POP TRUMPS: Week 6

[katstevens.livejournal.com]

The rules are here but it couldn't be simpler. 10 is the highest, 0 is the lowest, if you really don't know then go for 5. Giving reasons for your scores in the comments is encouraged!

These girls were the very first poptimists canon victims just over two years ago. Since then they've acquired a new member, scored another number one, and secured themselves a firm place in the poptimst bosom. Hurhurhur I said bosom. But how good are they at being popstars? Only you can decide!


Sugababes

[Poll #1142476]

Backstreet Boys ratings:
- Singing voice/musical ability: 7
- Consistency: 6
- H0TTness: 4
- Dancing Skillz/Visual: 7
- Chart success: 8
- Extra-curricular activity: 3
- Party Animal Rating: 4
- Eccentricity: 3
- Legacy: 6
- Best track: Everybody (Backstreet's Back)
- Botherdness rating: 23

Comments

[hoshuteki.livejournal.com]

Are they extra-curricular party animals? I have no idea, tbh.

[alexmacpherson.livejournal.com]

Mutya was a LEGENDARILY hardcore party animal back in the day (and signs are that she is veering this way again).

[katstevens.livejournal.com]

Surely she is a MUM now and has toned down her antics? She definitely seems to have done so for her musical output?

[alexmacpherson.livejournal.com]

She did tone down her antics for a while but I think they have been toned very firmly back up again now.

[martinskidmore.livejournal.com]

I almost never mark these categories, as I rarely know anything about it.

[hoshuteki.livejournal.com]

Oh yes, I suppose that would have been an option: not to give a rating...

[katstevens.livejournal.com]

If you don't know anything about them then they probably deserve a 0! But you can always give 5 for an average score - voting in all categories helps keeps the percentages reasonable...

My scores explained

[katstevens.livejournal.com]

Singing: you can't fault them on lung-power, though none of their voices are very distinctive. Perhaps this isn't a bad thing, especially if you are in a group and your voice has to harmonise with other voices? Anyway, I think their voices are lovely. 9
Consistency: this week I'm using this category to mean 'consistently GOOD', which they really aren't. I only really love one in four of their singles, the rest are kind of average. Get better songwriters, girls! 3
H0ttness: Heidi would score them a ten even if the others were totally minging (which they obviously aren't). 10.
Dancing Skills/Visuals: OK they are SHITE at dancing but to be fair, they know this and generally don't bother apart from the odd sechsy wiggle. But still, AMELLE PUT YOUR BUM AWAY it just looks so weird when she sticks it out like that. They usually have good videos though - Push The Button is kind of awesomely simple. Hmm: 6
Chart Success: six number ones, eight other top ten hits and another 7 top 40 hits. That's pretty good going out of five albums! But Girls Aloud have had seventeen top ten hits. 9
Extra-curricular: Siobhan Donaghy is doing a play. The fact that I had to wikipedia that earns them a mere 2.
Party Animal: They quite like going out on the piss, don't they? Heheheh on that wiki entry for Siobhan, she says: "It's alright to drink when you're DJ'ing. I managed to put away half a bottle of vodka last time I was doing it. Also, only try to mix house tunes and don't bother mixing anything else. And you must dance to the records you're playing." A solid 7 there.
Eccentricity: They seem quite sane, don't they? Mutya was definitely the Source Of Mentalness within the group. 3, for continued services to the body glitter industry.
Legacy: Difficult, this - I'd say they have pretty good saturation in the public mind, everyone knows who the Sugababes are. And it's 'cool' for Jo Whiley to like them. But have they inspired anyone to start a singing troupe? A generous 7.

Re: My scores explained

[alexmacpherson.livejournal.com]

Surely their famed bitchiness counts as part of their extra-curricular activities? Mutya and Keisha = most legendarily evil toxic dyad in history of pop. Did you know they MADE UP THEIR OWN LANGUAGE so they could bitch about Siobhan behind her back and to her face at the same time??

