I’m looking forward to Sarah’s book release. She’s always been no holds barred, and she’s got nothing to lose so I think it’s going to be a fascinating, if bittersweet, read. It’s also so nice to see the support they all have, clearly she’s kept them in the loop about it.
Sugababes aside, Girls Aloud really did get all of Xenomania’s best work when you look at the Xenomania repertoire as a whole. When you listen to certain Xenomania songs by other artists, they are near unlistenable. Why do you think this was? Do you think they put so much of their time into the Girls Aloud projects that their other work could never have the same finesse? (Again, Sugababes aside) I’ve always subscribed to the opinion that Girls Aloud were Xenomania’s muses. I think that whole ‘girls about town’ vibe really inspired Xenomania and tapped into what they were trying to achieve.
I strongly disagree. Obviously Girls Aloud were a priority for Xenomania during their peak, but even during those years other artists got songs that turned out to be succesful and could have worked well as Girls Aloud's singles, like The Boy Does Nothing (which they recorded first) or Sweet About Me (both released in 2008).
They obviously struck lucky here and there but Girls Aloud got their best and no one else could have brought those songs to life like they did.
And it could be a simple case of basic Chemistry (pun intended haha) When something works, go with it. Girls Aloud and Xenomania were a match made in heaven. No further explanation required.
*certain* Xenomania songs. The point that I was making was that Girls Aloud nearly always got the best version of Xenomania while for other artists it was more hit and miss.
I mean, I think they also did incredible things for other artists (Mini Viva, Kylie, Alesha, Gabrielle, Amelia, Florrie), but I do think there was a level of creative freedom they were given with Girls Aloud that helped them to produce absolute excellence. You can hear them really trying for hits with other artists in a way that goes against the effortless quirkiness that sets their work apart. As mentioned, the girls were also their priority (as they were their bread & butter) so they always got the cream of the crop.
I feel like if the label just allowed Amelia to release her album, Xenomania might've been able to produce more pop hits for other artists.
To go back further than Girls Aloud. Brian did have the masterpieces of Believe and All I Wanna Do under his pop gown
There’s very little my mother and I have in common when it comes to music past the early 90s, but I do love and cherish the fact that she’ll ask me to play Something Kinda Oooh (she affectionately refers to it as the “toot toot!” song)!
Those with the Long Hot Summer single that came with the mock tail cards, have you noticed that some of the drinks look absolutely nothing like the directions describe? Sarah’s mentions an apple but is garnished with an orange, Nicola’s mention’s ice cream and a bendy straw and hers has neither but does include a lemon, and Cheryl’s mentions a lime but no lime in sight.
