"Put on your suit and tie, put on that killer smile."

 

Life  Much better day today.  Slept in on purpose and didn't have the same anxiety as yesterday, mostly because I was going to the cinema to see Steven Soderbergh's new one, Black Bag.  Finally offering us his slow burn spy film, we're in and out of the story in 90 minutes.  I've haven't wanted to be Cate Blanchett in a film this much since Ocean's 8.  The trick each day seems to be to give myself a reason to get out of bed, and mores the point go outside, even if it's just to wander up to the local Spar shop to buy a paper.

Meanwhile, the promo for the Sugababes' Jungle is out and its a blessed chaos, Siobhan trapped in a shop front on a travellator like an extra in Jacqui Tati's Playtime, Keisha's in the demo pod of a Bose shop and Mutya's hungover outie dancing in a lift from Severance.    Watch out for the poltergeist creating chair structures and the male model making the interesting career decision of having the Sugababes logo tattooed across his shoulders.  At least it'll guarantee him some work going forward if the album's a hit.

The song itself is growing on me.  The brevity helps.  It's a tight 2m 42s that still manages to demonstrate the strengths of each of the vocalists and their sweet harmony.  The similarity to Smells Like Teen Spirit must surely be unintentional but it's there and not in a bad way.  Jungle is a bop which should work well live.  Somehow manages to feel like the Sugababes of One Touch but with some extra decades and still of now.  Roll on the album.

Welcome to the Jungle.

 

Life  Sometimes, when anxiety hits, I have days that just don't start well. I manage to get my brain working to some extent by mid-afternoon, and then I have about eight good hours before bedtime. My alarm clock is at the other end of the room, which forces me to get up and turn it off. This morning, when it rang at 7 a.m., I did just that, went to the loo, and because it was a bit chilly, jumped back into bed to listen to the news headlines. At which point, I fell asleep again.

At 9 a.m., I woke up again, and my anxiety really kicked in. My whole body felt tight, and I had the most immense pain in my stomach, which felt like it was weighing me down like a medicine ball, or if one of those cartoon hippos from a Disney cartoon were sitting on top of me. At which point, I spiralled. Sometimes anxiety happens because there's something in your subconscious which is freaking you out, and you have to work out what it is. Sometimes it's just anxiety about having anxiety and not knowing why you have anxiety.

After about half an hour, I managed to convince my body to get out of bed. I cooked some porridge and watched this slightly patronising YouTube video about Dua Lipa's capabilities as an interviewer and one of those Star Trek theme videos this time for Enterprise, Trip's reaction giving me a good giggle.   By then, I'd taken my anxiety medicine, which often makes me drowsy. So I fell asleep again, this time in an armchair for another hour and a half, waking up again at about midday. It's not until about 1 p.m., after I'd had a chat with my Dad and made a sandwich, that I felt more like myself again (whatever that is).

Why am I telling you all of this? Because something which has gone missing from me for years is writing this blog. It's been spluttering along, but actually writing something which is actually about my own life disappeared about a decade or so ago, at about the time when I had my first anxiety attack. So perhaps by putting some of that pain into words and shouting it out into the world, it'll help me come to terms with it a bit more. Why not just keep it as a personal journal? Because it'll force me to make it into something consumable by others.

This does, of course, fall under the genre of blog post "apologizing for not posting more," for which the obvious response is "no one cares, just post more." But at least I'm not starting a podcast. For one thing, I tried it once, and no one should have my speaking voice imposed on them, especially if it's unscripted, and also because it'll give me a moment to stop and think about what I'm about to write and even if I want it to go out into the world or just leave it in draft.

Also the Sugababes have a new single out.

When the Rain Comes.

Music  Hello. Listen to that! Just listen to it! Twenty-three years on from the release of One Touch, ten years since the release of anything by this line-up and here they are with more new music released near the time of its recording and it's amazing. 

