Diamond Needle

This week, the latest album of Europe's most successful girl group this decade went on sale. Most have heard lead-off single 'Girls', and not all like it - is the album going to split opinions in the same manner?


Sugababes - Catfights & Spotlights [2008]
The Ernie K Doe-sampling UK top 3 hit 'Girls' opens proceedings, all funky 'girl power!' lyrics and uplifting instrumentation. There's a nice ode to previous, more electropop offerings with the 'ohh, water, don't need no lemonade' vocoded intro, after which the cries of 'here come the girls!' get underway. Though the song has split opinion, it's a funky, fun affair which, though not their best album opener or lead single, gets things off to a good start. 'You On A Good Day' is a gloriously unashamed declaration of love despite a man's flaws. 'Baby, that's you on a good day' coo the girls after listing a number of downright outrageous crimes their (presumably) fictional boyfriends committed, including selling the wheels of their car (in the car park behind the bar). It's a wonderfully batty idea which works surprisingly well, and the hint of Supremes-esque soul introduced during the middle 8 is perfectly done. The fun continues on 'No Can Do', another brassy number with some of the girls' sweetest vocals. 'Forget forever' is the advice offered; this kiss-off is brutally executed, gently wrapped-up. The final minute is particularly enjoyable, with Amelle warning to avoid attempting to reach her by telephone whilst Keisha reinforces that 'no can do'. All girl group anthems should be like this.

'Hanging On A Star', produced by the boys from Orson, is the purest pop song found on the record and strikes a fine balance between bopping beats and slight retro influences. The lyrics are charmingly, presumably intently, inane, and when Amelle shrieks 'tell me baby baby!' and Heidi echoes 'tell me baby', it's the sort of disco-infused magic that audiences have come to expect from the trio. 'Side Chick' follows and pushes Buchanan to the forefront; her versatile vocals set light to the R&B melody as if it were a fire, and for two verses she keeps the hooks for herself, but it's when Berrabah interrupts with a gloriously ridiculous rap-like delivery ('he's not committed so i'ma tell him baby bah-bah') of the final verse that this becomes a fully-blown Sugababes classic. 'We could just be friends; you know how that ends', the song closes with. Let's hope it doesn't end if the result is so sublime!

On the Klas Ahlund-produced, Max Martin-assisted 'Unbreakable Heart', shimmering production and glossy vocal effects take centre stage - that is until the big chorus erupts in the listeners' ears like a musical bomb. Again Berrabah steals the show with her delivery of the chorus following a significant key change, and Range's vocoded ditty of 'then again, what's another little sin?' is a welcome touch; without it we'd barely know she had even been present at the recording, so little is she heard here. The tone adapts for 'Sunday Rain', a Steve Booker (the man responsible for Duffy's explosion onto the mainscene) production with notable 60s instrumentation and chilling harmonies. The cold verses slide into a warm chorus effortlessly. The most typically Sugababes ballad on the record, the song is bound to appeal to the girls' hardcore fans, the ones in it since the beginning and who look more for perfect melodies than glistening production.

It's back to Ahlund with 'Every Heart Broken', an incredibly witty take on murder; 'boy three worked at the cemetry...all things must end now he is six feet deep', charms Keisha with the purity of an angel. The basic chorus is the most distinct and catchy on the album and the tinkling, building production is as fresh as a winter's morning. Whilst Range and Buchanan sound perfectly at home singing of the 'deed' they have committed, it's Berrabah with her derranged delivery who yet again sneaks in and attracts all of the attention. From her sincere calling of 'arrivederci baby!' to telling how she slit the throat of the director who offered to write her a slasher flick, it could not get any more deliciously ridiculous. Much credit must rest with the song's producer and sole writer, who is a clear creative tour-de-force. On 'Beware', an orchestral warning to avoid messing with the girls, Buchanan forcefully advises the man in question to cross the street. It could so easily have been delivered in a camp manner, but instead the end result is haunting and dark, and it's over as quickly as it began, a bell's chime echoing through the song's final note.

Heidi returns to the forefront on 'Nothing's As Good As You', the final Orson production, which begins with a near-acapella verse before bursting into a chorus where syllables are broken down into pairs for maximum effect. It makes for a very catchy song and the near-reggae, lightly-summery beat is perfectly judged; upbeat without being too happy; the Sugababes always function best when a little tinge of sadness is injected. The soulful vocal delivery featured heavily at the beginning of the album makes a welcome return in the middle 8 here; these are girls inspired by the all-female groups of old; their iTunes libraries likely comprise more Diana Ross than Danity Kane. That's a good thing, by the way. On the slightly sombre ballad 'Sound Of Goodbye', a love comes to an end. 'I know I said that I would love you til I die, but that was then and this is now, that ain't no lie' affirms Range. It's an honest account of a spark gone missing which doesn't indulge too heavily in it's own upset.

Closer 'Can We Call A Truce', a final Ahlund production, is achingly sad. Over a clicky beat and distant strings, a broken relationship is again called into question. Berrabah's reflective chorus of 'I just wish this god damn mess...we could try and play it cool' feels genuine and Range's muffled, subtle vocal delivery on her verse only adds to the effect of sheer sadness induced by listening. It's the finest moment on the album, the definitive Sugababes ballad, no mean feat given their extensive and impressive back catalogue of slowies.

Against all odds - just two months were available to write and record this sixth studio effort - Catfights & Spotlights is the finest Sugababes album of all. It combines the chirpyness of Change and the youthful hooks of Taller In More Ways with the skilled production of Three to make for their most cohesive record to date, and yet whilst it has a clear direction - the girls introduced an 'electropop ban' during recording with the aim of achieving a more natural sound which focused on the harmonies and emotive vocals - it also boasts something for everybody. Furthermore, songs such as 'Side Chick', 'Unbreakable Heart' and 'Can We Call A Truce' are career-bests.

This is the album on which newest member Amelle has well and truly found her place in and brought her influence to the group. This is the album the girls have been striving to achieve since their acceptance in the mainstream all those years ago. This is the album of 2008.