25TH NOVEMBER 2007

 

Spice Girls - "Headlines (Friendship Never Ends)"

Official UK Chart peak: #11

 

http://a4.mzstatic.com/eu/r30/Music/v4/16/f0/3e/16f03e28-3232-6d33-43ff-ac3d1a1cc9d1/cover600x600.jpeg

 

As we mentioned earlier on in the thread, whisperings of a full scale Spice Girls reunion had been occurring as far back as the summer of 2005, when it emerged Bob Geldof had been vying to get them on the bill of Live8 - something, of course, that never came to fruition in the end. But still, the rumours persisted in the two years to this point that followed. The girls had all buried respective hatchets and become friends again - all bar Mel B, who was on Broadway at the time, were in attendance for the christening of Geri's daughter Bluebell. Simon Fuller, their manager who was sacked at the height of their powers in 1997, was also back managing both Emma and Victoria (with David) in their solo ventures. It was fast becoming a case of 'when' and not 'if' they would reform.

 

However, just as much as the rumours persisted, so too, did the quashing of these rumours - and from one Spice in particular. Melanie C, by her own admittance, was 'Reluctant Spice', and was still ploughing away with her solo career, this time under her own label, Red Girl Records, and was still phenomenally successful in Europe - Germany in particular loved her - and the very obvious frustration that crossed her face when the words starting with the initials 'SG' were mentioned in interviews were there for all to see.

 

So all were surprised when, on 28th June 2007, at a press conference held at London's then newly opened O2 Arena (formerly the Milennium Dome at the time of their last album seven years previously), all five Spice Girls - Sporty included - announced to the world's media that they were going back on tour for the first time as a five piece in 9 years. Immediately cornered by the assembled throng, Melanie C simply stated curtly that 'A girl's allowed to change her mind'. You can take the Sporty away from Spice, but you can't take the Spice out of Sporty. Girl power indeed.

 

With all five girls now back on board, they spent the best part of two months putting together the 'Return of the Spice Girls' world tour, and its accompanying greatest hits album, on which all their original hits were bought together along with two new songs - including this which, at time of writing, remains the final single from the Spice Girls to date. 'Headlines (Friendship Never Ends)' came in for rather a large bulk of criticism when released that November - which, true, was a natural part of the Spice phenomena (see the post-Fuller sacking backlash of late 1997).

 

 

But from my standing certainly, it seemed unjustified. Released as that year's BBC Children in Need track (following Emma's solo turn for it in 2006, covering Petula Clark's "Downtown"), it was written with their long time collaborators Richard Stannard and Matt Rowe, who'd been behind a lot of their old classics like 'Wannabe', '2 Become 1' and 'Viva Forever'. It is a nice companion piece to the latter two tracks, a beautiful but simple ballad with flecks of flamenco guitar and lush strings that plays really well to all their voices.

 

It sounded like the Spice Girls as they should be remembered, and not, as at the last entry we encountered from them right at the top of this thread, chasing on the coattails of whatever was flavour of the month, which was never the point of them. It was a reminder also that, despite everything they'd been through - the first burst of success, the world domination that followed, the Fuller sacking, Geri leaving, that difficult third album - only they knew what they'd been through together and that had ultimately, made them sisters in a way. Friendship really never did end.

 

The 'Return of the Spice Girls' world tour blazed through the arenas of the UK, Europe and America from November 2007 right through to February 2008, and was the highest grossing tour of the year. The 'Greatest Hits' album zoomed up the charts around the globe and, despite this single falling just short of the UK top 10, it provided a more fitting swansong to the end of their adventure together musically, which was the main thing. Except well, it didn't end there.

 

Five years later, as London hosted the 2012 Olympic Games, the girls got back together once again to perform a highly lauded medley of 'Wannabe' and 'Spice Up Your Life' at the closing ceremony, and even had a brief turn at West End high jinks when 'Ab Fab' star and writer Jennifer Saunders and Judy Craymer - the woman behind the hugely successful 'Mamma Mia' - turned their songs into a musical, titled 'Viva Forever'. And now, as I write in June 2016, it is just under a fortnight until the 20th anniversary of 'Wannabe' being released rolls around. I'd thus place a safe wager on us meeting them again a bit later...

