A classic Sugababes performance

This was that performance of Breathin' Easy at Glastonbury with, what is now, the classic line-up of Keisha, Mutya and Heidi. The song was a brilliant ode to youthful friendship - and, listening to it now, replete with irony - tucked away at the end of the Angels with Dirty Faces album. Although it's a classic song, it prefigured the direction in which the band went, moving away from dance tracks to ballads and close harmonies and culminating in the sound of Change.

Mutya - Falling

Here is the video for Mutya Buena's new single Falling, out today, produced with Agent X and Ultra. Very electro and, although there's quite a lot of Mutya, she's not especially vocally challenged on this one.

The first smile...

This may have been the moment when a Sugababe first smiled...it was Keisha. It came during the Top of the Pops performance of Caught in a Moment. The single was not a great success but it's a great song and this was a great performance by Keisha, Heidi and Mutya. I haven't been able to find it on YouTube anywhere so have uploaded this clip. The smile comes at the end.

Keisha lets rip -

No, not on Twitter! This is a great video compilation posted on youtube some months ago by a fan, including a clip from the Sound of Goodbye from Catfights. It's entitled Keisha's high notes - but really it just highlights the strength of the ex-Sugababes' voice and, also, the way it has developed over the last decade.

Aint it crazy how you think you've got your whole life planned
only to find out it was never in your hands
(Change)

Keisha, Mutya, Heidi - it's official!

Spotted on Google this week - the link to the official Sugababes' web-site. Members? Keisha, Mutya and Heidi. We wish! Someone needs to get their meta-tags sorted out.

Will the real Sugababes please stand up...

Here's a great commentary by the guy from popjustice.com, posted by The Guardian newspaper .

"Sugababes made pop whose values and attitudes were strong enough to inadvertently create a brand. Theirs was smart, British, soulful pop, occasionally arty but always melodic, lush and a cut above most of the rest.

....
Today the Sugababes don't exist as a band, and after Get Sexy they don't really exist as a sound either. If this new girl group before us today is to have any future at all, and Ewen, Berrabah and Range do actually make a great three-piece, it must find a new name. Sugababes died when Buchanan left."

The difference

Siobhan walked, Mutya walked, Keisha was sacked to all intents and purposes. I wonder who actually has the copyright on the name...I can see legal action coming up.

This is a link to the photoshoot with the new line-up. Look at Heidi's body language. And, yes, the pictures and the poses are seriously demeaning.

Mutya's Buena's come out fighting - and as it happens she has a new single "fallin".

She's said some sensible things: like, why on earth has Heidi Guest stuck around? You can find her thoughts on Twitter. And that she's definitely interesting in reforming the Sugababes. Not clear whether it's with Heidi or Siobhan or both.

She says: It all started so innocently...a love for music and a dream...look what its become. RIP

She's also been heard talking about reforming the band. Check out this interview here...skip the yukky bits about plastic surgery, which occupy the first three minutes. I like the idea of the reformed band the "Sugawomen"!

Keisha walks

Keisha Buchanan has gone and the Sugababes in any recognisable form are no more. I speculated how Jade Ewan would fit in with Keisha and Heidi. The faceless managers running things appear also to have considered that - and demanded Keisha go rather than Amelle. It is a tragedy.

To my mind the challenge now is to see a band producing distinctive music worthy of the name Sugababes. Sweet7 - which should be renamed Bittersweet7 - started badly with Get Sexy and was shafted by its own producers. The others songs we've heard seem decent but not necessarily much better than we heard on Catfights.And will it be rerecorded?

This must now be the band's last album. Then they can all make friends again and we can look forward to that great reunion in the 02 stadium.

Bitter-sweet 7

Will the new album be renamed Bitter-Sweet 7 ?

Siobahn's new music

Really interesting interview here with Siobahn Donaghy, who is about to produce a new album, it seems. Siobahn has produced some really interesting music since quitting the band in her teens. It's a shame she's still quite sour but a sunny personality isn't necessarily the mark of an artistic temperament.

Nevertheless the interview has a lot of fascinating back-story. And Siobahn is quite clear that artistically she could not have stayed with the band in the way it developed.

If the Sugababes are hitting the headlines, lets hope some of this spills over and draws attention to Siobahn's work.

The new Sugababe?

This is Jade Ewan, said to have been recruited as the new Sugababe, with a new single of her own just out. She did well for Britain in the Eurovision song contest with a poor song It's My Time. But I liked her when she was selected and she'll make the babes into a kind of female super-group. The only pity is that one of the band's unique features has been a unique kind of cosmopolitanism, drawing on vocal genes from different corners of the globe.

Rock bands always changed line-ups routinely so why on earth can't a talented female vocal group like this!

And then there were six....

Looks like Amelle Berrabah has stepped down.

Now there will be six in the reunion band. Soon it will be a choir.

At a guess, having her own number one went to Amelle's head a little. Sad.

Number 2!

Mixed feelings about Get Sexy coming in at number 2 in the UK charts. The track's been growing on me - it's a good mix, if not much of a song. I said I was worried about that Jay-Z. Clearly his new proteges don't mean a lot to him. The girls didn't have a chance against a track released by the superstar combo of Rihanna, Kanye West and Jay-Z.

The good news is that the album, apparently titled Sweet7, doesn't come out until November. That means About a Girl will also have a chance of hitting the number 1 slot.

About You Now - Snow Patrol

Here's Snow Patrol performing a live, acoustic cover of About You Now. The musicianship is great, not sure about the singing...



And here's the Sugababes performing a live, acoustic version of About You Now. The slow, acoustic version of the song at the end of Catfights and Spotlights was one of the highlights of the album. I think this performance predates that version as the girls are still trying to sing the up-tempo version here. Sadly the original version is so good - and so good at getting the crowd going, they're not likely to perform the slow version live very often.