Their voices have matured and deepened but that harmony which slowly ebbed away with each line-up change across the ensuing decade is back and just as glorious and unique as ever. Not to mention it sounds like a Sugababes song that meld of pop and R'n'B which other bands attempted but couldn't recreate the alchemy. This sound is steadfast. 

But so are the people. In 2009, Sioghan gave a semi-notorious interview in which she talked about her time with the Sugababes in less than glorious terms.  I'm putting this here to just to demonstrate just how broken everything was in the late-00s:

Was it your decision to leave?

SD: Hell, yes. Though there was no doubt that I was pushed out. It was clear that there was someone in that band who never wanted me in it and that’s Keisha. She never wanted me in that band and made my life a living hell. It’s funny... all these years on, I’ve grown up and I’ve left it all behind me and I’m not bothered by it. I think a lot of the memories, I have just blocked out because I don’t really like to think of the nasty stuff. I like to think about the good things in life, always focus on the positive, and Zen and all that shit. But I’ll never forgive her. Though no-one forgives that first bully in their lives, do they? No-one does. Even when you’re fifty. Though, on the other hand, it doesn’t matter. You meet so many people in the world. Why would I need to reconcile with that person? I don’t even know if she would want to.

Well, Siobhan did forgive her and as she's since said, it was a situation in which they were all manipulated by their management and whoever. Perhaps Keisha saw this and reached out?  Nevertheless, they're back it is indeed about time and again in a Doctor Who anniversary year.  Let me put it this way.  If Flatline was the TV Movie, this song and apparent album are the 2005 revival.  Hopefully they won't regenerate this time.

Music  Great interview with the Sugababes from Dazed which includes Keisha telling us what she really thinks about some of the songs from the later albums: "There was actually a fan favourite from that time called ‘Ace Reject’. I once said I really hated that song and the backlash I got was insane. I was like, ‘you like that?!’. Now I have more of an appreciation for it. I still feel like it’s got the longest verse you’ve ever heard in your life."

Inevitable Sugababes post.

 

Music Find above the Sugababes on This Morning on the occasion of the announcement of their UK tour. It's a lovely interview. Doesn't cover much new ground but the fact that it's the three of them on a sofa on morning television doing this sort of thing and looking so relaxed with one another, well, it's lovely. 

They will be playing Liverpool, the 02 Academy just off London Road. Will I go? I don't know. You would think, but it depends on the price of the ticket and whether I feel like I can stand in a large crowd amid my anxiety. It's over ten years since I've been to any concert. 

One mitigating factor might be that the BBC aren't televising their Glastonbury set because it's on the Avalon stage and it's not one of the five venues they'll be covering so I'll be unable to see whether they do an acoustic version of Get Sexy or have a less dodgy recording than this of Siobhan singing Heidi's bits from Push The Button.

On the upside, MKS's Flatline has been uploaded to the official Sugababes YouTube channel after ten years which is also kind of wonderful.

 

How We Made Overload: The Guardian interviews Siobhan and Mutya about the recording of the song:
"We recorded our vocals on a handheld mic, just a quick demo, one take. The idea was that you’d come back and do it properly later. At least, that’s what Cameron told us, which meant we were completely relaxed. My vocal on Overload is quite pitchy – but that was exactly what he wanted to capture, the raw emotion in the moment."

Sugababes share Blood Orange remix of ‘Same Old Story’ and talk fighting for independence: Another snatch of the press junket and this time Keisha talks about how little she had to do with the creation of the later albums and how she was essentially told to shut up when she attempted any creative control. The album she's talking about is either Change or Catfights and Spotlights both of which gave is some imperious singles (About You Now, Change and Girls) but mostly come across as generic girl group material without its own sound. The Same Old Story remix is fine but you can't really improve on perfection.

The Sugababes are actually releasing a new album even if it's an old one.

Music The NME reports that the Sugababes are rereleasing One Touch "featuring demos, rarities and re-workings from the likes of Blood Orange (aka Dev Hynes) and Metronomy."  Accompanying the news is an interview with Siobhan and Keisha, but troublingly not Mutya, last seen parroting Qanon theories about the Royal family amongst others on Twitter and her now private Instagram account.

