But first! Another karaoke cover, courtesy of Atomic Kitten!
Oh wait. This is their original. Funny that even their own songs sound like cheap demos.
It's OK, though!
Now here's the cover. It's so bad!
It was terrible, but went in straight at number one and got the back in Australia's top ten!
Enough of the AK dragging season. I might as well leave you all with one of their better singles.
Based on a KILLER ELO sample, Be With You was perhaps the only time AK didn't aim straight for the middle.
Be With You was one of their last big singles. Natasha got pregnant, then suffered from post-partum depression; Liz ... was going through things as well. They unofficially but officially split up in 2005.
Only to be reunited, with Kerry in and Jenny out, for The Big Reunion!
For all of their shiteness, Atomic Kitten served a purpose. They were a much needed bridge between two overwhelming pop forces of the 90s, and two groups that succeeded them that were much, much, much better.
Right Now
Whole Again
Eternal Flame
It's OK!
The Tide is High (Get the Feeling)
Be with You
These are the six songs you'll be rating.
I hope you all discuss amongst yourselves for a bit, because for the next two groups, each single picked is getting its own post. Like, we're going in.
I know the lives and times of the next two groups like the back of my hand.
But the origin story of Sugababes is a confusing one, because so many boldfaced lies are attached to it.
What's known is that Mutya and Keisha were childhood friends, that Mutya and Siobhan also met, and that Siobhan was also meant to be the defacto lead, Mutya as the 'second lead vocalist' (hyhy Kelly Rowland). Ron Tom (remember him?) got it in his mind to create a younger, hipper, more multi-cultural answer to the Spice Girls/All Saints' younger sisters. Enter these three, and a production team led by Cameron McVey, husband of Neneh Cherry. [Lemme go play Buffalo Stance right now!]
The album took two years to create, but it was worth it, as it was critically acclaimed. Sugababes were seen as the Lordes of their day, combining world-weary cynicism with a surprising amount of romanticism, with a sound that belied their age, and harmonies that seemed almost predestined. Their Royals, if you were, was Overload. It also became their first top ten single.
The album, One Touch, did not offer the same success. Although it quickly went Gold, it was seen as a loss leader, and subsequent singles failed to make the top ten. They were seen as too hip, too dour, too sadsack, too London. Couple that with internal pressures in the band, and ...
Picture This. Japan, Summer of 2001. Rumor has it that Siobhan (the redhead), pummelled by the double blows of clinical depression and 'bullying' from one of her other bandmates (I'll let you guess which one), excuses herself to the bathroom during an interview, climbs out of the window, and never looks back.
Reality? London Records dropped the Sugababes that fall, but signed Siobhan to a solo deal.
Mutya and Keisha (and most importantly, the management), were not done, though - and the hunt was on to find Siobhan's replacement. They needed someone who was the polar opposite of M&K; likeable, smiley, gregarious. [Read: WHITE. Non-Ginger though. Gingers are not everyone's cup of tea.] Enter Heidi Range, a smiley, pretty blonde from Liverpool (who was also an initial member of Atomic Kitten!) M&K were not initially down with this, though, and used the same "-ski" language that they used to block Siobhan out on Heidi. This all faded soon, though, and Mutt Mutt and Heidikins became fast friends. But how would they get back to the charts?
Island Records snapped them up, with an unofficial mandate to keep the cool but lose the offputting 'edge.' (Read: Not make straight to the bone R&B music.)
Around this time, a mashup was becoming popular in London clubs. It pitted Adina Howard's Freak Like Me versus Gary Numan and Tubeway Army's Are Friends Electric?
(Here are the original tracks for reference)
Famed producer Richard X got on the reins to rejig it a bit, and tons of pop acts were fighting to front it. Sugababes 2.0 got it, and it launched them to superstardom. Straight in at number one, and stayed there for weeks.
Check out the video for a minute. Co-directed by Sophie Mueller and Dawn Shadforth, it's a real testament to the depth of female power. A group of girls turns to vampirism and beats up the new one until they become one? With this, they explicitly changed the meanings of the original, elevating a simple trap sex jam into something creepier, darker, more fulfillng. The paranoia of the Tubeway original is still here, but bolstered by an actual chorus. With this, they had arrived, and had made themselves different from any other group Britain had produced.
Including this one, the lead single from their third album, Three.Hole in the Head really showcases the special relationship the Babes had with the production superteam Xenomania. It's a lot more rhythmically charging than the stuff Xenomania did with other groups, and there's much more of a standard verse/chorus/verse/bridge thing going on here.
Their third number one hit! I'd like to take some time out to acknowledge the fact that Sugababes (2.0) achieved real success in mainland Europe, and were the only UK girl group this century to do so.
This was also the first American single; it stalled at ninety eight on the charts. (A group coming up thoroughly outpaced them at the same time.)
Fun Fact: I made a music video for this in my senior year of high school. I think I got an A?
Here's hoping Jade is ignored completely.