Their legacy is terrible, NO ONE has followed them or Girls Aloud :(

Re: My scores explained

[umlauts.livejournal.com]

Please, that language of theirs just involved adding an extra sound between syllables, and kids have been doing that for YEARS. My cousins and my siblings used to talk in an almost identical made-up language 20 years ago!

For better or worse?

[katstevens.livejournal.com]

Which line-up is your favourite?

I'd go for the core years of Mutya-Keisha-Heidi for song quality, but current line-up of Keisha-Heidi-Amelle for H0TTness as *swoooon* Heidi looks k-gorgeous at the moment.

However I do have a soft spot for Siobhan, seeing as she's from my manor innit. Wess Lunnun freckle crew reprezent!

[umlauts.livejournal.com]

They're now so boring I don't care. Best line-up was the first, but yep, the second one had the best songs. Take out "New Year" (merely good) and their opening six singles are amongst the finest opening runs of recent history - that is "Overload", "Run For Cover", "Soul Sound", "Freak Like Me", "Round Round" and it's pretty good for a few more.

Last two albums I think have been quite piss-poor and single choices have been baffling for aeons now.

[catsgomiaow.livejournal.com]

I agree with all of this!

[umlauts.livejournal.com]

In another world, they released "Million Different Ways" instead of "In The Middle", "Supernatural" instead of "Shape" and "2 Hearts" instead of "Ugly" and all would be well in singles land.

But they didn't, so ner.

[katstevens.livejournal.com]

Do you think there's any way they could be salvaged? Or should they just give up?

[umlauts.livejournal.com]

To be honest, I think they should give up now. They're creating a nasty pall behind them. While the Sugababes are there getting credibility for no good reason (Um, yes, I'm sure they really have that much input into the songs, look how many co-writers they have, and also, Keisha pretty much admitted that they had little control over what they did when she badmouthed a label exec for insisting that "Ugly" be a single), other pop acts are being negatively compared to them for unfair reasons.

I should of course mention I don't care whether people write their own songs or make their own choices or not but when part of a band's angling for credibility is that they do these things when they don't, they're not entitled to the product differention, the credibility, or the benefit of the doubt.

Quality's gone down, time to leave, girls. Change is sub-par except for maybe 3 songs, and I don't even rate "About You Now" that highly, Luke and Cathy have written so many other better songs for other people, this just isn't even average for them.

[alexmacpherson.livejournal.com]

Taller In More Ways is at least as good as Angels With Dirty Faces. Change is blah (but a gazillion times better than Tangled Up) but I don't care, cuz 'About You Now' and 'Never Gonna Dance Again' rule the world and that's what matters.

[umlauts.livejournal.com]

It so isn't. AWDF is rock solid - "Blue", "Supernatural", "More Than A Million Miles", "Switch" are all really solid album tracks.

"Gotta Be You", "Obesssion" and a few others on TIMW are just embarrassing dross, and "Ugly" is worse than "Shape" if you're going for bad single choices too. "Red Dress" also pales in comparison to "Round Round" in the Xenomania stakes (though it's good).

Re: My scores explained

[katstevens.livejournal.com]

HANG ON, 0 for H0ttness? B-b-but lovely Heidi is so gorgeous! EXPLAIN YOURSELF.

Re: My scores explained

[umlauts.livejournal.com]

Too plastic to be sexy. Lovely and pretty, but.. for the "edgy" pop band it's OK to like, she has no edge. None of their videos have ever been sexy except maybe "Push The Button" (and I don't think the video is up to the song, nowhere near).

[freakytigger.livejournal.com]

I find it hard to care now too. I agree with Lex that it's a shame about the legacy - it's odd that such a consistently high selling band didn't have any successful imitators.

[bengraham.livejournal.com]

I've counted Amelle dating the guy who raped her sister, beating up that girl in a Guildford nightclub, and her recent arrest as "extra-curricular activity"!