As much as I enjoy Aly & AJ I always forget that Potential Break Up song was pushed in the UK. I also believe randomly at the time, due to a postal strike many stores didn't get physical copies of the song, which stopped it charting higher.

2ND DECEMBER 2007

 

Girls Aloud - "Call the Shots"

Official UK Chart peak: #3

 

http://a1.mzstatic.com/eu/r30/Music/v4/67/b2/f2/67b2f23d-7ba0-fbd5-405d-720f153a2de2/cover600x600.jpeg

 

Now, my entry on "Biology" was, to all intents and purposes, my sermon on (in my view) Girls Aloud's greatest single of their career and how it was a real turning point for them. But that, I feel, would almost be doing a disservice to this next entry as well. For if "Biology" had seen them evolve into fully fledged popstars, then "Call the Shots" was about to take them even further into the stratosphere.

 

I mentioned when we met "Sexy! No No No..." how Polydor and Fascination were ramping everything up a gear going into the "Tangled Up" album campaign. They had their eye on the cooler, classier market that the girls were now courting. The Observer Music Monthly ran a cover feature on them for their November issue, they also performed this on the results shows of The X Factor, then in the throes of its post-Leona finding glory and thus attracting record ratings (which, spoiler alert, would be even higher the following year. I'll say no more for now).

 

And they were also finding themselves fans from all corners. Coldplay's Chris Martin confessed his love for them, saying that they were 'the perfect form of life'. Arctic Monkeys, Bloc Party and a then nascent Florence & The Machine were covering their songs. Even Ken Livingstone, then Mayor of London, thought they were the perfect ambassadors to encourage tourism to the capital from the Far East. But this was all just the tip of the iceberg.

 

Their image and styling was now reflecting this. Take the "Tangled Up" album cover, for instance. Set against a simple, gradiented purple background, hung the girls' logo in stainless steel letters, hooked on random cables as if hanging out to dry on the world's most glamorous washing line (it did also prompt a brief flurry of tabloid tittle tattle that the absence of their photo on the album cover meant Nadine, by now living in Los Angeles, was about to do a runner. But more on that in later entries). Their music also reflected this, too.

 

 

"Call the Shots" had actually started life as far back as 2005, and was written by Brian, Miranda and Xenomania whilst they were on a creative weekend away in Paris (Aussie songstress Gabriella Cilmi's mega worldwide hit "Sweet About Me" was also sketched out in these same sessions). Miranda had been inspired by an article in a women's magazine titled 'The Miranda effect' (a nod to the feisty lawyer portrayed by Cynthia Nixon in 'Sex and the City'), about women taking control in a difficult situation and exuding power and strength.

 

A year later, when songs were being recorded for the greatest hits, it was initially put forward as a single contender, but was demoted back as, as Brian put it, 'it didn't feel like a single to announce a greatest hits'. What was 2006's loss though, was a year's gain, as it duly became the album's second single. Perhaps unusually for their release patterns, it also arrived a week after the "Tangled Up" album stormed the top 5 and became another platinum seller.

 

Accompanied by a stunning video shot in Malibu in LA, with the girls wearing a variety of purple hued gowns, it gave them another top 3 smash and extended the run of consecutive top 10 hits to 17, and was still on the chart by the time the next entry of theirs we'll meet was on the way up, and was also a massive airplay hit - their biggest, in fact, since "Sound of the Underground". Musically, it's not hard to see why.

 

From an outside perspective (i.e. not mine), it seemed as if Girls Aloud had a hit single which was accessible to all. It retained enough of their quirk, wistfulness and charm to keep their original fans happy. It was awash with galacial, 80s style synths that evoked divorce-era ABBA and Pet Shop Boys all at once to keep the critics singing their praises, and had a hooky chorus that kept the most nonchalant of radio listeners happy. As 2008 dawned, it seemed as if things were about to get even better in Camp Aloud, albeit with a small rocky patch - but that's for the next entry...

I still listen a lot to Nylon's Losing A Friend <3 Lovely forgotten song.

 

Walk This Way was awful but I didn't know they'd considered other covers. I can really imagine Nicola in particular doing a lot of justice to You've Got The Love. I guess it would have stopped Florence releasing it too! :o

 

Love this thread and your write-ups btw, very informative and interesting!

