The Cheeky Girls: how we made Cheeky Song (Touch My Bum)

Gabriela Irimia, singer

Me and my twin sister Monica had been invited to audition at the Royal Opera House when the show Popstars: The Rivals came along in 2002. If it wasn’t for that we could have ended up as classical ballerinas!

We needed to sing something for our Popstars audition so my mum Margit wrote The Cheeky Song in half an hour. She came up with the idea, sang it to us and said: “Just do it!” We had been cheeky all our lives – stealing things from the fridge, or swapping clothes so my mum did not know who was who. It’s a unique song. The line “Touch my bum, this is life” is about being yourself, not taking things too seriously no matter what happens in life. Bad things happen to everyone, so get on with your life with a smile on your face.

Louis Walsh was really mean to us at the auditions – he asked if we were definitely girls! We were only 19. But we didn’t take it seriously. Back in Romania there was nothing like this show around, so we didn’t know how big it was. I didn’t even think it was being televised! But suddenly our lives turned 180 degrees.

The year after the song came out was crazy. We won an award at the National Music Awards and went to the Philippines, Thailand, Japan and Malaysia. But it took over our lives. We didn’t have time for anything and we had no friends. We were lonely, even though we were out there performing for 100,000 people at a time. We lost control, so we started to obsess over what we ate and the gym. We became anorexic. Then our label Telstar went bust – it’s said they owed us over £1m.

We had to spend two years working just to pay back the debts they left us with. There was one hotel in London we stayed at for eight months that hadn’t been paid for – they came knocking, asking for £50,000. But we always kept a smile on our faces because we are performers, artists. We’d tasted the stage and loved it.

People tell us that the song and dance routine was an important childhood memory for them. That gives you a good satisfaction that you’ve had an input in somebody’s life. Yes, it has been voted the worst song ever – but I think that’s just people’s way of saying it’s the best song ever.

Sadly, at the time it came out, there was a conspiracy to stop us getting to No 1. I know because I saw it happening in the record shops when we were doing signings. In the week leading up to Christmas, the CD was not on the shelves for three days! There were so many complaints, all sorts of people saying “We want it to be No 1 but we can’t find it.” I think it was because there was so much money involved with Popstars: The Rivals ... they couldn’t let us to get to No 1 over the winner of the show.

Margit Irimia, songwriter

The girls were in England for a long summer holiday, but it was raining and they were quite bored and lonely. We saw the advert for Popstars: The Rivals and I said: “Look, go and have some fun.” We were not aware what we were getting into!

I used to play violin and sing soprano. I’m trained in classical music but not pop. However, when the girls were at pre-school I used to make up kiddy songs so I said let’s make up a ditty like that. “Touch my bum” was not in the original version but I remember saying to the girls: “This sounds flat and boring – pretend to touch your side with your hands and say ‘touch my bum.’” We were laughing our eyes out – pure fun. I don’t think anyone had ever had the guts to put the word “bum” in a pop song before. It sounded too rude.

I videotaped the performance. My husband at the time was an exhibition contractor. He came home that night at 11pm and I said: “Have a look at what we’ve done”. He said: “No way, you can’t send this to anyone. It’s not English!” But I had already booked a motorcycle courier for the next morning. Within 20 hours I had a message on my phone inviting us to go and audition.

The girls went in like proper ballerinas, with their gracious walk down the steps. But when they started singing, Louis Walsh was totally lost in space! It was too much for him. He was red like a poppy, gobsmacked. I said: “He’s going to have a heart attack.”

I did not expect the song to be so big. In Japan they organised a Cheekiness Competition – thousands of little girls in silver hot pants and red tops with their names on their chest were walking down the street like Notting Hill carnival, all doing The Cheeky Song. A few years ago we went on a tour of care homes in Cornwall. There were 80-year-olds standing up doing The Cheeky Song. Only the people in wheelchairs didn’t stand up, but even they were dancing.

I’ve told the girls that there is a limited time they can do this. So they are preparing themselves for a new life by doing apprenticeships and courses. Gabriela has done three cosmetic courses and Monica is into car sales. They are passionate car drivers, both of them.

Of course I get asked all the time to do another Cheeky Song. People say “one hit wonder” but the girls do one-hour shows with a lot of original songs and they’re all good. But to come up with another song of the same calibre as The Cheeky Song is just physically not possible.

• The Cheeky Girls play Clapham Grand, London, on Friday 6 September