Mila Austin
Still got that swagger: Cher Lloyd’s releasing new music for the first time since 2020
The world first met Cher Lloyd in 2010 when, aged 16 – she walked on to the X Factor stage and blew the audience away with her version of Keri Hilson’s Turn My Swag On.
It ended up being a fourth-place finish in the TV talent show for Cher, who signed with Simon Cowell’s record label, releasing number one single Swagger Jagger and two studio albums.
Since that early success she’s been in and out of the spotlight, and stunned fans at the start of this year when she announced an upcoming single – her first since 2020.
Speaking to BBC Newsbeat 15 years later, Cher says music’s still “everything” to her and she’s “spilling the tea” on her new track Head Down.
“I was on such a huge reality TV show and the experience that I had was just a rollercoaster of emotions,” she says.
“I just felt like I needed to get a lot of stuff off my chest.
“Head Down for me was a way to do that without blurting it all out and getting in trouble.”
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Cher was the focus of many tabloid stories during her stint on X Factor
Looking back, Cher says her time on the X Factor was a “shock to the system”.
“I had this illusion that the show was just going to be about singing and performing and I didn’t realise that 80 or 90% of it was reality TV.”
Cher got a tough time from the tabloid press during her time on the show – with stories about “diva” behaviour turning some of the audience against the teenager.
She says it makes her “really sad” feeling that she gained a reputation as the series villain.
“That was never my intention,” she says.
“I feel like it kind of overshadowed the reason why I was there and that was because I love to sing”.
When asked how she coped with the negative attention, Cher says she didn’t.
“That’s why you saw me spiral and make bad decisions,” she says.
One person who helped her through, though, was Liam Payne. The One Direction star died last year in a fall from a hotel balcony.
“He was always the level-headed one,” says Cher.
“He looked after everyone and he had this nurturing energy. And the passion that he had for performing was just unmatched.
“I don’t think I’ve spoken about it like this before, but the talent he had was just unbelievable”.
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Cher appeared on the X Factor alongside One Direction
Cher’s now a mum, and says knowing there’s more to life than performing is the “thing that keeps her sane”.
“The biggest most important thing is to be a decent person and to treat people well”.
That’s brought new challenges for her, and she wants to see working parents in the music industry “cut a bit more slack”.
Cher says she’s still “expected to do it all”.
“It’s just this that vicious circle and I’m still trying to get my head around it and understand it,” she says.
Having children’s just one way her career has shifted.
Cher’s musical style has also changed, but there’s one track that she can’t escape.
Swagger Jagger.
She says she didn’t perform her debut single for years, seeing as “the old me”.
“As an artist, I’ve moved on from that,” she says.
But the internet hasn’t.
Swagger Jagger ‘part of my story’
Cher’s music got a huge boost thanks to a viral video of two young girls recording a music video in their bedroom.
It starts with one saying: “I’m gonna sing Cher Lloyd by Cher Lloyd”.
They launch into one of Cher’s songs, titled Oath, but are interrupted when a mum bursts into the room, angrily asking: “Why does somebody not know how to flush a toilet?”.
Needless to say, Cher thinks it’s “hilarious”.
“Every time I see it I’m just in stitches,” she says.
“And the fact that my name is attached to it. It’s just gold.
“I’d love nothing more than to recreate that video… how funny would that be?!”
When Cher performed Swagger Jagger at a festival last year, she says seeing the crowd go mad changed her own feelings towards it.
“The feeling I got from it was just like… how can I not perform this?”
“I know I’m not there artistically anymore with Swagger Jagger, but it’s such a huge part of my story… I just have to do it.”
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“I’m just gonna keep rolling the songs out,” she says.
And Cher says that being back making music makes her feel “worth it again”.
“I know that sounds really dark,” she says.
“But when you’ve been in a bad place, when you have that thing that makes you feel good again, you’ve just got to hold on to it.”
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