The death of the Sugababes

Keisha gets X'd out of the Sugababes
A couple of days ago the founding member of the Sugababes was booted out. Despite reports on how Amelle had gone missing due to a group bust-up with Keisha and that she was leaving the group to be replaced by Eurovision reject Jade Ewen. It turns out Keisha was the one to be served her marching orders and be replaced.

This is not a good look at all. Say what you will about how much of a bitch Keisha was and how this is just desserts, but she was one of the members who made the Sugababes the Sugababes, and now with her gone we're left with a group who aren't really the Sugababes at all. As much as I love Heidi, even she isn't enough for me to say that with her in the band the girls are still the Sugababes.

 [From left to right] Keisha, Siobhan & Mutya [From left to right] Heidi, Mutya & Keisha
 [From Left to Right] Amelle, Heidi & Keisha [From Left to Right] Amelle, Heidi & Jade

The group get hotter with girl they kick out and replace. Heidi was easier on the eye than Siobhan, Amelle was hotter eye candy than rough Mutya and Jade is a hottie. But look at the expense. A hotter looking group void of the esscence of the Sugababes altogether? It's a mess.

Nobody knows for sure what the situation is. But it's seeming to be like it was a label and management decision. Keisha posted the following message via her Twitter...

Dear Friends,

I’m sad to say that I am no longer apart [sic] of the Sugababes. I’ve had a great time and have achieved more then I ever thought I would. Although it was not my choice to leave, it’s time to enter a new chapter in my life.

I have nothing but positive things to say about the girls and I wish them the best of luck. I would like to state that there were no arguments, bullying or anything of the sort that lead to this. Sometimes a break down in communication and lack of trust can result in many different things. I would also like to point out that I have always supported the girls and they have also supported me. Remember my drunk pictures out with Amelle, supporting her on her success with Tinchy Stryder... Oh the shame... But what a fun night we had.

Now I’m going to take some time to focus on me. I’ve been in this band for 11 years and I have achieved so much. I have a great family and friends who are behind me 100%, and at the age of 24, I’m now going out into this world on my own... Although im nervous, I’m still very excited on what lies ahead.

I want to thank the Sugababes fans and my fans for all your support and all who have never judged me, but excepted [sic] me for who I am. The feisty, funny, professional, fearless, motor mouth... lol

This is not the end... but the beginning!!!!

Thank you always... Keisha xxx
This was something that had to have been boiling for some time. Jade was on hand to shoot the video for "About a girl" and has already re-recorded Keisha's vocals for the new album which is due in 2 months time. This cannot have been an 11th hour decision when everything is running like clockwork concerning Jade taking a bitches spot. Rumours are abound that the management were setting to replace Keisha and having her sections be re-recorded behind her back. Sounds about right. Whatever the situation, the Sugababes 3.0 line-up should've been made to suck it up and promote out the new album first, when line-up changes taking place after the album has run its course. To make so many changes now on when a new album is on the way and a single is in the charts is ridiculous. Not to mention a complete smack in the face to Keisha. She spends all that time recording an album, writing for it and promoting it; to have this happen to her. I cannot wait to see the album credits. If Keisha's name is not up in the booklet, then I know shit is shady. Change's writing credits were mad shady. Especially considering a couple of the songs were written during Three and Taller in more ways' sessions, yet Mutya's name was not included along with Keisha and Heidi's.

I lost interest in the Sugababes after Amelle joined. Sure, she was nice to look at. But vocally, she was no Mutya. Not even close. Plus, I never truly regarded her as a Sugababe. Mutya leaving was bad enough, but for Keisha to go is just a mess. Mutya and Keisha need to be grown women and reach out to one another: become friends again first and then talk about reforming. I'd have more time for Mutya and Keisha's joint endeavours than the current empty husk of the Sugababes that exists now. Even Mutya's up for it.

I mean, it would be different if Keisha had stayed in it and someone else had gone – then it would be the Sugababes. But wow, I suppose now there’s no original Sugababes we should just all reform again.
I will still check for their new album. But I'll have mixed and jaded (pun not intended) feelings about it. Listening to whole Sweet 7 album knowing that Keisha's vocals were a part of it only a couple of months ago will feel weird. Keisha is still signed to Island records, which means she'll be able to continue on as a solo artist and she's a talented song writer to boot. So best of luck to her.

