This song, produced by Dallas Austin (he also did ''Push The Button''), was written in the midst of reading negative comments, hence its positive and supporting nature. Because of its lyrics about personal and body image issues, the song was compared to Christina Aguilera's ''Beautiful'' and TLC's ''Unpretty''.
''Ugly'' received quite some international success, off the heat of previous smash single ''Push The Button''. Besides reaching #3 on the UK charts, it also reached the top ten in the Netherlands, Denmark, New Zealand, Ireland and Norway.
The promotional trail for the song fell flat in comparison to ''Push The Button'''s, mainly because Mutya preferred cuddling her newborn baby instead of pretending to give a ****. This was also the reason for her departure in the end of 2005.
The video translates the lyrics and vibe of the song pretty accurately, as it shows a lot of people who are ''different'' in a way, because of their talents, their lifestyle, or they way they look. Oh and it features the girls singing too.
A shame 2.0 had to end with such meh-ness. This song is rather boring. It falls flat in comparison to attitude-filled uptempos like ''Hole In The Head'', or moving ballads like ''Stronger''. And the ''be who you wanna be'' stuff is rather uninteresting and bland. Does nothing for me. 6/10.
Two tracks produced by the masterminds of Xenomania made the ''Taller In More Ways'' album: ''Ace Reject'' (an amazing track, definetely worth checking out) and this. Before Mutya's departure, this wasn't really seen as a potential single: ''Gotta Be You'', ''Follow Me Home'' or ''Ace Reject'' were seen as better choices (apparently Mutya hated this song -- explains her rather dull vocals on it). But after her departure, this song was re-recorded by Amelle and chosen as 3.0's first single.
However, it did fail to acquire ''Ugly'''s success, as it besides reached #4 in the UK, only managed to reach the top 10 in the Netherlands. It wasn't really a huge flop, but it definetely could've done better.
The video was directed by Tim Royes (who also directed ''Easy'' later that year) and its theme was very simple, as it solely featured the girls wearing nice red dresses as they were running up runways and such. Royes later died in a tragic car accident in 2007, hence the ''About You Now'' video was dedicated to him.
It's a good Xenomania song, but it sounds a little too much Girls Aloud circa ''Chemistry'' for me. Doesn't keep it from being a rather decent pop song though. 7,5/10.