Meet XO, the next British girl group gunning for the big leagues
Summer Askew, Shali Bordoni Zoe Miller, Emmy Statham and Reanna Sujeewon are all aiming for UK girl group greatness.
By Nick Reilly
XO may hail from all four corners of the UK, but their early single – ‘Real Friends’ – a catchy banger written by one Charli XCX, reflects what this lot are about. Though they may have come together in an audition room, there’s some palpable bonds that emerge when they speak to RS UK – suggesting that they’re the tightest of units.
A good thing, really, given that XO’s debut Fashionably Late shows modern girl group sounds mixed with classic pop sensibilities and the overarching feeling they’re capable of great things. “World Domination”, is the aim for group member Zoe Miller. At this rate, you wouldn’t put it past them..
You can read our interview with XO and listen to their music via our Play Next playlist below.
Hello, XO! Excited to have the EP out there?
Emmy: Yes! It’s our little intro to this group. In the time we’ve been together we’ve had so many different eras of music and I think we’ve found a place in this EP where we’ve our little journey and every song has a piece of us all in there. So that’s special, but also seeing the reaction that has come from our headline tour and the fact that a lot of people had learnt the lyrics. We’re dying to get it out.
What’s the story behind your formation and how did you land on your sound?
Shali: Do you know what’s really weird, with the music, we never had a conversation about what it was exactly that we wanted. We all come from performing backgrounds and we’e all danced a lot, so whenever we heard a track it was case of wondering can we groove to it? That was a question before we even assessed genres.
Zoe: That’s it with the EP as a whole, it’s so important to us that the music is just fun and we’re trying our best not to overthink anything because we grew up with the 2000s era, people like Fergie. They just did what they wanted, they had a good time and it was all the vibes in the world. We want to bring that back and just have fun. Make people feel good, let loose and let your hair down.
The Fergie comparison is interesting. Was there any other girlbands you liked growing up?
Zoe: We’ve got to give a nod to the Spice Girls, because they’re iconic.
Shali: Girls Aloud, the Sugababes, Pussycat Dolls. like they’re so iconic.
What’s the things you’ve bonded over aside from music?
All: Food!
Zoe: Horrible taste in men!
Summer: It’s funny because we were lucky enough to go on a schools tour which we were quite sceptical of to begin with, because we had no fan base and we were starting from the ground up with no idea of how these songs were gonna sound. But that was so important, because we built our bonds that way and that was really important for us, going from London to Glasgow for 8 hours. You’ve got to get along and then on stage as well, it was such a great opportunity and something happened. The first time we got on stage was in a school in the middle of Birmingham and to see the journey from that first performance is mad. We’re interacting with each other, we’re a team on stage.
What’s the role of a girlband in 2025 when groups like Blackpink and Katseye have shown that the whole sound and image of such a thing has changed?
Shali: There’s space for everyone. We all bring something different to the table, whether that’s the size of the group or the genre of music. Because we can never do what they do like them, but we did see them in London and it gave us a little kick up the ass.
Reanna: What we really want to get across is that idea of being very confident within yourself. We’re all very different people but we’ve come together so easily and we have space for everyone.
You’ve got ‘Real Friends’ on the EP – a song written by actual Charli XCX. That’s a mad thing, right?
Zoe: Yeah, it’s hard to wrap your head around to be honest. I think because we didn’t get to meet her, I can’t really understand in my brain that she’s sat there and written it!
Emmy: We were invited to the BRITs after party last year which was really exciting. But before we went out and were getting ready, we put it on the TV and I remember us watching it and Charli was winning every award and we were fangirling. It’s just crazy we got given that song a few months later and that Zoe re-wrote some of the lyrics. It means that in the actual credits, our names get to be by Charli. That’s nuts and out there forever now, Charli and us.
Did you all have Brat summers?
All: Who didn’t?!
And finally, Zoe you’ve talked about world domination in 2026. Tell us more…
Zoe: We’ll have a cozy Christmas, go into hibernation and hit the ground. At New Year you’ll see the fireworks and then just start hearing our song ‘Ponytail’ everywhere. We’ve got more music, bigger tours and 2026 will be the year of XO!