CREATIVE: teaching the world to sing

Miranda Cooper, Xenomania

Miranda Cooper is one of the most powerful women in the UK music industry – not that you’ll have heard of her (although you’ve probably hummed her tunes). As co-owner of writing and producing pop-factory Xenomania, the 34-year-old is the driving force behind Girls Aloud, and has also written for Kylie and the Sugababes.

‘At Xenomania, we’re a one-stop-shop,’ says Cooper. ‘You used to be able to make a fantastic living out of just making records, but that’s not the case any more. We become partners with an artist in their brand, because our songs fuel a sizeable income for them, from modelling to sponsorship deals to private gigs in Russia. I’m involved in everything from styling to choreography.

‘Writing songs is an amazing form of escapism, but also intimate. We sit around with dictaphones and sing our hearts out. It’s like being naked in front of people – you worry everyone’s going to laugh at you.’ Sniggers are unlikely when the songs you’re singing are hits like Girls Aloud’s Call The Shots.

What the judges said:
Amanda Ross: ‘It’s easy to be creative within a niche, much harder to do it so successfully with mass appeal.’

Jane Shepherdson: ‘It was important to award someone creative themselves. People might not know Miranda, but show them something she’s done, and they’ll recognise it.’