Ugh, I KNEW "Something Kinda Ooooh" would be chosen! I used to love it, but now I skip it most of the time. Plus the video is an absolute low budget mess. I wish "The Show" had been chosen instead, but oh well...
Let's embrace mediocrity now. In 2006, Polydor/Fascination - perhaps anticipating Girls Aloud's seeming implosion - went about creating a new five piece girl band. They recruited Frankie and Rochelle, two former members of S Club Juniors, as well as aspiring R&B warbler Vanessa (who would be the defacto lead). Perennial X-Factor auditionee Mollie was hired, as well as Celtic acoustic coffeehouse maiden Una, who was seven years older than her new bandmates. They were called The Saturdays.
Their music? Fun, sassy pop, without all of the compositional intricacies of their elder stateswomen. Their look? At first, each Saturday was color coated, giving them a visual hook that made them stand out from the rest of the girlband pack. Their first single, If This Ain't Love, employed a Yazoo single that was frankly put to better use in a Heidi Montag single the year before. It was with their second single, Up, that they struck gold.
It was thumping, chromatically interesting, inherently feminist in message (something that hadn't been directly carried through since the Spice Girls), and introduced a new belter to join the ranks of her other loud voiced girl group leaders. [She may have even been better than them.]
As pop tradition dictates, the third single is always a ballad. The Saturdays, never one to deviate from the rules, held to tradition and released Issues. It even caused some controversy, as listeners couldn't tell whether the chorus featured the word "slap" or "stab."
Powered by these singles, Chasing Lights went platinum, and all the future looked bright in Saturdays land.
And then the second album came.
Introduced with a single that is a blatant Kelly Clarkson c-side, Wordshaker never reached Gold status. Partly it was due to lack of singles, but also they phased out of color coordination, which revealed how utterly rudderless the group's theme was. It did give the world Ego, however.
Let's jump to Summer 2010, or the time known as the death of Vanessa White's voice.
The label, trying to stave off some of the blood loss, repackaged the two singles with six new tracks and issued an EP (they were all the rage then!). Lead single Missing You, one of my personal favorites, was the third Saturdays single to just miss number one, losing out to Flo-Rida. (Or Eminem. Can't be arsed. #amelle)
What do they do? Get him (to ruin) the next single, Higher.
Obviously a summer single, but somehow released in November, the single just made the top ten. One can really hear the 6th Saturday, constant writer/producer Ina Wroldsen, loud and clear in the chorus. Louder than most actual members of the group!
Summer 2011. By this time Una's pregnant by her very attractive rugby playing boyfriend. The Sats were looking to put a little edge in their "sound." First single Notorious came and went, and really hurt them at radio, as there is no actual chorus in the song. They had an uphill climb ...
... which they more than met with the first collaboration with Xenomania, All Fired Up. Released in the biggest battle of budget/basic acts ever (as a dance Leona Lewis and a dancey Pixie Lott were also releasing), All Fired Up made it to number three - but didn't encourage anyone to buy the album. On Your Radar spent one week in the top forty, and has not sold more than 20,000 copies.
Winter, 2012/2013. The Saturdays begin a quest to "conquer the States." Their second single from an as yet unnamed album, What About Us, did not make the top 100. Or the Bubbling Under 25.
It DID, however, become their biggest single, and their first number one.
Fun Fact: The Saturdays hit number one the same week Girls Aloud officially split up, via Twitlonger.
By this time, Rochelle was married and heavily pregnant. As soon as she came back from maternity leave, it was clear that Frankie was up the duff.
As of now, The Saturdays have more children than Sugababes and Girls Aloud combined.
They also have a cumulative album sales of less than 400,000. I am being generous.
Ah, the Saturdays. I remember when they first debuted and Perez Hilton was pushing them hard. I consequently have their first few singles (illegally downloaded) on my iPod.
I haven't listened to them in a while, so I'm not sure if they're as awful as Ace says, but "All Fired Up" at least deserves to do well in this rate.
The Saturdays. Despite their flaws, I still prefer them over the other girl groups. I guess its because their music is more accessible and fun. I also loved how people anticipated their demise every time one of the girls got pregnant or if they flopped. But they always end up coming back.
And I'm sad this never became a single. So much better than Issues.
I forgot to mention that now Rochelle and Una share the leads on most songs, as Vanessa is not up to the task anymore. What has happened to her voice?
But enough about them. Let's talk about a group with actual success!
Picture thus. 2011. The X-Factor is going through a huge period of 'evolution,' as three of their judges - Simon, Cheryl, and Dannii - are leave. They are replaced by Gary Barlow, Kelly Rowland, and Tulisa. I had no idea who Tulisa was.
But The Female Temp Worker had ideas on making her mark. She did so by mentoring the first girl group to not only not get kicked off in the first few weeks, but WIN the whole thing! They started out as Rhythmix, but lawsuits quickly changed that to Little Mix.
They were created in One Direction fashion: Four girls not strong or exciting enough to be solo contestants were put together as a group. Unlike 1D, and because of Tulisa The Female Independent Contractor (but really because of Kelly), they learned to properly execute harmonies. A pinch of Sugababian DNA, with a whole lotta En Vogue made them special.
Cannonball, originally done by Damien Rice, was their winner's single. Although it is the least successful X-Factor coronation song, it shot immediately to number one - something The Saturdays were still searching for at the time.
It's also kinda sorta the only good ballad they've released as a single, as the others are weaksauce.
They were quickly ushered into the studio to find their own sound, and came up with (and cowrote) empowerment anthem Wings. Although it didn't do much in the States, it went top ten in a number of countries - and was their second British number one.
Usually bands start heading in a maturer fashion with the second album; Little Mix did it with their second single. Shades of Katy Perry's E.T., but with competent vocal delivery, made DNA a huge hit upon release - although it never made it to number one.
They really hit upon something new with the lead single from their second album. Move, with huge harmonies over a sparse syncopated beat, was something unlike anything a British girl group had ever done. In another life, it could have been an En Vogue single.
Perrie, Leigh Anne, Jesy and Jade have a bright future ahead of them. I just hope they learn to really individualize the vocals, as one would have to be a superfan to differentiate them at times.
Ugh the Saturdays. They had so much promise and had me so excited with Up. It's probably my favorite girl group track from the past 10 years tbh. It's such a shame everything after that has been completely tragic in comparison.
Yay Little Mix! I've been waiting for their write-up! They're the only group out right now who have the true girl group quality reminiscent of Spice Girls, Girls Aloud, etc. Even though they aren't as successful and pander to the younger audience a bit too much, they have all the potential there. Perrie's truly lucky she has a strong voice, cause her dancing is **** and her personality makes her dancing look amazing.
Jesy and Jade are both absolutely fabulous though, and the true stars of the group in my eyes. Salute was a huge step up for them and hopefully their label gives them a chance with US marketing so they can have a shot at crossing over. So many of their great songs get neglected in the label's need to push out an album every year. Pretend It's OK, Red Planet, Make You Believe, Mr. Loverboy, Boy, and Stand Down are all major standouts in their discography for me.