Sugababes: Classic Or Dud?

That contract makes me smile.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sugababes_discography
singles between round round and about you now:

stronger
angels w dirty faces
shape
hole in the head
too lost in you
in the middle
caught in a moment
push the button
ugly
red dress
follow me home
easy
walk this way

i'd side with that claim. Push the Button and hole in the head are close, but I *really* like About You Now.

not looking to defend popjustice (i agree that its approach to pop music is mostly utter bollocks) but they always overhype a new single, especially when it's an exclusive to them and feel they have to big it up - I doubt they'd stand by that "about you now" claim now, or ever really believed it beyond the hype of the moment. of course it nearly always makes them look ridiculous in hindsight, but if it keeps big exclusives coming in i doubt they care.

clearly "too lost in you" >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

though looking at that list their singles are probably on the whole less great than I remembered (quite a few dud choices of singles to release), in that they were much better album artists for their first two lineups.

though to be fair overload > new year > run for cover > soul sound > freak like me > round round > stronger is completely imperious.

"about you now" tends to get underrated, it's sort of flawless despite being massively derivative and unimaginative. but the idea that they had any sort of dip in between "round round" and "about you now" is just weird. "too lost in you" is a towering pinnacle of their discography, better than either, "angels with dirty faces" and "follow me home" are up there too - though perhaps it's true that their absolute best songs in the three/taller eras were the deep cuts.

Agree with the above, though I prefer "Caught In A Moment" (and also "Sometimes"!) - I love "About You Now", I just dislike the implied dismissal of many of the amazing songs in between ("Stronger"! "Hole In The Head"! "Red Dress"! "Follow Me Home"!).

Best songs on Three: "Situation's Heavy", "Maya".

Best songs on Taller: "Ace Reject", "2 Hearts".

agree re: three, would choose "bruised" ahead of the others on taller

Haha "bruised" was my number three.

prolego otm though some people here take what Popjustice says way too seriously.

...I mean basically they've always had a very spontaneous approach to pop. When Peter's excited about something he doesn't care to hype it to ridiculous proportions. He's not thinking "oh, is this going to sound relevant x years from now?" etc. I don't really have a problem with that. In fact I think it is the right approach. With most pop music, retrospective evaluation is in many ways irrelevant anyway imo.

Agree totally with Lex and Tim on Taller choices, that is probably my favourite album of theirs. Three is mostly great, Conversation's Over was always my favourite album track on there.

I used to value Popjustice a lot more than I do now. They give way too much time to the same few bands. Everytime JLS or The Saturdays have a new single they always give them way too much attention. I get that they are two of the biggest pop bands but their songs just blend into each other and they are not great popstars in anyway.

I remember losing a lot of respect for them when they claimed the last Girls Aloud album was great and put it as their second favourite album of the year, then a year later they claimed the reason they didn't give Electrik Red anytime was beacause their album was too patchy, I mean it just does not compute. They continue to say how they hate Olly Murs (with good reason) but put one of his singles in thier top ten last year and made a post saying they were obsessed with his last single. I get that they want to try and rate songs not based on the artist singing them but can't they spend more time writing about iamamiwhoiami or Dawn Richard? The way they just ignore some artists existence and coninue to write about such average acts just gets so tiring.

Was a lifelong reader until they started saying that The Feeling were good

Yeah, those pics of them are utterly amazing and I am so frigging excited. I LOVED the original line-up so so much.

this is one of those things that I think would be amazing, then think I'm silly for dreaming, then it happens. i love all three of them (siobhan's last solo album was flawless, mutya's last one...wasn't but that's ok) and am glad that they're back and back together.

i also used to subscribe to PJ very closely but agree that when every single and album is PROPER AMAZING POPPERS OCLOCK LITERALLY THE GREATEST PIECE OF RECORDED MUSIC IN HISTORY it makes it challenging to use them as a guide. recommendation exhaustion is a real thing. which is too bad because i heard a lot of excellent music thanks to them.

http://www.popjustice.com/interviewsandfeatures/the-full-length-actual-mutya-keisha-siobhan-interview/99561/

AFROBEATS! EARLY 90S R&B! I knew I could trust them

What do you think people will call you?
Mutya: They’re going to call us the Sugababes anyway. Guaranteed.

