Change

I think there’s beautiful irony that the fifth album from the Sugababes is called Change. Having survived two line-up changes, is something that would kill off many pop groups, but not Sugababes. With this album, they got their second number one album and their biggest hit, About You Now. It follows nicely from Taller in More Ways and helped them retain their crown as one of the pop girl groups from the UK. The changes they were known for would be the final line-up’s biggest downfall. But at that moment, they were doing alright. It was clear many people were missing Mutya, and some were missing Siobhan too, but they had some good solo albums to listen to from Mutya and Siobhan.

It took me a while to get over Mutya's departure. At first it felt that they were trying to make Amelle a Mutya clone and wouldn’t let her own personality shine until this album cam along. At first, I really hated the album Changed. Eventually, I warmed up to Change, but I still rank it low when it comes to their discography.

A lot of the songs on the album are quite cute like Change, Surprise, Denial and My Love is Pink. My favourite song from the album is Change. I think it's a lovely ballad that's really underrated and overshadowed by their biggest hit, "About You Now". Change is a solid pop album and fits in really nice with the rest of the collection, unlike Sweet 7 (aka the album we all pretend dosen’t exist) which stood out like a soar thumb and lacked the sense of progression and sound. It’s still a million times better than the album we pretend dosen’t exist.

Other than About You Know, Change, Denial and Never Gonna Dance Again, there’s not really anything else that makes this album stand out. Because of that, it took me a while to get this album review down. I couldn’t think of anything to say about it other than some of the track are great, but the rest feels filllerish. I don’t really think it’s that much of a special album. It’s a very polished pop album, but it lacks the punch and the roughness that made the old Sugababes albums so charming.

Change continues with the same sort of sound and atmosphere that Taller In More Ways had. Never Gonna Dance Again was originally written during the Taller In More Ways era and was reworked for this album. I think it’s one of the best songs on the album. 3 Spoons of Sugar gives me St. Trininans vibes. The first half of the album is more fun to listen to than the second half because I prefer them because they’ve got personality and punch.

The album is easy to listen to. The main issue I have with the album is how forgettable it is. I can’t remember half the songs on the album and the whole album makes me think of Summer 2009 which was the first listened to the album in full.

On the whole, I think the choices of singles were quite good. I was a bit scared writing this review, because I know it’s one of the band’s most beloved albums, but it just feels so basic to me. It has moments when the vocals and harmonies are on point and other times where it‘s just flat. Denial had some great vocals and the music videoes were really artistic and the third line-up had some really great photo shoots so I have no idea how they ended up with such a dull album cover. The album is a little bit boring at times. It feels more like a Taller in More Ways 2.0.