Belladonna

Belladonna are a multi-national five-piece pop group, formed in late 2012 to weigh in on the boom of girl groups in the UK market. The girls released their debut single "What's Your Pleasure?" on December 10th, 2012, as the first single from their debut studio album "Pretty In Poison" which was released at the same time. The band's major influence in their sound is 90's pop music, and this is the sound they cultivated for their album. Despite initial criticisms, the girls achieved a top 5 debut with both releases. Their follow-up single "Tonight (Goodbye)" has been announced with a February release date.

Band Members
Danielle Atkins - 25 years old, born March 1st, 1987. Danielle hails from Edinburgh, Scotland. She is known for her thick Scottish brogue which is in stark contrast to her clear soprano tone. Danielle has aspired to become a singer since she was a young girl, ever since she saw the popular TV show "Popstars". She was too young to audition at the time, and more recent attempts to audition for The X Factor were unsuccessful, with Danielle never making it past the initial stages despite her strong voice and talent. It was her audition attempt that afforded her the invitation to audition for Belladonna.

Rebecca DeKay - 25 years old, born October 30th, 1987. Rebecca is one of two Australians in Belladonna; having been born and raised in Queensland before her family moved to Perth in her teens. She attended the same performing arts school as Maxine Frost, and the two bonded over their love of music and singing. Together they auditioned for Belladonna, and both of them made the group. Rebecca is the de facto leader of the group, being the one to keep the other girls in line and the one to handle self-appointed to deal with the press. Rebecca is generally considered to be the 'lead' singer of the group.

Maxine Frost - 24 years old, born January 22nd, 1988. Maxine is the second Australian member of Belladonna, born and raised in Perth before meeting Rebecca at their performing arts school. Maxine and Rebecca were in different year levels, but they became friends despite Maxine's issues with aggression. Maxine has the weakest voice in Belladonna, and indeed the only reason she made it into the group is because she was a replacement for a girl that was fired from the band after stealing from the other girls. Maxine desires to have a larger role in Belladonna than she has been given.

Odette Silverton - 23 years old, born November 4th, 1989. Odette is considered the 'baby' of the group, being the youngest girl to make it into Belladonna. Odette comes from Miami in the United States, and is a complete valley girl, with an obsession with boys, fashion and shopping. She is also known for being less-than-intelligent, however she has the biggest voice in Belladonna. Despite no formal training, Odette is distinctive for being a coloratura soprano, meaning Odette is capable of singing in the whistle register and providing high-end ornamentation in the girls' harmonies.

Joanna Valenti - 26 years old, born July 9th, 1986. Joanna is the second American member of Belladonna, and the one who orchestrated their assembly. She is not the group's best singer, with her strengths lying in songwriting and production. Joanna produced some but not all of the band's debut album. Belladonna could be considered 'manufactured' because Joanna expressly intended to create a girl group just so she could produce them, but she has done it for a love of music rather than to exploit the music market and the more commercial side of things.

Formation
An aspiring producer and songwriter, Joanna Valenti wanted to put together a girl group to share in her love for music so she used her connections and family money to put out a call across English-speaking territories to audition for a new girl group. She got a number of responses, and the group was narrowed down to a final ten, which Joanna then worked with to determine who would work together the best with her and with each other. She hand-picked Rebecca, Odette and Danielle for the group, and another girl whose name was not made public because the fifth member stole from the rest of the girls so she was fired. Maxine was brought in as her replacement, reuniting her with friend Rebecca.

Music
Belladonna's sound and image are inspired by the turn of the century, with the band pursuing a 90's sound on their debut material. Debut single "What's Your Pleasure?" was produced by Darkchild and features a slick pop/R'n'B groove. Other material on the album is a mix of R'n'B and pop music, all with 90's sounds. Joanna produced some of the band's material, while the girls also worked with Darkchild and Max Martin to help reproduce the sound of the top-tier producers' earlier works. The released album includes eight tracks, having been cropped down from the originally-planned ten due to the album being rushed to completion in time for holiday sales. The two announced b-sides on their debut single are featured on the album because they did not conform to the strictly-90's formula that Belladonna established for the album. "Pretty In Poison" was initially pushed back to give the girls time to perfect it, but was eventually rushed to coincide with the single. Both releases made a solid chart impact, each debuting at #4. Radio was hesitantly supportive of the song, however it came close to breaking into the top 10. The heavily Max Martin-esque "Tonight (Goodbye)" has been announced as the girls' next single, due for release on February 18th.

Early criticisms
The band's introduction was met with criticism from industry peers and the media; the band were poorly-introduced and their intentions not clearly stated, leading to criticisms that the band's image was 'dated' and that they would be another generic girlgroup. They were also accused of being 'manufactured' due to the girls each holding onto a character archetype. All of this criticism came prior to the girls' single even premiering. Criticism lightened once the song itself premiered, and a slightly understated promo campaign helped turn around perceptions of the band enough so that they weren't drastically affected by the initial scrutiny.