Just noticed About You Now is 2.52. Just IMAGINE, if it had been saved for a few months and sent to Eurovision for the UK in 2008. In a year with a very weak winner, and bearing in mind they had a huge European fanbase, I believe it could have challenged for the win, or at least top three. My favourite song of theirs I think, excellent.

 

Headlines was pretty good but not as good as the Spices' earlier ballads. That said, Melanie C really sells her part to me, what a vocal performance, as always.

Edited June 22, 20169 yr by gooddelta

Spice Girls - Headlines, never liked that single and even at the time thought it was a terrible comeback single, I remember hearing it the first time on the radio and felt totally underwhelmed and very disappointed. I was a big Spice Girls fan back in the day and even enjoyed their 3rd album 'Forever' (which was and still is pretty much hated by most), but I had a soft spot for it, and then they disappeared into their solo projects, which apart from Geri's I was never keen on. Then they announced that they were coming back and I thought YAY, until I heard this boring tripe. No wonder it underperformed, it was so dull, they had better tracks on 'Forever' than this (personal faves of mine 'If U Wanna Have Some Fun', 'Right Back At Ya' & 'Oxygen'). There was simply no wow factor to this, even Melanie C herself admitted on 'Never Mind The Buzzcocks' that this wasn't very good and was just something to plug the Greatest Hits album. Even the other new track 'Voodoo' was pretty lame (okay it was better than this), but still weren't very good, I knew their comeback wouldn't stick past the tour, and still gutted that we never got to hear a studio version of 'W.O.M.A.N.' which they sung on one of their concerts many years ago.

 

 

Girls Aloud - Call The Shots = Now yes, this was them at their very peak and loved the previous 'SNNN' and then loving this one even more, 'Tangled Up' was their best album in my opinion, had it for X-Mas and played it on loop for months and months. 'CTS' was just amazing and the shift in style totally worked for them and glad it became a big seller, especially during a time where singles didn't sell very well. Ever since 'Something Kinda Oooh' something changed in these girls and for the better, they started getting more respect and much better airplay and sales. 'Tangled Up' had some brilliant tunes on it and even loved the follow up to this, which I can't wait to hear what you say on that Pensmith.

Call the Shots is amazing. I always love your GA write-ups especially.

All kinds of wow for late-2007/early-2008 pop...I am hugely biased because it was a ridiculously good time in my life (oh to be 18/19 again!) but tracks like About You Now and Call The Shots are just glorious. Crazy to remember how huge GA and the Sugababes were back then, truly A-list popstars and at the time I'd have believed they'd last well into the next decade.

 

And I was a major fan of Booty Luv at the time too, I even saw them live and still have their album!

 

Just noticed About You Now is 2.52. Just IMAGINE, if it had been saved for a few months and sent to Eurovision for the UK in 2008. In a year with a very weak winner, and bearing in mind they had a huge European fanbase, I believe it could have challenged for the win, or at least top three. My favourite song of theirs I think, excellent.

 

Would have been a landslide victory of Katrina proportions, surely? Even if the Sugababes were unknowns I can't see anyone that year challenging ABY at all. I can even imagine people claiming the high standard of songs in 2009's contest as a direct result of About You Now's success!

 

Realistically though there's no way their management would have thought about it.

Edited June 23, 20169 yr by BillyH

The end of the About You Now video is chopped off on YouTube, for unknown reasons. This is a problem with the Change video as well, only 1:42 of that is viewable! Lol. The album version of About You Now is used in the video, which is actually 3:32 in length. The radio edit is 3:10!

 

~

 

Really enjoyed reading your Headlines & Call The Shots write ups, Alex! Headlines gets too much of a hard time, so it was nice to read a positive assessment. Admittedly at the time of release I was a tad disappointed with it, but as the years have gone by it has settled comfortably into their singles catalogue for me. The video is still terrible imo though. :kink:

The end of the About You Now video is chopped off on YouTube, for unknown reasons. This is a problem with the Change video as well, only 1:42 of that is viewable! Lol. The album version of About You Now is used in the video, which is actually 3:32 in length. The radio edit is 3:10!

