It's handbags at dawn

 

With All Saints, Sugababes and Girls Aloud all about to release new albums, rivalries among Britain's fiercely competitive girl groups have reached a new pitch. Neil McCormick wades into the catfight

 

In the fulfilment of a particularly dismal stereotype, a catfight has broken out among the girl groups. With Britain's leading exponents of the genre all gearing up to release albums at the same time, current darlings Girls Aloud (spawn of the 2002 TV show Popstars: The Rivals), have, rather bizarrely, accused reformed pop queens All Saints of ripping them off.

 

 

All Saints are friends again after their solo careers fizzled out but are now feuding with the 'stupid little girls' of Girls Aloud

 

"The new All Saints sound just like us," claimed Girls Aloud's outspoken Cheryl Cole (née Tweedy). "They must have looked at what's working at the moment and thought, 'We'll go that way'. The whole thing is driving me insane." Cole's bandmate Kimberley Walsh thoughtfully added: "Good luck to them. I hope they stay friends this time." All Saints' Shaznay Lewis responded on MTV: "In all honesty, they are stupid little girls and we don't really give a f***. I've got no respect for them."

 

It is all a little bit Louis Vuitton handbags at dawn. At least Sugababes, whose streetwise image suggests they might be quite handy in a brawl, have maintained a dignified silence. Perhaps their confidence has been buoyed by Guinness World Records naming them the most successful female pop artists in the UK this century, ahead of Madonna, Kylie, Pink and Britney. Although, given their predeliction for shedding members (two thirds of the trio's line-up have changed in five years), they may simply be too busy squabbling among themselves. "We fought all the time," former 'Babe Mutya Buena recently said. "We'd steal each other's clothes, make-up, you name it, just before we went on stage."

 

Whatever happened to sisterhood? Surely in the glory days of Girl Power, when the Spice Girls improbably marketed themselves as new feminists, they didn't need to put down their rivals (or each other) to get ahead?

 

I wonder if this outbreak of hostilities is driven by a sense that the groups are scrapping over diminishing territory. "A few years ago, it felt like an overpopulated genre," says Mark Hargreaves, who manages Sugababes. "Twelve girl groups were launched when we started out in 2001, but most of them went by the wayside.

 

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"The manufactured pop market has shrunk. People are looking for something more organic, original and credible. And you've got to take into account American groups like Pussycat Dolls, who are probably the most branded girl group since the Spice Girls, marketed on a scale and with an aggression that only the Americans can afford. The only way we can compete with that is through music, making records that appeal as much to a man in a van as a kid in a pink fluffy hat."

 

Despite the sexuality often implicit in the way they are marketed, the core audience for girl groups has never been boys, but young girls. They are, however, inherently fickle. "It's vital that you don't just appeal to a young audience, because they grow up and leave you," says Peter Loraine, Girls Aloud's marketing guru. "Attitude is as important as the music if you are going to reach out to the Heat audience, the FHM audience, the gay audience.

 

"Girls Aloud have been a guilty pleasure: a lot of adults listened to the records, but were embarrassed to admit it. But, if you see them at the V Festival with Radiohead and Keane, it becomes more acceptable to say you like them."

 

Girls Aloud release a greatest-hits set at the end of the month, aimed specifically at this market. Sugababes put out their own a fortnight later. As if to emphasise the narrowness of the market, both albums include songs by Brian Higgins and his Xenomania production team.

 

All Saints have patched up their differences (it's amazing what a failed solo career can do) to record their first original material in six years. When they first appeared in 1997, the band were a kind of anti-Spice, their urban hipness establishing a template for girl groups, one to which both their current rivals conform. Yet, despite featuring the songwriting talents of band leader Shaznay Lewis, the new album draws on the writing and production skills of numerous teams of proven hitmakers (including LA-based Greg Kurstin, currently riding high in the charts with Lily Allen).

 

Lauded by critics for their heavily stylised pop, even cutting-edge girl groups remain indebted to backroom teams. In this respect, the genre is a throwback to the '60s, when the Shangri Las and Ronnettes thrived under the creative auspices of producers such as Phil Spector.

 

These days, however, Svengali is a dirty word. "These are modern young women," says Loraine. "They are all involved in what their groups are about, what they sound and look like. None of them are puppets, which is maybe what traditional groups were."

 

Contrived bust-ups and cheap insults may seem a petty way to establish independence, but Sugababes boss Hargreaves has his own theories about the recent trouble. "When we started, it could be said we wanted to steal All Saints' crown, and Girls Aloud probably came in to try to steal Sugababes' crown. Every girl wants to wear the crown, of course they do. But there is only one, and the people decide with their wallets."

 

'The Sound of Girls Aloud' is released on Oct 30, Sugababes' 'Overloaded' on Nov 13, and All Saints' 'Studio 1' on Nov 20.

 

Source:Telegraph.co.uk

i wonder who out the 3 bands will sell th emost albums

Hopefully GA! Sugababes new song is not so good in my opinion, but the Greatest Hits album will include their hugely popular hit-singles, so that must sell by the bucketloads! All Saints return is hugely hyped, that should give them consistent sales as well.

i think th ebattle will be between girls aloud and sugababes more so although all saints will prob do ok