Sugababes - Sweet 7

Expecting great things from the Sugababes is rather foolish these days. The last album bit the dust hard, and after the controversy of Amelle leaving Amelle NOT leaving and Keisha getting the boot, the venomous press releases which followed, snide comments in interviews, Amelle getting 'exhaustion', Jade being rushed to film a new video and record over Keisha's vocals mere days after Keisha being heaved out of the group... etc etc. What was my point?? Oh yeh. Basically, what was one of the greatest girl groups ever, has become the biggest Pop joke (ever? - hmmm Jedward put up tough competition there).

Still, after the scramble to save the 'babes, you would have thought the label would have made sure it was all done right. Great songs, proper promotion and scheduling etc. And who could blame you for expecting a good turn out for the books?

Well you would be wrong. It's all over. This legal application put forward by Keisha (and supposedly Mutya and Siobhan) for ownership of the "Sugababes" name should be fairly easy to solve. The old band should give it up. There isn't a single strand of charisma amongst them, and the things that made the band good have now gone (Mutya, Keisha, and Siobhan). It was always their vocal talents that made the group what it was. They all gelled together so well vocally, and had impressive abilities too. So why not oust the "new" 3 and bring the old 3 back? There. Problem sorted.

Anyway. I'm supposed to be talking about the new album. It's not really worth the column space. Seriously. I could go through a track by track commentary talking about the lyrics, identifying highlights in the production, and recommending which tracks to skip to, but I'm at a loss as to what to say really. Each and every track is as formulaic and generic as a Pop song gets. They all have an annoyingly-uncatchy "la la la" or "da da da" hook which fails to do its job. They all have loud brash synth leads which recall repressed nightmares of drunken misadventures to Yates' or worse. Smells like chav, basically. Overall, the album generally sounds echo-y, chavvy and generic. I will say that in the murky shallows of this fruitless wishing well, the only vaguely visible penny shining is Crash and Burn. Which is slightly unfortunate. It's almost as if the girls are eulogising their own career.

Looking back on it all, Keisha should be very glad to have gotten out before this album dropped. At least now she doesn't have this to taint her track record, which mostly comprises some of the greatest Pop music of the last 10 years.

Let this album be a lesson to all:

1. ONLY LADY GAGA CAN DO A LADY GAGA SONG. All other attempts to match her style have been rubbish (That means YOU Cascada!).
2. Do NOT release an album 6 months, and 3 singles AFTER the lead single.
3. If you're band line-up has totally changed, you are no longer allowed to identify yourself under that band's name BECAUSE YOU ARE NOT THAT BAND!  

VERDICT: Go home girls. 2/10.

Comments

[Matthew]

Your entry on the Sugababes is just totally and completely ridiculous. First off, RedOne is producing for everyone, just not everyone says "RedOne" in their song, therefore you don't always know it's a "RedOne" song. Second of all, all three of the singles from "Sweet 7" that got released all went top 5 with UK Radio airplay, and top ten in the singles charts. Third the album got pushed back because of the lineup change. Fourth, the album leaked a month in advance before it's release which we all know can really effect an artists album sales. Fifth Heidi Range has been in this band since the second album which the girls achieved their first number one single and album with her. The group had one minor hit when they first debut and an album that flopped hard.

This album would have done well if there wasn't the controversy and the constant album delays. So don't sit here and spew your shit as if you know.

You're gonna sit here and diss the different sound, um, HELLO, "GET SEXY" which was originally released with Keisha had the same sound as the rest of the album. You wouldn't be dissing if Keisha was still on the album. You're just a bitter fan who likes to follow trends and needs to talk about what everyone else is talking about.

[LovePopMusic]

Clearly I'm not a fan, so your theory falls a bit flat. Try again.