Here are my thoughts on some of the new girl band contenders marked, of course, in Spice Girls out of five!
Little Mix
In October I wrote an article stating it was time for a new Type A (see: Spice Girls, Girls Aloud) girl band to emerge, and my wish was almost immediately granted. X Factor’s history with girl bands put me off the scent, but considering how few pop groups have succeeded without X Factor in the past few years, I should have guessed the group I dreamed of would be birthed the same way. Although there are only four of them Little Mix are typical type A: they’re a group of genuine friends with individual looks and personalities who focus on appealing to girls, not boys, but are still pretty and glamorous enough to be aspirational. As a Type A group they have the potential for stratospheric success and to go down in history as the great girl band of the 2010s, but we’ll have to wait til their debut single and album next year to see if that potential is fulfilled. FYI: Jade’s my fave.
Vanquish
Another day, another act hoping to prove that it’s possible to successfully launch a pure pop group without a major label. These girls seem to have made the best out of their situation, though. They’ve gotten some properly good pop writers to give them songs, including Wayne Hector and even Nick Dresti/Space Cowboy, who is now working closely with Xenomania. The Harder You Love is a catchy little number, but unfortunately the look and sound is very girlband-by-numbers. I will be listening out for more from them as I don’t really mind if my pop music sounds like it was made in 2003 (that was a good year!) but I don’t think they can compete with the new 2011 brand of girl band as exemplified by bands like Little Mix and Oh My!.
StooShe
You may be surprised to hear that I’ve never blogged about Stooshe before. When they first appeared on Popjustice in March I thought they were mildly entertaining, but they were not an act with any potential for mainstream success so I didn’t think they were worth writing about. Therefore I was very surprised to see them signed to Warner and even more shocked to hear that they’d been playlisted by Radio 1. I like the idea of a lairy, rebellious girlband but Stooshe’s music is pretty average and their image doesn’t appeal to me at all. Neither can I imagine it appealing to anyone who doesn’t go out in Dalston. If they release a fantastic pop song (Betty Woz Gone is not it) they certainly could have a hit, but I think they’re more likely to be just another Ruff Diamondz – a good idea simply not executed well enough.
From Above
Now here’s a music video I never thought I’d see! Around the same time as The Saturdays, Daisy from S Club 8 also joined a girlgroup. In fact I couldn’t remember which was which for a while! They seemed ill-fated until quite bizarrely they were spotted by Matthew Knowles, Beyoncé’s dad and Destiny’s Child svengali, who signed them up for management. He left them pretty much to rot until MTV decided to make a documentary on them this year, which is currently showing around the world. Unfortunately, no-one is watching or talking about the show, so their debut single doesn’t hold much promise. It’s actually quite a catchy little R&B number but no song will save these girls from the same fate they faced three years ago. They finally got around to saying hello and now it looks like they’ll be saying good bye in the same breath.
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