In September 2024, Massive Management ran an ad in The Stage magazine that read “Can you sing and dance? Do you like the Pussycat Dolls?” and called for an audition. From their own separate corners of the performance industry, five girls found their way to it. Summer Askew, Shali Bordoni, Zoë Miller, Emmy Statham and Reanna Sujeewon turned up without knowing what it was or what they were in for, and spent the day auditioning alongside hundreds of other women. At the end of that same day, five chairs were pulled up and they were told they were now in a girl group.

The five became XO, and two years later they can’t imagine it having gone any other way. They’re friends, confidantes and each other’s anchors on a journey that could well see them become as big as the girl groups that inspire them. Their first headline tour came in October 2025, playing songs from their debut EP, Fashionably Late, whose lead single, ‘Lovesick’, made a pop splash almost immediately. This year, they have played Isle of Wight Festival and All Points East, and held a residency at Colours Hoxton.

Now, XO are gearing up to release their first mini album, Need to Know, on October 16th, the same day they support Manifest at Wembley Arena. Built on gut instinct, ideas from their notes app and creative collaborations, the project plays a little bit like a night out with the girls, from party to heartbreak and all the way to a hungover morning after. The music, the videos and the world they’re building together are playful and unashamedly girly, with a lot of their songs centring on the experience of being a woman.

It’s safe to say they’re at an inflection point. Their old life is not quite in the rear-view yet (they all still hold part-time jobs), but they’re driving rapidly towards a life of releases, tours and sparkly stages. Importantly, they’re not jaded or scared of the world watching; they’re enjoying the transition while doing what they love most: performing.

In their single ‘Clique’, they sing, “I know it’s going down, I want to rock with my girls right now […] that’s my gang, that’s my girls, that’s my clique,” with the music video playing homage to a glamour-filled version of their audition day. It’s, as they would say, unfathomable that they found each other as they did, and they are not only grateful for each other, but excited to get to experience this, especially together.

1883 Magazine’s Natalia Albin sits down with XO to discuss Need to Know, coming up with ideas in a Westfield food court late at night, fashion icons, female friendship and more.

You all auditioned to be in XO, but it was a very cryptic call-out. What made you think, “Yes, I’m going to that”?

Emmy: It was, and I feel like something we’re all aligned on is that we’re all quite delusional in terms of our ambitions and our goals. Half of us were already in the industry, looking at the jobs that were coming out, so it was a bit more of a strategic next move. But for me, I’d just stepped into the industry, and I was kind of like, “This is our calling. This is meant to be,” type thing.

Shali: For some people it was one of their first auditions, so it was about experience – having audition experience, no matter what it is. And there was an amazing choreographer there called Kam, who ended up choreographing for us. But Zoë and I were actually told to go by our previous agents, and I actually didn’t want to, because I was like, “I don’t know what this is about.”

Zoë: It was a very brief call-out. We didn’t really know what it was for. It just sort of said, “Do you like the Pussycat Dolls? Do you sing? Do you dance?” And they were like, “Go! It’s a free dance class.” When you’re in the industry, you do anything you can to get into a room, and it saves you paying for a class.

Shali: Yeah, it was funny, because Reanna and I basically met at the door and decided to spend the whole day together. And then at the end of the day, when they told us, it was unfathomable.

Zoë: By the end of the day, they’d put down five chairs and were talking at us really quickly, and we were like, “What is going on? We’ve not eaten for ages, we’ve not drunk, we’ve not been to the toilet.” This place was just an enormous building full of nothing. Then we finished, and I feel like we all rang our mums or someone and were like, “Well, we got it, but we don’t know what it is. We don’t know what’s coming.”

Emmy: I feel like I have to go back and relive that day, because when we look back at it now, it was so magical in the way it all came together – none of us knew it was happening. Even Shali and Reanna meeting before. The whole process was kind of crazy, but it could never have been five other girls. We were meant to come together.

You then all became really good friends, which is difficult in a group that was chosen by other people. So I wanted to go back to your school tour, which was the first time you really spent a lot of time together. Did you have any particular memories where you thought, “These are my girls”?

Summer: Yeah, the school tour was definitely where we all got to know each other, good and bad. We were together every single day. We were in a B&B sharing beds with girls we barely knew, so we were forced to learn the good side, the bad side and everything in between. Now we look back at it and we’re so grateful, because that’s what made us as close as we are now.

