Girls just want to have fun

Over the past decade, top pop divas New Jiew - Napassorn Phoothornjai and Piyanut Suajongproo - have become well-known for their powerful R&B ballads. And while their latest album Relations features lots of these, the duo also had a surprise in store for their fans.

New Jiew’s latest single is very different from their traditional sound. “Tonight” is an uptempo dance tune, in which the girls encourage heartbroken fans to stop feeling sorry for themselves and go out and have some fun. To reflect this change in sound, the duo has also taken on a dramatic new look.

S Weekly caught up with New Jiew at GMM Grammy HQ to chat about “Tonight” and their striking new style.

Can you tell us about the new track?

New: “Tonight” is the fourth single off our album Relations. Our last one, “Lop Natee Thee Mee Thoe (Erase Minutes About You)” was a sad song, so we decided to give our fans something more positive this time.

Jiew: In the song, we tell the listener to stop feeling sad and go out and have a good time. It’s happy house music with fun lyrics. It’s full of trendy phrases and slang that I’m sure everybody can relate to.

How would you describe your new look?

New: It’s something to grab people’s attention. It’s a bit like something that crazy people would wear. But we’re not crazy! [Laughs.] It’s just party fashion.

Jiew: We came up the idea with our team of stylists. We changed everything from our hair to the dresses, adding fur and lots of colour.

It’s rare to see you doing dance music. What kind of feedback are you getting?

Jiew: I think people like it. We know that our fans wanted to see us develop our image.

Did you enjoy recording the song?

New: Yes, very much. But we have to admit that it was quite a bit harder to do than other songs. We had to re-record the vocals several times. It took a while to get the party vibe across.

Do you plan to do more songs like this in the future?

Jiew: We hope so. We often talk about how we’d like to have more upbeat songs in our catalogue. It would allow us to have a bit more variety in our live shows. It can get a bit dull doing a 45-minute set of all ballads.

What advice do you have for fans who are dealing with heartbreak?

New: Don’t isolate yourself from other people. It’s not fun being alone and just focusing on the negatives. Being around friends and family helps a lot.

Jiew: Everybody has different experiences. But besides feeling sorry for yourself, you should also try to learn a lesson from the break-up. Look at yourself and think how you can improve for your next relationship.

You both acted in the sitcom Bad Friends last year. Do you plan to do any more acting in the future?

Jiew: We’re not sure yet. There’s been some talk about doing a second season of Bad Friends. But due to our promotional schedule, we probably won’t have time this year.

New: I’m not sure if acting suits us. I was watching a TV drama the other night and I saw some real professional acting. I thought that I could never be as good as that.