The lyrics to Gentleman, the third single from ‘Living For The Weekend’ (the girls’ fourth album), really are bizarre. Apparently “most dudes just hit it and quit it and then they wonder why most girls just spit it”. The girls’ response? “I let you taste my rainbow, you could at least be faithful”, before reeling off a list of famous gentleman suitors. It’s just plain weird.
What it also has, though, is bags of charm and personality –
something that’s sorely lacking from the majority of The Saturdays’
output. It’s for this reason that Gentleman stands out as one of the
strongest tracks on ‘Living For The Weekend’, alongside current single Disco Love.
The latter is a step away from the band’s usual EDM pop, instead
opting for a breezy 80s vibe and incredibly catchy “baby baby baby” chorus hook
– a very welcome change of pace.
The remains of the album offers club track after club track,
swaying from the absolute banger Not
Giving Up (if that’s not the next single I’ll eat my metaphorical hat), to
the banal Problem With Love (with its
clichéd dubstep drop) and the reggae inspired Wildfire (that sounds just like J-Lo’s On The Floor). So, in
essence, the majority of the tracks follow on from the two previously released
singles – the fairly forgettable 30 Days
and What About Us (in both annoying
Sean Paul and less-annoying Sean Paul-less forms), both of which were released
way back in 2012 and already sound dated.
A couple of obligatory non-ballads fill out the album: Leave A Light On and You Don’t Have The Right. Both feature big beats despite slowing
down the tempo, but are far less exciting than the other tracks. On the other end of the spectrum, Don’t Let Me Dance Alone is another sure-fire
single with more bizarre lyrics of female empowerment (“I didn’t put this dress
on for you to take it off”) and a cheeky semi-quote of Whitney.
In all, then, ‘Living For The Weekend’ is a typical Sats
album: a handful of interesting singles amongst some generic filler. As a whole it’s a stronger effort than in the
past, but it’s still unlikely to bring them the chart success they’re capable
of.
3/5
* Disco Love
* Gentleman
* Not Giving Up
Listen: ‘Living For The Weekend’ is available now.
