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Was Sugababes 4.0 Sweet 7 Era Highly Underrated? |
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#1 |
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Join Date: May 2005
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Was Sugababes 4.0 Sweet 7 Era Highly Underrated?
Hey guys!
I have been listening to the Sugababes Sweet 7 album for ages and realise that its actually such a fantastic album. I heard critics didn't take it too well, but as a fan, its definitely one of their best work. I was also incredibly upset at its poor album sales and should have done far better. So disappointing. Ok im upset about Keisha too but i think we should definitely embrace Jade as vocally she is better. Sorry Keisha and she brings new freshness to the band. Highlights on the album are About A Girl, Miss Everything, Shes A Mess and Wait For You....to name a few. I also think About A Girl is probably one of the Sugababes BEST song ever and currently sits on my Top 3 most played ever on itunes. Its just so incredibly catchy. But anyway cant wait for the sugas new album! Go 4.0!! |
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#2 |
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Join Date: Jun 2010
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Tbf, i think lack of originality was at the heart of the negative reviews - they tried to americanize themselves and it was so far away from their original sound and what people loved about them was tat they werent your average girl band and they used to not be afraid to be different - freak like me for example, whereas this album was them jumping onto the bandwagon with producers like red one.
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#3 |
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Join Date: Mar 2010
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love th record!
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#4 |
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Join Date: Jul 2009
Location: Watford
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Quote:
Tbf, i think lack of originality was at the heart of the negative reviews - they tried to americanize themselves and it was so far away from their original sound and what people loved about them was tat they werent your average girl band and they used to not be afraid to be different - freak like me for example, whereas this album was them jumping onto the bandwagon with producers like red one.
People who say the negative reviews and poor sales were down to the line-up changes need to get real. |
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#5 |
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Join Date: Oct 2006
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The public will ultimately buy what they like, irrespective of what the critics say so the answer to your question is a resounding 'No', OP.
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#6 |
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Join Date: Jan 2010
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^ Not nessacarily. If the public hasn't heard most of the material on an album and all they've got to go by is streams and streams of bad reviews they wont be inclined to try it out.
If, however, they've heard a couple of songs they like and then see reviews stating that every track is amazing is pushes them towards buying it. That's why reviews exist, they're not just for someone to sound off. This era would've failed regardless, even if Keisha stayed this wasn't a "Sugababes" album it was an album of tracks that 'weren't good enough for Rihanna, Britney and PCD' and the whole choreographed thing was weak. They said they got complacent with the last album, that's just not the case. The public just needed a break from them. Amelle joined and they just smashed out single after single after single and put thier faces to multiple brands. If they'd have released 'Catfights and Spotlights' in 2009 it would've served better. |
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#7 |
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Join Date: Jun 2010
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I thought the album was actually really strong for what it was.
Not Sugababes at all (which was the problem), but if they were a brand new girl band on the scene I imagine they'd have had quite a lot of success from it because of the sheer amount of potential hit singles. They probably could have made a decent crack at the US with the material, because it's so geared toward their market. Nevermind. |
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#8 |
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Join Date: May 2009
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Quote:
People who say the negative reviews and poor sales were down to the line-up changes need to get real.
That was frustrating for me because I disliked all three singles, but I thought some of the album tracks were very good (particularly Crash and Burn, Thank You For The Heartbreak, No More You, Little Miss Perfect). I mean its certainly not a classic pop album, and its not even one of my favourites of 2010, but its annoying when someone completely disregards an album without even listening to it properly. And whats even more annoying is when people say Sweet 7 is rubbish because its a 4.0 album. Which is nonsense. Its 100% a 3.0 album. And apparently it was Keisha who had a lot of involvement in pushing for the new American sound (i.e. Miss Everything, Get Sexy). Whereas, from what I've read, Amelle and Heidi preferred the more traditional sounding ballads. |
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#9 |
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Join Date: Aug 2006
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The reviews made no sense to me, because the singles were generally well-received (except maybe Get Sexy, which was lukewarm) and the new line-up's performances and talent praised. The new album needs to be something completely different. Given they are now perhaps one of the most vocally strong pop groups around in Europe, they should really go all-out and take a risk, and do something completely unlike the rest of the chart at the moment. Avoid the trend of electro-pop, RnB and indie-pop.
