Catfights and Spotlights

Real professionals Sugababes

It has been only a year since the release of Sugababes’ successful fifth album Change and the pop trio is already ready to surprise the audience with new hits. At the same time if we can trust the tabloids the girls are quite far from burying the hatchet and never hide their conflicts on public not speaking to each other demonstratively or having fun at the same club but in different parts of it. Nevertheless their sixth work with a speaking title Catfights And Spotlights proves once again that real professionals never confuse personal life with work. Although there are much less experiments with the styles than we have observed on the previous work the new album definitely has its own peculiarities that do credit both to Sugababes and producers Mr. Luke who has worked with Kelly Clarkson, Katy Perry and Britney Spears and Klas Ahlund. The main stake on Catfights And Spotlights is made on the vocal parts, catchy pop tunes and arrangements and it would not be groundless to state that it will turn out quite a jackpot for Sugababes.

A classic female album Catfights And Spotlights

On the whole Catfights And Spotlights is a classic female album with the main theme of relationships, expectedly not the most happy ones and surviving a breakup. Yet Sugababes members would not be themselves if they did not leave a place to sing of them. The album opens with a splendid single Girls, an all girls’ anthem, with fashionable tubes playing the most contagious tune toy have heard lately and combining greatly with all three girls’ alternating singing. A song of a boy too much admiring himself You On A Good Day is not exactly in the band’s style but it suits quite all right with the rest of the record. After that, however, the album’s main theme starts to unfold and it is now that the singers feel really comfortable. The second single No Can Do, a composition of a beloved’s unforgivable mistake impresses from the very beginning with some vocals that stand no objection and is one of the best on the album. Another even more interesting and bright song Side Chick also expresses the position of a confident woman while a very beautiful ballad Unbreakable Heart tells that it is better to be vulnerable and suffer sometimes rather than senseless. A slow track Sunday Rain is remarkable for an unusual rhythm and the vocalists’ most soulful singing whereas Every Heart Broken is acknowledged as the example of the best lyrics in the band’s history. Beware with a complicated tune built on half-tones is another anthem of a strong and independent woman while rock elements on Nothing's As Good As You have really refined the record. About You Now (Acoustic), an acoustic version of the hit from Change is not too successful but a great final composition She's Like A Star featuring British singer Taio Cruz proves a real club hit and fully compensates this slight drawback.

Topical and modern music

Catfights And Spotlights is already the second work featuring the new vocalist Amele Berraba who joined Sugababes last year. It is her vocals that open a wonderfully beautiful ballad Can We Call A Truce, to confirm once again that it was a right choice. Yet if her vocals was defined on purpose on the greatest part of the songs on Change there reigns a vocal harmony on the sixth album. The new compositions are an example of how rich and elegant three so different voices can sound together. We may well say that Catfights And Spotlights proves to be one of the most emotional albums in the band’s discography for some painful topics obviously prevail here. Of course relationships are not always perfect and this is not a suitable soundtrack for the stories of those who are quite happy with their partners, although these days strength and independence are becoming the values of a growing number of women no matter how their relations with the opposite sex may be. Thus the music of Sugababes is once again rather topical and modern and Catfights And Spotlights will easily find itself among the year’s best pop works.