For those of you born in the mid-noughties, Tulisa Contostavlos was a household name who became embedded in 2010’s pop culture. She rose to fame as part of hip-hop band N-Dubz alongside cousin Dappy and childhood friend Fazer. From the age of eleven she worked her backside off, scripting her own music videos, writing her own music- she chose to play the long game and it paid off.
But it wasn’t always easy for Tulisa, she was a child carer, looking after her mother who suffers from both Bi-Polar and Schizophrenia. Her father left home when she was nine and she grew up in a one-bedroom council flat in Camden. She was bullied by her classmates and attempted suicide at a very young age. She prayed that one day music would be her escape, her way.
In 2007, N-Dubz won a MOBO award for Best Newcomers and Tulisa really shot to the height of her fame in 2011, when she was appointed as an X Factor Judge, replacing Girls Aloud star Cheryl Cole. This was a massive moment for me, I was (and still am) a huge N-Dubz fan and a massive Tulisa fan. ‘Sight of You’, ‘Young’, ‘I Need You’, ‘Stronger’ and ‘Number 1’ will definitely be on my Spotify wrapped next week for sure!
Tulisa was feisty, loud, and fought for the underdog. Her music was gritty and real, and for me, a young person who was born and bred on a Council Estate, she represented my roots to somewhat, finally she was someone I could relate to, she shone the light on the working class voice and identity. Tulisa showed me and mine that success can come to any.
Her stint as an X Factor Judge was successful and epitomised her career at that point, she won her first series with Little Mix and mentored Ella Henderson in her second series as a Judge. She flourished on a huge television platform but no one could have prepared her for that level of celebrity or the classicism and misogyny that would follow.
Her new Television role brought her much criticism. It was rare a headline ran about Tulisa without the word ‘Chav’ being shoe-horned in there. She was referred to as a ‘Council Estate Barbie’ and ‘Queen of the Chavs’ by the Tabloids. Her X Factor Co-Stars didn’t help much with Louis Walsh (I mean please) referring to her as a ‘Chav in a Tracksuit’ and Gary Barlow bullying her ‘fag ash’ breath live on air.
She was referred to as a ‘Council Estate Barbie’ and ‘Queen of the Chavs’ by the Tabloids.
The media were openly calling her a ‘Chav’ because she had tattoos, came from a council estate and smoked cigarettes- a girl after my own heart, I say! But not everyone felt this way, people were scared she had got too big for her boots. Including her ex-boyfriend who decided to leak a sex tape produced between the two of them in 2012. Memes went wild and the media once again had a field day but it was Tulisa who faced the sexist backlash once again.
The bad girl narrative constructed by the mainstream media of the 2010’s was weaponised against her. In 2013, The Sun on Sunday’s Mazher Mahmood, alleged she had fixed a drug deal for him. ‘Tulisa blows it once again’ (a reference to her sex tape leak) was splashed all over the front pages.
The bad girl narrative constructed by the mainstream media of the 2010’s was weaponised against her.
She was disowned by many of her so-called friends and contemplated suicide for the second time in her twenty six years. Class once again was a massive factor in all of this. I mean let’s not forget the celebration when IT Girls and the Ladettes of the late nineties were photographed stumbling out of nightclubs with cocaine up their nostrils. But because a girl from a council estate is merely associated with a drug she is dispelled and sent into exile. What happened to innocent until proven guilty.
The following year, in 2014, the case against her was dropped, Mahmood aka the Fake Sheikh was found guilty of setting her up and attempting to pervert the course of justice. Since then she has been pretty much lying low, having to earn her way of every blacklist in the entertainment industry. Once again, Tulisa found herself playing the long game. But has it paid off this time?
I say yes! Now in 2024, Tulisa has joined the ‘I’m a Celeb’ line-up and headed down-under. So far, she has been a triumph, her straight-talking ways a hit with viewers and her fearless nature a hit with her fellow camp mates. Finally, after many, many years Tulisa’s redemption arc is in full swing thanks to reality telly and I for one am delighted!
Finally, after many, many years Tulisa’s redemption arc is in full swing thanks to reality telly.
Some commentators, probably the ones tormenting her for having a ciggie and kebab after a night drinking her body weight in Jäger bombs, are saying she’s only just on the show to promote her new album. And why shouldn’t she? If failed Tory MP’s can use reality TV to plug their books about how they conned the nation during a pandemic or an ex Love Islander can eat a donkey's backside to promote an unknown clothes brand that they will be dropped from within three months, then our T can use the jungle to prove herself, once again!
So Tulisa, despite six year old me (and me today) being absolutely obsessed with your solo album and knowing it word for word, sleeve to sleeve, I also wanted to say thank you for normalising working class identities, changing perceptions and making your fans proud through using your television platforms to prove yourself and prove us fans bloody right!
Tulisa was always famously the working class girl made good, but good the misogynistic media never let her be- until now…
