GIRLBANDS: THE NEW ARRIVALS

Welcome to the party: The Ultra Girls, The Stunners, Beach Girls 5, The Scarlettes and A Girl Named Alice. Ever since Popshow at Madam Jojo's (a show that featured two of the aforementioned acts) I have wanted to write-up something around girlbands. Thing is, the delightful Jessica of http://tmbpop.blogspot.com/ has pretty much covered similar ground in her recent post so go there to read her brilliant insights on up and coming girlbands.

Part of my reasons for writing this article is my longstanding love for girlbands, something which I examined in the three-month-long exploration of the genre a few years back and which of course resulted in the branching off of a spin-off blog to Dontstopthepop called SaturdayNightDivas, exploring over 100 girlbands. Underlying this article is a creeping feeling that girlbands don't seem to be working out in recent years, especially looking at the UK market. Despite hot music; Despite the brilliant videos and fab styling, the mud ain't sticking. Look at Mini Viva! Look at Girls Can't Catch! Look at the uneasy future of Girls Aloud and The Sirens. Is the genre resting only on the shoulders of The Saturdays? This cannot be! What is going on? It doesn't make any sense. So, here's my take on my five favourite girlbands coming up... it's up to you girls now to take up the baton...

Beach Girls5: USA


From the embers of the girlband Soccx come Beach Girls 5. They've actually been around for some time but have been kept in a holding pattern for ages. They've released a few things already but have only now started to drop amazing tracks like Scratch and are turning major heads. Scratch channels the best of Europop and I can just see the girls, despite coming from the States, wooping top scores at next year's Eurovision Song Contest. What I love about Beach Girls5 is that they're presenting a panel of pop brilliance that doesn't see them suddenly coming out as five girls that didn't quite make the Pussycat Doll auditions. What I am trying to say is that the USA doesn't really do girlbands all that well. What they excel at is providing girlbands with top tunes and put them in slinky suspenders. All fine and (randy) dandy. However, as such, the recent glut of American girlbands tend to be a bit oversexualized and are made to look like nothing but objects. It's not about fun. Beach Girls5 are a million miles away from Pussycat Dolls/Danity Kane. It's about the music. And this I love.

The Ultra Girls: UK


The hottest new girlband in the UK are The Ultra Girls. They are the girlband that are gonna knock The Saturdays into next week. Or rather into yesterday. I saw the girls at Popshow recently and was absolutely blown away by the choreography, energy and vocals. I'll get onto the music later. As you might have guessed from my Beach Girls5 section, I have a slight issue with girlbands who've taken the Pussycat approach to pop. I come from the school of Spice Girls, tracksuit bottoms, boobtubes, buffalo shoes and high kicks. This is my girlband training and education. The bottom line is about having a laugh. Their message isn't about simperingly appealing to a man as the epicentre of a woman's universe, instead targeting the fun-loving woman and her best mates. This is what Wannabe, I Know Where It's At & Right Now were all about – debuts by Britains strongest girlbands ever: Spice Girls, All Saints and Atomic Kitten respectively. This is where The Ultra Girls took me with their performance: Girls Will Be Girls has instant girlpower anthem stamped all over it. It is turbo pop at its finest, strongest and most potent. Watching Lucy, Laura, Lauren and Amy performing it at Popshow I was transported right back to 1997 when pop was above all about having a good time with friends. Behind the music is Kylie's MD Steve Anderson who wrote the title track to Atomic Kitten's amazing album Feels So Good, so clearly a man who knows what will work and what won't. The Ultra Girls are the Spice Girls for 2010.

A Girl Called Alice: UK



I also saw this group at popshow. The styling really took me back to the confused multiplicity of the outfits worn by the Spice Girls when they first launched, long before Top Of The Pops magazine gave them those nicknames. A Girl Named Alice have a great look: everyday girl basically mixed-in with a pinch of jumble-sale, but not overdone. I like it. They are accessible, approachable and slightly messy. They look like a laugh (the above image actually reminds me of the very photo that used to feature on the Spice Girls' Club Members' card). Beyond this they've emerged as the natural rivals to The Ultra Girls who absolutely owned the stage on Monday night's Popshow. Seeing as they shared the very same stage, people will naturally start to compare and contrast the two girl groups. Sadly. The thing about A Girl Called Alice is, though they were tight with choreography, vocals and styling, the music kinda refused to convey the energy of what the group are about. You see, like The Ultra Girls I think A Girl Called Alice are also trying to capture that energy of the Spice Girls and Atomic Kitten. And, they actually did. But when I return to their music on their fabulous website, I am left feeling that their music needs to reflect more of what I saw on stage. They need to bubblepop it up a tad more. I am not saying they need to go down a Same Difference route. Quite the contrary. These girls are powerful contenders to both The Ultra Girls and established queens of girlgroups Girls Aloud & The Saturdays but here's the rub, they totally need to up the ante with the music. The music sounded more Americanized than I think they need to be (or should be). When an American girlband, Beach Girls5, sound more European than a British group do, then more recording is required.

The Scarlettes: UK



Not to be confused with another girlband of the same name that's doing the rounds at the moment. The Scarlettes have been in a holding pattern for effing ages. They first appeared on DSTP in 2008! Let me repeat. 2008! That's an amazing amount of time to be "out there" but not releasing a shred of material. Saying that, the music they've recorded so far is absolutely mind-blowingly lush. I just seriously hope they haven't missed the boat. Talk about a delayed arrival. So what do we know about the band? The Scarlettes have gone and created something of a monster sound. The album sounds like they've emerged as the songbirds of a neon disco darkroom where wonderfully sticky sexual meetings are undertaken by yummy bodies underscored with dirty baselines & lashings of lube. If you like the new Scissor Sisters album you will love Scarlettes. They've enrolled the likes of Nerina Pallot & Andy Chatterley (responsible for 'Aphrodite' & 'Better Than Today' on the new Kylie Album), Mathias Wollo & Busbee, Anders Kallmark (Ou Est Le Swimming Pool), Joey Negro, and Marcus J Knight (Ali Love) for their new album. Very exciting and rather amazing. But please, please arrive already!

The Stunners (US)



They've got a name as cheesy as hell but The Stunners are extremely fabulous. Founded by Vitamin C, they are Tinashe Kachingwe, Hayley Kiyoko, Lauren Hudson, Allie Gonino and Marisol Esparza. Their debut album is set to be released in the first quarter of 2011, preceded by their first single, a new version of "Dancin' Around the Truth" from their EP. They had a few issues after they lost the bandmember Kelsey but have dusted themselves down and were the opening act for Justin Bieber's My World Tour for the first twenty dates. Following the end of their run on the My World Tour, they resumed production of their debut album, which is to include production from The Cataracs, Toby Gad, The Writing Camp, Dave Broome, and Mike McHenry.

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