Sugababes - Change
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Music CD Cover
Artist: SugababesEdition: Music CD
Format: Import
CD Release Date: 2007-12-04
Music Label: Universal UK
Soundtracks:
- About You Now
- Never Gonna Dance Again
- Denial
- My Love Is Pink
- Change
- Back When
- Surprise
- Back Down
- Mended by You
- 3 Spoons of Suga
- Open the Door
- Undignified
Free Music Notes for Change
Free Music Review: CHANGE ISN'T ALWAYS BAD
Hit: 4 Stars
As a loyal fan of the Sugababes and their music for the last few years, the initial listen to the first three seconds of "Change" was a bittersweet moment: on one hand, their trademark edgy (in pop standards), inimitable cool is almost obliterated and replaced by a fresh-off-the-manufacturing plant re-interpretation of slick, polished "feistiness"...but dammit, saccharine as it may be, Sugababes haven't sounded more unabashedly instant and catchy (the track I'm referring to, of course, is the ubiquitous-in-the-UK "About You Now," one of the best pop singles of 2007 and probably during the 2000's in general). The appeal or the dynamic (if you want to call it that), of a trademark Sugababes hit is, in most cases, one that always exudes untouchable, classy aloofness and effortless sexiness that shows how there is more than just vocal talent lying beneath their unassuming facades. Sugababes' "x-factor," their blueprint for success, has been the fact that they always manage to conjure up the hippest-sounding dance-pop music without looking like they even give a damn (and sounding it, too). This new-millennium attitude towards making pop music has been the de facto aesthetic for making edgier, supposedly more sophisticated pop. As a well-known saying goes, the way Sugababes just gloriously have been as a dance-pop act is that they're "often imitated, never duplicated."
"Change" is a solid collection chock full of radio-ready pop hits, but why isn't it the instant classic that it should be? Many blame the loss of the band's center of "attitude," their "x-factor," Mutya Buena, as the cause for their more confectionary approach to their music this time around. Although she is surely missed, it can't just be because of that. Amelle Berrabah, the new 'Babe, has a voice that's just as raspy and solid, if not more clear-cut and straightforward than Buena's. The impression that I get from this album is that Sugababes have pegged themselves at a disadvantage for what could be the Achilles heel to any mainstream act with at least some sort of promising talent to begin with: they've sold their souls to the record label bureaucracy and have compromised their integrity as artists in order to get more pop (hey, someone's gotta make money). Okay, maybe that's a little much to accuse, but fans would agree that this is their most bubblegum-sounding album yet.
Not to say that they've never been pop, it's just that they seemed to have just given up on more ambitious, forward-thinking ideas in their music for "Change" as they have before and seemed to just try to consolidate their strengths in hopes of making a passable Sugababes album and a passable pop album in general. For a Sugababes fan or someone that knows of Sugababes, "passable" doesn't just cut it. We need something to pride ourselves as fans on, we need the same Sugababes that has always tested the boundaries of contemporary dance-pop. In "Change," they do succeed in many levels, but within every new release, the discriminating Sugababes fan has always come to expect more from them. I've read many reviews that said that the album iss solid, but it fails to come up with anything completely new and different not only for Sugababes, but for pop music in general because for this record they seem to have just looked through their back catalog and make more anemic carbon copies of what they have done in the past, and I completely agree. Sugababes have always been known to shake up the pop game with every new album. I'm not saying they have to reinvent the wheel all the time, but at least showing a little more promise of stretching out even further into more unchartered territory than they have in the past would have been more like them. You got the usual suspects, for example, there's the Xenomania floor-filler ("My Love Is Pink" - hell, one could say they even ripped off Girls Aloud in this one), the heart-string-tugging mid-tempo cuts (the unnecessary "Back When" and the "Ace Reject" re-hash "Never Gonna Dance Agai," the reggae-ish track ("Back Down"), and the wannabe trip-hop ballad, awash with lots of strings and supposed heartbreak melancholy ("Mended By You"). It's all getting tired at this point. What I'm getting to is that "Change" is the kind of album that would have been superb had this been Sugababes' first, but since this is their fifth studio album, they seemed to have gone to autopilot mode and just make music they're comfortable with doing. Dare I say this is their most middle-of-the-road effort yet? Fortunately enough, they've got a diverse-enough discography to recreate, so they're not heading into Atomic Kitten territory just yet. You saw the signs of something like this on "Taller In More Ways," so I guess it just had to come to "Change" being their poppiest, but blandest of efforts.
...On the bright side, "Change" is easily their most accessible album yet. Alone, it's got some fine pop songs that would be the envy of many dance-pop artists all around the world. Melodically, this is their richest yet. No obtuse harmonies: just straight-up, easy-on-the-ears tunes that could warm up the dimmest of rainy London days. Whether or not this is the well-masterminded work of their handlers or Sugababes' talent and knack for making great pop music, it doesn't even matter. The songs are eclectic and appealing enough on the ears that you can't help but go along to the catchiness of the tracks. And, knowing that it is Sugababes singing it, they at least have maintained a sense of class, dignity, and sophistication to carry off every single one of the tracks with panache that would have made many other pop groups crumble had they tried doing it themselves. So, in other words, even though Sugababes sound more and more like fembots that feel they have to live up to a reputation instead of the warm-blooded (or cold-blooded, depending on how you judge their delicious, man-eating tunes), hard-edged dance-pop act that is rough enough around the edges to set them apart from most puppeted, manufactured dimwits for pop groups, they still sound pretty damn good. Besides Girls Aloud, I don't see many other pop acts achieve the kind of consistency in quality with their track record, so I guess here's to hoping their next one finds them more hungry for something new! "Change" isn't always bad, but it isn't perfect either.
Change Poster
2007 album from the UK Pop trio, the most successful UK female act of the century Change is their fifth album overall and is destined to be one of their greatest musical triumphs to date. Standout tracks include `Never Gonna Dance Again', another relationship breakdown anthem set, as many dramas tend to be, on a dancefloor - a sober reflection on the carefree first dances and final careless whispers of a failed relationship. `Change', all gurgling electronic synths and William Orbit-esque production is a trademark Sugababes ballad while 'Denial' revels in the Sugababes' raw, rockier edge, with a nod to `Standing In The Way Of Control' coupled with the trio's unmistakable harmonies. `Goodbye', meanwhile, has some of the catchiest vocal hooks you'll hear all year. Island.Dance & DJ Music CDs
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