Monday, October 1, 2007

Cheetah Girls Get 'A Bit More Adult' In 'Indian Adventure!'


They've already engineered the unlikely transition from fictional book characters to fictional TV pop singers to a real-life band, complete with record-breaking tour attendance and 11 million CDs sold. So where do the most cheetah-licious girls in the world go from here?

"Bollywood!" enthused Kiely Williams, the 21-year-old singer/actress who plays Aqua, one-third of the multimedia pop trio the Cheetah Girls.

These days, Williams is one fast-moving Cheetah: This month she's wrapping up a role in the Anna Faris comedy "I Know What Boys Like," dropping a new album alongside fellow Girls Adrienne Bailon (Chanel) and Sabrina Bryan (Dorinda) and getting ready to head overseas for the group's third made-for-TV movie.

"We're going to India in January to shoot the third Cheetah Girls movie, and we are over-the-moon about it," beamed the bubbly Williams. "The fact that we're going to live there for three months is out of this world."

"We just met with our director, who's amazing," she said of Kenny Ortega, the TV veteran who directed both "High School Musical" movies and the last "Cheetah" flick. "It's going to be something very different for the Cheetah Girls, definitely pushing the envelope as far as what the Disney Channel will allow us to do."

Fans can expect a very different version of the group this time around, now that all three girls are in their 20s, Raven (a.k.a. Raven Symone, who played Galleria) has left the group to focus on her own career, and the script has Chanel, Dorinda and Aqua traveling to the Land of the Tiger.

"It's going to be a bit more adult because we're getting older," Williams revealed of the plot. "You've seen us as [high school] freshmen, as sophomores, and now we're going to college. We're a little bit older, and there are more boys involved in our lives — and a lot more romance."

"Cheetah Girls 3: Indian Adventure!" is targeting an August 2008 release on the Disney Channel and features the three ladies competing against each other to land a starring role in the kind of elaborate, dance-filled, romantic feature film that has become an Indian trademark. Appropriately enough, the Girls are already altering their act to include all those wrist-twisting Bollywood dance moves.

"We're going to screw in the light bulb, drop the orange, pick up the apple," she giggled. "We're learning all that stuff!"

Williams is also busy promoting their third album, TCG, which had the newly grown-up Girls writing six of the 11 songs. "We're so excited about it; we've worked so hard, and it's our crossover album," she said of their attempt to maintain a loyal fanbase while embracing a more mature crowd, much like "High School Musical" has recently done. "We're trying to make positive, kid-friendly music still, but for the rest of the world, so that everyone can enjoy it.

"I think we've really come up with something very special," she said, citing a favorite track from the new album that samples Lionel Richie's "All Night Long." "It's a song called 'Fuego,' and it's our first Spanglish song — we recorded it all in Spanish, and all in English, and we've done a mixed version in English and Spanish. You are not going to believe that it's the Cheetah Girls when you hear it — you're going to be like, 'That's not them!' The word 'fuego' means fire, and the whole song is about setting the night on fire, and having a good time and partying with your friends," she grinned. "[That single] is going to be out in November, and I think it's definitely a new sound for us."

6 comments:

DeShaun said...

Hmm..cool. I still think that it's all or nothing though..meaning that Raven should be in it.
And I know this isn't really important, but this kind of stuff bugs me..lol when Kiely said that we've seen them as freshmen and sophomores, that wasn't true. We've seen them as freshmen, and then we saw them after their junior year. HA

Anonymous said...

Yeah I was gonna say that! we saw them as Freshmans, and we saw them jump to the end of Junior year lol. I REALLY hope Raven decides to do this.

Anonymous said...

They're fine without Raven! Seriously...i'm SO SICK of people asking "why isn't raven in the group anymore!?" hopefully after this movie comes out those stupid questions will stop!! I can't WAIT for them to release "Fuego" i LOVE that song, as i do the rest of the CD. haha. I hope it does really well on the charts tomorrow. I'm hoping for at least a top 10 debut, they had some stiff competition.

Anonymous said...

well they fine without Raven in the ACTUAL Group,but the MOVIE it needs to have her,becuz She's foundation of the group.and She was the LEAD character...thats why,you gotta think about things outside the box and not just the fact they can Sing without her.

DeShaun said...

Yeah, I agree with anonymous above me..they are fine without Raven-Symone as a group, but TCG Movie Series, they are not NOT fine without Galleria. I'm sick of people asking, "Where's Raven?" too..but that question will keep be asking...no matter what, because she was in the first two movies and people expect her to be there..but yeah, I think they REALLY need Raven to be in this movie..without Galleria, The Cheetah Girls wouldn't even be..

Anonymous said...

I don't really get why do they even bother to do a 3rd movie when they know that Raven's not going to be in it.I mean I like the Cheetah Girls but seriously! I totally agree with deshaun and the anonymous above......