the highlight of my day.

Also, the difficult thing about fasting is not being able to escape it AT ALL. Everyone eating at work made me gutted with jealousy. I deliberately picked today because I didn't have much on. But even the petrol stations enormous display of confectionery, turning on the TV I ended up watching Jamie Oliver's 15 minute meals...so turned onto Friends where they were then sat around snacking. Even Jennifer Aniston!! Every single advert seems to be food. Granted it's bound to be all I'm focused on today, but I did realise how our lives entirely revolve around food.

Part of today as well was to exercise my willpower which is notoriously USELESS. Partly because I'll always apply the 'live every last day like your last' theory and feel concerned that if it was my last day I would have had a really rubbish celery filled day of boredom. But so far so good. And I'm amazed I've not caved. There was a moment of potential weakness in the kitchen where I had a stand off with a half eaten Easter egg. To the point where my hand delved in but I resisted at the last minute. THAT FELT GOOD. 

I suppose if this was my last day on earth, it may have been dull food wise but at least my brain will have achieved something? Oh and my stomach already feels flatter. Who's up for it next week?? We'll make celery soup!

God I miss you, you delicious cheesy hunk....

And you. You sugary nightmare.