Album Review: The Saturdays – Finest Selection: The Greatest Hits
4 min read
UK pop girl group The Saturdays have had an incredible run thus far, their debut single If This Is Love reached top ten status back in 2008; and it wasn’t before long that the girls (Una, Rochelle, Mollie, Frankie & Vanessa) were touring with the likes of Girls Aloud and playing their own arena shows. The Saturdays kept themselves as busy as Rihanna, releasing a new album almost every year; their debut album Chasing Lights in 2008, Wordshaker in 2008, Headlines! in 2010, On Your Radar in 2011 and 2013’s Living For The Weekend. It’s now time to focus on the 17 singles (plus some newbies) released over the course of their six year career, The Saturdays have released their first definitive collection Finest Selection; The Greatest Hits.
Rather than start from the beginning, the collection mixes it up and starts with What About Us (feat. Sean Paul) released from The Saturdays most recent album Living For The Weekend; a good choice as it is one of their catchier numbers. Higher (feat. Flo Rida) was recognised the strongest track released from Headlines!, as well as one of the most heavily produced; Top 10 hit Ego continues the group’s trend of delivering an infectiously catchy track, whereas All Fired Up is one of the group’s most blandly repetitive tracks. What Are You Waiting For? is the compilation’s leading single and first of the three new songs, it’s actually a little disappointing; the energy is there, but what really lets the song down is its excessive production and typical pop repetitiveness. Finally, we get to hear something from their debut album, Up gives you an insight into why and how Chasing Lights launched their career; the track is still as addictive as it was back in ’08.
Wordshaker‘s lead single Forever Is Over was received positively upon release in 2009, the track starts off a bit oridinary, but the chorus has just as much electricity as we recall; controversy was avoided a new version of Issues was recorded for radio, the original lyrics consisted of “can’t decide if I should slap you or kiss you”, many may have mistaken ‘slap’ for ‘stab’ and stations refused to play the original in fear of promoting violence, which is included on this compilation. Disco Love loses you in the verses, but redeems itself with its hooky chorus; the big sound of Notorious isn’t an instantaneous favourite, the auto-tuned intro is repeated towards the end of the song sounding like the girls are on and off helium, but the single fared well on the charts. Missing You is that cliche pop girl ‘longing for the love we used to have’ song, this track didn’t really need all the synth and electropop elements going on through it, it would have made an almost decent ballad.
Work, Not Giving Up and 30 Days continue to allow The Saturdays’ knack for pop/dance floor music to shine; it is easy to hear the group’s Rihanna and Katy Perry influences in those songs. New track 808 is just as catchy as most of the other songs and would have fared better as the lead single; Gentleman is not the group’s strongest point, however it is right on the level with other popular girl groups such as Little Mix and Girls Aloud. If This Is Love isn’t the best single released from their debut, it falls a little flat in comparison to the other hits featured on this collection; Walking Through The Desert is the third song written for the collection, it is instantly catchy and again has a better hook than What Are You Waiting For?. With My Heart Takes Over, you think ‘finally, a ballad!’, it’s still got some pop production, but believe it or not it’s the most raw the group gets on the compilation; the greatest hits collection is brought to a close with their Comic Relief cover of Depeche Mode’s 1981 hit Just Can’t Get Enough, although it is pop overkill, it is a decent demonstration of how a modern pop group can take something old and make it new.
It’s evident that The Saturdays have had a decent run over the last six years, but isn’t it a bit early for a group with a career as long (or as short) as theirs to sum everything up? Sure, they’ve released a lot of singles, but to call the album Finest Selection: The Greatest Hits is a bit much as it consists of all the singles they’ve released to date, rather than a selection of the finest. As for the three new songs featured on the collection, their label chose the wrong song to initially release to get the ball moving, What Are You Waiting For? lacks substance in comparison to its fellow newbies 808 and Walking Through The Desert. Anyway, moving on. The Saturdays are clearly one of the most talented and beloved pop girl groups to spawn from the UK; although this greatest hits album seems a little premature, it is perfect for their most hardcore fans to add to their collection or for potential new fans wanting to blare the group through their speakers on an upcoming Saturday arvo. Finest Selection: The Greatest Hits consists of what is just the beginning few years of what will hopefully be a long career in pop music for The Saturdays, so enjoy!