There's an MNEK remix of Run For Cover on Spotify, the first new material to appear under that name since 2010's Wear My Kiss (Flatline has been expunged along with the MKS profile and only survives in various plastic cover versions.  The remix isn't really my sort of thing, of the kind which would be amongst the ten different versions on a CD single to bulk up the value of charging £3.99 for a copy of Underwater Love by Smoke City.

The interview covers similar ground to previous outings although it's pretty obvious Siobhan and Keisha have continued to go through some things since 2013 and been able to articulate exactly to each other what caused the split when they were kids.  Remember in 2009, Siobhan told the PonyStep website (just four years before the release of Flatline):

"... there was no doubt that I was pushed out. It was clear that there was someone in that band who never wanted me in it and that’s Keisha. She never wanted me in that band and made my life a living hell. It’s funny... all these years on, I’ve grown up and I’ve left it all behind me and I’m not bothered by it. I think a lot of the memories, I have just blocked out because I don’t really like to think of the nasty stuff. I like to think about the good things in life, always focus on the positive, and Zen and all that shit. But I’ll never forgive her. Though no-one forgives that first bully in their lives, do they? No-one does. Even when you’re fifty. Though, on the other hand, it doesn’t matter. You meet so many people in the world. Why would I need to reconcile with that person? I don’t even know if she would want to.

Contrast that with this exchange from the new interview when Keisha's answer a question about how racism contributed to a perception of her being a bully:

Siobhan: “Even as a teenager, it was obvious to me that the three of us were treated differently, especially in other countries. Some people would only direct questions to me. It was awkward and obvious to me then what was at the heart of what was going on, but I didn’t know how to address it then.”

Keisha: “To be honest with you Siobhan, I didn’t even notice.”

Siobhan: “I always did.”

Keisha: “I genuinely didn’t, and then I went into every situation on the defensive thinking: ‘They’re not going to like me anyway’. That was my defence-mechanism: show an attitude first to protect myself. In the past 15 years, I’ve done a lot of work to make sense of this all, but it’s had a very damaging effect and – not to get emotional – I feel really good that we can even have this conversation.”

Honestly, this is genuinely moving and shows how time really is a great dealer.  The absence of Mutya isn't addressed although apparently there's more of this interview to be published, so perhaps we'll find out then.

Anyway, the rerelease is out in October ready for the Christmas market and there might well be actual new material released soon too.

Let's end on Sugababes 3.0 mangling Overload in 2006, for old times sake:

 

Sugababes.com has updated. Up until a few years ago, the domain still hosted the final incarnation of the classic run of Sugababes with a background video of the chorus to Get Sexy blasting out on a loop. Which then gave way to various dummy pages for hosting companies with Go Daddy the most recent (according the archive.org). Now we find the original One Touch logo with letters spelling twenty sprinkled across, some social media and music links and a newsletter sign up box. The impression seems to be that something is happening related to the 20th anniversary of the album release although that was 27 November 2000 in the UK which we've well missed.   But it wouldn't be the Sugababes if there wasn't some lag between intention and result.  Flatline was released in 2013 and we're still waiting for the follow-up.

"A bunch of flowers and I slam the door ..."

Music Boom. It's Graham Norton day and #Sugababes is trending on the Twitters. Here's why:



Yes, it's cover version, but listen to those harmonies. I'm bias, but this is a far richer experience than the original and indeed gives us a window into what (the) Sugababes might have been like if Siobhan had stuck around for another couple of albums.  Plus according to the track listing on Spotify, this by Sugababes.  No definitive article.  So they have properly got the name back and I'd love to know the story of that.  Everything old is new again.

Meanwhile Amelle's on Coach Trip (whatever that is) which caused this extraordinary exchange:

"Tensions have been rising between the pair as 31-year-old James - who is on the trip with Essex co-star James 'Diags' Bennewith - continues to arrive late to the coach.

And things hit an all time high when the group were asked what their favourite Sugarbabes song is in honour of new passenger Amella Berrabah.

