The best bit of Freak Like Me - Sugababes

It's all good for mey-eh. How about you?

Overture

Hello again! Genuinely buzzing to have DOUBLE DIGIT subscribers since the first post, so thanks tons for popping in and enjoying some bangers with me!  

This week, I’m sure we’re all still reeling from our Spotify Wrapped (or streaming service equivalent) results, as it is always such a thrill to be judged by an algorithm on our year-on-year hot mess behaviours. Commiserations to those who forgot to put Spotify on a private session when their kids listened to the Bluey theme song for the 93^rd time in June – or those whose gym playlists tainted the status quo. (As someone who has Love Today by Mika on their running playlist, I see you.)

Thankfully, I’m emerging from 2023 relatively unscathed. Hbu?

Please note the irony of having Eurovision’s Who The Hell is Edgar by Teya & Salena in my top 5, a song that literally lays out the sad tuppence of artist revenue (0.003) that Spotify dishes out to artists per song play! I am sorry to be part of the problem. Also: Poe, Poe, Poe, Poe, Poe…

Today’s song | Freak Like Me – Sugababes

Oh m8, we are so back.

Today we’re rolling back the years all the way to 2002 (my god) to this gorgeous Frankenstein’s monster of a track from our beloved Sugababes 2.0. It’s their thoroughly deserved first No.1 hit, Freak Like Me! Shove those distorted synths and weird bubble sound effects into your eardrums immediately. It’s good for you.

Freak Like Me is the ultimate pop hybrid. First off, it’s a cover of R&B singer Adina Howard’s 1995 track. But it’s also a mash-up, sampling Gary Numan and Tubeway Army’s “Are Friends Electric?” from 1979. (Producer Richard X initially intended to use the 1995 original as a boot-leg, “Are Freaks Electric”, but eventually the vocals were re-recorded.)

It’s also the first single from a new version of the girlband, who had slid into their second line-up (of what would eventually end up being four reshuffles) after only releasing one album as the original trio. (Thankfully, us Sugababes purists know we’re eventually going to get a happy ending and a lot of good memes along the way.)

Add to that the fact that Heidi, their new member, was originally from a very early incarnation of Atomic Kitten – and you’ve got a real melting pot of musical ingredients going on here! The original song from Adina Howard also uses samples and interpolations – taking drums from Sly & The Family Stone’s Sing a Simple Song and some of the melody from Bootsy’s Rubber Band’s I’d Rather Be With You.

It takes a village, people!

The (whole lotta) history

After forming in the late 90s as young teens, Sugababes (nearly, horrifically called “Sugababies”) burst on to the scene with debut single, Overload in 2000, a classy R&B flavoured hit that was still as catchy as any other pop banger of the time, but more mature and understated. With the Spice Girls slipping out of view, and All Saints pulling extra shifts at Girlband HQ (Pure Shores also came out in 2000) Sugababes offered something more refreshing, culminating in their first album One Touch.

Alas, as critically acclaimed as the album was (it really is very good!) the band were dropped from their label London Records for not selling enough – then their core member Siobhan sadly left the group. (The urban legend that she escaped through a toilet window has since been mythbusted) It could’ve been all over, but instead, a new record label swiftly snapped them up, Heidi was clicked and dragged into the line-up, and their next album, Angels with Dirty Faces, was about to launch the ‘babes into the mainstream. Round Round may have been the bigger hit (also charting at No.1) but Freak Like Me laid the groundwork with something, frankly, a bit freaky!

The perfect moment

It's always hard for a new member to slot gracefully into a band. Treat yourself to the Cotton Eye Joe-hit makers, Rednex’s Wikipedia page to see an extreme example.

But for Heidi Range (and my lord, she DO have range) – she figured out the magic words: “It’s all good for me!” – or to be more precise “It’s all good for MAY-EH! Good for MAY-EH!”

What’s mad about this moment is that we’re already well beyond the half-way mark of the song before we even get to Heidi’s shining breakthrough. We’ve already been inundated with auditory goodies – from the raging synths of that Are ‘Friends’ Electric? sample to gorgeous harmonies and fuzzy guitars. It is not until just after the 2-minute mark that Heidi comes in out of nowhere with her siren song, weaving herself into the Sugababes’ grand tapestry forever.

Once she does, the synths evolve into the anthemic instrumental break (otherwise known as the NA NA NA NA NA, NA NA NA bit) we love from the original. Much like Kylie in Kids from last week’s post, something about Heidi’s vocal in this moment seems to unlock something in the song and takes us to the big finish. In the words of Negroni Sblagiato meme: Oh, stunnin’.

NB: The early noughties loved the vowel-breaking of “ME” – see also Britney’s Overprotected line from 2001: “Someone else – but – MEYEH. Action!!”

Mondegreen alert!

“Cause it’s all about the dark in me” or…”all about the dog in me”? Well, for a long time I thought it was the latter. It’s a weird song, OK?

Final pop ponderings

As we discussed last week, the longevity of pop greatness usually comes down to constant reinvention – and although this revision of the Sugababes line-up was circumstantial – this was the era where the girlband really hit their stride – following up with Round Round (my first polyphonic ringtone, if you wanted to know) AND a song on the Love Actually soundtrack. (Too Lost in You plays over Alan Rickman beginning his affair with Mia!!! Not any girlband could rise to such an occasion!!)

Although we would eventually lose Mutya in 2005, then Keisha in 2009, creating pop music’s very own Ship of Theseus, Freak Like Me proves that sometimes, just sometimes, mixing things up can actually make magic. It certainly is good for mey-eh.  

What’s your favourite “ooh turn it up babe, this is the good bit” song moment? Leave me a comment - I very well may agree and include it in a future post! Imagine!!!