From
a fans perspective, what's worse than having a song you adore become famous
over the course of a few months? Nothing compared to having Mutya Buena, Keisha Buchanan and Siobhán Donaghy sing over it. Sugababes inspired me to write, seriously they did. Between 2005 and 2007 was my prime period of Sugababes hate. They would appear on Comic Relief and Children In Need among others. The
original line-up has always been considered the best, but that's because it was
r&b and not pop. As record labels pushed for a better voice and image,
these three original members started falling. Donaghy was first to go through
internal problems, and she was diagnosed with clinical depression in this period. Buena
left in 2005 and ended all originality the Sugababes name had. She went on to
release a decent solo album with the single "Song 4 Mutya (Out of
Control)" which heavily featured Groove Armada. Then Buchanan was sacked
and what was once a girl group idea by three girls and their manager in a
London pub, was now nothing but a brand - although it was a brand right from
the beginning.
"Lay Down in Swimming Pools" is MKS' cover of Kendrick Lamar's "Swimming
Pools (Drank)", obviously. Each original member sings on the verse and
they all come together to harmonise on the chorus. It's actually not that bad,
they don't butcher it. It's like R.Kelly covering Radiohead or Frank Ocean
covering Girls Aloud, it wouldn't bother me and I kind of want to hear more. This
track won't be released as a single or feature on MKS' upcoming album for
obvious copyright reasons, it's not as if this recording has been authorised by
Polydor. The trio signed a £1,000,000 record deal with Polydor last year, so
the label will put faith in the trio branding themselves and combatting the
modern and pathetic Sugababes. They've begun the hype and anticipation by
covering Lamar, changing the lyrics and showing why they were such a driving
force in the early 00s. With r&b rising in 2012 and spilling over into
2013, we may be pleasantly surprised with what MKS comes up with.
~Eddie
