Here atDS we won't hear a bad word said against Booty Luv. They turned Tweet's 'Boogie 2 Nite' and Luther Vandross's 'Shine' into floor-fillers, proved they could pen their own dance anthem with'Some Kinda Rush', and theirdebut album was as crammed with bangers as the Tesco meat counter. As they prepare to release 'Say It', their first single in 18 months, we hooked up with Nadia and Cherise for a much-needed catch-up.

What have you been up to since 'Some Kinda Rush' came out at the end of 2007?
Nadia: "Time's just gone so quick because we've been in the studio recording and doing lots of gigs."
Cherise: "We've basically spent this whole time writing, recording and performing, but we did manage to take a two-week holiday in the middle."
Nadia: "It was only seven days actually - we're hard-working girls!"

Is the album finished?
Cherise: "Yes! Well, it's very nearly there."
Nadia: "There's always little bits to do to make it just right, but the album is more or less ready to go."

How's it different from your debut?
Nadia: "There's definitely more creativity from myself and Cherise because the whole album's original this time. We've not done any covers. For the first album we worked with one main producer, whereas we've worked with several different producers this time and they've given us an edgier style."
Cherise: "It's still got that feelgood Booty Luv vibe to it, but we've just kind of stepped it up a notch."

Which new producers have you been working with?
Cherise: "We've worked with Fraser T. Smith, the guy who did Tinchy Stryder's'Take Me Back' and'Number One'. We did a song with him called 'One Dance' that we think is really cool. We also worked with Michelle Escoffery who used to do bits with Artful Dodger back in the day. She's an amazing writer and we fire off her really well."

The new single, 'Say It', has more of an electro sound to it than your previous tracks. Does that carry through on the album?
Cherise: "Yeah, we're trying to go for a new kind of sound, but not too different. We just want to show a progression. The whole album's not electro like 'Say It' though."
Nadia: "Some tracks have a real R&B vibe to them, others are proper dance tracks and some are typical poppier tracks. It's a really exciting mixture of sounds."

What's 'Say It' all about?
Cherise: "It's so straightforward we hardly need to explain it! Sometimes you go to a club, catch a guy's eye and have an immediate connection with him. It gets to the end of the night and you're like 'Oh, I wish he'd said something to me'. The song's basically us saying, 'If you've got something to say, come and say it before it's too late'."

Do you like a guy to take the lead then?
Cherise: "Definitely!"
Nadia: "It's sometimes sweet to see a guy who's kinda shy, but after a while I'm just like 'Get on with it'."
Cherise: "Come on mate, we haven't got all night!"

Are you nervous about releasing a new single after such a long gap?
Cherise: "I'm not gonna deny it, I'm the nervous wreck of the group. The lead-up to releasing a single is always scary, but it's even more nerve-wracking this time because we've been away for quite a while. I do think it's going to do well though and people are going to really embrace it."

Are you aiming for a particular chart position?
Nadia: "We don't normally think like that. As long as everyone likes it and it does well, that's a good look for us. We don't think in terms of 'We want a number five single' or 'We want a number eight' single though."

Were you disappointed that 'Some Kinda Rush' didn't chart a bit higher?
Cherise: "You know, I wasn't actually disappointed with the chart position. I was more disappointed with the release date. If you release a single over Christmas you're up against so many massive artists and I think it was the wrong move. I believe the single would have done extremely well if it hadn't been released over the Christmas period. It should have been released before."
Nadia: "Whenever we perform live, it's always the song that really gets the crowd going. It's kind of become our anthem. Because of the reaction we get it's less disappointing that it didn't do so well."

It's always onThe X Factor too.
Cherise: "I know, it's so random! The first time I heard it onX Factor I was kind of baffled but absolutely thrilled. I mean, all these millions of people watchX Factor and they're all listening to 'Some Kinda Rush' in the background. It's really good for us."

Booty Luv release 'Say It' on August 31.