Ex-Bardot star Katie Underwood reveals why she left as she hints at a reunion, releases new song

Katie Underwood has revealed why she really left Bardot as she also releases new music with her former band mate Belinda Chapple. The pair also have plans for a reunion.

If Australia’s most famous pop girl group Bardot hadn’t imploded 21 years ago, they might sound like Ka’Bel in 2023.

As Bardot looms large in the pop zeitgeist courtesy of her revealing memoir The Girl In The Band, Belinda Chapple has reunited with Katie Underwood to release a new single from their pop duo Ka’Bel formed two years ago.

Underwood said their new dance pop song Follow was a passion project and unapologetically pitched at their Bardot fanbase whose love for the band was reignited via social media celebrations in 2020 for the 20th anniversary of their chart-topping debut hit Poison.

“The refreshing thing about working with Belinda on this project is neither of us are pretending it’s anything that it’s not,” she said.

“It’s absolutely a passion project and we have a very specific awareness of what it is. It’s the ex-Bardot stars making music for the fans from back then who are our own age that still like this kind of music.”

Katie Underwood has reunited with Bardot member Belinda Chapple on new single. Picture: Supplied.

Underwood, who has continued to record in the Australian dance scene as well as working in the wellness industry, was the first to leave Bardot in 2001.

She was encouraged by the group’s new manager to join a reboot of the musical Hair but the Harry M. Miller production didn’t eventuate.

Underwood was “encouraged” to leave Bardot to pursue a musical theatre career. Picture: Supplied.

“I didn’t move towards Hair because I was looking to leave; you’ve got to remember back then we were in the middle of the Bardot machine, overworked and not really as aware of what was going on as I could have been. And I trusted what our new manager was telling me,” she said.

“When I met directly with Harry M. about Hair and he waved a $2000 a show price tag at me, after living on the poverty line for the 18 months prior, I thought I just had to get out.

“In retrospect, putting pieces of the story together with Belinda, rifts were created between the girls, quite deliberately, and so it did self-destruct from the inside out, which is really sad.”

Talks continue with fellow Bardot members Sally Polihonras and Tiffani Wood about a possible reunion tour next year.

There is no expectation Sophie Monk will participate.

“She’s a TV star, a radio star, a movie star, why would she want to? My first job was working as a singing waitress at Johnny Rockets (diner) but would I go to the 20th anniversary of working there?” she said.

“Without disrespecting ourselves in the process, why would she want to go back to what was essentially her very first job in the industry when she’s done so much since then in the entertainment business.

“The four of us have also done so much in that time, but things outside of the industry. So for us, Bardot is still very much a huge marker of who we were and are as people in the music business.”

Chapple recently lifted the lid on her Bardot experience in her memoir The Girl In The Band. Picture: Joseph Dadic / Supplied.

The new single is not only a vehicle for Underwood and Chapple to flex their creative muscles but to also join the vanguard of women in pop music defying ageist barriers.

“With examples like Kylie and Kate Ceberano, the music industry isn’t just hapless post teenagers and people in their early 20s. Creativity doesn’t end when you hit 40 or 50 or 60 or even 80.”