Return of the Sugababes? Maybe
Are the original Sugababes about to get back together? And if so, what happens if they meet their current imitation, ponders Nick Levine
The Sugababes (from left) Keisha Buchanan, Siobhan Donaghy and Mutya Buena. Photograph: Dave Hogan/Getty
The Sugababes Story would make a terrible movie: only the HR director of a recently merged multinational could process all those personnel changes within a 95-minute running time. But it could inspire an ace trashy mini-series – one with more credibility-stretching twists than a double-jointed gymnast. The latest turn? The group's original lineup, none of whom has served on the good ship Suga since 2009, could be getting back together. At present, hard facts are proving as elusive as Tom Cruise's lost sex appeal, but the online pop cognoscenti has dropped rumour bombs like "demo-ing new material", "recapturing that old magic" and "totally (maybe) getting Nicki Minaj in for a guest rap".
For those of us who still structure the entire family's Christmas Day around the festive edition of Top Of The Pops, this could be big news. In musical reunion terms, it's only slightly more likely than a Sonny & Cher comeback tour. The band's founding triptych – Keisha Buchanan (lipgloss), Mutya Buena (evils) and Siobhan Donaghy (milk bottle) – haven't harmonised since the latter skedaddled during a Japanese promo tour back in 2001. In fact, this lineup released just one album before Donaghy's departure was airily dismissed with the usual cliches: artistic differences, personality clashes, two group members apparently inventing a brand new language just so they could slag off the other without having to leave the room. So why try again? Well, career-wise, it's all gone a bit "has the bloke from CelebAir called back yet?". Buchanan is currently Very Excited To Be Working On New Material. Buena was last seen telling Lorraine Kelly about her arse implants. Donaghy released a couple of pretty stupendous solo LPs that sold like poodle pies in the Crufts catering enclosure.
I want to believe there's more, though. Colour me a nostalgic fool, but that first Sugababes record almost makes up for an entire adolescence of monobrowed maladjustment. Drawing from UK garage, R&B and trip-hop, One Touch was street yet sweet, cool as a cucumber smoothie, pop but not the way Atomic Kitten did it. It totally got what it was like to be a smart, straight-talking teenage work-in-progress because it was made by three of them – mostly working with a producer whose CV included Massive Attack and Neneh Cherry. Eleven years on, One Touch remains the yardstick by which any new girl group that doesn't want to be the Saturdays gets judged.
If only for this reason, the reconvening of Buchanan, Buena and Donaghy would most definitely be a good thing. Reunited, could they make a One Touch for women in their late-20s – women who haven't got everything sussed yet but know there's more to life than getting down on the floh-uh? The mere possibility is enough to shoo off the obvious questions. Can they stand to be in the same recording studio as one another? What, for the convenience of the Official Chart Company, are they going to call themselves? And, most importantly, will pop eat itself if they encounter the current imitation of Sugababes backstage at Radio 1's Big Weekend?
For those of us who still structure the entire family's Christmas Day around the festive edition of Top Of The Pops, this could be big news. In musical reunion terms, it's only slightly more likely than a Sonny & Cher comeback tour. The band's founding triptych – Keisha Buchanan (lipgloss), Mutya Buena (evils) and Siobhan Donaghy (milk bottle) – haven't harmonised since the latter skedaddled during a Japanese promo tour back in 2001. In fact, this lineup released just one album before Donaghy's departure was airily dismissed with the usual cliches: artistic differences, personality clashes, two group members apparently inventing a brand new language just so they could slag off the other without having to leave the room. So why try again? Well, career-wise, it's all gone a bit "has the bloke from CelebAir called back yet?". Buchanan is currently Very Excited To Be Working On New Material. Buena was last seen telling Lorraine Kelly about her arse implants. Donaghy released a couple of pretty stupendous solo LPs that sold like poodle pies in the Crufts catering enclosure.
I want to believe there's more, though. Colour me a nostalgic fool, but that first Sugababes record almost makes up for an entire adolescence of monobrowed maladjustment. Drawing from UK garage, R&B and trip-hop, One Touch was street yet sweet, cool as a cucumber smoothie, pop but not the way Atomic Kitten did it. It totally got what it was like to be a smart, straight-talking teenage work-in-progress because it was made by three of them – mostly working with a producer whose CV included Massive Attack and Neneh Cherry. Eleven years on, One Touch remains the yardstick by which any new girl group that doesn't want to be the Saturdays gets judged.
If only for this reason, the reconvening of Buchanan, Buena and Donaghy would most definitely be a good thing. Reunited, could they make a One Touch for women in their late-20s – women who haven't got everything sussed yet but know there's more to life than getting down on the floh-uh? The mere possibility is enough to shoo off the obvious questions. Can they stand to be in the same recording studio as one another? What, for the convenience of the Official Chart Company, are they going to call themselves? And, most importantly, will pop eat itself if they encounter the current imitation of Sugababes backstage at Radio 1's Big Weekend?
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