The Sugababes Discography Rate

A question, my loves: is the roundup format (eliminations post, albums graphic and Top X0 graphic) agreeable to you all? Would like the evolving state of affairs to be as clear as possible as we move up through the leaderboard.
The fact that About A Girl is still here. Is this a joke?
Obsession, Now You're Gone, and Change can all leave.
I hope next we'll get rid of Like The Weather, Blue, Angels, Gotta Be You, Side Chick, Ugly and Soul Sound
Angels With Dirty Faces and Gotta Be You should have vacated by now too. Next tier of needing culled would be Easy, Situation's Heavy, My Love Is Pink, Never Gonna Dance Again, About A Girl, Shape, Red Dress and Blue.
I'm quite shocked Gotta Be You is still in. I used to like it quite a bit but it hasn't aged too well.
Some of you might as well start preparing your meltdowns now.
 
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He/Him
A question, my loves: is the roundup format (eliminations post, albums graphic and Top X0 graphic) agreeable to you all? Would like the evolving state of affairs to be as clear as possible as we move up through the leaderboard.





Some of you might as well start preparing your meltdowns now.

I love it all, Great One but would also love a list of the remaining songs off the albums if that's okay. The 'Babes discography is so wide I have no idea what the 5 tracks left on Change are or what is still standing on Three or Taller etc beyond the favourites I watch out for...
 
but would also love a list of the remaining songs off the albums if that's okay.

Agreed! I like the graphics, but now that we're getting down to a more manageable list of remaining songs, having the remaining titles listed out every 10 or so eliminations would be good.

Speaking of which, I still have a zero in play. This is getting ridiculous.
 

Island

Staff member
I love it all, Great One but would also love a list of the remaining songs off the albums if that's okay. The 'Babes discography is so wide I have no idea what the 5 tracks left on Change are or what is still standing on Three or Taller etc beyond the favourites I watch out for...
And that's a handsome Top 50, barring a few egregious omissions ("Spiral", "Just Let It Go", sob).

TOP_50.jpg
 
Hey everyone!
I would've loved to have voted in this but it has been amazing reading the love and thoughts on the Suga discography. All of this has moved me to want to contribute to the countdown (as I have only been reading the forum for years)

If I did my 11 would have been Ace Reject
it is just angelic and effortlessly moving to the listener. Oh what they could have achieved if it had more attention

My 10's: Spiral, My Love Is Pink, Never Gonna Dance Again, About A Girl, Easy, Freak Like Me, Like The Weather and Killer (if it was elligable)

There are so many more songs that I love and saying that I probably would have scored too highly overall.

Also Undignified should take one step forward in position #61 with a score of 7.012,
while Supernatural should switch to #62 with a score of 7.009 (they both deserve higher)



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If I did my 11 would have been Ace Reject
If only you had indeed taken part...
My 10's: Spiral
God fucking dammit.

EDIT:
Also Undignified should take one step forward in position #61 with a score of 7.012,
while Supernatural should switch to #62 with a score of 7.009 (they both deserve higher)
Oop, I noted down "Undignified"s average wrong; it's 7.006, so the order the remains the same.
 
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londonrain

Staff member
If only you had indeed taken part....

Stop trolling the Ace Reject fans, @beyoncésweave! I'm getting all twitchy now. (But seriously, @Untouchable Ace, if only you had voted...)

Also Undignified should take one step forward in position #61 with a score of 7.012,
while Supernatural should switch to #62 with a score of 7.009 (they both deserve higher)

Death at somebody who didn't even vote somehow outdoing all of us in managing to spot the one error in this entire rate.
 
Y'all can't seem to lay off One Touch...











































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Lush Life
Score: 7.322
Highest: 10/10 x 8 (@theincredibleflipper, @CasuallyCrazed, @Petty Mayonnaise, @DoggySwami, @HRH, @xtophermorrison, @Mr.Arroz, @acl)
Lowest: 1/10 x 1 (@Lucas) wtf
My score: 8/10
––

It’s certified now that y’all are hateful little beasts, which is a damn shame because this is just fantastic. Definitely the most ~experimental~ track from One Touch, it departs from from other such tracks later in their oeuvre in not being a noisy racket; it nonetheless suffers the same fate in being out too early. The genius of this lies in its production, which crosses the line from R&B into trip-hop with its dusty beat paired with an earworm-y synth. There are so many great little details to this: the reverberating piano chords; the almost entirely self-contained bassline squireling away; the funk guitars kicking in intermittently (all courtesy of Ron Tom and Loose Ends bandmember Carl McIntosh).

With all this, the vocals match beautifully; Mutya and Keisha sounding insistent, and Siobhán cooing in wonderfully softly. The processing on the vocals has the effect of their voices criss-crossing each other, as if whispered across the room and floating around and through. The “ooooh, lush!” bits are a particular highlight, gelling the whole thing together. Lyrically, it’s a story of gentle defiance, seeking independence without interference (from boys, or otherwise), and the imagined tranquil, fulfilment therein, and counselling patience in order to get there, as much to oneself as to others. It’s important to note that this sounds one of the first dark overtures in the album, the line “Don't need no one abusing me” slipped in inconspicuously. As such, it portends the album’s final, dark quarter about to come. The jittering aspects of the production abet this sense of unease, even if the overarching feeling of lounging pacification takes over before long.

The overall result is everything it says on the label. It is indeed just lush; the perfect Sunday afternoon jam to unwind to in warm sunlight and revel in being simply … content, if, ever so slightly disquietedly. Or alternately, the unwinding may indeed be the aspiration, away from the more discomforting reality pressing in ever so lightly.

