“I’ve certainly heard and read some pretty wild and ludicrous stories about myself, ranging from slightly inaccurate to complete and utter bollocks”
Honest by Tulisa Contostavlos is fascinating.
Tulisa talks about her life and experiences from when she was a child, through school, the beginning of N-Dubz and their career, their tour and awards. All the way to being a judge on The X Factor panel, the sex tape incident and the making of her solo album and first number one single.
I remember hearing N-Dubz around 2008. My family, especially my sister, would blast their music in my mums convertible while we were on our way to school. Meanwhile I, while branching out with my music taste, was still very much into Green Day, My Chemical Romance, Blink 182, Evanescence etc.
I still love all these artists, but now I enjoy a lot more array of music.
So although I knew of N-Dubz, I didn’t pay much attention to the people behind the band. That may sound awful but I’ve never really paid attention to celebrity gossip or tabloids.
My Thoughts
The first time I really paid attention was when Tulisa became a judge on The X Factor and went onto mentor the act I wanted to win.
On the show she displayed a lot of character traits I admired, which is very much re-enforced in this book.
I feel like with a lot of people, they’re older when they decide to tell their life story and so very little time is spent on their childhood.
In this case we spend a lot of time learning about her home and school life growing up.
I know that some people view this as a negative however, I feel that it’s a good thing. Especially around this time I think Tulisa, while having a lot of older fans, probably would have had a lot of younger fans too. I think that having something where they can read the experiences of what it was like for someone else, someone who may be in a similar situation, someone now successful – I think those accounts are important and we should have more of them.
I had a few issues with people in school, but reading this was another level. It made me appreciate my childhood in the sense I was never physically assaulted, aside from the occasional shoves off stilts and general things like that.
She was a kid but this was not kid stuff. Based on this book it seems like she was forced to grow up more quickly than most.
I also vaguely remember hearing about a sex tape. Again I don’t pay a lot of attention to the media, so the most I ever thought was that whoever released it was a dick. I’m sure people who do pay attention are aware that she never even consented to being filmed.
Although I wasn’t an ‘N-Dublet’ growing up, I did thoroughly enjoy reading about her career. I was interested to hear about the hard work and perseverance it took to succeed.
There’s a real focus on family too, which I appreciated.
Conclusion
During this book I smiled, I laughed, I welled up and cheered. It was a bloody rollercoaster and it isn’t even my life, or the life of someone I know well.
I am so glad to have finally read this. Tulisa comes across as very authentic. When it comes to her actions or decisions, good or bad, she owns them, which you can’t help but respect.
This book does what it says on the tin, or in this case the cover. It’s Honest.
