At the top of the pile was a rather foxy girl band, whose first single Head Over Heels had just been released. I have to admit that rather shamefully rather than looking through the remainder of the pile, I rushed to the CD player and pushed play. Almost immediately I had a new favourite song, Allure’s cover of the Lisa Lisa and Cult Jam hit All Cried Out, which featured the already established 112. I have to admit, my Allure phase was not induced by a crush for an individual band member (I won’t dwell on Baby Spice – cringe!) and I would have sadly been unable to distinguish between the girls (Alia Davis, Linnie Belcher, Lalisha McClean and Akissa Mendez). However, I will equally concede that a chill of excitement passed through my veins when I noticed a poster announcing that the girls, a trio since Belcher’s departure in 2001, would be appearing alongside an array of stars 112, Marques Houston, Shai, Ralph Tresvant and Horace Brown at Made In The 90s: Live On Stage, only for that initial excitement to be compounded by the news that I would be able to speak to the girls for this here article.
To return only briefly to my 13 year old self, a thrilling sense of awe is struck within me, these girls, who had once adorned my walls and still have a presence of iPod, are far from egotistical. Rather than lose their patience with the technological difficulties, they rely on a warm humour to alleviate what could otherwise have been a rather painful situation. My thirteen year old self has fallen even more deeply in love with Allure, and my present day self fully understands why. With a career spanning over three decades, the girls have to date notched up four albums and are in the studio recording album number five, so did the New York girls ever expect to still be releasing records after all this time? McClean contemplates a response, before announcing, “We are very lucky to have had a career that has lasted over a decade. Some people come and go. One thing that we pride ourselves on we want to be together, so that definitely shows our foundation. We love what we do.”
Mendez continues, “In regards to our dynamic, we have always stayed true to who we are. Asides from the group going from four members to three, that was a transition all in itself. When the three of us decided to keep it going forward as a group, we knew we wouldn’t have any issues.” While many a group speaks of their solid friendships, just hearing the pair interact on the phone makes it clear that at the base of Allure is more than a mutual love for music or craving for a career, Allure stems from a real love of each other. Mendez affirms this sentiment as she continues, “We are like sisters, we are beyond just friends. We were already together as a group; we already had the foundations that we had laid. We pretty much didn’t have to go to any extremes once Linnie left the group, we just pretty much stuck to what we do and just prayed a lot.”
Though the group continued post Belcher’s departure, their commercial success dwindled post the release of their third album, Chapter III. The change in status had had an impact, but the girls had far from lost their drive. Removing themselves from the spotlight, McClean starts to assure me that they never lost hope. She is certain, “It was good to get out of the music industry for a second,” before the troublesome connection breaks and her continued statement is lost. As she returns, a babies cry in the background requires her to ask Mendez to reaffirm her point, with a blunt cry of “Akissa!” With McClean returning to her role as mother, Mendez picks up where she left off, “Basically what she was saying was, even though we did have the break, we did continue writing, doing little charity events here and there, travelling and basically trying to stay afloat as much as we could. It was definitely a break that we took that was well needed. Sometimes you just need that, especially from the industry.” With girls having clearly remained in Allure mode, the break also gave time for family life. Now proud mothers, the girls are returning to their careers to give Allure another kick back into the spotlight.
With two releases in the past two years, the EP Patiently Waiting and album Time’s Up serving as a suitable reintroduction to their sound, the girls are clearly excited about their impending Australian shows. However, there is more than just a handful of live performances up their sleeves, with a potential reality TV series Allure – Still Together in the offing. So what has made the girls take the risk of switching the focus from their solely their music, to winning over audiences with their personas? The justification of their desire is somewhat complex. Having experienced the highs and lows of success in the often fraught music industry, the time off has given the girls a sense of clarity. While in the past their careers had been their main priority, they now have families to consider and their material has altered accordingly. McClean summarises the changes, “We feel that our songs give an insight as to how we balance being mothers, wives and all those things. It is not only us as a band, but as individuals.” However, as the discussion continues, and an apologetic Davis makes a late entry into the conversation, Mendez clarifies some of the wrongs that they hope they can finally right. “There were a lot of people when we first got signed that thought we got it too easy, as in we didn’t work hard for it. But in all honesty we had to work really hard to get where we got. It really is not. So for the three of us, with everything we have been through, like Lala said, we felt it was time for us to share that.”
With a marked move planned within both their musical output and their career trajectory, it is obvious that Allure realise they are lucky to have found themselves with a second shot at success. Noting that signing with Mariah Carey is one of their many highlights from their career to date; their families are clearly their main priority at present. With solid foundations on the home front offering support as they hit the road once again, the girls are psyched to see how fans will react to their material old and new.
Humbly aware that their latest material will not have reached many of their older fans, they are seeing the Made In The 90s tour as a chance to reintroduce themselves to their following. McClean reveals, “We are definitely going to come and perform a lot of our old material that we know most of our fans remember us by, but we will be performing some new stuff that maybe a lot of our fans haven’t heard. We will be performing a little bit of both. We like to incorporate some of the old and some of the new. And there will be some stuff that we have on our albums that we will be sharing as well.”