Several of you brought up something called a Zara Larrson, which I’m pretty sure is a communicable disease. What that has to do with the lush life, I do not know. And neither does VivaForever (7), “The Zara Larsson one is better. This is still pretty good though.” DJHazey (8) is also on this ish, which definitely backs up my theory, “It’s got nothing on Zara's, but what does? Still I'm kind of bopping to that 'coffee shop' bassline a bit. Those little "lush" interjections definitely work in its favor too.” Solenciennes (8) also needs some meds, “although Zara Larsson ended up snatching the title for best “Lush Life” some years later, they should be proud of this song. The “oooh lush” bits are addictive and the lyrics feel very wise beyond their years. I can see this morose depression progressing through Siobhán’s solo career where the Sugababes moved into raunchy sex jams, flirtation and love songs so it’s interesting to see where they diverge, I guess that’s why Siobhán’s presence (and loss) is so acutely felt.” Firstable, this doesn’t quite reach morose depression, and secondable, as we have covered across 50 odd songs, the Sugababes onwards trajectory was not purely raunchy sex jams, flirtation and love songs, as there was a fair (if more lowkey) dose of depression bops. But correct on the impact of Siobhán; there are some clear through-lines from this to Revolution In Me. Filler (5) rounds up this Sara messery with “I'd much rather have this playing in the awful sponsor bumpers on The X Factor than Zara Larsson, for what it's worth”. Okay now I’m certain Zara Larsson is a brand of anti-fungal cream.

uno (8) switches things up with a reference I get! “This kinda sounds like it could've been on Sophie Ellis-Bextor's "Read My Lips" album -- which is completely a compliment.” Ironheade (8), of course, is a sucker for the song’s production richness, “Lush it is not. Indeed, it's quite compellingly raw, dominated by a deep, woody jazz bass and spacious nu-soul piano chords. There's such a live feel to it, and I mean that in more ways than one – there's a genuine, organic life to the production, especially when they drop some sparse funk guitar over the bridge. The synth lead in the chorus sounds… well, almost G-funk, and it works better than I expected it would. That said, I feel like they really could have done without the vocal filters. I mean, Mutya absolutely does not need them, Siobhán's strong yet soft vocals on the chorus are as compelling as always, and Keisha gets to show off some of the glorious soul vocals she would unleash to their full extent in the 3.0 era over the end. C'mon, producers.”

*Brief disgusting interlude* courtesy of roux (2), “This is a pretty unremarkable stop on the nostalgia trip to be honest.” Hold me, @ohnostalgia, before I knock this binch’s lights out.

Let’s resume. “This should be on every single Late Night playlist,” requests a bleary-eyed mrdonut (7). “Sounds beautiful and almost a bit creepy. Good album track,” warrants a … 6 from PCDPG. “This is decent but not exceptional,” says londonrain (6.5). Remorque (6.5) has a lot more nice things to say for the same score, “Continues the organic vibe the album finds itself in in the middle with “Soul Sound” and “One Touch” preceding it. It’s a lovely song and though the girls give it their all, it’s not one of my favourites on the album. I still remember being in love with it when I first bought the “Overload” single, but through the years they’ve made better songs in a similar vein.” “Should have just stayed the “Overload” B-side,” tylerc904 (6). Why? So you can give it a 3, boochild? I don’t think so.

Here’s Blayke (9) to make the same suggestion in a decidedly less hateful way, “I never used to appreciate this song, and in fact I used to skip it. I still at times need to be in a particular mood to listen to this song but I really like it. I kind of think it would work better in place of “Don’t Wanna Wait” as a B-Side. Mutya’s voice once again makes me smile ear-to-ear #cheesystan.” Chanex (9) appreciates its Nutri-Bullet-esque qualities, “A solid, dependable jam,” lalaclairi_ (9) “always loved the harmonies on this song.” Moi aussi!

acl (10) also bops sullenly, “Effortless vocals with fat beats, and a groove.” In the absence of @Kirkland, CasuallyCrazed (10) is here to stan 1.0’s True Credibility, “1.0 was clearly the hippest line-up, with this song serving as exhibit A. Such a chill sonic landscape – its all very 90s Moby.”

kal (9) is a bit stupefied, “Seriously, what even is this song?! It's like Sugababes taking on Massive Attack's Mezzanine sound before Massive Attack came up with it.” This is a bit moot as Mezzanine was released in 1998 before One Touch (2000), but while I agree that Massive Attack had a fair influence on this (on account of Mr McVey), I actually think that the sound here is more evocative of their slightly grittier and rougher early sound (circa Blue Lines – see “Blue Lines”, or “Lately”) as opposed to the relatively more polished Mezzanine sound. Also, also! for proper Mezzanine influence, see Ms Dongahy’s later work itself – “Halcyon Days” from Ghosts is an homage/rip-off of “Teardrop”. Constantino (8) also lands one final trip-hop reference, “This Tricky-esque downtrodden 90s Bristol-scene trap REVELATION! When will Zara Larsson? I love this but it’s got no chance in this rate, unfortunately.” Sigh, yep.


 
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Lush Life was an extra track on the German Overload single before the album came out. At first I ignored it because it felt slow and boring to my teenie self. Little did I know how much I grew to love it. I was 15 when One Touch arrived and to be honest it didn't really appear to me at first because I missed the bops. Just liek Lush Life did the whole album grew on me like crazy. It ended up being in my all time top 10. So every elemiation is a sad sad situation. But I have high hopes to see at least two songs from it up there in the sky...
 
At first I ignored it because it felt slow and boring to my teenie self. Little did I know how much I grew to love it. I was 15 when One Touch arrived and to be honest it didn't really appear to me at first because I missed the bops.

That is a completely normal response for a 15 year old...which makes even crazier the fact that these three girls were able to record such a mature track at that age.

Honestly, this song encapsulates the whole concept of the band. It doesn't get better than this in that respect.
 
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