In which Sugababes cement their sudden rise to becoming Britain’s biggest girl group, with another cool chart-topper.
Round Round, by Sugababes (their 2nd of six #1s)
1 week, from 18th – 25th August 2002
The energetic Spice Girls were a big exception to this rule, but generally the best girl groups are the ones that make it seem effortless. Like they don’t have to try, and can just conjure classic pop songs out of thin air. Watch great sixties groups like the Supremes and the Ronettes performing live: no wild dance routines, just sparkly dresses and a knowing smile. By the ‘90s the US rap-pop girl groups like TLC and En Vogue had the same haughty spirit, while All Saints turned looking like they couldn’t be arsed into an art form.
Sugababes were firmly in this camp. Listen to the way Mutya almost whispers her opening verse. Calling it husky, or sultry, can’t quite tell the whole story. She sounds like she’s just gotten out of bed, three hours late to the studio. It drips in attitude. I think the kids today might call it cunty. Whatever, it works.
I like that the beat scythes like a huge blade – one of those big wind pylons – swooping ‘round round’ every couple of seconds. The entire song spins as the title suggests it must. It’s the perfect follow-up to the great ‘Freak Like Me’, enough of a similar vibe – same tempo, same attitude – but sufficiently different to suggest they weren’t turning into one-trick ponies. There’s no sample, no cover version, here. Or at least, not an overt one. The backing beat is based on a track called ‘Tango Forte’, which in turn is based on ‘Whatever Lola Wants’, a song from the 1955 musical ‘Damn Yankees’.
Which is another great argument for sampling not just being lazy snatching of someone else’s ideas. For who could listen to that mid-fifties showtune and hear a pop song from forty years in the future? But for all this bigging up, I have to admit: I don’t think it’s as good as ‘Freak Like Me’. It’s good, very good even, but just not as ear-grabbing as its predecessor. Apart from, that is, the middle eight. In which a completely different song, a piano ballad, is transplanted in right into the heart of this record. It jars, but it works, and the way it slowly morphs back into that ‘Tango Forte’ beat is great.
This chart-topper confirmed that Sugababes Mk II were off and away. Three years of solid hit making were in store, until Mutya left the group in late 2005. Two of them we’ll cover as #1s in the not too distant future. But I should also point you back in time, to Sugababes Mk I, and the singles from their ‘flop’ first album: ‘New Year’, ‘Soul Sound’, and one of the best from any stage of their careers: ‘Overload’.
The UK Number Ones Blog 
I would have written this off at the time, but it sounds good now.
I disagree. I think “Round Round” blows “Freak Like Me” out the water and it’s not even a contest. “Freak like Me” is great, but of their No. 1s (solo No. 1s), it’s the weakest for me. Still a fantastic song though. On “Freak Like Me”, the girls to me sound great, but they are overwhelmed by the track. The track is what stands out on that song (especially the sample, one of the greatest uses of a sample ever) and the girls are overshadowed. They still sound a little unsure, figuring things out. They’re just happy to be singing on a great song and are servicing the song. And I’ll be honest, you could put any competent female R&B singers on the track and you wouldn’t be missing anything. Not on “Round Round”. This is their record. Round round baby, round round spinin’ out on me, I don’t need no man got my kicks for free. Oh yeah, they don’t need any man. All they need are their girls. They own it. Their personalities completely show on this track. They got it figured out and they’re in charge. No one else stands in their way because they own it. Keisha (the best singer in the Sugababes), Heidi and especially Mutya (her vocals are the most British of the three and gives them some personality) completely own this track. The lyrical content and attitude feel confident rather than just reactive. They’re in the motion of life (“round round”) rather than simply responding to it.
What a masterpiece. The chorus is one of the best I’ve ever heard. Not exaggerating. Incredible hook. It sounds so sleek and so modern. The groove is absolutely infectious. I love how you said the chorus comes in like a scythe and just bulldozes you into submission. There’s this almost guitar-like churn under it that gives the whole thing bite. My least favourite part of the song is probably the bridge where Heidi does a solo spot, but even that part is good (she has a lot of American R&B influence in her vocals)
This group, after “Freak Like Me” I checked out their other No. 1s and I was completely blown away. All their other solo No. 1s are IMO masterpieces. Perfect pop songs. And I do remember hearing their next three No. 1s as a kid during the 2000s (especially “Push The Button” and “About You Know”). Even their other non-No. 1 hits are great.
I think this is a great pop song, but… Of their six number ones, and without having heard some of them for ages, I’d rank this as 3rd or 4th. Dunno, it just doesn’t grab me as much as Freak Like Me. Without giving too much away, I think Push the Button is one of the best pop songs of this century, and is my favourite.
It’s a great pop single – though my preference is also for Freak Like Me – and a fab start to the new era. Overload is their best early track and I think these three remain my top rated Sugababes, but there’s still loads more goodies to come. The regrouped Mark 1 ‘Babes of recent years and now included. Still good. And by one of those inevitable co-incidences in life Radio 2 as I type this sentence is playing Too Lost In You. Pity they don’t playlist the new stuff much though!
Too Lost in You is sooo Radio 2, though. (I laughed when writing my post on ‘Colourblind’, as one source called it a ‘Radio 2 classic’). I’ll have to listen properly to Sugababes most recent stuff, from what I heard it’s good.