MTV Asia Awards 2002

Congratulations on winning! How do you feel?

Nicky: Absolutely amazed! This is our second MTV Award and our first Asia award here. It's a proud achievement for us to perform on the show, be nominated and then pick up the award, beating *NSYNC and Destiny's Child, it's absolutely brilliant!

What do you think about the design of the award?

Shane: It's unbelievable! It actually is a DVD player as well so you can play DVD too! It's like two things for the price of one!

Who's going to keep the award?

Kian: Me!

Mark: We have already done the draw for it!

What's the first thing you are going to do after the win?

All: Celebrate!

Who's the first person you guys are going to thank?

Bryan: God.

Kian: The fans. The fans are the most important people in the world.

Nicky: They are the one who vote!

Kian: They are the ones who vote, the ones who buy our records. Westlife are here because of the fans.

Shane: And MTV! For all the support.

Nicky: MTV has been brilliant to us.

So what do you guys think of the other nominees then?

Shane: They are good bands!
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Top Of The Pops - Under The Grill
We caught up with Kian & Mark from Westlife backstage at the Pops. Then we poked and prodded till they told us their inner-most secrets!

TOTP: Hey guys - another up-tempo song!
Kian: Yeah, our next single is up-tempo too. I think we've kind of done away with the ballads for a while. Things are going really well for us. 'World Of Our Own' is doing well in airplay, the fans seem to love it. We love performing it and it just shows a different side to us.

TOTP: What did you think of Pop Idol?
Kian: We watched the final. Those competitions are a good idea and at the end of it, if you've got five or six who are going to be releasing music out of it, then that's great. At the same time, I wouldn't personally like to be in that position when it's all about being analysed and standing in front of two or three people who could really knock you! It's just not for me. It was a great show and I'm sure the final two are going to do really well.

TOTP: Do you think it's an accurate representation of what it's actually like to be a popstar?
Mark: I think the judges are too harsh. I think they give a bad impression about the music industry. If I was 15-years of age sitting at home and I saw some of the harsh comments given out by those people I'd never want to be in this industry.

TOTP: What do you think about Will releasing 'Evergreen', one of your songs?
Mark: It's a great honour. It's a great song. I think since it was only released on that album last November and someone is already covering it's quite cool! I think for anybody who likes the song, be sure to check out the Westlife version first!

TOTP: Did you not want to release it yourselves?
Kian: It was never a contender for a single and that's one of the reasons why we were totally fine with it. Simon Cowell does some stuff with us too, so when he asked us we were fine with it. It was one of the last songs to get on the album - just 'cos of the style of the album. Nothing to do with the song itself.

TOTP: Has Simon ever been as mean to you as he was to those poor people?
Kian: No, he's not able to!
Mark: He used to be as mean as that, but we ended up just learning how to deal with him and we've got a bit of understanding going now!

Kian & Mark on life on the road and why there's no place like home.

TOTP: You've been touring a lot. Do you ever get tired of it?
Kian: Not really. Our second world tour is just starting in April so we're really looking forward to it. It's a bit more relaxed than doing promotional work like TV shows and magazines because they are very long days - sometimes 16 or 17 hours.

TOTP: Do you ever feel overworked?
Mark: Sometimes the whole madness of it all - you can get quite a buzz off it. Other times, when it's just over the limit you just feel like going home, you know?

TOTP: What can we expect from this tour?
Kian: This tour is very different. It's in the round - the stage is in the centre.

TOTP: What's the most important thing you take on tour with you and do you ever listen to your own music when you're not being Westlife?
Kian: The most important thing is your mobile phone and your credit card. You can't live without them! To be honest, I don't listen to Westlife's music that much. Every so often, If I see the album sitting on a shelf in the record company office, I'll listen to it and it's actuallyreally overwhelming to listen to it!
Mark: I actually don't like to listen to our first album now. I think you go through a stage when you say this is our new album. We listened to it so much at the start - you'd get a bit sick of it and we've got to bring it on tour too, so..!

TOTP: Are there any songs of yours that you just hate?
Kian: We can't say one of them. There are a few that we don't like whatsoever - but that's natural. At the end of the day we know they're all good pop songs and we wouldn't let them on the album if we didn't think so.

Mark & Kian on their new look, their Brit nomination and how they hate to be lonely!

TOTP: You've got a new leather-clad all in black look for this single. How come?
Mark: We decided to slightly change our clothes for this single. We made a decision to put a bit more personality into each single. Everyone thinks that because of our video for 'World Of Our Own', that we're all changing our image. It's not like that at all. We're just making every single a different event. We felt with some of our songs that the videos were all looking the same apart from the change of location. Our clothes were similar all the time too.

TOTP: You're up against Kylie with the new single. Have you got any tricks up your sleeve?
Kian: We're not in for competition at all. We're not doing anything special or mad. We're doing what we normally do and hopefully our fans will go out there and buy it and enjoy it! We're sick of the competition thing when the press slam this in your face.

TOTP: You're up for Best Pop Act at this year's Brits. How do you feel about that?
Mark: We're very excited about that. We hope we've a good enough chance of winning. At the same time we're Irish and we're nominated for a Brit award - it's all good. We're going to have a great time on the night anyway. It would be better if we did win, though!

TOTP: If you win again you'll have two Brits. Will you be using them as bookends?
Mark: No, and we won't be using them as paperweights either!

TOTP: Have you and Mark got anything special planned for tonight [we interviewed the band on St Valentine's Day] ?
Kian: Well, me and Mark are the single ones so we're going out to town to have a bit of a laugh. We'll head somewhere where there's loads of single girls 'cos it's Valentine's Day and its not good to be lonely.

TOTP: And if you were to snog any popstar, who would it be and how far would you go?
Kian: I've got a list the length of my arm so I wouldn't know where to start. There's too many gorgeous girls so there's no point in pin-pointing one!
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Soccer Six 2002 - Westlife's Nicky...Keane as mustard
Like Ralf Little, Westlife's Nicky Byrne's another smarting Man United fan. Still, as a former Leeds United youth team goalie, he must be quite handy between the sticks, so you've got to fancy him and the Westlife boys to score a consolation win at Soccer Six.

If he could bring in a professional ringer for Soccer Six, Nicky would plumb for Roy Keane. (Er, Nicky, we said 'ringer', not 'whinger'.)

Which football team do you follow?
Man Utd. But played for leeds united as goalie at youth level!

What appeals to you about the Soccer 6 tournament?
Been playing since 5 years old and just love the game and this event!

If you could bring in a professional ringer for your soccer 6 team who would you choose?
Roy Keane

Who are the outstanding 'celebrity' players?
Mark Owen

On the pitch, which footballer do you like to think you most resemble?
Roy Keane. It's extra time and you've just been awarded a penalty which will mean your team wins the Premiership. The opposing team will be relegated if you score.

Whose colours do you want their keeper to be sporting?
Arsenal

You can score that penalty, or have a string of number one hits/oscars, your choice...
Penalty in the World Cup final, definitely.

Where should England's national stadium be?
London

What's the best football anthem ever?
Here come the good times

Who do you think is the best player ever to wear an -IRELAND shirt?
Liam Brady/Roy Keane

Who do you think are the Soccer 6 favourites?
Ant 'n' Dec

If you could travel back in time to ensure a player was born in England (Or your home country) which player's parents would you choose to relocate?
Liam Brady

Can your team win Soccer Six?
Maybe but Ant 'n' Dec are favourites again
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