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Tags: Amelle Berrabah, Heidi Range, Jade Ewen, Keisha Buchanan, Sugababes

Comments

  1. I completely agreee with your post. I only found this out yesterday when reading the London Lite and they were treating Keisha's leaving like it was last years news! And to find out that it was only announced Monday and they already got a replacement to shoot the video for 'About a Girl' yestreday! This seriously had to be planned/set up from early on, I mean I thought Amelle's sudden entry into the group was bad enough.

    Same as you, I haven't really kept an eye on their work since Mutya left. Sure I like 'About You Now' but I still hold their older stuff like 'Overload', 'Round Round' and 'Too Lost in You' in higher regard.

    I think it would be quite amusing if all the original members got together, even just for one concert to show them how the Sugababes used to be - a unique sounding girl group.

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  2. you totally speak my mind. i prefer sugababes 1.0 and 2.0 though. i never accepted amelle as a sugabebs. now that there's no more original members in the group, they should be called sugababes-clones. lol

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  3. Sugababes 2.0 were my fave line up, because they had the most success and put out the best albums. Not disrespect to Siobhan. But 2.0 were the Sugababes who also had the longest run and their dominance really did start once Heidi got brought in. 'One touch' was still a great album though. It's shits all over 'Change' and 'Catfights and spotlights'. I even prefer it to 'Three'. "Promises" and "Run for cover" were great songs.

    Nothing the Sugababes have put out since 'Taller in more ways' has had any real lasting impact. I still play songs from 'Angels with dirty faces', 'Three' and 'Taller in more ways' to this day. And my mum loves the hell out of 'Overload'. *lol*

    The Sugababes name can still carry on, but for it to do so when there are no original members left...is a little strange. Even if the music's good I'll still find the whole thing strange. I know what I'm like. I'll listen to the songs and think "Mutya and Keisha would've sounded better on that!" Amelle has never sounded all that good to me. Every section she gets in a song, Mutya could do it 100x better. She ruined "Red dress" and "Follow me home" from 'Taller in more ways'. The only song the Sugababes have done where Amelle suited and did it in a way no other Sugababes could was "Get sexy". And as hot as the song is in a club (and despite it being my guilty pleasure), it's probabaly one of the worst songs the Sugababes have done.

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  4. ok lets face facts im really sad that keishas gone because i was looking forward to the new alnum but . . .
    keisha has nobody but herelf to blame for this, her luck finally ran out :P
    it was siobhan and mutya that founded the band then keisha was invited in but that didnt stop her bullying siobhan out, then when heidi joined keisha bullied her too and now she started bullying amelle!
    a lot of trouble would have been saved if the label had just kicked her out in the first place then we'd still have mutya, siobhan and heidi and how great would that be?!? :P
    when mutya left it was awful but i gave amelle a chance and despite the awfull album change (which i suspect keisha would have been in contoll over as the senior babe) i grew to like the line up but as usual keishas ego exploded and she started to see the band as a dictatorship not a democracy.
    i think of the sugababes as a kind of small kingdom, under mutya's leadership the group had their golden age but when she left and keisha (undoubtedly) took over controll things went downhill fast i think its time to give heidi a chance to lead the band into the future.
    people saying theres no real sugababes left make me sick! heidi has worked hard and made great contributions to 6 out of 7 albuums and all the biggest hits and unlike keisha she isnt a bitch she deserves respect and recognition.
    at the moment its like when somebody dies, you forget the bad points and remember the good which is whats happening with keisha but im sure once the album comes out and people have given jade a chance the fans will be hahhp :P . . .

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  5. Lol at the 'mum likes Overload' comment, it's funny when parent's love random songs from groups you follow. My mum absolutely loves Utada's 'Simple and Clean', she doesn't listen to anything else of hers, just that song.

    And agreeing on 'Get Sexy' being a guilty pleasure, I still hate the song but I can't deny that I know song of the lyrics...tbh though they're not that taxing, half of the words are 'sexy'!

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  6. I'm not justifying or sweeping under Keisha's 'bullying'. But the whole situation is a mess. How can you change the line up of a group 2 months before they're due to release an album after the pre-switch line up has already recorded it, been promoting it, shot a video and have a single in the charts? If this was something that was bubbling under for some time (which it clearly has been), then all this shit should've happened before the promotion for the album kicked off and the girls finished the album.

