A double act of Great British pop excess, two great singers in their own right, two hit singles released already and a highly anticipated album on the way for early 2010. At the impressively young ages of 19 and 20, Frankee and Britt of Mini Viva are turning heads all around the UK and doing so with a smile on their faces along every step of the way. When pop music is done well it should be fun, catchy, memorable, and Mini Viva have bucket-loads of each. We recently got to catch up with them both and pose a few questions about the rollercoaster ride that has been their past few months.

What’s your name and where do you come from?

Frankee: We’re Mini Viva. I’m Frankee and I’m from Manchester

Britt: And I’m Britt and I’m from Newcastle

Where did the name Mini Viva come from, any deep and serious meaning behind it?

B: The name Mini Viva came from the nicknames we had for each other and it sort of felt right putting them together.

How would you best describe your music to someone who’s never heard, and what artists would you say have encouraged that style?

B: Disco pop with an edge; a record you put on before you go out…

F: I think it’s a big mixture of artists really. My influences are Beyoncé, Destiny’s Child and reggae music as it’s what I grew up listening to.

B: Mine’s 60’s music but with an 80’s twist, so female artists like Blondie, Madonna, The Cherelles and Lady Gaga for a more recent influence.

F: At the moment I love Rihanna – I love her new album

B: I really like La Roux’s album and also Lady Gaga’s Fame Monster –which has six new tracks. There’s one called Speechless on there which is about her dad and it’s really good. The video for Bad Romance is great too, love it, it’s very different. She always pulls it out the bag.

I guess this ties in, are there people in the music business you want to emulate, and have you met many people that have caused you to be totally starstruck?

F: We don’t really want to copy anyone as we have our own style

B: Yeah we want to start ur own craze, where people go ‘We love Mini Viva’s style’ or ‘We like the way they dress, or their make up etc’.

F: So we want to keep it individual. As for being starstruck… I think Will.I.Am and Cheryl Cole.

B: Yeah, she was lovely. She’s even more stunning in real life and she’s very humble. That’s what I liked about her.

F: I would be completely starstuck if I met Beyoncé. She’s my idol!

B: I’ve only started to get on to Beyoncé because of Fran but I probably would be starstruck by her too because of her influence and I loved Destiny’s Child. Actually, I think Lady Gaga. I’d be like ‘Woah, she is a real person, she is human’. She acts untouchable and that’s what I like about her: she’s mysterious.

You’ve been touted as the next “pop sensation” in many corners, what have been the strangest and most unexpected moments in the last few ‘breakout’ months been?

F: The most exciting was going straight into the top 10 (with ‘Left My Heart In Tokyo’ as a new act, that was amazing because we were up against artists like Madonna, Pixie Lott and Michael Jackson.

B: Every day there are little surprises. We are playing G.A.Y on Saturday and we have always wanted to do that. The video for ‘I Wish’ was filmed in LA and it was amazing. We used the same director Ray Kay for both videos and he is amazing. He gets what Mini Viva are about. We especially loved going to America, it’s like going to another world. As for pressure, I don’t think we’ve got anything driven in our heads like ‘we have to be the next big thing’ because we are different. We definitely want to make it as a duo but we want to be out there with the likes of Mel and Kim, Salt n Pepper as people really rate them for their music. We want to have the same credibility as Girls Aloud, but as a duo.

There seems to be a lot of neon going on with Mini Viva, is that personality emulated through fashion?

F: Neon is definitely part of Mini Viva’s style. We like to be noticed, stand out and in your face

Are you big into fashion / retail / clothes…that whole thing?  

Both: Yes! We love it.

F: We love shopping and we love High Street, especially Primark and Topshop.

B: I like to find vintage pieces and getting it altered to fit me because it’s more personal. I think high street shops are amazing – they copy clothes that are really expensive that we can’t afford but they make it affordable. We’re really into leggings at the moment

F: We would love a Mini Viva clothing range- that’s one of our aims

B: Even little nail gems, with our logo or hair clips, necklaces and earrings. We would design it all our own way and get patterns made. It would all be very bright.

What’s next for Mini Viva, what does 2010 hold?

F: A third single and then the album – we can’t wait because we’ve been waiting for it for a whole time.
Britt: We would like to get on a support or even to do our own tour would be amazing. Sometimes I have dreams about being on stage with massive Mini Viva logos in the background. We would love that to happen. We’ll also do more international stuff next year too, like going to America. We haven’t been to New York yet but we really want to. Maybe we could do our third video there.

Mini Viva’s latest single ‘I Wish’ is out now in stores…look for the album in early 2010.