EXCLUSIVE: Pepi Sonuga Talks What’s to Come for Tangey on Famous in Love
We sat down with Famous in Love’s Pepi Sonuga to talk about what is to come for her character, Tangey for the rest of the season. These last two episodes have been pretty big episodes for the character and Pepi was kind enough to give us a little insight into filming those episodes and so much more.
We have placed the interview under the jump, just in case you have not seen the episodes yet. We don’t want to spoil you.
For those who watched last night’s episode, what did you think?
Photo credit: Freeform/Nino Munoz
On filming episode 4 and 5: “Well those two episodes are extremely fun because they are really the introduction to Tangey. It was fun to see her take things into her own hands. In previous episodes, you see people talk about her and you see her life, but all these things were happening to her and these episodes it was fun to have her to get in the driver’s seat. ‘Nope, no, no, this is Tangey’s show and I’m going to show you why’; it was awesome.. Even, shooting the scene with the performance that was her coming out.
On how fun it was for her to see Tangey wanting to be a country singer: “It was awesome. I mean this is why we do what we do. When I am ever going to be a country singer in life ever. I think it was so clever and it was such a smart way to take this storyline.”
On how the country storyline opened her character up to meatier plots: “They could have essentially just made it what it is, she’s a pop star, but now we have these meatier things to talk about. First of all, with race and a black woman trying to be in the country world and I mean from what we saw with Beyonce a few months ago performing at the Country Music Awards and such a powerful and beautiful performance and the backlash I saw on the internet because she was a black woman. And this is after I shot the Tangey thing and I went ‘Woah! This is real, this is a real thing’, so I think it’s awesome to get to be able to shine a light on that.”
On continuing Tangey’s country career in future episodes or, if the show is renewed, in its second season: “I think we definitely are. I mean, I guess it depends on the fans response, what they like and what they don’t like, but I truly feel that’s such a strong storyline to go with. We can’t just cut that out right now, we would be giving up if we do. I think we have to see Tangey achieve her dream at some point.”
On Tangey’s relationship with her mother and how her mother has teamed with Nina to find a way back into Tangey’s life: “It’s really awful. But you know, it just gives Tangey more to fight with. It’s like with real life, nothing ever comes easy. It really sucks that it is happening with her mother because I’m pretty sure that is her only support system. But she’s got Jordan and it gives the audience a chance to see her relationship blossom with other people like Jordan who she couldn’t be with because her mother is so controlling. ”
On Tangey’s reaction to Jordan’s secret: “Oh it is not going to be pretty, you will definitely want to tune in and see it go down”.
On if will see Tangey interact more with Paige before the end of the season: “Maybe not so much, but I think as Paige, if we get a second season, as she begin to dive into this world I feel like the ‘Famous kids’, will begin to pull her to the darkside,. We do have some parts where Paige and Tangey are seen together and you see hints of their relationship a little bit and every time I see those scenes all I think, ‘Wow, they would be really good friends.’ So I hope that’s something we will get to explore.
On if Tangey’s relationship with Alexis would be affected if she became friends with Paige:
“Even though we know that Tangey and Alexis love each other, Tangey is a true friend meaning that she does stand with Alexis. But when you see her with Paige, she never really chooses sides. She is not mean or catty, so I think it would be kind of cool to have them become friends and to see how mad Alexis gets about it.”