Two huge girl group number ones in a row. And after Pussycat Dolls’ ballsy and bouncy ‘Don’t Cha’, the Sugababes go for something similarly seductive.
Push the Button, by Sugababes (their 4th of six #1s)
3 weeks, from 2nd – 23rd October 2005
And in doing so, they come up with a really, really good tune. ‘Push the Button’ is a modern girl group classic. The rising chord progression, the semi-melancholy, yearning upward motion of it. It feels like a three and a half minute key change, especially in the bridge. After waiting patiently for him to come and get it, He came on through and asked me if I wanted to get with it… (Note that our British girls have been waiting demurely, unlike those hussies in the Pussycat Dolls… How obvious should a girl be? they ask in the first verse, making the record actually quite an astute commentary on straight dating culture.)
Then comes the chorus, and an extra chugging bass synth, and before you realise it you’re listening to one of the decade’s – nay, the 21st century’s – best pop songs. All three of Sugababes’ previous chart-toppers have been good to great, but ‘Push the Button’ tops them all with its catchy simplicity. For it is simple. The lyrics are basic, the production nothing fancy, the video with the girls dancing in a lift is predictable… But it has layers, little touches of sound and some really nice harmonising, that lift it up. Plus it has a spoken-word section, done in the same key-changing style, which is always a welcome addition to a song.
I joke about how brazen the Pussycat Dolls were, and if they weren’t back-to-back #1s then we probably wouldn’t be comparing the two. But really, this song is just as saucy. It’s just much more British. Mutya delivers the line My sexy ass has got him in a new dimension… in a way that is equal parts understated and silly. Nicole Scherzinger would have squeezed the life out of that lyric. Even the song’s title could be seen as a good old-fashioned, end of the pier double entendre.
And my US vs UK comparison can be taken further, when we note that despite ‘Push the Button’ being a huge hit around the world, a Top 10 from Hungary to Australia and everywhere in between, it did not chart in the USA. In fact, Sugababes solitary appearance on the Hot 100 was for ‘Hole in the Head’, which made the heady heights of #96. Oh, America.
Having mentioned Mutya Beuno earlier, we should also mention that this was her final Sugababes’ single for some fifteen years, as she left the group that December to be replaced by Amelle Berrabah. Keisha Buchanan was left as the only remaining original Sugababe, and this line-up will see out their chart-topping careers over the next couple of years.
I absolutely adore this song. Their most famous song and biggest worldwide hit is one of their best songs. I think it’s such a fantastic electropop/R&B song. It’s so extremely catchy and well put together. It actually sounds a little ahead of it’s time – Lady Gaga and Kesha would be doing songs with this type of sound like this in the late-2000s. Maybe the best Sugababes song, I dunno. Of their solo chart-toppers, it’s my favourite. It was a #3 hit in Australia. I definitely think this is a far superior song to “Don’t Cha”.
It was produced and co-written by Dallas Austin who is a great producer and produced all the big TLC hits like “Creep”, “No Scrubs”, “Unpretty” and “Waterfalls” (also produced Boyz II Men’s “End of the Road” and many other R&B/hip hop songs in the 90s) and the song’s origins came about a crush Keisha had on another artist Austin was working on and Austin advised her to tell the guy to “push the button” or she’d move on. I think Heidi and Keisha are the highlights of the track and their vocals are awesome, but Mutya does a great job on it too. Actually, listening to the track now, I kinda get a bit of ABBA vibes from it, in terms of the soundscape and melody. It’s great because it has an American R&B feel, but it still sounds quite British, but not overly British that it’s waving the Union Jack and eating beans on toast.
And the music video, so iconic. The girls look smoking in the video. That was the first Sugababes music video I ever saw. I didn’t recognise the Sugababes initially when “Freak Like Me” was posted on this blog until I saw the music video for this song while going through their big hits and remembered that video being played on music television. All the older boys at my school were talking about it and I didn’t really understand what the song was about, but it made me feel things Sesame Street wasn’t making me feel, that’s for sure.
Is the video that good, or sexy? Maybe I’m not the best suited to judge, but it just feels a bit basic. It’s called Push the Button so they’re dancing in a lift… Great.
I can’t remember who or where, but I once heard ‘Push the Button’ described as sounding autumnal (and it was #1 in October, Northern hemisphere autumn). I can’t explain it, but I agree. Something in the soundscape and melody is slightly melancholy. ABBA is a decent comparison.
Fantastic song from a great girl group.
Agreed!
Not relevant to this post, but I wanted to ask (as you’re the expert)…do you know of any sort of (good) cultural history of the music charts? Whether a chapter in a book, an essay, a documentary on YouTube, a blog post, or whatever? Thanks.
Maolsheachlann, Dublin
Good to hear from you! I am far from an expert… In fact, I tend to avoid reading other books/blogs on number ones singles, or the charts, as I don’t want to end up copying what they’ve said.
As far as I know, there are countless books about the history of pop music, but none that tie that history specifically to the charts. Maybe I’ll write it one day… I suppose the problem with tying it to the charts is that you have to miss out all the great acts that weren’t big chart stars. Bob Stanley, from the band Saint Etienne, has written a couple of books that might be the closest thing to what you’re looking for. The blog Popular does the same thing as me, with a bit more intellectual/cultural depth too.
Thanks! I can understand why you’d avoid reading them. It’s actually the popularity part I’m interested in it– how far the charts seeped into popular culture, what the popularity of a genre or song might have said about the cultural moment, etc.. Especially how number ones seemed like a cultural event in my childhood, but now they’re not. The death of the monoculture and all that!
Of course, you often make such observations on individual songs or periods, which are fascinating, but an overview would also be interesting.
Maolsheachlann
A very good Sugababes single, if not quite up there with Freak and Round Round for me, but on a par with the next best level of Babes stuff like Overdrive, always fun to hear and as catchy as Round Round.
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