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Wordshaker is the second studio album by British girl group, The Saturdays, which was released on 12 October 2009. The album peaked at #9 in the UK Albums Chart, which is the highest debut from the girls since they debuted at #11 with their first album.

First Impressions
Being a really HUGE Sats fan (hey, I provided all of the B-Sides from the first album remember!!!), I’m really looking forward to lay my hands on this album. But after listening once through, it’s not really ear-grabbing. They really lost their touch on the ballads, not memorable as compared to “Issues” and “Chasing Lights“. As for the uptempos, the presence of killer hooks can be felt throughout. =)

Standout Tracks

• Forever is Over
  Lead single. Didn’t really took much notice of this song in the first place cause I’m rather underwhelmed by it. But after hearing the fantastic Buzz Jukies remix, it’s easier to digest this song. Actually it aint that bad, going for a rockier electro sound.
  *Fun Fact* – This song was in fact written for Kelly Clarkson to record for her album. However, during a visit to the record label’s HQ The Saturdays heard the song and requested the song’s writer James Bourne to let them record it instead.
• Here Standing
  The only bearable ballad from the album. Deserves to be the 3rd or 4th single, since the first 2 singles are uptempos. As for comments on this song, it starts off beautifully, then the chorus sounds rough. I dunno whether the 5 gals wanna overtake each other on who’s singing the loudest. Sheesh.
• Ego
  The best song of this album. It has all the elements of “Work“, but much more heavy hitting. 2nd single. This song has Number One written all over it.
• No One
  Another ballad. Not to be confused with the Alicia Keys track. It’s nowhere as good as that. Average at best. It does sounds like an All Saints song though.
• One Shot
  Another heavy hitting electro number. Excellent stuff. You only have one shot. I like the message put across on the song. =)
• Wordshaker
  The chorus has very appealing lyrics. I’m sure it’s infectious enough for peeps to be singing along. Another single contender.
• Open Up
  The beats, paired with the lyrics, makes this song sounds a little amateurish and kiddish. Bad execution!!! Sure, it sounds cheerful, but it’s abit too senseless.
• Lose Control
  The only redeeming quality of this song is this line from it’s lyrics. “I should be the face of every fashion magazine“. As for the comments, See: Open Up.

Final Verdict
It seems like the girls has traded the quality of their ballads to support their catchy uptempos in this album. No doubt that the uptempo electro songs has an immediate catchy effect on the ears. It’s just so disappointing that the ballads are being sacrificed in the process. I think I prefer their first album more, even the B-sides from the first album has single potential.

I think the culprit to this inconsistency is most likely due to the short time frame taken to record this album, March to July 2009. They only purchase/shopped the songs from producers and just record their vocals in them. Hence, the lack of emotion as compared to their debut album. Their debut album has much more consistency and diversed. It’s just an alright sophomore album to me. In a risk to be forgettable. This era would most likely be reminded by it’s singles instead.

This album scores a 3 out of 5.