The Sugababes Discography Rate
- Thread starter beyoncésweave
- Start date
Mr.Arroz
Staff member
he/him/his
Utada used it on her first Japanese-language album too, kii.
EDIT oh my god
Nas The Message It Was Written 1996
Monica Take Him Back[2] The Boy Is Mine 1998
Blaque Release Me[3] Blaque 1999
Hikaru Utada Never Let Go[4] First Love 1999
Carl Thomas Emotional[5] Emotional 2000
Lil' Zane Ways of the World[6] Young World: The Future 2000
Brainpower Je Moest Waarschijnlijk Gaan[7] 2001
Craig David Rise & Fall[8] Slicker Than Your Average 2002
Sugababes Shape[9] Angels with Dirty Faces 2002
Rain Ways to Avoid the Sun[10] 2003
Shontelle I Crave You[11] Shontelligence 2008
Pastor Troy For My Soldiers[12] Attitude Adjuster 2008
Kyndall Bullet Still Down 2015
Keep being iconic, Shontelle.
He/Him
Jesus! Is this sample incredibly cheap to use or is it Sting's main source of income at this point?
londonrain
Staff member
My copy of that Monica album has been played to death and I genuinely never realised that was a sample. I'm listening to Take Him Back now and it's suddenly blindingly obvious.
Huh. The Popjustice forums are so educational.
Not bad for a song whose best chart placing was #57 in the UK. When will your faves, etc.
Or rather, when will your flops?
Tomorrow, I lose my first 10, y'all cruelly deprive someone of their 11, and I get mad.
He/Him
Hoping it is a polarising track and not a genuinely well loved piece that is leaving early..
Not Spiral?!
Listening to Mutya's refusal moment on Just Don't Need This again is putting me through...maybe it's actually a 7.5 (insert cringey face emoji).
Per usual @beyoncésweave thanks for another amazing writeup, your description of this song is pure poetry. xoxo
Per usual @beyoncésweave thanks for another amazing writeup, your description of this song is pure poetry. xoxo
Solenciennes
Staff member
I'm listening to Just Don't Need This in anticipation of some fuckery elimination
NO
NO NO NO NO NO
YOU FUCKING BEASTS
NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
#66
Just Let It Go
Score: 6.894
Highest: 11 x 1
The exquisite: 10/10 x 6 (@P'NutButter, @Robsolete, @Runawaywithme, @Petty Mayonnaise, @Blayke)
The heartless: 3/10 x 3 (@Robinho#1, @AllSixSugababes, @Filler)
My score: 10/10
––
NO NO NO NO NO
YOU FUCKING BEASTS
NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
#66
Just Let It Go
Score: 6.894
Highest: 11 x 1
The exquisite: 10/10 x 6 (@P'NutButter, @Robsolete, @Runawaywithme, @Petty Mayonnaise, @Blayke)
The heartless: 3/10 x 3 (@Robinho#1, @AllSixSugababes, @Filler)
My score: 10/10
––
This rate has a lot of bad results. I’m under no delusions about this reality, with a rate – and a voting base – this large. But this fucking hurts. And it infuriates. Perhaps it does all the more so because this is a song I truly, genuinely love. To see it cut down so soon, at the 65+ stage when I’d have pegged it in my personal top 15, and bothering my top 10 on most days, is just utterly heartbreaking. What makes it worse is that this was sunk not by a few low scores, but a whole bunch of perplexing, middling ones, so honestly, y’all can eat it.
This is a remarkable song. A lot is made about how One Touch is a supposedly juvenile record. This takes that critique, subverts it and runs with it in unimaginable directions. So there’s the starting point of the back-and-forth between girlfriends, of trading secrets and thoughts and hopes and fears, in debate or argument or quarrel. Young, immature, juvenile – fine. But do we ever grow up beyond that? Do we ever stop asking those closest to us, Am I doing the right thing? How do I know if I’m right? Is he The One? I think we all know the answer. And it’s an answer that makes “Just Let It Go” daring and wise and profound, in volumes.
