After a turbulent year, the authentic British girl group is back, only they're not so authentic. We've seen the Sugababes with three original members, then two, then one, now none. We've witnessed pop-marvels such as 'Freak Like Me' and 'Push the Button', had the pleasure of listening to the delightfully chilled out 'Soul Sound' and the memorable debut 'Overload', and danced, hands in the air to 'About You Now'. All these songs are iconic Sugababes songs, and here in lies the new problem, they are now sexed up and branded.
Their latest effort, Sweet 7, is their seventh album and is by no means bad, especially when contrasted with the boresville Catfights and Spotlights. It's a collection of catchy dance tracks that will do well on the club scene, the charts, but maybe not so well with the die hard fan base. Opening with 'Get Sexy', a grower and total dance floor filler, after two or three listens, the new babes show us their seductress personas. The following 'Wear My Kiss' and 'About a Girl' are equally as catchy and sexy, but feel a bit more Sugababes. The former has a hook which would be at home on previous album Three and the latter is definitely neo-babes, but has the edge that lined the group's earlier albums. "You don't know about a girl, I'll take over the world" sing the new line up, on one of the album's finest moments, before moving onto yet another hook filled number with 'Wait for You', which displays the babes’ new love for voice synthesizers. 'Thank You For the Heart Break' is catchy but lacklustre and duplicates the unnecessary voice manipulation of 'Wait For You'. The only collaboration on the album is with Sean Kingston on 'Miss Everything'. Typically Kingston, the track sounds oddly like his song 'Fire Burning' and the following club tune 'She's A Mess' is disappointing, unimaginative and extremely annoying.
The babes’ vocals don't really get exploited to their full potential on the faster tracks (bar 'About a Girl'), but when you get to the ballads there is some classic babe vocal prowess apparent. 'Crash & Burn' shows off new member Jade Ewen's abilities and posits her as the new vocal leader, and also shows that the new line up doesn't sound too shabby together. ‘No More You’ sounds a bit like a Rihanna track and stands out as the catchiest of the slower songs, with Amelle’s husky voice welcomingly filling the second verse. Seeing the title ‘Sweet and Amazing’ made me recoil in horror, but surprisingly the track is both sweet and amazingly not bad, with its bouncy beat, prominent Heidi vocals, and happy message of learn your lessons and “make it the best you can”. The end track, ‘Little Miss Perfect”, is quite an anti climactic way of ending such an upbeat dance album, but the song is strong, and contains the best vocal performances on the album, particularly from Amelle, who sounds immense on the first chorus.
Dedicated fans of the classic lineup(s) may be disappointed with this alien sounding Sugababes. They have, unfortunately, jumped on the electro-dance-pop bandwagon and lost the uniqueness they once possessed. The album is strong enough to gain a top five position in the charts, and shows off the vocal abilities of the new arrangement. There are no epic moments like ‘Freak Like Me’ or ‘Hole in the Head’, but Sweet 7 is a pleasant collection of pop music and some ‘almost there’ songs. Whether the new lineup will maintain the success enjoyed by the old formation(s) remains to be seen, but listening to the songs makes me feel like there’s something or someone missing, from this seventh album. I just don’t know who the Sugababes are anymore.
5.5/10
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