The Saturdays ‘Wordshaker’ Review.
THE SATURDAYS
Wordshaker
(FASCINATION) B+
The Saturdays’ debut album, Chasing Lights, took a while to grow on me but once it did, I found it quite hard to turn off. As I said though, it wasn’t always smooth sailing and I actually thought I hated these girls at one point; with that first album, I spent a few weeks unsure of how I felt about it AND the Girls themselves. However, upon initial listen to their sophomore, Wordshaker, it’s easy to pick this is an instant flavour-fix of some of the best pop music money can buy. This is already a huge step-up from the debut album which didn’t feel as instantly catchy as this follow up has.
First single ‘Forever Is Over’ was co-written by James Bourne (formerly of Busted and Son Of Dork), and is an up-front rock-infused pop number that takes the girls out of their public comfort zone; it’s something incredibly different to what we’re used to hearing from them and, say what you will about the actual song, it’s good to see they’re attempting to move forward, in an age when most pop acts are just happy to stay where they are. I know a lot of people aren’t too fussed by this single (nor was I), but it is an absolute grower with one of the best single covers this side of ’09.
‘Ego’, which is easily the best track on the album (and maybe their best overall?), comes complete with a chorus so glittery it would make Rachel Stevens (or the people behind her ace 2005 album Come & Get It, anyway) proud. It’s by far-and-away the most pop-forward moment on the record, and one that would sit quite comfortably on Australian radio waves. ‘Wordshaker’ follows suit; big chorus with huge electronic glees shimmering over it. The second best moment here.
‘One Shot’ has a demonic urgency seeded through its chorus and proves to be another defining moment on the album, but – sadly – things take a turn for the worst on ‘No One’ and ‘Denial’, both of which are huge steaming piles of shit. ’2 a.m.’ should go into that pile too, but somehow it actually manages to sound all kinds of great, whilst still actually being Very Terrible. Go figure.
‘Here Standing’ is a gorgeous ballad with an epic build-up and some interesting beat-canons let off sporadically through the song. On a similar tip, there’s one track on the record which credits all five girls as songwriters called ‘Deeper’ and – shock horror – it’s not rubbish!
It’s certainly not perfect, but it’s a vast improvement on the last record. There’s an obvious step-forward from their first album on here and, thankfully, they seem to really pull it off. The vocals seem to be a little more spread-out between the other members this time too, thankfully.
An excellent second move on the Chessboard of Pop from The Saturdays.
Sounds awesome! The album cover is just gorgeous and I really do need to get my hands on this CD – Pronto! Great review too!
I think there are 4 brilliant tracks on the album and all of them should be singles (Forever is Over isn’t one of them). I’ll save those thoughts for my review about to go up (in an hour or so)…
I must say that I was completely blown away by this album; there was no way I could have expected it to be as good as it is. I h ave to say, that my favorite song on the album is Lose Control, and it is so brilliant, that it will probably be ignored as a possible single in the same way the equally amazing Work was on Chasing Lights. Oh well, I still love it!
“Ego” is FANTASTIC. I never really got the “Work” hyperventilation, but “Ego” is totally worthy of that level of praise and more. I really hope it helps turn the album sales around for them.
Ill-advised font color for the album notwithstanding, their artwork has been pretty great this era.
Like the first album, this album borders on the slow too much, which makes little sense considering how many of their singles have been up-tempo tracks. They could’ve done completely without this album.
Lose Control is the best song on the album. I hope it’s a single. Really good in a club. Plus i like Open Up which has a unique message. Wordshaker and One Shot are good too but maybe a bit similar. Having listened to Chasing lights songs a lot more, i’m more used to them and think that album is a bit better. Up and Lose Control are their best songs overall.