If you’ve had your fill of the various Yank-filled year-end music lists making the rounds, might we suggest overseas pop blog We Are Pop Slags‘ picks for the 50 Greatest Pop Songs Of 2009.
Sure, some of the usual American fodder slipped onto the WAPS tally—particularly the “B” triumvirate of Beyoncé, Britney and the Black Eyed Peas—but there’s also enough five-star import material to satisfy the closet Anglophile (Lily Allen, Frankmusik, Dolly Rockers, Sugababes) and Euro-pop (Alphabeat, September, Röyksopp) fan in all of us. More »
Sugababes version 4.0 appeared on London-based breakfast show GMTV this morning to promote their new British single “About A Girl.” There’s much debate going on among the YouTube commentator set about whether or not the ‘babes actually sang live or lip synched over a live-sounding vocal track.
Either way, the interesting bit isn’t in the vocals—it’s in watching newest member Jade Ewen acclimate herself so ably into the group’s hip-swaying bump ‘n grind routines. More »
Warner Music Group is putting the kibosh on those OG Sugababe-reunion rumors that floated out of the UK this morning. (The gossip site that “broke” the story fingered WMG as the eventual home for Mutya, Keisha, and Siobhán, both collectively and as solo artists.) But I still believe!! Even though, yeah, Siobhán isn’t exactly a fan of Keisha’s… [Guardian / Earlier / Dailymotion] More »
A UK gossip site is reporting that the three original members of the girl group Sugababes—Keisha Buchanan, Mutya Buena, and the completely brilliant Siobhán Donaghy, all of whom have left the band since it was formed way back at the turn of the millennium—are in negotiations to reform, and put out an album. This bit of rumormongering comes in the wake of the announcement that the forthcoming album by the current incarnation of the band, the American-audience-tilted Sweet 7, has been pushed back to next February amidst internal strife of the legal and medical sorts. And of course it raises the question of what the new/old version of the group would even call itself at this point. (Sugababes UK? The London Sugababes?) But the best aspect of this rumor is this little nugget… More »
Yesterday, a six-track sampler of the original take on the Sugababes’ made-for-American-audiences Sweet 7 leaked—the difference between this record and the soon-to-be-released album is the presence of Keisha Buchanan, who last month was unceremoniously booted from the girl group and replaced with Eurovision-tested singer Jade Ewen. The sampler contains the already-released (and underwhelming) “Get Sexy” and “About A Girl,” as well as one track that made me chuckle mirthlessly over just how badly the group’s handlers wanted to try and break the girls in the States. More »
Behind the Sugababes’ latest lineup machinations, which make one wonder if the group is shape-shifting into a sort of female British Menudo, is a trend piece about enough slant histrionics to make Ken Russell films wilt. There’s even something telling in the yearlong break rival girl group Girls Aloud announced in July, following on the heels of some of their strongest offerings yet. If the crown jewels in Britain’s pop tiara are wont to defect so quickly—and leave us with The Saturdays—shouldn’t it be time to reassess the girl group as a business model? Perhaps, with pop going the way of our economy, we probably shouldn’t be turning to something as volatile as singer-stuffed girl groups for a bailout.
Boybands and even male-fronted rock bands seem to enjoy some sense of longevity. But why do their female counterparts seem to have all the reliability of AIG? After the jump, a categorical look at five iconic girlb(r)ands for whom dissolution was all but foretold. More »
Another case of metadata speaking the truth: “the female pop group (consisting of Keisha, Mutya and Heidi),” says the first entry on Google when you search for the troubled UK pop trio. Oh, Google. I know, I know. (Sorry Amelle.) [Google via No Rock & Roll Fun] More »
Amelle Berrabah, currently the second-most-senior member of the British pop trio Sugababes, is taking an “unexpected short break away from the pressures of work, following some professional medical advice earlier this week,” according to a statement posted on the girl-group-in-tumult’s site this morning. She’ll be staying in a private health clinic for the next three weeks and taking a break from the group, which has been forced to cancel even more upcoming live appearances as a result of all this. (Remaining members Heidi Range and Jade Ewen will, however, travel to an Irish gig that the ladies were supposed to perform at in order to press some fan flesh.) Apparently there’s going to be a Sugababes tour once Berrabah gets out of the hospital, but honestly, maybe we should just have the new group play one gig—or even one song—before making any claims like that, no? [Sugababes via Guardian] More »
