Droolicious Ashley Doll
KIREN KAUR


ASHLEY Roberts of the Pussycat Dolls spent her Friday night chatting to me from Los Angeles instead of going out clubbing. “I love spending time with my friends and watching films. Hancock was the last one I watched,” she said and asked if it’s playing in Malaysia yet.

The Pussycat Dolls will be in Kuala Lumpur on Aug 2 for the MTV Asia Awards show and Roberts remembers her last time here, saying: “They closed the whole water park for us and we had a blast at the concert”, remembering the show at Sunway Lagoon.

That show in August 2006 with the Dolls in skimpy outfits caused a minor fit among some sectors.

With the Dolls now down to five members — Nicole Scherzinger, Ashley, Jessica Sutta, Melody Thornton and Kimberly Wyatt minus Carmit Bachar who left in March — what can the fans expect from the group’s performance at the show in Genting Highlands?

“Our fans will see PCD to the fullest. We’ve got some amazing talented dancers with us and we will be performing our new singles, When I Grow Up and Buttons.”

The group’s new album Doll Domination will be released on Sept 15, making it almost exactly three years to the day from the release of its first album, PCD, which spawned massive hits such as Don’t Cha and Stickwitu.

“It was great to get back together again after the break and have fun” said Roberts.

“This album is about taking the Dolls to the next level. We have all evolved as individuals and now we are ready to go out there and dominate,” drawled the blonde originally from Phoenix, Arizona.

What is most striking is that she is just so nice! It was hard to reconcile this sweet-talking young miss with the image of a raunchy dominatrix bent on world domination.

The mix of music in Doll Domination, the Dolls’ second studio album, will cater to the tastes of existing fans with the usual mix of some dance and feel-good tunes. Rodney Jerkins and the venerable Timbaland feature as the producers for some of the tracks as well.

Ashley’s top picks from the album? “Ooh that would have to be Bottle Pop which is a fun dance track. Although we didn’t write the lyrics, we did have a lot of input into the whole songwriting process.”

And how does she maintain her incredible droolicious figure? “I try to eat healthy meals and have trainers to maintain my fitness level as it’s important to keep my stamina up for the dance routines. I work out about three times a week for an hour mostly with weights and on my days off, I do cardio exercises.”

To chill, Roberts heads to the beach as “the ocean calms me” and she hopes to get into films preferring the romantic-comedy genre. She’s already got her feet wet in the industry with a part in the film, Make It Happen, due for release later this year.

Parting words from Ms Roberts? “We love our Malaysian fans and can’t wait to see you again in Malaysia.”

Don’t cha wish you were going to the MTV Asia Awards show?