If you haven’t got an album coming out before Christmas, you’re nobody in the music industry. Witness the recent batch of boys with guitars and the odd drummer - Keane, Snow Patrol, Kaiser Chiefs and Oasis, with The Killers yet to come. Not to be outdone though, the girls are gearing up to show off their wares, only they do it with a bit more glitter and off-the-shoulder numbers. RealMusic Blog is frothing over with excitement at the thought of new albums from the Sugababes, Girls Aloud, Beyonce, Anastacia, Britney, Christina and Pink in the next month or so. Here’s our look at what you can expect from the ladies…
Single: Girls - Out now: watch it here Album: Catfights And Spotlights - Out Oct 20th.
The Babes’ new single is a jazzed-up version of that Boots ad with erm… well, girls. The song was originally recorded by Ernie K Doe and RealMusic Blog thinks it’s a bit lazy to rejig an advertising jingle, especially a group with the pop standing of the Sugababes. Someone like Vanilla maybe, but the Sugababes!? What next? Girls Aloud ft Howard from the Halifax? It’s jaunty yes, but if this is what the coming album has in store, we fear that no amount of sling-backs and super-conditioned hair can save it. When asked what the new album will offer, Heidi reckons it’s “darker and more grown up than the last one”, and that Girls is not representative of it. Fingers crossed for Monday then…
Single: The Promise - Oct 20th: watch it here Album: Out Of Control - Nov 3rd.
The Girls have glued on three extra sets of eye-lashes each for the video of The Promise, all going towards getting that 60s look they’re after. RealMusic Blog reckons they’re coming to the 60s music buffet a bit late in the day, what with Amy, Duffy et al already having scoffed the tastier stuff on offer. Like the Sugababes, their 19th single doesn’t feel quite up to Girls Aloud standards, but at least it’s an original offering and not off a Ronseal advert. As for the album, well Out Of Control was apparently titled so because the group are just that, says an unconfirmed record company exec. And what can we expect? Says Kimberley, quelle surprise: “The whole album’s kinda older sounding.” Also expect Cheryl singing Love Is Pain, Nadine rapping (yes, really) and even the Pet Shop Boys have chipped in a tune. RealMusic Blog almost did a little wee when we heard that. How exciting is that!?-
Single: If I Were A Boy - Oct 14: watch it here Album: I Am… - Nov 18th
Beyonce’s first single for aeons sees her with flatter hair, crawling around the floor and taking a bath. In it, she warbles on about what she would do if she were a boy: drink beer with the guys and chase after girls is the apparent answer. She also swears she’d be a better man - better than who we’re not sure. Ashley Cole? Russell Brand? Gordon Ramsay? Pop stars can be so confusing sometimes. Beyonce’s comeback single is a heartfelt ballad that should bother the charts substantially. She’s also releasing Single Ladies at the same time, a more upbeat sassy number we’ve come to expect from Mrs Jay-Z. Of her new album she says: “I have poured my heart and soul into it - it’s my baby. I have taken risks, I’m not afraid and my music will explain it all.” We’re feeling it too, Beyonce.
Single: So What - Out now: watch it here Album: Funhouse - Oct 28th.
“I guess I just lost my husband, I don’t know where he went…” sings Pink on the opening of No.1 single So What - a run-of-the-mill break-up song this ain’t. RealMusic Blog can’t imagine Cheryl Cole doing the same, so kudos to Pink and ex-hubby Carey for making their divorce into such a cracking tune and video. This is Pink’s biggest solo success ever, topping the charts in squillions of countries including the US and the UK, and it has all the essential Pink song ingredients: sass, a punk-pop ethos and the sound of irony lingering long after the final note. We can’t wait to hear the rest of their break-up laid bare across the album, especially if it’s as bold and brassy as the single…
Single: Womanizer - Out now: watch it here Album: Circus - Dec 2nd
Have you seen the video for new single Womanizer? If you haven’t, click on the link above. The Britney machine has cranked into action once again, with the video featuring Brit writhing naked while singing about her no-good fella, something she’s had some experience of. When she’s not writhing naked, she’s pretending to be a secretary and managing to look like no secretary I’ve ever seen, apart from those in pop videos and James Bond movies. And when she’s not a secretary, she’s a red-headed pop siren, as well as a chaffeur in a peaked cap and not a lot else. The video should receive a fair few hits. What of the song? Well, it’s more of the effortless electro-pop that made Blackout such a triumph. If we can expect more of the same on the new album - and it’s entitled Circus, so it sounds like it’s starting where Blackout left off - then consider us intrigued.
Single: I Can Feel You - Out now: watch it here Album: Heavy Rotation - Oct 27th.
You remember the voice don’t you? Well she’s back with a new single and album, and my, she’s been taking some lessons from Britney it seems, plunging into a pool naked and doing those sexy looks to camera while holding her boobs. RealMusic Blog thinks she’s old enough to know better, but the rest of her video shows that Anastacia’s holding up well and her voice is still as star-studded as ever. Her new album has oodles of collaborators including Ne-Yo, Guy Chambers and Britney/Beyonce producer Rodney Jerkins, and Anastacia says: “For me the meaning is, life can be heavy, but it all turns around and goes into something else. It seemed to be the perfect title for where I’m at in my life.” Watch out for an interview with the lady on RealMusic Blog very soon.
Album: Keeps Gettin’ Better - A Decade Of Hits - Nov 7th.
Not to be left out, Christina’s got a greatest hits album up her sleeve, which includes all the hits and a couple of new tracks in Dynamite and Keeps Gettin’ Better. This year, she’s been busy giving birth to a son and working on the new material for her new album, set to be released in 2009.
(Clare Lydon)
