Jersey Shore sisters, tween pop stars, look for next step

EGG HARBOR TOWNSHIP, N.J. - Their early notice as part of the tween singing group the Clique Girlz did not, as it turned out, catapult the Monroe sisters of South Jersey to Miley Cyrus heights (though it did lead to a move to Los Angeles, where their home is a couple of miles from Miley's).

And so Destinee, 15, and Paris, 13, will not be Clique Girlz when they are riding the Ikea float in the 6ABC Thanksgiving Parade, accompanied by two school choirs, or singing the national anthem at the Eagles game this Sunday, but reinvented as themselves, Destinee & Paris, back home for the holidays.

The brief history of the Clique Girlz ended in a tween bubble burst: the departure of the third Clique Girl, Ariel Moore, played out on YouTube - an awkward split the girls' mother, Lenore, compared to a divorce. It was a development made all the stranger by the fact that their album, so long in the making, hadn't even been released in the United States yet - though it was kind of big in Japan, actually.

So young, and already so much drama. But to visit with them here in the home their parents never sold, at the end of a cul-de-sac not far from a Super Wawa, to see them with their long, blonde, highlighted tresses, stylish shiny leggings and fashionable anklet boots, still girlish and goofy in that sisterly way, is to learn that these girls still are in the hunt.

And while it may be premature and, frankly, a little ridiculous, given their ages and brief history of nearly-but-not-quite, to speak of an "epic comeback" (as one poster on their blog did), it should be noted that Destinee and Paris are still under contract to Cherry Tree Records, a division of Interscope. They still have a record about to be released (a new one, more post-tween, they say, more mature, more rock-ish, more Fleetwood Mac and Abba, with more edge, they hope, done with Lady GaGa producer RedOne). They still believe in possibilities, with a Jersey Shore close-to-family vibe that leaves you hoping they make it.

"I was in the car, crying hysterically," Paris - not named after Hilton - is saying, remembering the day they found out that Raven-Symoné had canceled the tour on which they were supposed to be an opening act, the first of a series of disappointments in the last year.

Paris is the more hyper of the sisters, but also the more serious; Destinee seems just a tad more willing to take a backseat. (Their sister act is a bit Serena-Venus, the younger one a little more vocal, the older one a little more steady, used to the interruptions.)

"It was the weirdest crying," Paris says, imitating herself gulping and gasping. "They all turned around and said, 'Will you shut up?' "

It was in January, with a successful splash through Japan, where they were on billboards and on MTV, and an appearance on NBC's Today, their record close to being released in the United States, a tour opening for the Cheetah Girls that had one reviewer calling them "quasi-Dixie Chicks" with girl-power anthems (though the reviewer also worried if their vibe bordered too much on something like "I'm a Little Sexpot Short and Stout"), and a video of the group's "Then I Woke Up" getting lots of views on YouTube (currently over 850,000), that the group came apart.

The sisters said they felt the problems building in Japan, and while they do not wish to talk about it much, they said they found out on YouTube one morning that Moore had decided to leave the Clique Girlz behind for "personal reasons." (Moore is now working with Howie Dorough of Backstreet Boys to form a girl group called NMD - No More Drama.)

The first response was to seek a new third girl. They held auditions, suffered through the weird and cute ("One girl sang, 'Your blood is 20 below,' " said Destinee, imitating in a creepy voice. "We were like, 'Next!' " Added Paris about the rejected hopeful: "She's like, 'I hope this isn't too dark for you.' ")

A new member, Sara Diamond, a brunette, joined the group - but that lasted all of six weeks, though Diamond did get in on a commercial.

It felt, the Monroe sisters said, as if they were stuck in a car going in the wrong direction and wondering how to get out.

At that point, they decided to go it as a sister act and to try to take some sugar out of their pop. For now, the duo's name is Destinee & Paris, but that's subject to record-label change. At this point, they have their believers and their haters ("they are washed up and really I am over this whole thing," said one blogosphere comment). The sisters no longer talk to Moore.

It all started with a typical Jersey Shore-cute singing-girl pedigree: Sal DuPree of Linwood was their vocal coach, their dance teacher was Donna Daniels of Encore Dance in Absecon (a school whose recitals were held in an unusually tantalizing space for a kiddie dance recital, the Tropicana Casino Hotel showroom in Atlantic City).

Their mother was then director of marketing at Hamilton Mall in Mays Landing, and the girls appeared in mall brochures and ads. Their father was head of entertainment at the Trump Taj Mahal.

But then, in late 2001, Lenore Monroe was fired from her job at the mall. Watching Oprah one day, she took to heart Oprah Winfrey's advice to find a passion and make money from it.

"I said, 'What is my passion?' " recalled Lenore, a determined mom-manager who turns out to be not that overbearing in person, though she is definitely the stage manager, even making sure, for whatever reason, that the girls are always photographed with Destinee to Paris' right and not the other way around. "The answer was: my kids and what they love." (She says the girls are making money, as Winfrey advised, though she won't get more specific. The girls' father made the move to California as well and now works at Center Staging Studios in Burbank.)

Once again, the Monroes believe they are on the verge. In January, they will sing the anthem at a Los Angeles Lakers game. And with the road bumpier than they had expected, Destinee and Paris say they are wiser and more humble, grateful for whatever it is that might - or might not - be coming their way. They hope their new record will be released by spring, and are especially proud of a cover, available on YouTube, of Fleetwood Mac's "Go Your Own Way." The girls wrote three-quarters of the songs on the record.

They look at another area product, Berks County's Taylor Swift, for inspiration, both in the way her career took off (she was just voted favorite pop/rock female artist at the American Music Awards) and in the wholesome image she personifies. In some ways, the girls seem more grounded than their well-meaning mother. When Lenore points out that her girls and Swift have a lot in common, Paris nods and says, "We both like interior design." Her mother corrects: "I'm talking about your humble beginnings!"

Now, they would just like to get to the next chapter.