Day 254: Sugababes – One Touch
I’m feeling very run down, maybe slightly on the cusp of a fever or something. I can’t handle anything too meaningful today, I need the musical equivalent of junk food – something convenient and easy that you don’t have to think about, but that you feel a bit bad for enjoying afterwards. I landed on a UK pop classic band that I’m not very well versed with: Sugababes. The name even sort of suits the theme.
Album cover courtesy of London Records
Sugababes was formed in 1998 by Ron Tom, a pirate radio DJ who also managed All Saints. At the time, the two original members Siobhán Donaghy and Mutya Buena were school friends who were only 12 or 13 years old. They were joined in a studio session by Mutya’s best friend Keisha Buchanan, and she was asked to join the group.
The girls got signed by London Records and released One Touch in 2000, which was critically acclaimed and earned them a Brit Award nomination, peaking at 26 in the UK charts and reaching the top 10 in Austria, Germany and Switzerland. Apparently London Records dropped them after that, saying that the success of the album didn’t meet expectations. And yet it’s regarded as a modern UK classic.
I kind of missed Sugababes by not being in the UK when I was a youngster. In my head, Sugababes has always been one of those deportation bands where if someone was to yell “CAN WE BRING! YESTERDAY! BACK AROUND!” and I couldn’t respond accordingly, they would think I’m not assimilated, so it was high time I actually listened to anything aside from their biggest hits.
The overwhelming thought I have while listening to One Touch is fuck me, this is good. As far as British pop goes, they deserve their place on the mount Olympus of pop. And they were kids! The album was released when they were between 15 and 16, so they wrote these songs when they were at most 16 but likely younger. Some of the demos were recorded when the girls were between 13 and 14. I only found that out when I was a few songs in, and I would never have guessed it.
It’s an album of surprisingly mature pop-R&B that is honestly probably in the highest tier of teen pop ever released. I’d have thought it a pretty sophisticated album even if they’d made it as adults. There’s a minimalism to most of the album that has aged very well. The low point is maybe “Real Thing”, which sounds the most like classic 2000s girl/boy band dross, the rest of it has a very unique sound.
You know what, it’s a 8.5/10. The album definitely dips a little at the end, but it has to be among some of the finest 2000s girl group pop recorded. As a fan of the genre, I’ve been missing out.