Zoë: 100%. And I feel like waking up at 7 o’clock in the morning and then being humbled by 12-year-olds at 8 o’clock is quite a bonding experience. We were just laughing the whole way through. It was so funny.

Reanna: I think the rehearsals for the school tour are where I cried for the first time, where a lot of us cried for the first time in front of each other, just from pure tiredness. So it was blood, sweat and tears, and when you go through something like that together, you’re locked in.

Shali: It was so overwhelming, but by the end of it, the second we weren’t together, it was like, “Wait, what the fuck?”

How did you work with producers and songwriters when putting together this mini album?

Emmy: We’re all navigating this for the first time together, so for us it’s really important at the minute that we run off gut instinct and see where our creativity lands, because we’ve never properly delved into that before. That was our process, to be honest: not thinking too much about it, and letting everything be completely raw to what’s going on in all of our heads combined. So we used a lot of things written in our notes app, we explored a lot of ideas we’d been sitting on for a while, and I think it all came together, really.

Zoë: It’s always off gut intuition and off vibes. For example, there’s a song on the mini album that was meant to be our third single – I don’t know if I’m allowed to say this, but I’ve said it now – and then we heard ‘Stacey’ and we were like, “She needs to come next.” So ‘Stacey’ came out as our third single. We didn’t even plan on doing a mini album, but we had a lot of songs waiting and it made sense for them to go together. And if you listen to the album in order, it’s a little story.

Well, I was going to say you start with ‘Hotline’, which is so clearly a pop banger, and you end with ‘Paper’, which is a more emotional song. How did you put the story together?

Shali: We always say it’s like a night out with the girls. It goes from pres to the party to getting absolutely fucked, and then ‘Paper’ is when you’re hungover and you’re like, “Wait, what did I do?” That’s not even what the song means necessarily, but it’s the feeling each song gives you.

Zoë: So you start off with ‘Hotline’, and it’s sort of the… what’s the page in a book where it says –

Reanna: The contents.

Zoë: Exactly! This is us giving all the advice we possibly can. Then ‘Clique’ comes in, and it’s: whatever happens from this point onwards, just remember you’ve got your girls. Then ‘Stacey’ comes in, and we’ve just had our heart broken, but we’re bad bitches. We’re in the angry stage of the breakup. What comes after that?

Reanna: ‘Tell Me How It Feels’.

Zoë: ‘Tell Me How It Feels’. Then the grief sets in. You’re like, “Shit, I’m gonna cry my eyes out now.” And I did when we were recording that – I was absolutely crying. Then it’s ‘Human Nature’, and that one’s a bit like, “I know you. I know you’re a little bit bad for me and I shouldn’t want you, but I kind of want you anyway.” It’s that toxic energy after a breakup that you really have to fight through.

Shali: This is the point in the night where you’re telling your friends you’re not texting, but you’re low-key texting.

Zoë: And then it’s ‘Paper’, and it’s a, “Do you know what? I was better off anyway.” Bright days and quiet nights.

One of my favourite parts of an album is getting to hear the story that was in your head when you built it.

Reanna: That was good, Zoë!

Emmy: Wow, that was really good.

Diving into specific songs, ‘Tell Me How It Feels’ comes from feeling like you’re not good enough, or not as good as others, which is a constant thing women have to fight through. It’s so specific but so universal. How does it feel being able to scream that together?

Shali: Amazing. To be fair, like you said, the meaning of the song is very universal for a lot of women. So to be able to sing a song like that alongside four other beautiful, strong women is just beautiful. And to know that we’re gonna be singing that song together on crazy stages all around the world – amen – is just an amazing feeling. Even just now, talking about how we began, I think it’s unfathomable in the best way, to be honest.

Zoë: The writing process for ‘Tell Me How It Feels’ was a bit hilarious.

Shali: Unfathomable?

Zoë: Unfathomable, yeah! We were in a Westfield. We had a demo, and there were a couple of words and lyrics that we thought needed to feel a bit more us and make a bit more sense. We were tweaking it after a day of recording, so it was 10pm, and we were just going through ideas on repeat, and then we went, “Wait, it’s been in front of us the whole time.”

Reanna: In a dead empty Westfield at 10.30pm.

Shali: It was later than that, because I was falling asleep in the food court.

What a quintessentially British girl group experience, to write a song in the food court of a Westfield. Speaking of shopping, fashion is very important for girl groups. Reanna, I read that you said Cruella de Vil is one of your fashion icons, which is kind of unexpected. What are everyone’s fashion icons, expected or unexpected?

