Chart music has always been largely about sex, but for me The Saturdays marked a tipping point in pop's pornification when they covered Depeche Mode's “Just Can't Get Enough” in 2009 and turned an innocent electro classic into a gushing paean to insatiable lust. The video has notched up over five million hits, presumably more to do with the strumpets in suspenders than a frankly unexpected cameo from Muffin the Mule.
Still, my Meldrewish moans have hardly held them back and the Anglo-Irish quintet’s new album finds them getting a little bit experimental. Calm down, don't expect them to be slapping mud on their chests like The Slits or even wailing like Florence Welch. Experimental means high-energy tracks such as ravey party banger "All Fired Up" alongside the lush grown-up balladry of the latest single, "My Heart Takes Over". It is no surprise that the album is packed with more hooks than a fishing convention. While the performers get writing credits themselves, Brian Higgins, the middle-aged Midas behind various Girls Aloud, Sugababes and Kylie Minogue hits, also contributed.
The result is not bad at all and I'm hardly in their demographic. Yes, it is overproduced to within an inch of its life, but that is the default setting for this kind of thing. And while the fivesome’s combined personality does not equal one Spice Girl – well, maybe Emma Bunton – they can genuinely sing. I confess, I saw them warbling on Loose Women last week. It’s just a shame that there is still so much twaddle about being bad girls and telling their men that they can do what they want with them. On Your Radar won’t help the Eurozone, reduce petrol prices or aid feminism, but it will definitely get their fanbase singing into their hairbrushes. And where anthemic pop is concerned, that is what matters.
See The Saturdays perform "Just Can't Get Enough"
