HINDSIGHT can be wonderful. Just ask Jessica Taylor. "I was disappointed when I didn't get through but now I'm really glad I didn't," says the Liberty X star.

Ahead of next Thursday's sold-out show at York Barbican Centre, she is reflecting on the fateful finale to Popstars, the television phenomenon that made compulsive Saturday night viewing for weeks in 2001. Jessica reached the final ten but missed out on selection for Hear'Say, the band the winners became.

Yet Jessica has good reason to be glad about that rejection. Hear'Say split up after 18 months. Former band member Myleen Klass is doing contact lens advertisements; Kym Marsh, the first escapee from the sinking ship, waits to kick-start her solo career; and the rest of the band face uncertain futures.

Meanwhile, Liberty X, formed by Jessica and the four fellow rejects from the Popstars final, have gone from strength to strength.

Although manufactured, their pop/r'n'b sound is made credible by songwriter Peter Devereux, of Artful Dodger fame. Their image now requires fewer of those inane, children's TV smiles and they have been rewarded with chart success. Not that Jessica likes to boast about their rise to fame.

"I put our success down to us all getting on so well," she says. "You can never tell if a band's going to work or not. There are just so many factors involved but I would say if you haven't got that you're lost."

She is right. After all, Hear'Say split up because Kym and Myleen could not gel.

Jessica is experienced in dealing with the media, perhaps more so because of her admitting to smoking cannabis during a dummy media conference as part of the Popstars selection procedure. "The judges said it had nothing to do with me not winning but I don't know for sure," she says.

Rejection was not going to stop the Lancashire lass from getting what she wanted and her approach to her career remains level-headed. "I never had any professional training but I always wanted to perform. I got a bit of experience in school plays but when I got to college I stopped because I wanted to concentrate on my A levels," she says.

Jessica was bound for Oxford University but failed to make one of the grades. Deciding no other university would suffice, she landed a job with Lancashire Police in the forensics department but fame was still her main target.

"I wanted to hold down a good job, which would fund my travel down to auditions in London," she says.

Jessica entered four or five auditions before Popstars came up: her first audition for a band rather than a show. She does not keep in touch with the other participants.

"People think we would because they saw us all together so much on the telly, but it was just an audition at the end of the day," she says. "You meet people, you spend time with them, you move on. I'm still in touch with Kym but that's as far as it goes."

Jessica has managed to hang on to all her old friends, however.

"I've been really lucky. All my mates still treat me the same. They're really happy for me and interested in what I'm doing and I'm the same with them. I've got used to the funny hours and it's obviously an exciting job but I'm a real homely person. What I want is a house, a family and a car," she says.

"I've never got used to being famous. I forget sometimes and wonder why people are staring at me. Once I was out doing my shopping and someone followed me, giving a running commentary on their mobile to a mate about what I had in my shopping basket."

What a liberty.

Updated: 11:28 Friday, March 07, 2003