Kim Wilde doesn’t want to be just a sex symbol

For over a year we didn’t hear from Kim Wilde. Did she need a pause after all the mayhem caused by her first two albums ‘Kim Wilde’ and ‘Select’? “No”, she says, “the pause wasn’t planned. It was just that my last single underperformed, and that I performed live in England. Also I have worked on a new album, with songs written by my brother Ricky and my father Marty. That album is out now.”

The title of the record will be ‘Catch as catch can’. That doesn’t sound especially exciting, is much too manly. But Kim also admits: “I have been involved in personal things a little more”. And your boyfriend? “I have no steady relationship at the moment. That would take me too much energy. And I can also do without one.”

Kim is really very beautiful. A bit wild in the hair, but it fits her. She doens’t have to worry about her hair being flat after a night of sleeping. Top it up a bit, and it’s done. “On the LP you will hear no other swing or rockabilly tracks like ‘Love blonde'”, she says, “We have recorded slow and fast pop songs. That was really my forte.”

Kim hasn’t come around to composing songs herself. “I’m not confident enough for that. Plus I love singing Rick’s songs. And when you’re satisfied, you don’t need to worry.”

The fact that women in pop are considered sex symbols, also befalls Kim. Does she feel good in her own skin? “Yes, I do”, she says hesitantly, “it has always been so, that women look after themselves better than men. Why are there almost exclusively women on the cover of magazines? It doesn’t torment me. As long as you look good, everyone wants to look at you. I also look at goodlooking boys, myself.”

The new maxi-single ‘Love blonde’ also revolves around this theme. Kim plays the beautiful blonde who everyone is after. Is it just a game for her? “Yes, certainly. It is funny, I love it to play the blonde beauty for once. But you don’t have to take it seriously. I am not the ‘love blonde’! The To get rid of this image, it could be difficult. Just think of Debbie Harry. Everyone thinks of her and not the group when they hear the name ‘Blondie’.

“For the next single I won’t dress in leather again, and I won’t try to irritate”, the 23 year old promises. “Perhaps you will see the real me. I really don’t like to have boys look into my cleavage, honest!”

One has to admit, that Kim has something natural in her being and her voice, that one hasn’t supposed when looking at the photos on which she poses so casually. KIm: “I used to be the always laughing, cute girl. After the first successes everyone expected that from me. But it doesn’t work on command. I love to laugh with my friends and to have fun. But that only works when I feel like it. It isn’t true that I always look serious, just to preserve my attitude and my public image.”