"That was all it took my dear..."

Mutya Keisha Siobhan 

One Touch, the Sugababes

Girl groups have been around for generations now. There's something universally appealing about  three to five young women harmonizing about love and heartbreak. The main genre associated with girl groups is pop music. And it's not just any old pop music, but the most saccharine, contrived and manufactured type of pop.

Enter one of my favourite exceptions to the above rule: the Sugababes.  In the year 2000, three London girls debuted their very first single: "Overload". Later on that year, their debut album One Touch came out. It is a work that has only grown better with time. Eclectic, mature and effortlessly cool, I've yet to find its like in any other girl group debut.

I find that the best pop music has something else going on. It's a little difficult at first, refusing to yield anything of itself until I've heard it several times.  It tends to be the kind of song that holds up nicely years or even decades later. One Touch is full of those kinds of songs.  Mutya Buena, Keisha Buchanan and Siobhan Donaghy made a powerfully soulful combination.

It is astounding to me that this album was co-written by people so young. It feels like peeking into the diary of a teenage girl; but a teenage girl with depth.  At times full of attitude and at others  wistful melancholy, One Touch captures the ephemeral nature of growing up. It's a collection of moments when one realizes that the world isn't what it seemed and that one will never be the same.

"Overload" really is in a class of it's own as far as Brit-pop is concerned. I consider it to be the definition of Sugababes: their sound, their vibe, their identity. In the context of the kind of pop music we were getting in 2000 on both sides of the Atlantic, the song was like  a breath of fresh air in a coffin. "Overload" gave us this amazing blend of  chill vocals, electric guitar and amazing beats that was a good deal more alternative than what you would expect from a trio of girls in their mid-teens. It's mid-tempo which, time would go on to show, is where the Sugababes shine.

"New Year" is my favourite Holidays song. It describes the sorrow of running into an ex. soft and sweet on the surface, it betrays a depth of hurt that always makes me wince by the second verse. It's the musical equivalent of crying softly in the bathroom at a party so that no one else can hear. Again, the girls' youth comes into play here; the song is clearly from the perspective of someone going through this for the first time.

"Run For Cover" is just a little more heartbreak. As someone who's struggled against depression, I find it to be an apt description of what that feels like. Specifically, it recalls the shame and reluctance to talk about it that makes depression go undiagnosed so often. Keisha Buchanan supplies the lion's share of vocals here and she delivers them with beautiful fragility.

The title track "One Touch" is an interesting take on first love. Directly addressing a parental figure, the song's point of view defends her first relationship. A very relaxed down-tempo allows the girls to fill each bar of the song with richly layered harmonies making for a cool pleasurable listen.

The rest of the album continues to please. "One Foot In" and "Promises" chastise a two-faced paramour. "Look at me" again addresses a parental figure about the fear of growing up.  'Lush Life' is a moody, atmospheric bit of hip-hop that keeps its grit all these years later. "Just Let it Go" treads familiar ground for a girl-group, reassuring a friend that the latest ex isn't worth it.

Later iterations of the Sugababes had their charms and virtues, not to mention their fair share of great tunes. But with each departure of an original member, something essential was lost. It is an understatement to say that these three are magical together. Now, 13 years after One Touch, the girls have reformed under the name of MutyaKeishaSiobhan. Listen to their first single "Flatline"