In the words of one man c. October 2010; Frankie, Mollie, Una, Vanessa, Rochelle. What’cha doin’ Saturday girl?
As we touched on in our post yesterday, the moment of realising how old our here blog now was, came about largely because we were looking back at one of our oldest posts we wrote on here, right at the very beginning. Namely, a post we wrote about 00s and early 2010s British-Irish girl group legends, The Saturdays.
It was a post we wrote on the eve of them releasing their greatest hits album, geniusly titled as Finest Selection (after a lyric in one of their earliest hits, 2008’s “Up”). Little did we know at the time of writing that post – although we should have perhaps seen it coming – that within a month of its release, and the conclusion of the accompanying UK and Ireland tour that came with it, that that would be, as of time of writing now in August 2024, the very last thing we heard of the ladies as a group. In the time since, they have all pursued solo music, TV presenting, radio DJing, becoming entrepreneurs and influencers, and raising families.
Looking back, The Saturdays existed in a moment in time where they had their fans but also their critics in equal measure. They were a girl group who never really truly got their flowers, so to speak, in their own time. Indeed, even in Where It’s At: A Short History of Girlbands, a brilliant podcast that Mollie, now a presenter on BBC Radio 1, hosted last year, her own former band was just referenced fleetingly in passing, which seemed almost cruel.
Formed in 2007 by the same management team and record label as Girls Aloud, they first appeared in the spring of 2008 as support act on their Tangled Up Tour. A year later, as Girls Aloud scuttled off to their three year break, and Sugababes imploded, it left them the last girl group game in town. Over the next seven years, they managed to notch up 4 million record sales, 18 top 40 hits – 13 of which went top 10 – six top 10 albums, and one long overdue number one single that finally arrived five years into their career in 2013, that of course being the storming “What About Us” with Sean Paul. Not to mention four UK tours and three fly-on-the-wall reality TV documentaries, one of which – Chasing The Saturdays – aired on the E! channel in America. When looked at in that light, they definitely were successful. And we were fans right from their first single, and we still proudly are in #TeamSats.
However, there was always a sense that The Saturdays were a band very much out there as a pure pop girl group that embraced who they were, but sometimes to the indifference of the wider public around them. They were on the bill of both pop gigs and rock festivals alike, but very rarely top billing or hysteria inducing. But because they possessed neither the critical darling status afforded to Girls Aloud and Sugababes, or the global success of the Spice Girls or subsequently Little Mix, that somehow made them knocking copy a lot of the time, and a sneery adoption of the view that they were the UK’s biggest girl group “by default” was taken on.
Although it is interesting to note that, in the decade since they hung up their colour coded mics and tights for good, they have actually, slowly but surely, gained a new audience who has discovered them and they have had a reappraisal of sorts. One only has to look at social media accounts like Love of Huns and Hunsnet, who lovingly but irreverently have shared videos of the girls say, performing their singles with full choreography in high heels at 7:38am on GMTV c. 2012.
The reissuing of all the girls’ singles digitally by their old management team, Peter Loraine at Fascination, during the first lockdown in 2020, was probably also a catalyst in some of their singles actually finding a new streaming life. Indeed, “Ego”, one of the biggest hits from their second album Wordshaker in 2009, experienced a TikTok renaissance towards the end of last year. And a new podcast, On Your Radar (named after their fourth album from 2011), hosted by Sats superfans Lex and Marcus, has recently launched to great acclaim.
And having had the old albums on again for the first time in a while, for the purpose of writing this blog, reminded me just how well their singles have held up with the passing of over 15 years. Yes, they were pop, but they also explored it from all different avenues; rock, R&B, dance, electro, acoustic. And we’ll be honest, the idea of hearing “All Fired Up”, “Notorious”, “Higher”, “Disco Love” and “Forever Is Over” reverberating from the nation’s concert halls once more is simply too exciting a thought.
Of course, if any reunion does happen, it would likely be next year; especially as Mollie is currently expecting her second child, Frankie is a regular panelist on Loose Women, Vanessa has just starred in a Harold Pinter play, Una still has a busy TV and radio career in Ireland, and Rochelle continues to have a finger in each of both her own management company, TV presenting (usually with her JLS hubby Marvin on BBC One’s The Hit List), a baby skin care brand and Matcha influencing(?)
Realistically as well, we know that, with their lives as they are now and some being more into the idea than others, it would probably be just a tour and nothing beyond that. We are quite accepting and respectful of that. But on a more serious note, in the decade since they last performed together, slightly sadder developments have occurred. Girls Aloud, S Club 7 and The Wanted have all permanently lost band members (Sarah Harding, Paul Cattermole and Tom Parker) forever at devastatingly young ages. It is a reminder of your own mortality, and a reminder that putting it off for another year isn’t guaranteed.
Looking at the bands who have dusted off the old hits and dance moves in recent years, The Saturdays really are the only ones left of their generation who haven’t returned yet. And with 10 years passed, nostalgia and fondness has surely now kicked in for them to get back together, even if for just one more tour, kickstarted by a performance at say, Mighty Hoopla next summer. So ladies, if you’re reading this – this is where you’re in or out, no hesitation.
The Niche Reference 