 

Ahh, that makes sense, I wondered why I'd not noticed the length before now, as usually great UK pop songs under 3 minutes long jump out at me for that reason!

Thank you as always for all your lovely feedback peeps, will respond in due course :) Now for our last 2007 entry, we get going with the 2008 ones on Wednesday.

 

23RD DECEMBER 2007

 

Sugababes - "Change"

Official UK Chart peak: #13

 

http://a1.mzstatic.com/eu/r30/Music/v4/7b/c4/10/7bc410a6-6486-9ec9-6244-837114016d7f/cover600x600.jpeg

 

With "About You Now" not even half of the way into its chart run further down that year's Christmas chart, and the "Change" album still selling in healthy quantities, it was a little inevitable that the second single - and title track - off the first full parent album from t'Babes v3.0 was going to run into a bit of a what-I-call crossfire charting wise.

 

With radio still hellbent on playing its predecessor, and despite all their best promotional efforts (one of which, on the short lived BBC teen music programme 'Sound', I have had to put here in this entry in place of the

which VEVO have stupidly shortened down to less than two minutes), the ladies were close but no cigar to placing inside that year's festive top 10.

 

 

"Change" was a pleasant, dream like and well harmonised effort from this version of the lineup, a wistful ballad about the loss of a close friend or loved one, but it's easy to see why, to the 'Sugababes are a brand not a band now' camp at least, that this single sounded like something the v2.0 lineup could have released in their sleep.

 

Still, it wasn't without its charms, as it came backed with a visually stunning video where each of the girls depicted the four seasons of the year in a variety of striking looks. It also, interestingly, as record companies continued to try and make the physical product still matter in a still expanding digital singles market, came released on a USB stick with the single preloaded onto it (I got it as a Christmas present from a friend that year, and it was a nice little oddity). Overall, a nice enough entry and probably the most apt single they could've released given the time of year, but hardly the most remembered in their canon.

Edited June 26, 20169 yr by ThePensmith

The end of the About You Now video is chopped off on YouTube, for unknown reasons. This is a problem with the Change video as well, only 1:42 of that is viewable! Lol. The album version of About You Now is used in the video, which is actually 3:32 in length. The radio edit is 3:10!

 

~

 

Really enjoyed reading your Headlines & Call The Shots write ups, Alex! Headlines gets too much of a hard time, so it was nice to read a positive assessment. Admittedly at the time of release I was a tad disappointed with it, but as the years have gone by it has settled comfortably into their singles catalogue for me. The video is still terrible imo though. :kink:

 

Thank you Jay :) Yes I wasn't that fond of the 'Headlines' video either, but Emma and Mel C looked nice in it. I didn't get the negativity towards the single either. I was a regular contributor writing single and album reviews at the time it came out for a website called UKMix, and even then I gave it a glowing review. I think, as I pointed out, negative commentary on anything the Spice Girls did - even 10 years on from their peak - was just part and parcel of the baggage that came with them as a group. I'll refer back, as I did at the top of this thread, to David Sinclair's marvellous 'Revisited' biography he did on their career and he said pretty much the same sort of thing I did. It's easier with hindsight for critics to be glib or dismissive of what they achieved, but those statistics can't be ignored.

Ahh, that makes sense, I wondered why I'd not noticed the length before now, as usually great UK pop songs under 3 minutes long jump out at me for that reason!

 

The official Sugababes' VEVO (as I've just pointed out with the last entry, and likewise Jay has mentioned) is an absolute mess so I've had to work with what I've been given where possible :) The actual radio edit, however, was indeed just a little over three minutes (on CD1 of the release, it's listed as 3:09) so it may actually have qualified for Eurovision after all!

Girls Aloud - Call The Shots = Now yes, this was them at their very peak and loved the previous 'SNNN' and then loving this one even more, 'Tangled Up' was their best album in my opinion, had it for X-Mas and played it on loop for months and months. 'CTS' was just amazing and the shift in style totally worked for them and glad it became a big seller, especially during a time where singles didn't sell very well. Ever since 'Something Kinda Oooh' something changed in these girls and for the better, they started getting more respect and much better airplay and sales. 'Tangled Up' had some brilliant tunes on it and even loved the follow up to this, which I can't wait to hear what you say on that Pensmith.

