Sweet 7: What Went Wrong?

There’s a lot to be said about the last studio album of the Sugababes. It’s the first and only one to feature Jade Ewen. Keisha was cruelly kicked. Everything that surrounds this album seems to play like a car about to crash and burn. Yes, that pun was intended. The album was delayed a few times, but when the album did leak and was officially released, it made a lot of people angry.

Sweet 7 was meant to be a breakout album. Was it really needed? They were at the time one of the most popular girl groups and went on to be dubbed as the most successful girl group of the century by the Guiness Book of Records. All the singles they released managed to reach the top 10. Get Sexy was massive, About A Girl was a tune. I don’t like Wear My Kiss, but the lyrics are catchy. In the late 00s and early 10s, you’d be lucky to have names like Stargate, Red One and Bruno Mars in the credits of your album.

Every member of the band have been decent singers. Mutya, Keisha and Siobhan from the original line-up were phenomial vocalists. Jade is a fantastic singer. She was amazing on Eurovision and she got the UK in 5th place in 2009 which is still one of the country’s highest scores in the contest in 20 years. She was also great in when she played Jasmine in Aladdin.

It also had all the tropes of a popular album at the time; slick beats, trashtastic lyrics, a raunchy image, autotune, synthetic baselines and dubstep and very American sound.

They had even been a part of Jay-Z’s label, Roc Nation. On top of that, tensions were at an all time high. This album had everything it needed to be a hit album; good singers, key tropes, catchy tunes, great producers and big promotion.

Rumours of the band splitting up or members leaving could not be escaped when Heidi and Keisha performed as a duo. In a shocking twist of events, it was Keisha that had been evicted. We are told many different stories of what had happened, but the one thing that remains true is that it wasn’t Keisha’s choice to leave. She later admitted she had been replaced whilst she was still in the band.

The band’s music had become so americianized, they lost who they were. Getting rid of Keisha proved to be the biggest mistake of the band’s career and had a negative impact on both Keisha’s side and the new line-up’s side. The result of it is the lowest selling album in the band’s history. Do not be surprised if you hear many fans of the Sugababes pretend that this album did not exist.

It cannot be denied that this album captured the attention of many for all the wrong reasons. It leaves a sour taste in a lot of people’s mouth and ears. There are some fans of this album somewhere out there in the world, but Siobhan Donaghy is not one of them. Don’t expect any more reinditions of Get Sexy.

It was a risk for the band to take a break out from writing the songs. A lot of missed opportunities and tension between the band during Keisha’s last moments in the band. Regardless of what happened between the band and the staff, they‘re shower of dicks to oust Keisha out the way they did.

This may have been a good album, but I can’t think of anything that could have saved this album. Even if Keisha wasn‘t kicked out, I think the band would have come to a natural end and the originals would have reunited.

I both love and hate this album. The album is a pile of shit and everyone knows it. Sweet 7 is the first album I thought off for the list albums I love that everybody hates. I hate how basic it is. I hate how they replaced the best singer of the third line-up, especially in such an awful way. I despise Get Sexy, Wear My Kiss and Miss Everything because of how cringey they make me feel.

I love how much of a guilty pleasure this album is. About A Girl is a great pop song. I like Crash & Burn, Thank You For The Heartbreak and Little Miss Perfect. One of the best things about this album is how autobiographical it is. Crash & Burn fits the album perfectly. So does She’s a Mess. Amelle’s part in She’s a Mess where she raps in a cockney accent ‘everybody go mad, everybody go psycho’ is iconic and hilarious.

The album also became a blessing in disguise. I think the originals would have gotten back together anyway cause of the bond they had, but this album pushed it further. People started appreciating the original line-up more in support of Keisha. The 4th line-up of the band split up a few years after Sweet 7 and it was around the same time, the originals got back together.

I for one, am glad the originals are back together. I wish their comeback single Flatline was more successful than what it was, because it would have been great karma for the bad treatment they got over the years.