Shali: I was just thinking about people in the industry, and then I realised that would be so silly, because I could name names that everyone knows. But if I’m being honest, my fashion icon by far is my mum. My mum is the coolest person ever. I think all of my clothes at this point are hers, my jeans are all hers. Girls, she actually gave me new jeans yesterday.

Zoë: I’d say my fashion inspiration is probably Adam Sandler. I was really panicking there, but that was quite straightforward, actually.

Emmy: One fashion icon that scratches my brain is ’90s Rachel in Friends. It’s so simple. I just love her. She’s the queen. She works at Ralph Lauren.

Reanna: Oh! Summer has one! Cher in Clueless. That fancy vibe.

Summer: I was going to say Pretty Woman. You know, when she goes down the street?

I love these rom-com fashion references!

Reanna: Rom-coms are just the best.

Summer: Self Styled

And on icons, music-wise you’re combining this glitzy ’90s pop era with a very modern take. I wanted to ask about your inspirations, from the ’80s to the noughties and then modern day.

Emmy: I feel like, and we never really talk about this, someone we should really preach about more is Madonna. Everything followed through from her to the 2010s with people like Lady Gaga. She really set the pace for women: “I’m gonna dress however I want and sing about topics people probably don’t want to hear about, or that are illegal in some countries.” Creativity is the most special thing, and it should be celebrated in a way that’s authentic to us.

Zoë: She’s a timeless diva. Madonna will always have her flowers from us. I also feel like we always mention Fergie.

Reanna: We channel a lot of vibes. A lot of decisions we’ve made for the girl band have been 0% facts and 100% vibes.

Zoë: We’re just delusional, so we’ll tell each other things are a good idea, and sometimes they’re probably not, but we’ll go along with it.

I honestly think most artists are delusional. I think you have to be, and it’s the right attitude to have. So really, you’re thinking strategically in an artistic way.

Reanna: Facts. That is facts.

Summer: Feeding the delusion.

Reanna: Top Jean Paul Gaultier via Vi Val Studios 
Skirt Bench 
Shoes Stylist’s own

So much of your music and your group is about friendship. What has female friendship meant to you?

Reanna: I think we’re such girls’ girls. It’s very rare that five women get put together and all actually become genuinely good friends. We’re very grateful and lucky. We know that it’s not normal to have found this.

Summer: Because we’re all so different as well. We’ve said before that if we were in school together, we wouldn’t all have been at the same table. It’s like picking a girl from each table, because we are different, but it just works.

Shali: It’s like Bratz. I think as I get older, I realise more that men are… fine, and that’s as much as I’m gonna give them [laughs]. But women are amazing. I was watching a TikTok, of course, and this girl was saying how she’s realised how amazing women really are as she gets older. Women will show up for each other constantly while going through the hardest moments in their lives, and you won’t even know.

Reanna: You know what I also saw? An amazing boyfriend is a mediocre female friendship. Women go above and beyond. You can quote me on that.

Shali: There are so many things you won’t ever have with men, certain understandings. I think part of the reason we’re so close is that we have so many shared experiences, despite the fact that we grew up in such different areas of the world, in such different ways. And that’s such a beautiful thing, to come to this age and still be so aligned on what we want to do and how we think about the world.

Zoë: I feel like it’s a little bit of why ‘Paper’ means so much to us, because when we were in the studio that day writing, there was this energy we couldn’t really describe – we were all empathising with each other. So when Reanna read out this idea she had in her notes, we all knew it was quite real to us right now. And with female friendships, you can’t empathise with anyone the way you can with your best friends, your sisters. I know it’s a little bit cringe, but we’re all sisters. Not all of us have sisters, but we do now.

Reanna: Peak girlhood.

Zoë: Yeah, it really is. I’m going on a bit of a tangent here, having a little waffle, but sometimes girls can feel hard to approach. Not always, but on a night out, for example, you might see someone and be like, “Well, she’s gorgeous. I need to tell her she’s gorgeous.” And then they’re a bit like, “Why are you talking to me?” But I feel like we need to understand, especially in this climate, how strong and powerful and incredible we are as women, and how much of a threat we clearly are to men. Full stop, and I’ll leave that there.

Zoë: Jacket Adidas

I think if you’re lucky enough to find what you’ve found, and to keep finding it as you get older, female friendships are the most beautiful thing in the world. You’re very lucky. With these friendships and this new chapter in your lives, how are you blending your old life with this new life?

