So, Three came out. Four more top tens - including that number one - and things seemed fine, right?
Then Mutya became pregnant. By this time, the Babes were already writing and recording their fourth album, Taller in More Ways. She withdrew from the process, but K&H still shared writing credits with her.
They were invited to come to Atlanta to work with Dallas Austin, and jumped at the chance. During the recording process, Keisha began a flirtation with one guy in the studio, but he wouldn't make a move. He wouldn't ....
... Push The Button.
Released to radio in the summer of 2005, Push the Button was a refreshing change of pace for the girls, and for pop music at the time. It was lighter, flightier, more flirtatious. It also stuck out like a sore thumb amidst all of the Hip-Hop and Hip-Hop masquerading as R&B music, and the UK's version of 'indie' bands. (Read: Terrible guitar based rock, with albums comprised of b-sides 4real4real.) There were some interesting compositional elements, however - the descending, almost shoehorned melodies in the bridge, for example - and a wit that marked it as a Sugababes song. It became their biggest hit (at the time) in Europe and the UK. TIMW followed, and became their third consecutive triple platinum album. Everything seemed to be going fine.
Except Mutya started missing promotional appearances and TV/radio interviews. Keisha and Heidi, like the Spice Girls before them, just wrote it off publicly as Mutya being sick. One day, Mutya went to management - not Keisha and Heidi, mind you - and told them she was leaving. Maybe it was due to the post-partum depression she was suffering from, or maybe it was due to the rumors of her already having a solo deal lined up. Who knows?
24 hours later, Mutya's replacement was announced (meaning management had been scouting for replacements for quite some time.) Her name was Amelle. Amelle Berrabah, to be exact.
The transition went smoothly at first. Amelle's first single with her vocals on it, Red Dress, went top three, and they did an amazing b-side cover of Arctic Monkeys' I Bet You Look Good on the Dancefloor. They released a greatest hits, which performed admirably, and set to work on their next album.
It was a mess, full of Mutya castoffs and songs that really truly could have been done by anyone. One such song was lead single About You Now.
It is their biggest hit ever, but also the first time the Sugababes had released something completely generic. Co-written by Cathy Dennis and produced by Dr. Luke, it was destined to be. But the fact that four months later Miranda Cosgrove covered it says it all, doesn't it?
Their first few albums were amazing, "Change" was kinda a mess, "Catfight and Spotlights" was a sold, underrated album, and "Sweet 7" was a generic bop, but a tragedy compared to the rest of their discography
So, I definitely wanted ALL the Sugababe incarnations to be represented.
Change, the album, went double platinum - successful, but a step down from the previous three. It also contained the last genuinely Babey single - Denial.
Catfights & Spotlights followed, an all Keisha all the time album. It makes sense - after YEARS of biding her time, she was finally the LEAD voice. It didn't happen in 1.0 - Siobhan was the star there. 2.0? Mutya. In fact, when Mutya left, multiple articles were written expressing shock and, confusion as to how the Sugababes could go on without "The Voice" to lead them.
But enough about that. Let's go back to C&S. 60s inspired, as was the style at the time, it was led by the laziest single they've ever put their names to - Girls. Legit there's no chorus there. There's a fantastic The Sun video interview in which Keisha and Amelle are being questioned, and Keisha goes on a minute long rant about ... well, how much she missed Mutya. Poor Mel is sitting there, waiting for the ground to swallow her whole. It is AMAZING.
Catfights ... was not a success, and the label panicked. Roc Nation expressed interest, and soon they were signed, with sessions with the hot producers of the time - StarGate, Ne-Yo, RedOne - and the first album that did not contain a single lyric written by a Sugababe.
It's just that ... management did not see Keisha as the lead, but Amelle. Sensible, as she had (HAD) a certain something, an effervescence that was absent in Keisha, and beaten out of Heidi long ago. This belief was only aided by Amelle hoping on a Tinchy Stryder (remember him?) track, and scoring the first (and only) solo Sugababe number one.
Summer of 2009. They premiere their lead, Get Sexy, co-written by Bruno Mars (I believe. Too nonplussed to check it out!) It is horrible, and substitutes a chorus for a Right Said Fred reference. The video is shamtastic, with a beweaved Keisha and an older than her years Heidi playing second fiddle to a skinny, youthful, charismatic Amelle.
Keisha was not having this, and reports flew about fights between the two. (One of Amelle's many sisters even proclaimed that Amelle had pulled out Keisha's tracks!)
August. The single goes in at number two, losing the top spot to Roc Nation/Def Jam co-workers Jay-Z, Kanye West and Rihanna.
Then Amelle goes missing. She claims there's a death in her family.
There wasn't. Keisha and Heidi carry on for performances as a duo.
So, I definitely wanted ALL the Sugababe incarnations to be represented.
Change, the album, went double platinum - successful, but a step down from the previous three. It also contained the last genuinely Babey single - Denial.
Catfights & Spotlights followed, an all Keisha all the time album. It makes sense - after YEARS of biding her time, she was finally the LEAD voice. It didn't happen in 1.0 - Siobhan was the star there. 2.0? Mutya. In fact, when Mutya left, multiple articles were written expressing shock and, confusion as to how the Sugababes could go on without "The Voice" to lead them.
But enough about that. Let's go back to C&S. 60s inspired, as was the style at the time, it was led by the laziest single they've ever put their names to - Girls. Legit there's no chorus there. There's a fantastic The Sun video interview in which Keisha and Amelle are being questioned, and Keisha goes on a minute long rant about ... well, how much she missed Mutya. Poor Mel is sitting there, waiting for the ground to swallow her whole. It is AMAZING.
Catfights ... was not a success, and the label panicked. Roc Nation expressed interest, and soon they were signed, with sessions with the hot producers of the time - StarGate, Ne-Yo, RedOne - and the first album that did not contain a single lyric written by a Sugababe.
It's just that ... management did not see Keisha as the lead, but Amelle. Sensible, as she had (HAD) a certain something, an effervescence that was absent in Keisha, and beaten out of Heidi long ago. This belief was only aided by Amelle hoping on a Tinchy Stryder (remember him?) track, and scoring the first (and only) solo Sugababe number one.
September 2009. Reports fly around that the Sugababes are headed for another breakup, and that at least one member will be replaced. Around this time, Mutya pops up (fresh from Celebrity Big Brother) on Lorraine, with new breasts and butt attached, expressing interest in coming back into the fold.
Keisha heard this loud and clear. But by then, it was too late.
Sugababes were set to go to LA to film the video for their second/lead single, About a Girl.
They did not go together.
Over the weekend, there were reports that Jade Ewen - she of Eurovision and an Andrew Lloyd Webber reality show fame - was flown out to LA to replace Amelle. She had free time, as her first solo single stalled at number eighteen, and her label wasn't hurrying to release a followup.
But anyone who knew the harmonies of the Babes knew this could not be, as Amelle filled in for Mutya as the group's contralto. Jade is a soprano. Do you know who also is?
A few days later, the dust was settled; Keisha was "signed to a solo deal," and Jade Ewen joined the Sugababes. About a Girl became their first official single as a unit.
Soon after, Amelle checked into rehab for 'exhaustion.' She came back with much wider hips! She was looking RIGHT.
As the shock was brand new, they were still A-listed on Radio 1, and AAG crept into the top ten at number eight.
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