HEAR THIS: The Saturday's Rock The "Disco Love"

The road to official album #4 for The Saturdays has been a long one full of bumps both figurative and literal. But with a projected release date finally in sight -- October 2013! -- things are finally shaping up (and are less embarrassing to admit to being a fan of) with the upcoming release of the record's fourth single (I meannn....) in the fab "Disco Love". But before we get to that, let's rewind to the pieces of this project I have picked and chose to discuss until this point...

 

The first flurries of the project, still currently unnamed, happened long over a year ago with the unexpected release of the fun but forgettable "30 Days" in March of 2012 (!). It sounded a bit like a leftover cut from the On Your Radar sessions and left me feeling a bit heated, especially since there plenty of options still left on aforementioned album ("Get Ready, Get Set", anyone?). (And if you recall, Una is pregnant in the music video -- the first of an eventual three pregnancy's prior to this eventual album release...unless Vanessa and Mollie have something to say about it.) To this day, the group tends to disassociate themselves with this one and there are even rumors running rampant the song won't even be featured on the upcoming album.

 

In September of 2012, we heard blips and rumors of second single "What About Us", along with a planned American invasion complete with E! reality show. Around the same time, it was confirmed Rochelle would be joining the Baby Club founded by Una (don't get me wrong, Roche -- we're happy for you and Marvin, but you are delaying things a bit, aren't you?). In January, the song finally dropped to the public, complete with a unnecessary feature tag attributed to Sean Paul. I was willing to recant all of my frustration not long after when, after five years of stanship, I saw my queens live in person at the Highline Ballroom.

 

"What About Us" finally gave The Sats that #1 they desperately craved in their native UK, but landed with a thud here in the US (despite a reality show on E!? UNBELIEVABLE!). Now a full year after "30 Days", another new single was unleashed in "Gentleman". Written by Priscilla Renee and recorded while in Los Angeles (as documented in their show, Chasing The Saturdays), I was preparing myself for a big, US-aimed pop single as so many of the new cuts featured on their show were so promising ("Eyes Wide Open", "Somebody Else's Life", and especially "Not Giving Up On Love") . We all know how that turned out -- utterly cringeworthy. Guys, this is worse than the (curly) hair-tearing feels I felt in 2010 with "Missing You".

"Most guys just hit it and quit it/And then they wonder why most girls just spit it!"
"He already had the milk/So why would he go and buy the cow?!"
"I'll let you taste my rainbow/You could at least be faithful!"
"Someone I can take to Mama/I need to find my Obama!"
"I need a Weezy/I don't care who he is!"
"Larry King/I like 'em older!"

Oh, and that level of utter pop brilliance wasn't a worldwide smash? You don't say! STOP IT. JUST STOP IT. We're not going to even talk about that music video. We just aren't. It upsets me.

Ladies, you are better and more capable than this and you know it. To have this follow up your first #1 can only be summarized in one way: embarrassing. You think Girls Aloud would do something like this? I truly feared I'd never get my 80's disco-inspired, synth-tastic real Saturdays back. Remember your girl power days of "If This Is Love"? Of "Up? Of "Wordshaker"? Now you're so desperate for a "gentleman", you'll take Larry King? Really? REALLY?

 

As if that weren't bad enough, just before "Gentleman"s official release, Frankie announced she was pregnant -- officially branding The Saturdays the most fertile girl group ever and making the number of members who aren't mamas officially in the minority. This proved even more so to me that a childish, ridiculous song like "Gentleman" is a mistake! It's like then new-mama Christina Aguilera releasing that awful "Not Myself Tonight" (although, in the wake of her divorce not long after, perhaps it was a precursor).

 

I told myself I would just sit tight -- wait it all out for the eventual album release (I mean..."Not Giving Up On Love" was so fantastic, right?). I've come this far with the girls not to desert them now, in their clear moment of need. Which was why I just buttoned my lip and said nada (until now of course).

 

And as always is the case with this particular fandom, I was rewarded in the glorious "Disco Love". Due for release in early October (apparently right alongside the album?), "Disco Love" is a midtempo sparkler (and for once, I'm not bemoaning it) that is a complete 180 from "Gentleman". Produced by StopWaitGo, an Icelandic production team that is associated with internationally underrated girl group Nylon (now known as The Charlies). While 80's sounds were so popular during The Saturdays inception ("If This Is Love", "Work"), the rewind is button is pressed a little harder for this one ("Disco" in the title is no accident). It has twinkles of saxophone which, instead of feeling like they are late to the trend, feels totally on point with the overall feel of the song. Like its predecessor, it namechecks other celebrities but in a way that isn't utterly pandering. Drawing a parallel between the Bee Gees and Britney? I can see it, in a Euro discotheque kind of way. "...Hit Me, Baby (One More Time)" was created in the Swedish House of Nu-Disco, after all. And, I mean "it's Donna Summer all year long" is a lyric any pop aficionado can get behind.

Honestly, this song is all kinds of perfect -- a true natural progression after the frenetic youthfulness of "All Fired Up" and "Notorious". Of course, because I adore it, it will continue my track record of tanking on the UK charts. I certainly hope not for their sake. Now, if you will, let's all join hands and hope the rest of the upcoming album sound a bit like this...