The Saturdays - Headlines

I'M BAAAAAAACK!!!! You don't know how much I missed blogging. For real. I know my "hand-written" post was a hit (Mel found it hilarious), but I do miss the order and the formatting that typing provides. That big exam I was talking about is done, and my midterms are as well, but it definitely doesn't feel like it. I have a LOT of work to do starting now, and I'll tell you guys now that there will be a lot of changes on PRN in the coming months.

SO ANYWAY, I thought I'd make my "comeback" to blogging about non-kpop stuff as well, while I'm at it. And it just so happens that the new Sats EP came out. Just in time. I haven't written anything in quite a while, so be ready for a crap review. But you've put up with my down days, so this shouldn't be a problem.


The Saturdays. I was there when If This Is Love was first "unleashed", when they were known as "GA's support act", and they're probably the first pop band I followed from the very beginning. They're also one of the few Western acts I'm still actually updated on. I know, I know, shoot me. And besides, I never really said my piece on Missing You.

I'm rather alarmed with the growing trend in releasing EPs instead of LPs, because let's face it, EPs are a sign that labels don't have enough money to churn out full-length albums anymore, so they resort to throwing a few songs into a package and marketing one single. It's cheaper, but sells just as much as an LP, if not more.

But that aside, I have mixed feelings with a material. I know it's not an LP, but even EPs need a sense of cohesion and identity. I'll only be talking about the new material, so all the previously-released songs are excluded from the review, and the rating.

Missing You is epic, but to a certain extent it's too epic. It's a pretty song, don't get me wrong, and the chorus has it's own way of exploding, but in trying to be this gigantic-ly epic package, they overdid it a bit. Everything before the second verse is the best part of the song for me - gorgeous melody, and it sounds very "fresh", like how it's supposed to. But it's like when you get to the second verse onwards, the melody and instrumental get really boring and it feels like it just goes on and on and ooooooon.

I would like to profess my love for Higher. There, I did it. It sounds like a Sats song, but it's fresh (for them), the melody's gorgeous, and everything about this song is so.. so... brilliant. I kid you not! Everything just sounds right - together and as individual elements. The hook is a little cheesy, but it adds some character to the song. I like character. The synth loop would've been rather annoying, but for some reason it knows when to take a back seat and when to really make itself heard.

Died In Your Eyes sounds like something straight out of Wordshaker, in all it's epic-ness, but it is a gorgeous song. I got sick of it real quick, but the verses are pretty and the chorus is nice and big and all show-off-y. It's a Sats song through and through, no question.

I honestly don't know what to think of Karma. There's a part of me that likes it with its tongue-in-cheek sound and obnoxious sounding vocals, but the synths and the strange vocal treatment put me off a bit. It's sounds very American, with touches of The Sats sound, but seriously, their vocals on the chorus sound so strange - is that even them singing? To a certain extent it sounds like parts of a bunch of different songs thrown into one package and sung by the girls - the middle 8, the verses, and the hook sound so detached from each other.

Puppet wasn't my favorite song in the world when I first heard the EP, but it's slowly growing on me. I'm still a little rusty, so I can't pinpoint what song this sounds like, but it does sound like something else. Like almost every song I adore, the melody is gorgeous, and the hook really does stick, and it does sound rather American, actually. OMG IT SOUNDS LIKE AN NLT/VARSITY FANCLUB SONG. (Mel, I know you're reading!) The verses, at least. The middle 8 isn't the best thing since anything, but I did notice its existence, so that's gotta mean something.

4.2/5 - solid effort, but still lacking on some points.

4 comments:

  1. YAAAAYYY!!!! - You're back!!

    As for If This Is Love, I'm probably with you - Right from day one :D

    I'm not really loving the EP trend either..

    Bring on Higher, sounds awesome - and I've not actually heard Missing You, but I'm certainly looking forward to it! I'm up for Karma too, I'm yet to hear it, so i'm kinda excited to give it a listen :D

    ReplyDelete
  2. I found it slightly ridiculous & lazy for them to add three songs from Wordshaker [I'm including the One Shot remix, although I love it just as much as the original]

    Here's what I thought about the rest:

    -Missing You: slowly grew on me. The 1st time I heard it I thought it was a bit too...weepy. My only real gripe is that Una doesn't have anything to do on this song {granted she does sing lead on the 2nd chorus}. If Molly & Frankie can get features then I think Una should have gotten a verse or at least the middle 8.

    -Higher: a clear favorite that should have been the lead single [thankfully its the being released next *fingers crossed*]. The hook, while cheesy, is a killer.

    -Died In Your Eyes: I like Kristinia DeBarge's version better, but I give them an A+ for effort. A slight negative is that it comes off as almost "Here Standing" Part 2 vs. making its presence known as its own separate entity. Also I agree that it gets annoying after a few listens [especially between 2:00 & 2:20]

    -Karma: not too sure how I feel about this one. On one hand, the verses sound like something Prince would have written while drunk in 1985, while the chorus {which sounds oddly reminiscent of the American pop group called Girlicious} is so stupidly catchy that I can't help but like it.

    -Puppet: sounds like something Ke$ha would have recorded, which is the reason why its my LEAST favorite song on the EP.

    I was a bit disappointed by the amount of autotune on this record. These girls -minus Mollie & Frankie- have powerhouse vocals; there was no need for the studio tricks!

    All in all I'd give it a final score of:

    3.5/5

    ReplyDelete
  3. Hurrah she's back!

    I was a little disappointed in Missing You but it's a grower. The only reason I haven't embraced it that much is the lack of Una vocals. Higher! *squeal* I totally agree about everything sounding right on it. I liked the snippet of Karma on the sampler but the whole thing sounds a bit odd, especially the melody mishmash and all.

    ReplyDelete
  4. ...We differ largely, young grasshopper. I finally got to hear the EP, and wrapped up my thoughts to go live on the blog on Tuesday. I wasn't impressed. :(

    ReplyDelete

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