Throwing this out there - a retro/old-school disco album. We already know this line-up can do this sound justice (link below), and this way, they can vocally outshine everyone else, with biting/snappy lyrics, but at the same time fully utilise their new dancing abilities. Thank You For The Heartbreak: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xLDajCr4MDU |
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#10 |
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Join Date: Aug 2010
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Thank You for the Heartbreak could have saved the album
I like the version with Jade way more than the original version with Keisha |
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#11 |
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Only the singles seemed ok tbh.
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#12 |
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Join Date: Aug 2008
Location: England
Posts: 12,648
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Yes! The album is fantastic. 20,000 is dire. It should be 2,000,000!! Love every song. Hope it's a return to form for Album 8.
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#13 |
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Join Date: Feb 2006
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Quote:
Yes! The album is fantastic. 20,000 is dire. It should be 2,000,000!! Love every song. Hope it's a return to form for Album 8.
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#14 |
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Join Date: Dec 2009
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Quote:
Only the singles seemed ok tbh.
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#15 |
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Quote:
I agree that it would have got pretty bad reviews anyway, but it was just frustrating how the reviewers only commented on the line-up change and a couple of the singles. The album tracks were, on the whole, completely ignored. It was like they hadn't even listened to the album (which I suspect many of them hadn't).
That was frustrating for me because I disliked all three singles, but I thought some of the album tracks were very good (particularly Crash and Burn, Thank You For The Heartbreak, No More You, Little Miss Perfect). I mean its certainly not a classic pop album, and its not even one of my favourites of 2010, but its annoying when someone completely disregards an album without even listening to it properly. And whats even more annoying is when people say Sweet 7 is rubbish because its a 4.0 album. Which is nonsense. Its 100% a 3.0 album. And apparently it was Keisha who had a lot of involvement in pushing for the new American sound (i.e. Miss Everything, Get Sexy). Whereas, from what I've read, Amelle and Heidi preferred the more traditional sounding ballads. See this. Most of those reviews focus on the songs. Ok, a few of them do talk about the line-up changes, but they do so in a constructive manner - which is fair enough, rather than saying 'yeah it basically sucks because they've changed members'. I myself listened to Sweet 7 a good few times (yes, properly) on we7 when it was released, and I just found it unoriginal, faceless, and ridiculously over-suggestive - most of the time it was like they were saying "hey we're sooo damn sexy y'know!" when in the past they didn't need to try so hard. They lost all of what made them so good in the past. |
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#16 |
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I don't know what reviews you were reading, but all the ones I read did mention the line-up changes (naturally, as it affected their situation at the time) but it was never the main focus of the reviews. All the reviews I read (and I did read a lot) were exactly as post #2 says.
Half of the review is about the line-up change. The singles are briefly mentioned, but not a single album track is named. Which seems quite strange for an album review. I'm sure there are some more like that. I remember reading all the reviews at the time, and being a bit annoyed at how they hardly talked about the album tracks. |
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#17 |
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Can't really be bothered to look through all the reviews to illustrate my point, but here's one example: http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2010...et-7-cd-review
Half of the review is about the line-up change. The singles are briefly mentioned, but not a single album track is named. Which seems quite strange for an album review. I'm sure there are some more like that. I remember reading all the reviews at the time, and being a bit annoyed at how they hardly talked about the album tracks. Quote:
"A couple of tracks – Wear My Kiss, About a Girl – have escaped with some quirky Britishness intact, but most are in either in thrall to Lady Gaga's robotronic sound or, as with the oozing lust of Get Sexy, just wrong for this particular band. Disappointing."
The Guardian often do those short reviews which don't mention much, but still I think what I quoted there focuses on the music enough.I thought most of the album tracks were very similar to each other in terms of style anyway, and the reviews I read mentioned the overall feel of the album. It was simply a bad album in many people's opinion - there's no way round that |
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#18 |
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Join Date: Aug 2006
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Quote:
ridiculously over-suggestive - most of the time it was like they were saying "hey we're sooo damn sexy y'know!" when in the past they didn't need to try so hard.