And when you descend from this structural assessment to actually listening to it, there’s only complete, crushing beauty. Mutya’s agony, stuck between internal recognition that he just isn’t right for her, and nervous reluctance to admit it. Keisha’s forcefully admonishing “he ain’t the one for you”. Siobhán counselling “don’t waste your time” with a sage for aeons. The vaguely Spanish-esque guitars, with a lulling, gentle beat. The mild force in the chorus where all three voices come together. The matter-of-fact middle eight which lays it all out – “everybody has their bad times” – before the chorus in near-a cappella. All three of them in fantastic, touching vocal form. The reverent nods to the 90s R&B canon of conversational, affirmatory bops: from “The Boy Is Mine” to the transcendent, almost perfectly parallel in terms of back-and-forths “Hey Ladies”. The reassurance – “there’s a good thing waiting for you down the line” – which, in the depths of turmoil and despair, you won’t exactly feel, but you just have to trust because it’s offered by those who know you and love you for who you are.
And what tips it over conclusively for me: the little “wait … wait” interjections by Mutya right after the first chorus, laying bare the simple, raw construction of the whole thing, like it was recorded directly from the bedside; when you can practically feel the telephone cord wrapped around your finger as you listen to the reassurances, the rebukes and the gentle love coming from the other side. I’m not thirteen, or sixteen, or eighteen anymore. But goddamn aren’t these emotions as raw today as they were then. And in catching onto that so intuitively, at such an age … goddamn these girls … these women.
I have to pace myself to not completely explode in fury that so many of you failed, or refused, to open your minds to this. So let’s sandwich the heinous opinions with the readable ones. Let’s go kal (7): “a guilty pleasure. Mutya's opening verse is like peering into an angsty teenager's diary. Siobhán shines vocally. I feel like this goes on longer than it should. Bonus point for the lovely guitar strum and the conversationally structured lyrics.” Yas, and Conversation’s Not Over for Solenciennes (7.5) as well who finds it “laidback, pleasant, it gets lost among the highs of the album. I can’t pick a favourite voice on this track, they all have their moments. I think they probably had “The Boy Is Mine” in mind when they were writing and recording this, I’m reminded of it at several points throughout the track.” mrdonut (7) digs the “Wonderful harmonies and individual vocals lift this above standard album filler”. A reasonable londonrain (8) finds it “A solid album track”.
*deep breath* Here are the opinions of some actually horrible people. “Meh, I think this is the dud of the album,” screeches Voodoo (5), who is the dud of this rate, I’m sorry. “This song suffers from being way to repetitive and drags way too long,” says the always repetitive and dragging too long Sprockrooster (5). “Sounds like an album filler,” says poor, deaf PCDPG (5.25). “Mutya saves this a bit or I'd be handing out another 4,” says DJHazey who deigns to give it a 5, but can keep his 4, honestly. “This is just “there” for me,” says ssa (5) who is also just “there” for me. “Nothing especially wrong with the song, just not very exciting, either,” says uno (5) who also aptly describes their commentary.
*deeper breath* And here are the opinions of two of the lowest scorers who I can only conclude truly have no souls. Prepare yourselves. Filler (3) spays my rate liberally: “I have lost interest in a Sugababes 1.0 reunion while listening to this track. A success, in a sense,” and I lost interest in reading any more of your commentary, hellbeast! And here’s Robinho#1 (3) who, it must be admitted, has actually been very reasonable across the rate, which makes her losing her damn mind especially baffling and hurtful: “This is hands down the originals worst song. I hated it back then and the feeling has remained the same.” A level up, Constantino (4) is also drowning in Haterade: “You know what’s worse than filler? Indulgent filler that lasts FIVE FUCKING MINUTES, that’s what. Really girls??” You know what’s worse than bad taste? Unnecessarily combative opinions of bad taste expressed in caps lock. Really gorl??
Chanex(6) is as always, halfway on the path to taste, but can’t quite complete the journey: “The flamenco moments and Middle 8 breakdown are so pretty...that said...what a snooze.” Meanwhile “I love turn-of-the-millennium R&B fillers,” shades a dusty roux (6) who really has no damn idea about turn-of-the-millennium R&B fillers.
