Young Divas

When four former Australian Idol starlets record a cover of a camp classic and plan a glitzy national tour, it’s tempting to imagine catfight-fuelled chaos behind the scenes.

But Paulini Curuenavuli, one-quarter of fledgling pop outfit Young Divas, is having none of it.

Nothing’s really gone down, she laughs.

There’s been no clash at all, just because we’re so individually different.

Our styles are different. The way we sing is different. Our vocal ranges are so different.

Paulini, who shot to fame in the first season of Australian Idol, is talking about her collaboration with Ricki-Lee Coulter, Emily Williams and Kate DeAraugo.

The Idol graduates formed Young Divas earlier this year after a realistic assessment of their solo touring prospects.

We all share the same management, Paulini explains.

We’ve always wanted to go on tour but I think individually we were not as strong as we are together, the four of us.

All our management kind of knew about it and -¦ we thought, -˜Why don’t we get the four girls together and have a divas tour?’

Paulini freely admits the Young Divas and their upcoming tour are a strategy to spruik their solo work.

We thought this would be a great way to put a light on our stuff and also to work with each other, she says.

To add to their camp cachet, the group has released a cover of Donna Summer’s classic This Time I Know It’s For Real.

To be honest with you I was really scared to do it. I was really hesitant. I guess we all were, Paulini says.

We were very scared to come out with this song just because she’s huge, she’s a massive disco queen.

But we just went into the studio and said, -˜Let’s try it and see how it turns out,’ and it turned out really well.

Rather than pigeonholing the performers as ex-reality TV tragics, Paulini hopes Young Divas puts the spotlight on homegrown talent.

Right now it’s all international acts that are huge here and are getting their albums and singles sold instead of Australian artists who are great and can sing, she says.

We’re hoping that people can see us and hear us live and say, -˜These girls really can sing and they’ve put in the hard work and it’s a great show.’

Young Divas perform at the Star City Showroom on 14 and 15 July. Book on 136 100 or at the the Ticketmaster website.