I mean, let's just compare this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mbt4rMRUBtc to this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K8tXqvCMwOU or this gem: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TgYac1f8__w or even Freak Like Me, which is also about sex. |
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#19 |
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Join Date: Aug 2006
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Quote:
I thought most of the album tracks were very similar to each other in terms of style anyway
Get Sexy* = urban pop Wear My Kiss = electro-pop About A Girl = Euro-pop Wait For You = dance ballad Thank You For The Heartbreak = disco Miss Everything = Euro-pop She's A Mess = grime-dance/rap Give It To Me Now* = Caribbean Crash and Burn = RnB ballad No More You = RnB ballad Sweet and Amazing = adult contemporary Little Miss Perfect = RnB ballad That's 8 different styles of music on a 12-track album. And only two songs (noted by the " * ") are overtly sexual (and I'm only including Get Sexy because it has sex in the titles, the song's not even close to being suggestive or sensual). So allow your opinion, it's illogical. |
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#20 |
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Join Date: Jun 2006
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Whilst the album bombed, the singles actually performed pretty well so I don't think bad single choices are necessarily to blame for the albums performance.
I also don't think any particular track would have saved the album. The album leaking months in advance, Keisha leaving, Jade joining, Bad reviews and constantly changing release dates probabbly didn't help though. I agree with some of the posters above - it was very generic and un-Sugababey. I love the album as 12 tracks, but as a Sugababes album it certainly doesn't sit well against Angels, Three and Taller. It wasn't original. Looking forward to album #8 though. Jade has a fantastic voice (vocally she's probabbly the strongest of all 6 members) which they should use to their advantage. A few Stronger-esqe ballads wouldn't go amiss either
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#21 |
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Join Date: Oct 2009
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Are you being serious? You need to refresh your memory, some of their older tracks are horrifically vulgar and suggestive. Give It To Me Now, the most sexual Sweet 7 gets, is tame in comparison.
or even Freak Like Me, which is also about sex. I don't buy this as either a Sugababes 3.0 or 4.0 album, it's obviously a record company driven album, who were panicing after the failure of 'Catfights and Spotlights'. Unfortunately, in the process they've managed to alienate most of the fanbase. I'm amazed that they're even considering another album- I assumed the only reason for Jade was to try and recoup the money spent on 'Sweet 7' and then they'd quietly disband. The last 2 albums flopped badly, I'd be amazed if they could come back from this.... Incidently, 'Thank You For the Heartbreak' was meant to be the third single but it had been so heavily performed by Keisha that they scrapped it, and it is probably the best song on the album |
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#22 |
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I actually missed this bit of your pointless addition to this thread. I say pointless because you're discussing an album you've quite clearly not even listened to. To accuse Sweet 7 of being both sexed up and same-sounding is ridiculous. It clearly isn't.
Get Sexy* = urban pop Wear My Kiss = electro-pop About A Girl = Euro-pop Wait For You = dance ballad Thank You For The Heartbreak = disco Miss Everything = Euro-pop She's A Mess = grime-dance/rap Give It To Me Now* = Caribbean Crash and Burn = RnB ballad No More You = RnB ballad Sweet and Amazing = adult contemporary Little Miss Perfect = RnB ballad That's 8 different styles of music on a 12-track album. And only two songs (noted by the " * ") are overtly sexual (and I'm only including Get Sexy because it has sex in the titles, the song's not even close to being suggestive or sensual). So allow your opinion, it's illogical. I think the reviews, sales, and general consensus speaks for itself. |
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#23 |
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Join Date: Aug 2010
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I have listened to the whole album, several times in fact. I don't give a toss if you think I'm talking rubbish - .
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#24 |
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You most certainly ARE
How hilarious!!! You are so full of wit. What an ironic thing for you to say. Come back when you can have something worth adding to this thread |
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#25 |
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How hilarious!!! You are so full of wit. What an ironic thing for you to say. Come back when you can have something worth adding to this thread |
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