 

Ah, well we'll be meeting the last of the 'Tangled Up' singles shortly but I do agree with you it had some fabulous tracks on it, that album, it was a really strong body of work from the girls and Xenomania. 'Fling' and 'Girl Overboard' would have made brilliant singles in particular. I think musically they were as you say definitely at their peak around this time and certainly into (spoiler alert) the next album, but - and I'm gonna touch on this with the next entry and a few of the others to come - behind the scenes there were a couple of cracks starting to appear, namely due to a certain Ms Coyle and a certain Ms Cole (or rather, people that were quite close to the latter at that time)...

Call the Shots is amazing. I always love your GA write-ups especially.

 

Thanks Scene :) Glad you're enjoying them!

2008

 

13TH JANUARY 2008

 

Booty Luv - "Some Kinda Rush"

Official UK Chart peak: #19

 

http://a2.mzstatic.com/eu/r30/Music/v4/a4/ce/31/a4ce3123-74ac-a817-a2d4-fc0eab4dd2ea/cover600x600.jpeg

 

The start of our next year in this thread where, for the first time since 2000 and 2001, we actually have a January entry to start it. The entries to come from this year in this thread will see us encounter two regulars to this thread, with one at their peak and one past their peak, another semi regular entrant likewise past their peak, and the arrival in this thread of another multiple entrant act whom I feel are probably going to invite the most discussion this thread has ever seen.

 

But first, as always, some brief scene setting. In January 2008, I was in the last year of my teens, and poised to flit off to university to study English Literature, only to be told Norwich UEA weren't interested two hoots in anything beyond my predicted grades of AAC. Meanwhile, as the global recession wreaked havoc with the economy, high streets and mortgages (Woolworths and Zavvi, the latter formerly Virgin Megastores, had both called in the administrators by the end of the year), I faced the very real prospect of trying to find a job to keep me going whilst I had a year's break following completion of my A Levels.

 

 

I would eventually get my first job just two months before starting university in Hertfordshire where I did eventually go to study English Literature, but that's for later entries. 2008 was when the UK charts, after a cruel five years of stagnation, were slowly becoming kinder to the girl group and pop music generally once again, and where single sales were finally starting to rise again as the digital download became more popular. There'd been a hint things were moving that way at the end of 2007, with Leona Lewis spending a near two months at the summit with 'Bleeding Love', Take That (still minus Robbie) slaying all in their path, and Britney and Kylie finally making comebacks.

 

And whilst all that was happening, Booty Luv released their fourth top 20 hit on the trot. Their album, "Boogie 2Nite" had hit the top 20 the previous autumn and been certified silver for sales of 60,000 copies and was met with good reviews. "Some Kinda Rush" was, after the three handbag disco-ified covers for their first lot of singles, their first original single release. A rave-o'clock stormer that was more than a little indebted to Girls Aloud's "Something Kinda Ooooh" - even with the video above - it was nonetheless another euphoric and enjoyable slice of their disco pop. Strangely though, they were quiet thereafter for the rest of the year and it'll be over a year before we meet them again for one last entry...

23RD MARCH 2008

 

Girls Aloud - "Can't Speak French"

Official UK Chart peak: #9

 

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Sugababes - "Denial"

Official UK Chart peak: #15

 

http://a5.mzstatic.com/eu/r30/Music/v4/9b/73/c4/9b73c479-fb34-cab9-4f80-a3c926e3e114/cover600x600.jpeg

 

And speaking of the two multiple entrants hinted at before, here they both are with singles peaking on the same week! How very convenient etc. Let's cast our attentions firstly to the higher charting girls of this week, the Aloud of the Girls variety (as I insisted on calling them at the time, much to the annoyance of my friends who couldn't comprehend why I was so interested in them when there was like, really important bands like The Enemy to be interested in. More fool them).

 

I did, when we met "Call the Shots" earlier, touch briefly on the fact that behind the scenes for the girls we were about to enter a period of choppy waters despite their new found commercial AND critical zeitgeist. As we've already seen with other entrants to this thread, it's not many pop groups - let alone ones entirely consisting of girls - who manage to last five years and four studio albums without some kind of ruckus happening, and Girls Aloud, even with the earlier minor pebbles in the road early on in their career - Cheryl's near conviction, Polydor's near dropping of them - were no exception.

