Photo credit: Fascination Records, Polydor Records
9/10
Project Information:
Release Date: 03/18/13
Genre: Pop
Label: Fascination Records, Polydor Records
Follow The Saturdays
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The Introduction
Picture it, January 2013 and the E! Network, home of reality shows like keeping Up With The Kardashians, Ashlee+Evan, and The Wanted Life, and picks up your television show Chasing The Saturdays in efforts to launch you in the North American market, that is exactly what happened for five young ladies from the United Kingdom.
The Song
The television show outlined the band trying to gain notoriety in the United States. They have never had an issue in their native territory where they had previously released four very successful albums. Like S Club 7, Spice Girls, and Steps before them, they had a difficult time standing out despite their heavy promotional push on with performances on The Today Show, The Wendy Williams Show, and The Jeff Probst Show (to name a few).
In America, the song would be released on the North American-only “Chasing The Saturdays” EP which featured their notable singles from their UK albums. The release of this extended play would be the only release from the band and the show (also titled ‘Chasing The Saturdays’) would be canceled after one season.
The Number One
This was not the end of the road for the band (well kind of). ‘What About Us’ would go on to be released in the United Kingdom on March 18, 2013, and released as a duet with Sean Paul. This song would go on to become the band’s first (and only) #1 single in the United Kingdom. When this occurred, I knew it was over for the band. They would go on to release other bops including Disco Love and Not Giving Up, and their fifth album Living For The Weekend before calling it a day with their greatest hits, amply entitled Finest Selection: The Greatest Hits.
The reason I knew it was over for the band is that they finally got their #1 single (In the words of Rachel Stevens ‘Dreams of number one last forever‘), and the bands took turns getting pregnant (and took what seems to be exactly zero days off from performances — kudos ladies). When the United States promotion began Rochelle Humes was pregnant, by the time the United Kingdom promotion began Rochelle had delivered and Frankie Bridge was pregnant (and prior to ‘What About Us’ the band released ’30 days’ at which point Una Healy was pregnant).
The Conclusion
We do not have enough positive things to say about The Saturdays. They include two members of the S Club Juniors, and feature three other vastly talented women. We are saddened that the band failed to make a splash on the North American music scene, but, they tried? We love the effort and they delivered a fantastic song in the process. I do believe that they should have released the Sean Paul version in America, but, you know choices were made!
If you have not had the distinct pleasure of hearing a Saturdays track, I would recommend taking a listen to their debut album ‘Chasing Lights’, there really isn’t a bad song and it was of my (few) albums that contain zero skips. Also their Greatest Hits because… well… it’s their Greatest Hits (oh, and it includes their #1 single ‘What About Us’).
