No Artificial Flavourings Or Preservatives (One Touch - Sugababes)

Member Name: Modena

Product:	One Touch - Sugababes
Date:	06/04/01 (100 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Classy pop tunes. Nice, fresh, talented British band.

Disadvantages: Only 50 minutes worth of music. A few weak links.

The Sugababes, one of the freshest talents in British pop (pop is not really my cup of tea). The Sugababes offer a unique brand of pop, accessible to everybody, with no artificial flavourings or preservatives.

The pop world is full of stylists who churn out plastic artists, following silly dance routines and doing everything to stay on the front pages. On paper, the Sugababes look like another manufactured band, however I disagree…

++ Who are they?
The Sugababes are a schoolgirl trio from London (aged around 16), I read somewhere that they are like a Benetton advert in terms of their ethnicity, Siobhan is Irish, Keisha is a mix of Jamaican/Spanish, and Mutya is a mix of Fillipino/Chinese.

They aren’t the typical manufactured band, Mutya and Keisha always knew each other, and they met Siobhan later and they “started hanging out and discovered that, like us, she could sing”.

++The album
“One Touch” is co-written by them, it contains around 50 minutes of music, spanning 12 tracks and is supposed to contain a mix of bitter-sweet pop, R&B and garage, I had to check it out.

The inlay is average, no lyrics, just messages by the girls, thanking god etc. The Back cover is a black and pink Manic Street Preachers affair, very strange. The front cover is very dark, I expected it to be a bright “Steps” affair, not so, Sugababes are unique, too classy to be a plastic pop-group, too talented to fall, their youth seems to be their only handicap…

+1 Overload
The debut single, I must confess, the first time I heard this I didn’t like it, I thought it was another silly talentless girl band singling “Train comes I don't know it's destination It's a one way ticket to a mad man situation” but after a few listens. This track grew on me, there was this blend of the driving beat and class about it, I was put off slightly by the colourful vide
o, but by then the Sugababes had earned my respect and the song sold 200,000 singles.

+2 One Foot In
An average pop offering, I suppose they try to make a garage tune that can be sold as pop. The chorus is nice:

“One foot in, one foot out
It ain't what I'm all about
Your love has got me spinning around
You take the love outta me
Keeping your distance baby
No more I will resist baby”

Too poppy, but pretty unique at the same time. Not really the kind of song for a trio though, doesn’t work too well.

+3 Same Old Story
Another attempt at the pop/garage tune, a fast song, made more so by the attempts to sing it fast. About someone not wanting to hear the same old story (as you would expect) not like “No Scrubs” or Oink stuff, just a garagy pop tune. I think this is quite good, but doesn’t work too well (at least the back up vocals are effective), but I like it, it’s a good tune, very respectable. Same old story, different ending…

+4 Just Let It Go
“He was the one for me
He made me feel alright
Now everything's gone wrong
We where so tight”

Sets the scene and then the song is really beautiful, “just let it go” and why… “As soon as you get over him you'll find the sweetest friend” Then it rebounds back to the beginning, and then more reasoning, fairly unique. I think this is a beautiful song, shame it’s a little repetitive towards the end, I think it’s radio friendly, maybe the next release? I dunno, a great track…

+5 Look At Me
Thankfully miles better than the Geri Haliwell song. This begins very maturely and impressively, nice classy intro and then,

“I know I'm still young
With no life experience
But I gotta learn from my mistakes - not yours”

Lots of R&B tones, pretty evocative too,

̶
0;Look at me
I'm still your little girl
Look at me
The centre of your world”

Gets repetitive at the end, but it’s a good pop song with a good chorus, not the best song on the track, but not the worse either.

