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Following rumors that Amelle Berrabah had left the group surfacing on Friday, UK pop trio the Sugababes have released a statement about just where they’re headed, and, well, it’s sort of what was reported last week, but with one kind of big unexpected twist: “Heidi Range and Amelle Berrabah will continue as the Sugababes and will be joined by new member [and Eurovision veteran] Jade Ewen…. Keisha Buchanan will continue to record for Island Records as a solo artist.” Buchanan was the last remnant of the girl group’s original lineup, which formed in 1998. Kind of weird, then, that they’re going to keep the Sugababes branding intact, don’t you think?
Sure, being in America—where the Sugababes have yet to break, but are apparently supposed to real soon—might tinge my feelings on this rebranding, but then again, as other pop observers have noted, the run-up to the group’s still-forthcoming album Sweet 7 has been doing as much to destroy any notions of what their name may have conjured up, pop-innovation-standards-wise. Compare and contrast:
Freak Like Me (2002)
Get Sexy (2009)
It probably doesn’t help that I loathe “Get Sexy” with the heat of a thousand burning copies of Doll Domination, but yeah. Why keep the Sugababes name? So as to not confuse fans in the UK? So as not to confuse the lineups of this week’s promotional appearances? Did Heidi Range pull an Axl Rose-style stunt and gain control of the title sometime after she joined in 2001? Because if not, this incarnation of the band will only give off the same weird confusion that arises when different versions of the same band tour. (And things will only get stranger once Keisha inevitably announces that her forthcoming solo debut for Island will include contributions from her former Sugamate, the ass-enhanced Mutya Buena.)
Sugababes Statement [Official site]
[Pic via Popjustice]
But Keisha’s the Sugababes’ horrible bitch! Fuck this noise, I’m going to put on One Touch and pray for a v1 reunion.
@NunyaB: Makes this all the more poignant, eh?
Perhaps I’m confused…the track from 2002 is supposed to be better than the one from 2009 in some way?
So it’s the UK Girl Pop equivalent of this:
@Maura: I’ve been posting that everywhere. Just this morning I said Keisha would outlast the apocalypse and put out Sugababes music until she physically couldn’t anymore.
I AM SO SHOCKED.
I am gutted! I liked Heidi and I guess I enjoy Amelle, but Keisha’s VOICE was something I actually really dug. Oh good gravy. This is heart-wrenching, from a pop music perspective. RIP Sugababes. For shame!
It’s hard to believe, but Keisha is still only 24. She’s got years ahead of her.
The Twitter statement.
Note to self: Do something about the comment-excerpting-on-the-front-page thing.
@Maura: Ha, I felt a bit embarrassed when I accidentally wrote an essay and it ended up occupying a chunk of the front page, as though I’d just learned how to use the internet.
The fact that you like Siobhan and loathe the current single makes this my favorite pop blog in the world at the moment, Maura. Now we shall all hold a funeral for these mythical so-called “Sugababes” creatures, and give them a viking funeral by setting fire to physical copies of “Get Sexy” on a burning raft in a dirty drain canal in LA. Off to Valhalla, you angels of urban-influenced pop. Swing low, sweet chariot.
I love Siobhan Donaghy as a solo artist, but given that Heidi Range has been in the group for six albums now — and all of their full-blown hits — I don’t think it’s quite kosher to act like she’s a newbie. You can debate whether she and Amelle constitute enough continuity between them, and I get your point, but yeesh.
And yeah, “Get Sexy” is bad. But Catfights & Spotlights was a good, fun pop record, so I’m witholding judgment on Sweet 7 until I hear more.
As cringeworthy as “Get Sexy” is (and believe me, I cringe), I’d take it’s nasty synth breakdown over the dissonant racket that is “Overload” any day.
Heidi is indeed more of an “original” Sugababe than Siobhan. Don’t get me wrong, I love “Medevac” and “Goldfish,” but the Babe’s ain’t dead until Heidi’s no longer breathlessly cooing those middle-8s.
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Great! Thanks for that :)
Hard to believe, but Keisha is still only 24.