Behind-the-scenes pop queens

You may not have heard the names Liv and Mim Nervo, but chances are you’ve heard their songs.

The Melbourne-born twins, who’ll be DJing at this week’s Mardi Gras closing party, have spent the past five years travelling the world as songwriters for hire, working with artists including Rachel Stevens, the Pussycat Dolls, Miley Cyrus, and, of course, David Guetta — they penned last year’s mega-hit When Love Takes Over.

“That was a great song for us,” Mim Nervo told Sydney Star Observer from London. “People like Rachel Stevens sound quite similar to us, but Kelly Rowland has got more of a house vocal, so it was exciting for us to hear someone showcase our sound in a different way.”

The song also topped the US dance charts and UK single charts, which can’t have hurt.

Having honed their skills in the lucrative world of Asian pop — at one point, Nervo-penned songs topped the charts in at least one Asian country for 52 consecutive weeks — their recent Western success has seen demand for their skills skyrocket.
“We’re working with Sophie Ellis-Bextor, Cheryl Cole, we’re working with Rihanna next week,” Nervo said, reeling off the names as if unaware she was living every pop fan’s wet dream.

“And we recorded Kylie Minogue singing one of our songs last night. That was a real moment. I had a bit of a freakout, thinking, ‘There’s that voice I’ve heard for so many years, singing our song’. ”

This humble scribe would be lynched by the gays of Sydney if he didn’t press for some more info about Ms Minogue. However, it seems Team Kylie have learned from the mistakes of the very leaky X and are keeping her new material in lockdown.

“I shouldn’t reveal the title of the song because… well, I just shouldn’t,” Nervo squirmed.

“But I can say that we were at Stuart Price’s studio recording it with him, and it’s a great Kylie song. I think everyone will be really pleased with her record, it’s definitely a dancefloor album. They’re finishing it up at the moment, so in the next two months, you guys will definitely have a Kylie single out there.”

I thanked Nervo for that delicious scrap of information on behalf of Kylie-loving gays everywhere.

“Haha! We did speak about the gay crowds with Kylie, because Liv and I DJed in a gay club in New York a few weeks ago. We said, ‘Kylie, I bet your life is so much fun, going from one gay crowd to the next,’ and she completely agreed. She loves you boys!”

The duo also recently worked with Cathy Dennis, pop singer-turned-songwriter responsible for some of the best pop of the past decade (Kylie’s Can’t Get You Out of My Head included).

“She’s unreal. There’s a reason why Cathy Dennis is Cathy Dennis — she’s a gold dust magic queen! She’s our songwriting idol, so I got a bit starstruck.”

And next on the agenda for Nervo? The feisty pair plan to compete with the very artists they’ve been writing for these past five years.

“We just signed a record deal and we’ll definitely be releasing our own material. It’ll be dancefloor electro with a club edge — full of attitude, sassy, sexy, bold.”

She’s not wrong. One of the demos on the twins’ MySpace is the rather full-on track Too Drunk To Fuck — not exactly the sort of song you can pass on to Hannah Montana.

“I’m glad that you say it’s full-on, because that’s what we want. We want to push the envelope. We could write love songs all day, but we want something more, with a bit of a Nervo twist. So look out!”

info: Nervo play the Mardi Gras closing party, March 6.