+6 Soul Sound
This is another classy pop tune, very relaxing. I guess the easiest way to achieve a relaxing sound was to repeat the world “the soul sound” a few hundred times in a beautiful voice. The first lyrics your hear sum the the rest of the song well
“I, touch the sky, all around, your eyes
And oh you wouldn't believe
What's happening to me
Expectations all around
My intuition knows no doubt I could
Lose my way on this merry-go-round”


+7 One Touch (Of Love)
“Mum I found a guy that I really want
I know you say i'm young
But he don't wanna hurt me”

You’d think they sound too mature for that? They do, this is a soulful track, very relaxing again, just ignore the lyrics and listen, this is a great tune, it’s not written based on the vocal talents of the trio though in my opinion. Bit repetitive too…

+8 Lushlife
A slightly more trippy affair (the album was produced by Massive Attack collaborator Cameron McVey), this one does suit their vocal talents, another soothing and soulful track. The chorus “Lush life Takes a little time Lush life Takes a little time Take one step at a time Boy I'm still in my prime I want the lush life” once again, the content is a bit questionable, as is its repetitive nature, but it’s pop isn’t it? One to chill to in the summer…

+9 Real Thing
More R&B tones here,

“Let me take you higher so we almost touch the sky
Tell me I'm the only one that sparkles in your eyes”

awwe, how sweet, I don’t think this would appear on a Jennifer Lopez CD though. I don’
t like this much, far too “poppy”, I guess if you buy Britney CDs you might like this, it reminds me of all of pop, but nothing in particular.

+10 New Year
This was the Christmas single, and it is clear that they had Christmas number one in mind when writing this, this reaches number 11 in the charts and encapsulates the feelings, fear and emotions of a break-up, a year ago, at Christmas… I think this song is brilliant, slow, classy and evokes all the right emotions. One of the reasons for my interest in this CD, the lyrics “I’m older than my years” have a double meaning in my opinion, like Britney Spears trying to say she is stronger (except it is believable) and that the Sugababes themselves are a trio needed to be treated with respect.

+11 Promises
The beginning of this song is exactly the same as the Nightmares on Wax remix of Bush’s “Letting The Cables Sleep”, that’s where the similarities end. This is a weak song, the tune is weak and so are the lyrics, “I hate the way you make me feel inside, I wonder why you lie”. Another slightly trippy track, but nothing special.

+12 Run For Cover
The current single, nothing special about it, but sounds good on TV or radio, the factor making me bother to get hold of this album. Very classy indeed, a brilliant piano/violin introduction. Bitter-sweet pop!

“It doesn't really matter
Sometimes we run for cover
I'm always on the outside
You never seem to wonder
How much you make me suffer
I speak it from the inside”

Definitely one of the best tracks on the album, emotional, classy and varied too. This has the bitter-sweet pop, the trippy element and a slight rappy part too. I really like this track, this is scheduled for release on the 9th of April.

++ Sugababes Q&A ++

Do they do silly dance routines?
~~None yet, they are very classy, and
they also seem to be reluctant to do so.

Are they going to have a number 1?
~~Not from this album, but some more top 40 hits here. I think One Touch deserves some awards, like best pop album perhaps?

Are they going to be seen at the met bar with mysterious kidney infections?
~~Yes for the first part, at the age of 16, I don’t think so, not yet.

Is one member going to break her knee and end up with larger breasts?
~~You never know, I hope not, I really like clean, ambitious, enthusiastic artists who made the headlines for the right reasons.

Is a member of a boy band going to make one of them pregnant so a substitute will need to be drafted in?
~~No way!

Is Chris Evans at the Ferrari dealer now?
~~He might be.

Are they going to be arrested in Soho for smoking cannabis soon?
~~Only the male members of S Club 7 were involved.

Will they be doing a duet with Elton John?
~~Possibility, Eminem did…

Will their parents sue them?
~~I don’t see a reason for that

Will they be splitting up soon because of tensions within the group?
~~I doubt it, but it’s a cruel world…

How many stars are you giving this?
~~On my scale, this is an average album, i.e. 3 stars. But this is pop, and it’s so much better than the rest, I am tempted to give it 5 stars, but maybe 4 is more appropriate. Please, forget your Atomic Kitten and A1 etc…

Do I recommend this?
~~That’s a tough one, yes, if you like pop, but want something classier, this is for you, if you are sick and tired of manufactured pop, this is for you. I guess borrowing off your friend is the preffered option though. If you like Limp Bizkit and Slipknot, and have their posters on your wall, then maybe not eh?

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