Who's Sexiest People cover stars Jessica Mauboy and Bonnie Sveen discuss all things sexy

Local leading ladies Jessica Mauboy and Bonnie Sveen have topped off a big week—it was announced their Seven series The Secret Daughter will go into a second season, and Mauboy became the first indigenous Australian to debut at No. 1 on the ARIA albums chart thanks to her turn on a 17-track set from the show—in glamorous style by being the faces of WHO’s annual Sexiest People issue.

The stars have kept secret their cover appearance since the WHO shoot in Sydney in June, where Mauboy, 27, controlled the tunes on the day, blasting JLo and the Pussycat Dolls as she and Sveen were primped and styled. “I just have to play really good music,” she says. “Something with a snare that make you strut or put out your hip in a certain way.”

Even wearing a succession of revealing bodysuits, “I felt so comfortable,” says Sveen, 27. “If someone says, ‘Pose on a rooftop in your lingerie,’ if it’s for WHO, I say, ‘Yes!’”

As to what gets their own pulses racing, Mauboy says, “Try your hardest to make it look like you never even tried. There is nothing sexier than a lack of vanity.” She has a laundry list of things she finds hot about her boyfriend, Themeli Magripilis. “He has this stance, this physicality. I love that,” she says. “Everything he does is strong. But he is oblivious to it, and that is very sexy.”

Sveen admits she feels more sexy now than when she was younger, because “I’m a lot more at ease with myself”, although she feels her best “when the emphasis is not on yourself, but belonging somewhere or being present.” And while she loves a “Brigitte Bardot” makeup look, “there is also something incredibly beautiful when you walk past a man or woman with no makeup on. They aren’t hiding their radiance.”

Their go-to-sexy outfits? “Lately it’s been high-cut jeans,” says Sveen, “But on a beautiful day I would say a little bikini or slip.” Mauboy is just as simple: “Ripped jeans and an off-the-shoulder T-shirt!”

Pick up a copy of WHO Sexiest People 2016 Bumper Special Issue on sale now.