London pop duo Ella and Alex, also known as Cherryade, are back with a tastebud tickling new track called “Bang. Pop. Go Worldwide.” Infused with noughties spirit and playful lyrics akin to PC Music’s GFOTY and pop pioneer Uffie before her, it’s as if the childhood pals never left that world of Window’s XP and Katie Price tabloid drama, which is exactly what we love them for.

Since debuting in 2016, the pair have taken their own brand of sickly sweet pop way beyond the drunken bedroom demos uniting them in their youth, penning hits for K-POP stars and self producing their own upcoming EP “Sinking Ship”. Their latest track brings them back to the scene with a bounce, and after ditching a dodgy manager, the pair are back to doing things exactly on their terms, conquering the world one single at a time.

We chatted to Ella and Alex below…

When did you first realise that music was what you wanted to do?
Ella: “We met at a strict Catholic high school and first used music as an outlet to rant about how much we hated it, and to write about things that we couldn’t really talk about.”

Alex: “I think that’s why lyrics have always been really important to us, we’re making pop songs but still want to have a layer of meaning and depth about them.”

Who did you grow up listening to?
Alex: “We’ve always loved M.I.A. and that’s one of the first gigs we ever went to together, but we’re also both into more straight up pop like Britney.”

Ella: “I got given a Lil’ Kim album when I was a kid by my parents, then learnt all the words and got grounded…”

How did you come up with your name Cherryade?
Ella: “We used to drink cherryade with vodka before nights out together and that’s when we first started messing around making songs on Garageband.”

Alex: “It just kinda made sense as we’re making fun, in your face pop music, and that’s how it all began.”

How would you describe your genre?
Alex: “I think we see ourselves still very much as writing pop music, just with a bit of an edge. I think lyrically and production wise, we always want to stand out a bit and not just fade into the crowd.”

Where do you get your inspirations from?
Ella: “We normally write our best songs when we’re both angry about something or feeling shit, if I’m honest. We mostly use songwriting as a way to vent our frustrations, so even though the new songs are a lot more happy sounding, they’ve still got tons of attitude”.

What is “Bang. Pop. Go Worldwide.” about?
Ella: “It’s just a really fun, bouncy pop song about not relying on anyone else. We did that too much this year, so see this song as a fresh start.”

Alex: “It’s also kind of a sly dig at the fact that we get support from countries all around the world but not very much from our home country haha!”

What is your “Sinking Ship” EP inspired by?
Ella: “We actually made the whole EP within a weekend just dancing round Alex’s house and having fun. We got really weighed down after being messed around by a big manager who wasted loads of our time, and we wanted to let go and just make the type of music we love.”

Alex: “It was really refreshing to going back to producing things ourselves as well, and not worrying about whether the music is suitable for playlists or radio – we just wanted to feel free again and not care about all that, and I think the energy and fun really shows on this EP.”

How do you want people to feel when they listen to your music?
Ella: “I think we just want people to have fun and dance, especially with this new song.”

Alex: “The lyrics are really empowering as well, so I guess confident and energetic. I don’t think we’ll ever really be writing music where you can sit in a dark room and cry!”

What’s next for you/what are you excited for?
Alex: “We’re just super excited to getting back to releasing new music – we’ve taken way too long between releases and have tons of new stuff lined up which is great.”

Ella: “We’ve also started writing for other artists as well recently, including some really big K-Pop artists which is cool, so hopefully we won’t be as poor next year…”