Okay, that’s the disastrous hate out the way! Cleanse me Ironheade (8.5) precious! “THE PISSING 808 CYMBALS ARE BACK NRGH. Otherwise, very nice, with a misty, nocturnal charm to the acoustic guitars and hollow snare taps, and a slightly ramshackle edge that I'll never be able to resist. Siobhán's silky vocals here are superb, the way it's almost set up like a narrative with the interactions between the members has a lot of charm, and, heh, Keisha's "wait, wait…" bit is still pretty amusing. For all its fragility, it packs a lot of uplifting power into a simple arrangement and lyric. I could do without the scratching, and this perhaps goes on a little longer than it needs to, but they don't detract too much.” acl (8.5) also picks up on the Conversation: “I like the cool kinda sparse sound of the track. Also the conversational lyrics between them encouraging them to move on from bullshit boys.”
P'NutButter (10) is here to slay me: “When you realise the girls were just fifteen when they recorded tracks like this... mind blown.” Blayke is also here to soothe my soul and stan Mutya yet again: “Let’s admit it, Mutya shines on this and is a proper introduction to the emergence of the next best soulful singer. The breakdown around the middle-8 is a nice treat too. This is another 10 from me.” YAS. We also have precious, precious Runawaywithme, one my beautiful discoveries from this rate, who hands this a 10 and says “I find this song absolutely beautiful, the girls sound so mature and again I just love the blend of the guitar and the subtle beats, I just melt at the outro. My girl Siobhán really shines here, her voice sounds so beautiful innocent and naive yet sad and hopeless at the same time, she had a really beautiful haunting and mysterious quality to her voice even way back then and it really works on this song, with the simple yet effective lyrics. This is the perfect song to stroll around too on sunny autumn days as the sun sets as you think about memories of the summer, quite random but it just fits that moment so well.” Gorgeous.
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The ever-wonderful Remorque (9) provides a lovely memory: “Let’s go back in time, shall we? School bus trip to Barcelona. Me being in the deepest closet any of the gheys had ever found himself in. My school crush found himself a girlfriend. They were on the same bus. Me having bought One Touch to listen to on my DISCMAN in the 15-ish hours it would take us to get there. This coming on. Me having a moment. Haven’t you all been there, sistren?”
*wipes tears* As he highlights, I think what makes this song even more poignant is that, from a queer perspective, “Just Let[ting] It Go” isn’t even about relinquishing an actual romantic possibility, but letting go of and making peace with doing thereof, of those silly little straight crushes, those people you obsess over but can and will never have. The almost universal queer experience of painful, unrequited obsession or lust or love, or whatever. And the equally painful struggle to come to terms with the fact that “there’s a good thing waiting for you, don’t you know?” (It Gets Better hễwm?). Even if you hear those words, will you ever feel them? Remorque goes on to add: “Sidenote: the other albums I brought with me were Survivor and The Notorious K.I.M. I was so LIT as a teenager.” YAS, I feel like teenage him and I would have enjoyed too many cutting-classes-to-smoke-and-listen-to-R&B breaks together.
Finally, we come to our 11. I have been so very fortunate to receive so many personal stories and anecdotes to colour in the details of this stupid little band’s work. This is one of those testimonies that made me especially grateful, and just … happy that I did this whole thing. So, the person you all betrayed so brutally and cruelly, is none other than sweet, thoughtful, gorgeous @Jonathan27. I am so sorry that it is accompanied by such a bitter result, my darling, but I hope that it ultimately doesn’t detract from the words which you deigned to honour me, and all of us, with, because they are stunning and introspective and personal in a way which makes me at least feel truly indebted to this forum, and this band, and to music in general:
“I remember the first time I thought I was in love. It was that overwhelmingly isolating feeling that consumes you, the one that knocks you off your feet by the sheer force of it. When you feel that much all at once especially for the first time, you can confuse it for something that it is not. I remember sitting in my room alone all evening with this song on repeat, just contemplating what he could be doing, why he wouldn’t text me back, when I would see him again. I thought surely this is love, this feeling that sought to devour me whole. I saw love as putting someone else’s happiness before my own. He’s the only one, he made me feel alright. Looking back on it, I realize how much I gave to someone incapable of such reciprocation. There was so much I needed to give to myself, but I didn’t see myself as deserving. When you’re on one side of those sort of feelings, the ones that eclipse your perspective, you feel like you’ll never move past them. That because you feel them this one time you’ll never feel it again, and it becomes so outrageously important that you be with this person. But that isn’t sustainable; it’s impossible to love someone with such neglect for oneself without it falling apart. “As soon as you get over him your life with truly shine”. That lyric has always stuck with me because now that I’m on the other side of it, I understand. We have to go through those first feelings and that first heartbreak to become the best form of ourselves. We have to suffer in order to shed the parts of ourselves that come from youth and naivety; it’s impossible to avoid the pain but when we allow ourselves to feel it we can grow from it. At the time I didn’t see myself as deserving of love, so his validation meant everything to me. I’ll never forget him, but I know now that he was never the one. How can I ask someone to see me one way when I don’t even see myself that way? And what I felt...if I can feel it once, I can feel it again, and I’ll be more equipped for it. Everything that is inside of me, I can give that to another person, someone who can reciprocate it. Pain isn’t meant to destroy us, it’s meant to shape us. It can be terrifying to lose part of ourselves when it’s all we have known, but ultimately the only way to move past it is to let it go. I didn’t like who I was then, but I like who I am now. “There’s a good thing waiting for you, don’t you know?”’
