VBirds were a British virtual girl group, created in 2002 by a team of designers, producers and musicians. An animated television series of the same name, consisting of six one-minute episodes, aired on Cartoon Network between long-form programming. The band's only single, "Virtuality", was released on Liberty Records and reached No. 21 in the UK Singles Chart in early 2003.[1] A spin-off series of dance tutorials, VBirds: Perfect,[2] aired in 2003. Despite its success as a promotional tool to keep young viewers watching during ad breaks,[citation needed] no further singles were released.

VBirds
OriginUnited Kingdom
Genres
Years active2002 (2002)–2003
LabelsCartoon Network Music
EMI
Liberty Records
Mattel
Past membersWow
Boom
D:Lin
Bling

The band's backstory revolved around them being exiled from their home planet of Planet V by its ruler, King He:Lin, for refusing to participate in the dance farms on their planet. They were shrunk down in size and put into a dance machine which was launched from the planet down to Earth, so the humans could play with them as long as they wanted. The story concluded with He:Lin's echoing words "Enjoy yourselves while you can, VBirds. For you will never escape your dance machine prison!"

The VBirds were interviewed on SMTV Live. In the interview, Bling and Wow compare their music to that of fellow girl groups Destiny's Child, Mis-Teeq and the Sugababes.[3]

Members

edit
  • Boom is perhaps the most witty and energetic member of the group, although she can also be very bad tempered. Boom is able to create and throw pulsating balls of colour by blowing a kiss into her hand. This gives her a knack for decoration.
  • Wow is the most mature VBird. Her powers calm those around her, allowing her to keep most arguments under control.
  • Bling is the most fashionable of the girls and can easily show it by using her powers to create new costumes for the group in an instant. Although this ability comes in handy for the group during performances, she prefers to use it in her free time to annoy the other girls.
  • D:Lin is the youngest in the group, and with green skin she stands out more than the other VBirds. D:Lin loves nothing more than DJing whenever the group is not performing, and she also uses records as throwing weapons whenever the situation calls for it.

Single

edit
"Virtuality"
Single by VBirds
B-side"Dance With Me"
Released2003 (2003)

"Virtuality" is the group's only single. It includes the B-side "Dance With Me", which samples the Woo! Yeah! portion of "Think (About It)" by Lyn Collins and vocals from "Virtuality". A music video for "Virtuality" was also released and included in select versions of the CD single.

UK CD
No.TitleLength
1."Virtuality (Radio Edit)"3:40
2."Virtuality (Extended Video Edit)" 
3."Dance With Me"3:41
4."Virtuality (Slim Redz Planet V Mix)"3:43

Legacy

edit

"Virtuality" is featured in Dancing Stage Fever.

References

edit
  1. ^ "V-BIRDS | full Official Chart History | Official Charts Company". Officialcharts.com. Retrieved 24 June 2020.
  2. ^ "Richard Kilgarriff on Twitter: "@PencilPerson Yes i did. I produced it."". twitter.com. Archived from the original on 13 March 2019. Retrieved 17 January 2022.
  3. ^ "SMTV Live {VBirds Interview Episode} Excerpt". YouTube. 3 April 2016. Archived from the original on 15 December 2021. Retrieved 24 June 2020.
edit