The second episode of The CW’s Riverdale airs tonight (February 2) at 9PM ET/PT, and one of the biggest highlights of the episode, of course, is seeing Josie and the Pussycats take on the Archies’ iconic classic pop song “Sugar, Sugar” for the modern era.
Fronting the Pussycats as Josie herself is Ashleigh Murray, whose film Deidra & Laney Rob A Train recently got quite a bit of positive attention at Sundance. In this one-on-one interview with KSiteTV, conducted at the recent Television Critics Association press tour in Pasadena, California, we spoke with Ashleigh about her fellow Pussycats, performing “Sugar, Sugar,” her relationships with characters like Cheryl Blossom and Archie, and more. Enjoy!
Related: Riverdale “Chapter Two: A Touch of Evil” Preview Images
KSITETV’s CRAIG BYRNE: In Episode 2, we see Josie and the Pussycats performing “Sugar, Sugar.” Was it intimidating at all to take on such an iconic song that has long been associated with the Archie characters?
ASHLEIGH MURRAY: You know, it wasn’t at all. I’m always excited what they throw at us to do. It’s a challenge just in general – just being in the studio and being someone who usually sings on a stage and that’s it. [Here] I’m pretending to be somebody with a certain type of sound, and it’s a different environment, being in a music studio or being on set rehearsing and having to sing live during our rehearsal, it definitely puts me in a space moreso about wanting to give the right respect to the song, no matter what it is. So when I found out we were doing “Sugar, Sugar,” I was super excited. I love the song, so I was happy that we were able to do it, and when we got the different rendition of it, I was also excited to do that, and the way it plays out on camera, having Cheryl coming up on the stage at the pep rally… it’s awesome. It’s a lot of fun. It’s a lot of energy. It’s a lot of sass. I had a great time. I was not intimidated by it at all.
How is your own sound different from Josie’s?
To be fairly honest, I am not even sure I have a sound, as Ashleigh. I really don’t sing that much. Acting is more of a passion for me, so if I come across something that I really love and it happens to involve singing, then I’ll do it, but Josie in the first season – hopefully we go to Season 2 – you’re just kind of getting an idea of who she is, and I feel like Josie is still discovering her sound. She knows songs that she likes to do and she kind of has an idea of the feel of that music and how she wants to move the audience, but she hasn’t really gotten a chance to shine with her own music and her own sound, so I’m hoping that we’ll be able to discover more of that later on down the line.
What can you tell us about Melody and Valerie and how all of the Pussycats interact?
Melody and Valerie… it’s interesting. There is a bit of a build-up between Valerie and Archie, as it is in the original comics, and I personally take issue with that as Josie. I think that nobody needs to be involved with anyone, just us, and Valerie holds a very special place in the group. She writes the songs, so she has an importance. And Melody… she comes up with a lot of the looks and a lot of the music, and she does a lot of our instrumental. So, we each have our own dynamic part that we play together as a threesome, and being able to succeed as the Pussycats, “Josie and the Pussycats” wouldn’t be a thing if I didn’t have Valerie and Melody.
We have our own kind of, like, secret handshakes and things like that. We’re not just a performance, but we’re also girlfriends, and Josie is very protective of that, and of them.
Can you talk about the actresses who play them?
Hayley [Law] and Asha [Bromfield]. Oh my God, I love them! We are so lucky to be paired together. We didn’t know each other before we started working on this show; it was completely random, but even outside of the show, we have such a great dynamic. Asha is so thoughtful and grounded and driven, and Hayley is just — if you’ve ever met somebody who’s just “of the Earth,” I feel like she just grew right out of the ground. She’s so inspirational, and she does music outside of the show. She’s building her own music career, and we actually as a cast went to her EP release party in Vancouver, and we were all dancing and I was in the front row, I met her mom and I had already met her dad… we just have this really big family dynamic outside of being on set.
This interview is long so navigate below for more!