Arg was quick to say his favourite one was Overload, and Brendan jokingly asked if it was also Diags' choice because ‘he does all the talking.’

The TOWIE star then shouted back: “You asked me my favourite Sugababes song so I'm f*****g telling you what my favourite Sugababes song is.

“Maybe I have got a different one to Diags.”

Not stopping there, he added: “You like the sound of your own voice too much mate, slow yourself down.”

After Brendan gave him a stern talking to, Arg later explained his outburst to the camera adding: “He got proper loud and rude in front of everyone, he proper mugged me off in front of my pals.”

And the rest of the passengers were shocked by Arg’s behaviour, as Steps singer Ian 'H' Watkins, 43, said: “I saw a different side to Arg. It almost was verging on nasty.”

It's probably beside the point to note that he managed to pick a Sugababes track that was well before Amelle's time and that's not the thing they had a row about. Anyway, here's Amelle singing Overload with Keisha and Heidi.

Mutya Keisha Siobhan are no more?

Music Blimey, this is quite a paragraph on the Official Charts website about guests on upcoming episodes of The Graham Norton Show:

"There's a big reunion set for October 18, as the original line-up of Sugababes will perform on TV for the first time in five years - and they've gotten their original name back. Kind of. Billed as The Sugababes, Mutya Buena, Keisha Buchanan and Siobhan Donaghy (formerly known as MKS) will collaborate with DJ Spoony for a performance of Sweet Like Chocolate. The song features on DJ Spoony's upcoming album Garage Classical, a collection of reworked garage staples from the 1990s featuring the likes of Paloma Faith and Lily Allen."

So there's a legal loophole in the definitive article? Or have they actually got the rights to their name back as CelebsNow suggest?  Either way, or whatever, this is quite a paragraph. 

Now, here's an earlier appearance by some version of Sugababes on some version of Norton's show. In 2002.

The Sugababes pull into a garage.

Music Some quick news while I wait for the Muller Hearings. The original Sugababes lineup are reforming to celebrate their 20th anniversary:

"In a statement to Metro, DJ Spoony confirmed Sugababes had recorded the track for Garage Classical, which is out on September 6. He said: "At the time when UK Garage was in its prime the original Sugababes were one of the biggest pop bands in the country. I know Keisha and Mutya personally and I know how much they’ve always loved garage because they were always at events like Twice as Nice back in the day."

So that's nice.

Who are the Sugababes?

Music Amelle guest presented something called Access All Areas on Fubar Radio and the Sugababes inevitably became part of the discussion. There is some new information:

(1) Things were fractious when Keisha left and it sounds as though there's still an undercurrent of something. They met eighteen months ago and had a nice conversation about the old times, and apologies were swapped, but they're still not friends. Lord knows what happened here then. But she is still mates with Heidi.

(2) "She doesn't have the name." "Who doesn't have the name?" "Keisha. She doesn't have the name. We have it still."

(3) The final three members are apparently in discussion for a European tour, where they still have a following. This year or next year.

(4) "There are so many different scenarios. Like after a tour we then maybe do a tv show to pick a new group of Sugababes."

Fucks sake, this is ridiculous.

Anyway, Amelle doesn't seem too keen on much of it. But she did joke about having all six of them together on stage which as you know I've been clamoring for, working through the various iterations.

The podcast ends on About You Now, which is apparently Amelle's favourite, so here's a recording of three people on a stage singing the same song in completely different realities at the same time:

Here We Go Again.

Music Sorry, not sorry for the Doctor Who reference, but it's to one of my other loves I'm referring.

In a recent interview for a podcast I've never a heard of but fortunately transcribed by the Official Chart Company's website, Siobhan's talked about the group still in the process of recording music. But they're in no hurry to release anything:

"We're all in our early thirties now so it doesn't really matter when we release this record," she explained. "To us, it will happen. If it takes longer, that doesn't mean we'll suddenly think we don't want to do this anymore. We got together 20 years ago... and when we sing now it feels just as magical - even more so. That's really special... this is a natural connection that we have."