    Nobody is making Keisha out to be the saint. The issue that I and some fans are having is the fact that with no original members left, this group really isn't the Sugababes any more. Everybody loves Heidi. And fans took to her instantly. But she's not enough of a force on her own in the group to the point where I can still look at them and think "Yeah, they're still the Sugababes". Especially when musically Heidi always got the least air time on songs in comparison to the other girls. Keisha and Mutya always got more parts and ad-libs than Heidi and even Amelle was getting more spots on songs than Heidi from the second she started! Both Mutya and Keisha being out of the group is like the Beyondroid and Kelly leaving Destiny's child. Sure, Michelle has been around for most of the albums and the tours and she's a lovely lady. But she's not enough to carry the brand name of the group alone with other members. It's the same for Heidi. Shit...even if Heidi was out of the group instead of Keisha it wouldn't have been the Sugababes. Having just one long serving member isn't enough.

    The switching of original members kills the essence of what made the Sugababes so hot to begin with. Now I feel like they're just like any other girl group in the UK. Looking at the current line up and listening to their music over the past couple of years, I may as well have been checking for Girls aloud or The Saturdays - 2 groups who the Sugababes were once leaps and bounds ahead of. I can't say the same about them now.

    I hope this 'Sweet 7' album is good. But it will be the follow up album where the un-Sugababes will have to show and prove with the music - as it'll mark the first time the new line up properly work together on the songs from scratch and we see if it can be turned on in the studio.

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  7. @ lilithdarkstorm

    My mum actually does love the Sugababes though. *lol* Or at least she did. She always used to go on about how she loves that they're just different, and seem like regular girls doing really good music: Which is what I think attracted a lot of people to them. My mum loved "Freak like me" and "Round, round". It was actually her that got me into the songs. She heard the songs and knew all about 'em long before me. *LOL* She also fell for "Just don't need this" from 'Angels with dirty faces' after hearing me blare it to death. She hated "Hole in the head", but then loved the lead singles from the next 2 albums. As with you and many others, I don't think she's liked much of their stuff since though.

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  8. i read today that it was keisha who blew the situation up by telling the record execs that if they didn't get rid of amelle she would walk, the execs asked heidi to choose (which understandably) she wouldnt so they got rid of keisha which blew her plan in her face :P
    she obviously bully'd amelle then thought she could just ditch her and thought she could pressure heidi into backstabbing amelle when none of the arguments were even hers!
    as long as the album is good im happy because since they brought amelle in i actually think of her as a sugababe not some second rate citisen whose there to make up the numbers, the old sugababes style died when mutya left and its not like keisha was writing classic sugababe songs after mutya is it and the babes have always been known for distinctive voices well for me those were mutya and heidi not keisha . . .

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  9. Sounds like you just don't like Keisha to me. Which is fair enough. It's not like she was my favourite 'babe. Mutya was my fave, with Heidi second and then Keisha. But she was one of the originals, I respected she could write a good song and she had a strong prescence on certain songs due to her ad-libs. Songs such as "Change" would not had been as good without Keisha, who sounds really REALLY good and killed it with some of the notes and ad-libs she throws in from he bridge onwards.

    Each to their own where Amelle is concerned. I still don't regard her as a Sugababe really. Certain songs she really does sound good on (such as "Get sexy") and she definitely gives the group a sexy streak. But I just haven't hit that point where I feel she's integral to the group and a fully fledged Sugababe. I think Sugababes 2.0 were the best and that no line-up will touch 'em.

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  10. @FUTURESTARdelux

    No offense but none of what you've said about 'bullying' has been confirmed, only rumoured. Unless all members of the Sugababes, Keisha and their management come forward and all state what happened, we can't be sure what and why this occured. Hell there's even still some rumours around why Mutya left, and that was yonks ago!
    It's easy to blame and point fingers in situations like this but the bottom line is that a member has left, a new members has swiftly taken her place. Can the Sugababes continue on with the same success? Only time will tell. But various articles from the press (such as the Guardian) have their doubts.


    @Random J
    I like your mum, she sounds like she's got good taste! Lol!

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