Emmy: We’re not even at a level right now where it’s fully far removed. I know some artists are literally working every single day – people like Olivia Dean, for example. Bless her, she’s literally had about two days off this year. She’s booked and busy, on a plane wherever, and I think it must be difficult, because you need those moments to recharge. But the best thing about being in a band is that, like the whole conversation we just had, we’re doing this with four of our best friends, so we have that moment to recharge together, and that has massively helped us. At the beginning it probably felt a lot harder, because we were still getting to know each other fully, letting all our guards down and learning to live together. But as that journey’s gone on, it’s become so, so, so much easier. We’re delving into it together, and we don’t feel as scared by time away or travelling or whatever, because we genuinely have each other to fall back on. Every single day, we feel so grateful for that. Yeah, being in a band is the best.

When you look at the industry, bands have members who go on hiatus, or decide to become a three-piece one day or whatever. That happens a lot throughout music culture, and when I sit and think about it, I can’t imagine our band without one member, or in any other variation. It just doesn’t make sense, do you know what I mean? With some bands, you can kind of see three of them going off and doing their own thing in a different genre. But I honestly believe we completely balance each other out, and I think that’s quite rare.

Shali: It’s like yin and yang times five. Recently I’ve been saying this is our Hannah Montana era, and I’m kind of loving it. Don’t get me wrong, it’s a lot of work to balance this career that’s flourishing into something bigger, but at the same time, we’re still very much living our ordinary lives. We’re getting to perform at Wembley in under two weeks’ time, and we’re also still doing part-time jobs, which is also amazing, because as hard as it is, you have people who keep you grounded. And at this point in our careers, we’re seeing which friends are supporting us and which maybe aren’t. So it’s really building, almost shifting into what will end up becoming us in the future.

Zoë: We’re in such a transitional time right now. I feel like that’s why things are very up in the air, with a lot of moving pieces, and we’re sort of just holding each other’s hands, waiting for it to settle a little bit.

Reanna: We’re pushing the boulder up the hill. We’re ready for it to start rolling. We’re doing the final push.

Shali: We are Hannah Montana.

Zoë [singing]: “We got the limo out front, uh-oh…”

Summer: There she goes!

Who’s the most theatrical of all of you? I think I can tell.

Summer: Zoë and Reanna.

Emmy: Is that obvious already?

Yes.

Zoë: We could do Hamilton as a two-woman show.

Shali: Self Styled

There’ll come a day when people will pay to see that, so start preparing.

Reanna: Oh, we’re ready. We’ll do it right now.

Earlier, when you mentioned you couldn’t see the group without one of its members, I noticed you’ve referenced Pretty Little Liars on your TikTok. Who is who from that show?

Summer: I started watching it last night! I’d never seen it.

Shali: I literally started watching Gossip Girl this year. I’ve never watched Titanic.

Summer: Same! I’ve never watched Titanic.

Shali: With all the overhyped things, I’m like, “I’ll wait until the hype dies down.”

Reanna: Titanic, Shali? The hype died down about 15 years ago.

Summer: Tell us who we are [in Pretty Little Liars].

Reanna: Shali would low-key be Spencer.

Shali: I love her. I’ve seen enough clips to know who that is.

Reanna: Zoë would be Hanna. I don’t want to give anyone Aria, because she’s sort of pick-me vibes. I’d be Jenna, lying that I’m blind [laughs]. Who else is there? Caleb! Emmy would be Caleb. Summer, you could be Emily, but when she’s not being annoying. Who would be Alison? None of us. Maybe Emmy, because she disappears and comes back. You can’t get hold of her because her phone is broken.

Shali: Do you find out who A is?

Reanna: Yeah, it’s extremely disappointing.

Emmy Self Styled

With girl bands like the Spice Girls, Little Mix and Sugababes, there’s always been a brand that each of the girls has. Do you feel the pressure to build that for yourselves, or do you not think about it?

Reanna: We don’t even think about it. We think about our characters in terms of making sure we wear something different – for instance, if we want to pick the same thing off the rack. But I don’t think it goes much deeper than that, because I feel like our characters are just ourselves.

Zoë: Our team’s done a really nice job of just supporting each of us and what would be best for us, then making it all come together, and maybe elevating it.

Shali: Aside from our own personalities, it’s almost weird to think about what our role would be. People will put you where they want anyway.