Which at this point makes it sound like one of Ian Levine's private projects, although to be fair she does say "major legal implications" have stalled the comeback, which either means they're still trying to get the Sugababes name back or a record company's being obstructive or some such.

But judging by the rest of it, everyone is getting along fine and honestly I'm happier about that than about them releasing new music.  Grudges can be toxic and its good to hear they really have put it all behind them.

Now, here's a Dutch bloke in a balaclava singing Overload:

Girls Unbound.

Music Thanks to my nearly total obsession with the Sugababes reunion and lack thereof, it's impossible not to also be taking a sideways glance at Girls Aloud, the ITV to their BBC, and just exactly what happened there. Now, here's an unsurprisingly frank interview with Nadine in which its reveal exactly what did happen there, and unfortunately it all occured on my patch:

"In an ideal world there would be a commemorative plaque above the entrance of Liverpool’s Echo arena. “Here ended Girls Aloud, the last great girl band” it would say. On 20 March 2013 Nadine Coyle – one fifth of the genre-bending, pop-reshaping rabble – was getting ready for the final night of the band’s reunion tour. “I was in hair and makeup,” she explains in a north London restaurant, “going through my nightly ritual.” Rather than taking delivery of a good-luck bouquet, Coyle received some news via the band’s PR and manager – the other girls wanted to call it quits. Not the more fashionable “hiatus”, which they’d already done in 2009, but a proper split. With the band working to majority rule, there was nothing she could do."

Astonishing behavior from all concerned.

We Don't Give A Damn About Our Friends.

Music Tom at Freaky Trigger's Popular section has a brilliant excavation of the "Sugababes" Freak Like Me, from its samples to its cultural significance:

"You can get an idea of where “Freak” sits at angles to the group’s later sound by hearing the bonus version on their Overloaded singles collection – the “Maida Vale session”, performed live. Here the song is thoroughly de-X-ified, the grimy pulse of the Tubeway Army synth line turned into a rock backing track with occasional keyboard stabs. And the band rush the ending, going straight back into the chorus after “good for me”. It highlights something important about the single – how much in tension the Sugababes and the sound are. On their earlier and later records, the group and their vocal interplay are the focus. On “Freak Like Me”, there’s less room for harmonising: the song and the singers are a dam built against the backing’s electronic flood. At the end, it breaks."

The bootleg that led to Freak Like Me is above. In parts it's like the listening to the Amelle version of Red Dress, so close are the vocal choices [via].

Sugababes announce new album.

Music  Siobhan's announced that she Mutya and Keisha are releasing a new album next year.  Even as the world fall down around our feet, it's good to know that some things are as reliable as they always where, not the actual album, of course, but the announcement that there's going to be a new album.

Speaking to Wandsworth Radio (which is a brilliant detail) during the local LGBT+ Pride, a date has been set, preparations have been made. Here's the main quote. See if you can spot the most interesting part of the story:

"Sugababes have got a record coming out next year. I can’t tell you the exact date. I know, but I can’t tell you. It’s next year."

Not MKS, Mutya Keisha and Siobhan, but Sugababes. Does this mean they're re-obtained the name somehow?  Am I going to have to through and change all the labels on these blog posts?

Anyway, seventeen years later, we dare to dream again.



[via]

Sweetex.

Music So So Gay offers a pretty good defence of Sweet 7, the "Sugababes" album which is widely thought of as killing the project:

"Believe it or not, Sugababes were coming for the Pussycat Dolls’ sound. It was out with the quirky-yet-accessible pop the group were known for with monumental records like ‘Push The Button’ and ‘Hole in The Head’, and in with auto-tuned vocals, guest rappers, and well-exhausted lyrics about getting crunk in the club.

