WEAR MY KISS

Sugababes (fourth edition)

Just what the HELL is going on here? This is NOT how it's supposed to work! What's supposed to happen is this - the Sugababes' popularity tumbles after booting out the last person in the band who actually had any right to use the name, their subsequent singles flop as the fans desert them, the album (which, let's not forget, has been very publicly re-recorded sans Keisha, hence the delay) bombs when it finally appears and Island Records finally give up on the whole thing and write it off as a loss. The band clearly have not read the script. For one thing, this is the third single to be released before the album - usually it's one single followed a week or two later by the main event. Now, whether or not you agree that whatever's left of the line-up should still be referred to as the Sugababes doesn't seem to matter, because they're carrying on regardless. In fact, the video features hundreds of clones of this week's band members, so they're clearly not shy of replacements should things go a bit awry in the future. However, the thing that really goes against what ought to be happening and isn't is this - Get Sexy was awful and it featured Keisha, About A Girl was good and it didn't (or did, depending on which version you heard), and now we've got this one which is better still and doesn't. To be fair, it wouldn't have mattered which line-up did Get Sexy, it would still've been a big steaming pile, but the fact remains that the Sugababes, such as they are, are getting better. I've no doubt that Britney Spears would recognise the "da-da-da" refrain, but that aside this song is piled high with attitude, drive and pointless sound effects. I still don't think that this band is worthy of its own name anymore, but you know what, they might yet crawl out of the wreckage of Sugababes 3.0 with their heads held high, and who'd have predicted that six months ago?

PAPER ROMANCE

Groove Armada

And here's another song I like. Is it pop? Is it retro? Couldn't care less what it is, but by heck is it good. It's got a nice, straightforward melody (heavy on the electronics, light on the guitars and once again the poor old kazoo doesn't get a look-in) with all the hard work done by the singers, and if Groove Armada don't go Top Ten with this then life just isn't fair.