:D

If Comic Relief came to you and said, ‘HIYA, we’d like you to do the next Comic Relief single with the current lineup of the Sugababes’, would…
Keisha: (Immediately) No!
Siobhan: What was the question?

…would you do it?
Siobhan: Oh right! When you said ‘the current lineup of the Sugababes’, I thought, “that’s us, right?” (Amid uproar) I got really confused!

:D

awesome

it's great how they can cut a bitch without even trying

Mutya: A big tight ship. A YACHT!

It belatedly occurs to me that they've chosen their current um 'moniker' for the precise reason that it's the only way they can guarantee no change in line-up.

Haha I'm reading the interview now and they admit as much.

Who's going to get them drunk and find out the *real* reasons behind everything?

Sugababes are one of those bands I would pay so much money to read a proper "Behind The Music" style expose of everything that went on behind the scenes.

It's just like.... BAND POLITICS is fascinating and terrifying. And GIRL POLITICS is fascinating and terrifying. So put together BAND POLITICS and GIRL POLITICS and it's a story I want to read.

http://www.popjustice.com/songs/mutya-keisha-siobhan-boys/

HARMONIES
MUTYA'S VOICE

so ace

lack of interest in new sugababes is irrefutable proof of ilx's decline imo

in other news "run for cover" still blows me away every time i listen. IT'S MY NEED TO BE FREEEEEE~~~~~

I still don't know who is who in this group

L-R in the video: Mutya, Keisha, Siobhan

video is badass btw, I love watching ppl who are completely in synch with each other musically sing together (a big reason why Destiny's Child could sing some of the stupidest words ever written and still be amazing imo)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3GWNEgxJcXo

weirdly enough a random celebrity big brother clip is one of the best testaments to mutya's ability. like, how effortlessly does she nail that?

technically speaking, that sounds like it's squarely in the comfort spot for her singing voice (and based on the little bit I hear of her speaking voice in that clip, it's also where she talks so she's permanently warmed up on those notes); it also shows she has an excellent ear because there isn't any quavering or sliding off the pitch

btw how badly does Coolio want to record a song with her

yeah her control is insane and her timbre is even greater, it's so easily my favourite voice in the past decade of british pop

that being said it's really exciting how far they've all come vocally since one touch, and each member feels totally essential in bringing something key to the group. it feels the most evenly balanced - and dare i say talented - lineup to date i think which is really promising.

oh, I'm super excited even though i completely missed out on the first wave of sugababes and only know a handful of singles.

i'm just waiting for the full song before i flip out / have something to say?

but I'm psyched.

was "Hole in the Head" the Mutya/Keisha/Siobhan lineup and did they appear in that order on the song?

No, it was Mutya/Keisha/Heidi (the longest lasting lineup), can't recall what order they appeared in.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lf0tUnUB27I

Keisha Buchanan
‏@keisha_buchanan
I think we've made a BANGER people #studio with @devhynes #talentedbeyond http://instagr.am/p/VnXBzshd0P/

trolling Lex, very mean.

^ properly excited now!

hiya it's mutya keisha and siobhan on kendrick lamar

http://soundcloud.com/bloodorange/lay-down-in-swimming-pools-by

um holy shit

there's pretty much no excuse for me not to go get the entire Sugarbabes back catalog, right

nope

there is a reason not to get their last two albums cuz they're kinda bad

first three are varying degrees of excellent, though, then just grab "about you now" off the fifth and you're sorted

can't believe dan of all people hadn't done this already!

*first four

I kind of got stuck on "Hole in the Head" and never really moved past it

"hole in the head" is great but i don't think it'd be in my top 10 sugababes songs

... wau

my number one all-time favourite sugababes song is "run for cover"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yBAXKYIBZ60

that was done when they were like 15; when they were grown, they did my second favourite song by them, "ace reject"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b_yX57yrLao

seriously their harmonies under the second chorus and through the ad libs afterwards are slaying me

TOO MUCH
TOO MANY
TOO LITTLE
TIIIIIIIIIIME

if i was POXing my fav sounds in the whole of pop music ever mutya's voice would be in there without hesitation