"The result wasn’t actually altogether as woeful as the eventual album sales and chart position would indicate. Even though Sweet 7 peaked at #14 in the UK and was branded a catastrophic flop, it still charted higher than the first Sugababes album, One Touch, (which hit #26). Where One Touch earned Sugababes a mostly favourable comparison to All Saints, Sweet 7 eerily echoed the cursed reception of Spice Girls’ final studio album Forever. Did the British public catch a nauseating case of déjà vu? Oh, not another well-loved English girl group posing a little too hard for the American pop-R&B market."

I mean it's not good enough for me to want to go and listen to the thing again, but it's worth reading for how it notices that the creative forces have had much success elsewhere and that to some extent, it's promotional mismanagement which hampered its success.

A Broom.

Music Right then, time for another one of these. On Digital Spy (where else?), Amelle talks about the chances of "Sugababes" reforming. She's still up for it (of course she is) but she's sure Jade isn't and Heidi's "half and half". Then there's this:

"If it doesn't happen, it's not meant to be," she continued. "Obviously everyone talks about the Sugababes name and what is happening with it, but I'm very easy-going.

"If we don't use it and regroup, I'd quite happily give it someone else and let them take the reins. Whether it be MKS or another three random girls, or three little babies we're training right now in boot camp!"

The bootcamp reference is to Tumble, I suspect, which is the thing everyone watches waiting for Doctor Who to start. Three things on this:

(1) If I was MKS I wouldn't touch their old name with a mile long stick. Too much history, plus it'd mean whatever they finally come up with in terms of an album would be stuck after Sweet 7 in discographies and on Spotify.

(2) The three random girls thing is probably the way to go and especially in keeping with the history of the Sugababes. In fact, given that history it should probably be Amella and two other people. Probably Jenny Frost replacing Heidi in yet another girl band now she's homeless.

(3) Anyone else wonder if an earlier Doctor to Capaldi, probably Tennant, would have used the Sugababes instead of a broom as a reference point during that scene in Deep Breath?  No?

Sugababes 1.0 return?

Music After the record company seemed to cruelly dump their first single onto the market so that it's title gained a cruel irony and the oddness of what had all the wheft of an album tour without an album to tour, Mutya Keisha and Siobhan went unusually quiet. Ish.

Their Twitter feeds in particular went unusually quiet at least for them for at least a month but in the past week, they started buzzing again.

Siobhan's Twitter feed's been relatively busy with felicitations to friends and the odd shot of the three girls but there was the worrying moment the other day when she tweeted a publicity shot for Revolution in Me which is thick with scary symbolism but anyway.

#tbt Revolution In Me - 2003 tour pic.twitter.com/xSxEKf2BMe
— siobhan donaghy (@siobhandonaghy) May 15, 2014

Not that it seems like a reason to worry really. The week before on the ninth, Mutya did this:

With my sexy ladies last nite pic.twitter.com/5fbxy6KBPS
— Mutya buena (@MutyaBuena) May 9, 2014

Which is, well, it just is, isn't it? Then Keisha said this earlier today...

Feeling dizzy with a headache & no voice! I'm never drinking Vodka again!!! & I blame my little wild cat sister MUTYA 😩😩
— Keisha Buchanan (@keisha_buchanan) May 19, 2014

Which clearly means they're still talking to one another.

Now Popdust have posted that "new gossip reports in the British papers" (which haven't turned up on Google News yet) (or anywhere else) suggest that the three have changed their management, moved record label and have appropriated the Sugababes name again (in a capacity perhaps more than stationary) and are planning another come back this Summer. Cue the "source":

"“The girls have changed label, got new management and are getting ready to release their new single in the summer as Sugababes. It’s been a messy battle legally but MKS are now no more.”"

Given that this is a single blog post and there's nothing about anything anywhere else, I'm reluctant to head to far into the speculation zone, but given the hash that was made of last year's relaunch, there's no lack of logic here, other than to do with contracts and copyright and what Heidi might think about all this. Anyway, I'd be quite happy to not have to call the Sugababes the "Sugababes" again but I wonder if the name's too tainted now. Though it's also fair to say that we've all spent the past two years calling these three the original Sugababes anyway.