 

Towards the end of 2007, ITV2 approached Fascination Records and the girls' management about making a new series with the girls, but not another 'Off the Record' as E4 had done two years previously. This time, the series would follow the girls individually, perhaps mindful of the fact that even with their renaissance in fortunes, they wouldn't stay as Girls Aloud forever (such is the fickle beast that is pop), as they each attempted to fulfill a lifelong personal ambition away from the rest of the band - among them, street dancing in a music video, appearing in a musical, creating a makeup range and playing polo.

 

Nadine was of course living in Los Angeles by this point, and having not enjoyed the cameras following her two years ago, didn't have the inclination to have them follow her again unless it was for something directly to do with the band or their music. Coupled with a no-show from her at that year's BRIT awards (shied away under the excuse she'd lost her passport) the rumour mill about her leaving thus spun into overdrive like a hyperactive hamster, as Cheryl, Kimberley, Nicola and Sarah announced they were to take part and star in 'The Passions of Girls Aloud', which began airing on ITV2 for four weeks just as this single became their 18th consecutive top 10 hit.

 

 

But that of course, wasn't the only extra curricular drama surrounding the girls at the time. Just as they had been due to film the video for this single in January, a former hairdresser, Amy Walton, had come forward to the tabloids, exposing Cheryl's then husband Ashley Cole's infidelity, and others duly came forward with similar allegations, that for the next two years onwards were partly responsible in driving a frenzied level of press interest in the girl from Newcastle-upon-Tyne.

 

Promotion and the release of "Can't Speak French" was thus put on hold whilst the storm around her jeopardised marriage died down a little, and to give everyone a bit of breathing space. But it was business as usual regardless when promotion resumed. This tends to frequent the top 5 of most fans and critics' lists of all time favourite Girls Aloud singles and it's not hard to see why. A cheeky, catchy swirling slice of galacial 60's styled europop, it even came backed with a version recorded in French and a thoroughly enjoyable video of the girls in Marie Antoinette bodices and wigs to boot, and was a hint they'd not lost their sense of fun amongst the more grown up offerings on the 'Tangled Up' album.

 

As they headed out on the road that May for the accompanying tour - their biggest and best to date - the press interest increased ever more around the girls, and on Ms Cole in particular. In her episode of 'Passions' she'd auditioned for, and successfully won a part street dancing in the music video for 'Heartbreaker' by will.I.am, founder and lead rapper of the Black Eyed Peas. So impressed was he with Cheryl's dancing and performing abilities, that he invited her to record guest vocals for a special UK remix of the track.

 

The resulting version thus stormed in at #3 upon its release that June - the first solo chart hit from any of the girls, even if it was a fairly minor appearance in retrospect, but a harbinger perhaps, of things to come - and then not long after came the news that, having turned down 'Britain's Got Talent' a year before, that Cheryl had come full circle from her 'Popstars: The Rivals' days, and was to replace Sharon Osbourne on the judging panel for the fifth series of the hit ITV talent show 'The X Factor'. And as we'll see on the next Aloud entry, it was to be very beneficial in powering the mammoth success they'd experience with their fifth album...

 

Meanwhile further down the top 20, v3.0 of t'Babes were back with their third and final single off the 'Change' album, just as they were touring the album in the UK and Europe (said tour would see them honoured as the hardest working band of 2008 a year later). "Denial" was always an obvious choice of single from the album the moment I heard it certainly, and even now is one of the better releases from this incarnation of the girls.

 

 

Produced by Dutch electropop outfit Novel, it sounded like the poppier cousin of 'Standing in the Way of Control' by cool indie disco types The Gossip. All super skippy verses and sweetly harmonised choruses, with a funky slap bass guitar backing, it's a shame really this didn't scale into the top 10 as it more than deserved to, unlike a few of the remaining entries we still have to meet from the ladies. As they continued to tour the album into the summer, playing the likes of V Festival, Isle of Wight and T4 on the Beach, they also began recording another album - but more on that, as always, at their next entry...

