Intro
The first intro GA have used and it’s a quietly spoken electro affair, leading to…
Models
I love the tempo of this one, so fast and jerky. You can’t dance to it normally. It’s very 90s – somewhere between Love Shack and the fabled girlband Crush. I absolutely love it.
10/10
Biology
It’s funny how this song didn’t get a great reaction at first from many GA fans, yet it’s now many people’s song of the year. I liked it straight away, so either I’m ahead of the crowd or just less picky than other people. It’s not quite No Good Advice but it’s much better than their ballady cover versions, and the lyrics are genius as ever.
9/10
Wild Horses
This song begins with the girls singing choir-style, then breaks into as close as they get to scary punk-rock. Well, OK, it’s not actually punk at all, but there are attitude-filled talky bits and a fierce chorus. This is the song with the famous train noises from Cheryl. Woo woo!
8/10
See The Day
I liked the original of this song, which I downloaded before I heard the GA version, and I think the girls have done a good cover version of it, but I really am bored of it now, and it didn’t seem to take very long for me to feel this way. I hope the song is a success, I think they’ll be far from Christmas no.1 but hopefully they’ll beat G4 and Crazy Frog, if not Westlife. It is at least an improvement on I’ll Stand By You.
6/10
Watch Me Go
The JC song! Mega-excitement! The backing music is very JC as well, and there are a few “OW!”s in the background which are so definitely him. You can’t get much more impressive in my eyes than an *N Sync member on backing vocals. I wonder if this song was originally intended for JC? Presumably he would change the lyric “said your name was Ben”, maybe to “Jen” or…um…I can’t think of any more. I also have to bless the Fannypack-esque talky bit in this song as the best of the many talky bits on Chemistry.
8/10
Waiting
This is rather 60s, the new Love Machine perhaps. It’s really good fun and the middle 8 is extremely Spice Girls-esque, so it’s worth listening to just for that! It also has the 3 immortal words “in the groove”, so it’s close enough dedicated to me.
7/10
Whole Lotta History
The first original ballad and once again it’s extremely Spicy! Think 2 Become One or Too Much. I can totally imagine the Spicies singing this and it makes me like it all the more. If they do have a comeback this year (10 years since they started, remember), they are ordered to go straight to Xenomania for ace new songs.
8/10
Long Hot Summer
This still sounds good although I’ve heard it millions of times (probably literally).
9/10
Swinging London Town
This seems to be many people’s favourite on this album but personally I think there are many better tracks. Of course it’s still good, it’s Girls Aloud, but considering it’s electro, usually my favourite type of GA song, it’s actually a bit boring.
7/10
It’s Magic
Aagin, I find this one a bit boring – every time I listen to it, it just seems to float past without much notice. There’s nothing wrong with it at all, just not as much right with it as the other tracks. In a context other than this fabulous album, I’d probably be really excited about it.
7/10
No Regrets
Another ballad but sadly not a very good one. It’s kind of latin-y which is only really good on crazy upbeat party songs. They also reference fish and chips, which is not a good sign. Not that I can remember anyone doing it before, but it’s hardly the height of class.
6/10
Racy Lacey
The lyrics award of the album has to go to this one, cos it’s highlarious. Again it would not have been out of place on Spiceworld. It does seem really short, though.
8/10