*wipes tears* As he highlights, I think what makes this song even more poignant is that, from a queer perspective, “Just Let[ting] It Go” isn’t even about relinquishing an actual romantic possibility, but letting go of and making peace with doing thereof, of those silly little straight crushes, those people you obsess over but can and will never have. The almost universal queer experience of painful, unrequited obsession or lust or love, or whatever. And the equally painful struggle to come to terms with the fact that “there’s a good thing waiting for you, don’t you know?” (It Gets Better hễwm?). Even if you hear those words, will you ever feel them? Remorque goes on to add: “Sidenote: the other albums I brought with me were Survivor and The Notorious K.I.M. I was so LIT as a teenager.” YAS, I feel like teenage him and I would have enjoyed too many cutting-classes-to-smoke-and-listen-to-R&B breaks together.
Finally, we come to our 11. I have been so very fortunate to receive so many personal stories and anecdotes to colour in the details of this stupid little band’s work. This is one of those testimonies that made me especially grateful, and just … happy that I did this whole thing. So, the person you all betrayed so brutally and cruelly, is none other than sweet, thoughtful, gorgeous @Jonathan27. I am so sorry that it is accompanied by such a bitter result, my darling, but I hope that it ultimately doesn’t detract from the words which you deigned to honour me, and all of us, with, because they are stunning and introspective and personal in a way which makes me at least feel truly indebted to this forum, and this band, and to music in general:
“I remember the first time I thought I was in love. It was that overwhelmingly isolating feeling that consumes you, the one that knocks you off your feet by the sheer force of it. When you feel that much all at once especially for the first time, you can confuse it for something that it is not. I remember sitting in my room alone all evening with this song on repeat, just contemplating what he could be doing, why he wouldn’t text me back, when I would see him again. I thought surely this is love, this feeling that sought to devour me whole. I saw love as putting someone else’s happiness before my own. He’s the only one, he made me feel alright. Looking back on it, I realize how much I gave to someone incapable of such reciprocation. There was so much I needed to give to myself, but I didn’t see myself as deserving. When you’re on one side of those sort of feelings, the ones that eclipse your perspective, you feel like you’ll never move past them. That because you feel them this one time you’ll never feel it again, and it becomes so outrageously important that you be with this person. But that isn’t sustainable; it’s impossible to love someone with such neglect for oneself without it falling apart. “As soon as you get over him your life with truly shine”. That lyric has always stuck with me because now that I’m on the other side of it, I understand. We have to go through those first feelings and that first heartbreak to become the best form of ourselves. We have to suffer in order to shed the parts of ourselves that come from youth and naivety; it’s impossible to avoid the pain but when we allow ourselves to feel it we can grow from it. At the time I didn’t see myself as deserving of love, so his validation meant everything to me. I’ll never forget him, but I know now that he was never the one. How can I ask someone to see me one way when I don’t even see myself that way? And what I felt...if I can feel it once, I can feel it again, and I’ll be more equipped for it. Everything that is inside of me, I can give that to another person, someone who can reciprocate it. Pain isn’t meant to destroy us, it’s meant to shape us. It can be terrifying to lose part of ourselves when it’s all we have known, but ultimately the only way to move past it is to let it go. I didn’t like who I was then, but I like who I am now. “There’s a good thing waiting for you, don’t you know?”’
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Oh fuck off.
WHAT THE FUCK
NO NO NO NO NO NO
NO NO NO NO NO NO
Finally!