Link: www.sugababes.com
The Inside Pulse:
Sugababes was supposed to be a one-album wonder. This is their fourth and their pre-album single, “Push the Button”, has already reached #1 in the UK charts. They have solidified themselves as one of the most popular bands world-wide and with good reason. While sacrificing a little integrity to their corporate bosses with a couple radio songs, their albums were always rich with flavor and originality. As for this album, let me point out that this #1 hit is not a very good song. In fact, it could be the worst song on the album. As for the rest…
Positives:
The album takes a while to get going, in fact it really doesn’t catch your attention until Track 5, “Red Dress”. But when it does it will be some of the best music the “all-girl r&b/dance” genre has to offer. They take some daring chances with their music veering off “the formula” and it works. “It Ain’t Easy”, “Bruised”, “Ace Reject”, and “2 Hearts” takes the music to a much more electronica/house level and are bound to be played and mixed in dance clubs all over the world. Their cover of Animotion’s “Obsession” is actually very good as opposed to satirical, and even their generic ‘hits’ aren’t that bad. Essentially, while the great tracks on this album are 8s and 9s, the generic ones are no less then 4s or 5s. And of course, this music gets the grind going so I do reward it Slayer’s +1 Pulse Point Bonus Make Out Special.
Negatives:
As stated, there is plenty about this album to not be impressed about. A few of the tracks have the typical generic beats, unimaginative vocals, and are filled with the same re-mixed samples we’ve heard in about 70 other songs. This is especially true in the first four songs of the album. Also, their acoustic ‘stop the hate’ songâ€â€called “Ugly”â€â€while meaning well, is essentially a miss.
Cross-breed:
Salt N Pepa, Spice Girls, TLC, and Janet Jackson.
Reason to buy:
If you liked their previous albums, keep on buying them. You’ll love it just as much. If you’re into this type of music (and you know who you are) this will be your favorite album for the next several months. For those who don’t like this type of music, don’t judge them by their singles, you may be in for a surprise.
