Tuesday 27 February 2018

top 5: the saturdays

for the three people who read my blog it may be a pleasant surprise to see i've written a new post, and it feels good to finally have the time to do so after two hellish months of interning. 

long story short, i left my internship at a fashion showroom because believe it or not, steaming 356948 items of clothing every day for two months has a catastrophic effect one one's mental health, especially when it wasn't too great in the first place. despite being told i'd get to shadow sales meetings and go to a trade show, neither of these things ended up happening, and things did not improve when a new intern started and after two weeks of being there, was whisked off to london for said show. being the stereotypical scorpio, i'll hold a grudge until i'm dead and buried, so i still haven't quite got over this. i also hoped i might make some new friends at the showroom but this didn't happen either, and i found myself feeling slightly alienated from the girls i worked with and forced to sit through endless conversations about their boyfriends. 

i did feel a slight pang of guilt when leaving, as there were only two weeks of the internship to go, but my mental health was, as always, a total mess and i just couldn't take much more. unsure of what i'm going to do next, i'm considering a masters in journalism as it would seem the three years i spent doing an undergraduate degree haven't actually put me in a better position to find a job, as every single one i look at requires the NCTJ qualification. the course i'm looking at doesn't start until september so i'm not sure what to do until then, but i'm eagerly awaiting the return of my best friend who surprised me with the news that he'll be moving back to manchester after three years living in york; i very nearly cried in the kitchen at work upon seeing his text. 

as for music i've been enjoying lately, my my my! still remains the most played song on my itunes playlist. i've really struggled to find any new music that's made me feel Some Type Of Way, which is where the idea for this post was born. 

my first memory of the saturdays was seeing them support girls aloud back in 2008, and i still vaguely remember them performing their first single if this is love and up, both of which went on to dominate radio stations across the country. some years passed, and after seeing vanessa white in the celebrity jungle not too long ago, i rediscovered my love of her band the saturdays. 

they serve as an excellent vehicle of nostalgia and proof of how much the music industry has changed since they first formed in 2007 (!!). somewhere along the way it would seem pop music stopped being fun, with any semblance of cheesiness making way for the tropical house and hip hop inspired tracks that have dominated the charts since 2015. (one thing i definitely won't miss about my internship is being forced to listen to capital all day, specifically the same five songs on repeat.) 

below are my top five favourite saturdays songs, in no particular order. 

1. disco love 

i know i said this was in no particular order, but if i had to pick a favourite, this track would definitely be it. disco love is a rarity in that it meets the criteria for a Perfect Pop Song. one of the few songs to include every element of a PPS is whitney houston's iconic track i wanna dance with somebody, aka my favourite pop song of all time. the three key elements include a) The Key Change, b) The Dramatic Breakdown, of which i wanna dance with somebody contains two - two! - and c) The "Hey" Refrain. (bonus points for d) The Saxophone Riff, perfected by miss carly rae in run away with me) disco love has all three, and also contains my favourite lyric of all time: "it's never winter when it's donna summer all year long". not convinced? i dare you to press play on the video below and not be tapping your foot within the first five seconds. 



2. not giving up

i'm including this mainly for sentimental reasons, as it was playing in one of my favourite bars on canal street one night back in 2014 -  when my best friend and i would go out there pretty much every weekend - but also because it's A Massive Banger, whether you've just downed three sambucas (for £5!) or not. it's a world away from the pretentious london clubs frequented by my peers at uni, where the emphasis was on how much money you could spend rather than letting go and having A Good Time, which is why i'll always favour a slightly tacky gay club with cheap drinks over a mayfair spot filled to the brim with hedge fund bankers wearing too much aftershave.




3. just can't get enough

the mark of a good cover is usually whether the artist puts a ~unique~ spin on the song, so perhaps the saturdays' rendition of depeche mode's 1981 track loses points for sounding exactly like the original. it's still excellent nonetheless, and brought the track to a younger audience who wouldn't have been aware of it before. it was also released in support of british charity comic relief and outsold the original track, probably eliciting cries of outrage from middle aged "Real Music" fans, but i was too busy playing it on repeat to pay any attention to them. 


4. higher 

many songs by the saturdays talk about the good side of love, so higher stands out as a break-up song of sorts, as the girls sing about how they're better off alone. it also features a cameo from flo rida, one of pop's biggest stars who was at his peak when the track was released in october 2010. as i was very much still in the Pop Closet at the time, i would never have admitted enjoying this track publicly, but in the years that followed it's featured in many of my Getting Ready To Go Out sessions, and i have no shame in admitting my love for it nowadays.



5. what about us

another slice of pop perfection came in the form of what about us, which featured the iconic sean paul. again, i would have never confessed my love for either act back when this was released, but like the majority of singles by the saturdays, it's a True Banger that hasn't aged a day. 


though i'd love a full blown saturdays reunion, it doesn't look like my prayers will be answered as they all seem to have moved on to other things, some pursuing (questionable) solo careers, others marrying a footballer and presenting radio shows. at least we have the memories of a time when pop music was simple and the sole objective was Having A Good Time, rather than trying to take down trump

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