Edited June 29, 20168 yr by ThePensmith

I love Denial. That and Change I feel are far superior to About You Now even if that is probably an unpopular opinion. :lol: I can't wait for your next write-up for GA. I love their next single. :D

Also really enjoying this rundown and your reviews. Also have discovered a new artist that I like in the form of Madasun which would not have happened if I hadn't read these. Some absolute bizarre ones too - Daphne and Celeste had multiple singles? The Cheeky Girls had four top ten hits? Who knew?!

3RD AUGUST 2008

 

The Saturdays - "If This Is Love"

Official UK Chart peak: #8

 

http://a1.mzstatic.com/eu/r30/Music/v4/67/ce/4e/67ce4e2e-24b4-5b15-0045-b6688184188a/cover600x600.jpeg

 

As touched on before, 2008 was the year single sales not only began an upward turn, but that out and out, carefree pop music was coming back into fashion. It was the year that Britney made a triumphant comeback, and when Leona Lewis became the first British solo female to top the US Billboard charts since Kim Wilde in the 80s. And it was also the year that we finally make the first of eighteen visits to the lot you see above.

 

A year previous to this, as Girls Aloud recorded their 'Tangled Up' album, and with the 'Nadine's leaving to go solo' rumours being ever persistent and the tacit knowledge that solo careers generally were looming ever larger on the horizon (more so after Cheryl's extra curricular success with will.I.am that we touched on in the last entry), Peter Loraine at Fascination had noticed a sea change.

 

Between this year and next, the 'landfill indie' and MySpace backed success stories that the girls had struggled to make themselves heard over two years previously were returning with second albums that delivered none of the previous hype or sales to match. Pop was coming back into fashion, and the time seemed right to jump on a gap in the market.

 

Auditions duly began for a new girl group that summer. The brief: straight ahead pop from five approachable girl next door types. The next Pussycat Dolls this was not to be. Over a two month period, thousands of girls were whittled down to pop's new formidable five by Peter, along with Jayne Collins, a music manager, and Brian Higgins at Xenomania (although, interestingly, he wouldn't properly work on music for the final group for a good five years).

 

 

Forming the line up was fiery, Irish singer-songwriter Una Healy, who'd been busking around pubs and clubs in her hometown of Thurles singing Guns 'n' Roses covers along with her own material. There was also super smiley and well spoken Mollie King, a self confessed Britney Spears addict and member of former X Factor girl group Fallen Angelz, and Vanessa White, a recent graduate of Sylvia Young Theatre School with vocal chops to rival Christina Aguilera. And also completing the line up were Frankie Sandford and Rochelle Wiseman - who had tasted chart supremacy together already.

 

They were of course original members of S Club Juniors, an eight piece pre-teen spin off of the already successful S Club 7, and over the two years they were together the mini S Clubbers enjoyed six top 10 hits, including three consecutive number 2 hits (biggest of which being their debut, 'One Step Closer', in April 2002 - kept off the top by Sugababes with "Freak Like Me"). With this recent pedigree refreshed in people's minds, and the lineup in place, The Saturdays - so called because it was 'Everyone's favourite day of the week' - began work on their debut album and rehearsing to support Girls Aloud on the 'Tangled Up' arena tour that spring.

 

Their debut single 'If This Is Love' finally hit the shelves that July, and with only a scant amount of TV appearances and airplay, it raced straight into the top 10, and all around looked on with interest and nay, bewilderment. An out and out pop group that weren't Girls Aloud going into the top 10 with their debut single in 2008? What was this magic? The truth was, it was an untapped market being reopened for a new generation.

 

Whilst in the grand scheme of things 'If This is Love' is by no means an all time classic debut girl group single - a 'Wannabe' or a 'Sound of the Underground' - it was a gentle starting point for the girls, and one that ensured they weren't showing all their tricks too early on. Centred around a sample of the synth riff from Yazoo's 1982 chart hit 'Situation', and a chorus that was catchy and easy on the ear, it was a welcome blast of sunshine into an otherwise drab top 10. And little did the public know, that they had even bigger hits in waiting up their shift dress sleeves...

Edited July 31, 20168 yr by ThePensmith