If you had a five-night residency at Wembley – fingers crossed, in a few years – who would be your support act for each of the nights?

Reanna: Manifest, 100%. Not necessarily to support us, but maybe to do it with us.

Summer: A little collab.

Zoë: Fergie. Gwen Stefani.

Emmy: Supporting?

Harry Styles does it – he gets huge acts to support. Dream big.

Summer: Tate McRae! And we’ll just stand back and watch her.

Reanna: Jade!

Emmy: You know what would be so sick? I don’t know if any artist does this, but imagine a post-show party. We come off stage, and then we bring on an artist so we can all have fun together. I feel like that would be Charli xcx.

Shali: An afters, but as part of the show.

Reanna: That sounds great until it actually comes to it and we’re like, “Oh my God, we’ve just had a show, are you joking?”

Shali: I’m really loving Chxrry. I feel like she’s finally getting her flowers.

Emmy: I’ve been obsessed ever since you introduced me to her. Her marketing is second to none.

Do you all have a similar taste in music?

[Heads shake.]

How do you blend them together?

Emmy: There are definitely threads.

Summer: We don’t listen to the same music for long periods of time, it changes. Reanna listens to the most pop out of all of us.

Reanna: But it might be the Hamilton soundtrack, you never know.

Zoë: We all love RnB, we all love House.

Shali: We all have a broad taste in genres, and we enjoy a lot of the same things as well. I think what brings it together is that we were all raised in the performing arts industry, so there are certain things we’ve all done that we love. When it comes to making music, we always think: as long as we can have a bit of a dance to it, even if it’s not choreographed, if it just makes you want to start moving, then we’re fucking with it. Unless it’s a ballad, and then we want to cry.

You all did different things within performing arts before XO. Do you mind saying what you each trained in?

Reanna: Zoë and I were both doing musical theatre.

Emmy: I actually started out with street dance and breakdancing, which is a fun fact. Remember the Cheryl Cole hair fans that were props? We were called the Gold Diggers. Oh my God. Anyway, a bit of street and breakdancing, and then I went into the heavily technical side, like ballet and jazz. Then I kind of circled back and did a bit more of a hybrid of everything, and then the singing.

Shali: I started with ballet.

Zoë [in a Modern Family reference]: “I just wanna dance at the ballet!”

Shali: Yes. Then I went into jazz, then hip hop, then street, and then, yeah.

Summer: I mainly did commercial.

How do you put the dances together for TikTok? Who choreographs?

Emmy: So, to give an insight: we have the music video, and we’re prepping for that, ready for release day, and alongside that we’re also doing the campaign in the lead-up to the video coming out. At the very beginning of that process, our choreographer choreographs the music video, and a lot of the time we take a snippet – maybe from the chorus or the pre-chorus – that we think will read really well on TikTok, maybe with a little rejig, or changing places so it’s transferable. But yeah, we tend to just go with that, then we start pushing it on TikTok, and people do love it.

Zoë: We haven’t really got a bible of what to do for content, we’re still figuring it all out. I feel like each song, especially on this upcoming project, is a bit different from what we’ve been pushing before. So it’s about finding new ways to get us across when the songs aren’t necessarily as chaotic as us. They’re a bit more wholesome. We’re really trying to find our wholesome boots here.

Final question: what are you most excited to play live?

Shali: ‘Paper’.

Emmy: ‘Paper’.

Summer: ‘Paper’.

Zoë: ‘Paper’ at a festival.

Shali: It’s giving lights and wristbands.

Summer: Nobody even knows it yet, but we’ll all be crying singing that. We’ll struggle to get through it.

Reanna: When the strings come in!

It’s a beautiful song. I’m excited to hear it live. Congratulations!

All five: Thank you!

XO’s debut mini-album, Need To Know, is out now

Interview Natalia Albin

Photographer Jack Alexander

Stylist Frankie Ratti

Hair Kreszend Sackey

Hair Assistant Juanita Richards

Make Up Lara Nasamu and Patricia Hytonen

Cover credits

Zoë: 
Tracksuit Adidas
 Sarong Stylist’s own
 Heels Stylist’s own

Shali: 
Pink set Roberto Cavalli via Vival Studios

Emmy: Top Stylist’s own 
Skirt Reclaimed Vintage

Reanna: 
Trousers and bolero Azura Archive
 Heels Stylist’s own

Summer: 
Jacket Roberto Cavalli via Vival Studios
 Skirt Stylist’s own