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Headlines! (Album Cover)

“Headlines!” is the first EP (or mini album) by The Saturdays!! The EP serves as the bridge between the group’s second studio album, “Wordshaker” and their upcoming third studio album. It was released in the UK on 16 August 2010 by Fascination Records, now being absorbed back to Polydor. (They should invest more on Sophie-EB too!!).

First Impressions

The mini album includes previous singles, “Forever is Over” and “Ego” as well as a new mix of “One Shot” from Wordshaker plus five new songs. One of these is a cover of the song “Died in Your Eyes”, originally by Kristinia DeBarge, from her 2009 album “Exposed“.

This EP serves as a taster of what’s to come for their 3rd LP release. By stuffing the singles (and better tracks) from Wordshaker and putting 5 spanking new songs, it somewhat seems like a value for fans and casual listeners alike. They are still trying to match the brillant sound from their debut though.

The EP is the standard Sats sound, better as compared to “Wordshaker” (I wonder on why they left out the awesome title track for this EP). I shall re-evaluate their previous singles too so as to complete the whole ‘package’. =)

Track by Track Review

• Missing You
  A mid-tempo, electro-tinged ballad. Didn’t ‘feel’ this song at first, but it’s a grower. The lyrics centred around on being in a relationship with the passion has gone but still being addicted to the love that used to be, which results in it being surprisingly ‘dark’. Oh, the gals look fab in their maxi dresses in the vid btw. As most critics pointed out, not quite of a comeback track, but it’s alright for me.
• Ego
  Probably their most well-known hit since “Up” & “Work”, it’s what and why we love the Sats for!! One of the best songs from the Sats musicology.
• Higher
  2nd single. The signature synthy sound is feeling as fiesty as ever in typical Sats fashion! Catchy lyrics, checked. Addictive chorus, checked. This anthemic song is close to pop-perfection. Thank goodness they didn’t use the Flo Rida version for the vid. The additional rap parts are crappy and unnecessary!! I’m gonna lift it, lift it HIGH-YER!! Woots!!
• Forever is Over
  So basically, there are 2 camps for this song. The For/Against for the sudden change in the sound back then. I personally think the synth-rock vibe works, & it’s memorable! Love the Buzz Junkies remix too!!
• Died in your Eyes
  A cover of the original song by American singer-songwriter Kristinia DeBarge, taken from her debut studio album Exposed (2009). It’s a shame that Kristinia DeBarge didn’t release this song as a single. Given the Sats treatment, the song sounds a little Ryan Tedder-esque (produced). An accompaniment with “Missing You“.
• Karma
  Anotherr fun track!! Though some parts of the lyrics are a little off. =X You don’t throw your own broken heart away that easily. Haha.
• Puppet
  Having an explosive chorus, puppuppuppet sounds a little like pokpokpoker face though. =P
• One Shot (Starsmith Mix)
  It aint really a remix, just a re-edit on the chorus portion. Scattered a little more syth-beats here and there. Subtle difference.

Final Verdict
Overall, the EP is what we come to expect (and love) from the Sats. This isn’t bad, but proclaiming it as fantastic is a little too much. Since we all love the power-pop sound that they have to offer, so their management decided to bank in on that sound. There’s nothing wrong about it, but it’ll get repetitive after some time, which results in nothing groundbreaking and without any breakthough. That’s bad in modern music standards.

With Girls Aloud (for the time being) and the Sugababes out of the way, the Saturdays has come to fill the void. But can they be around for long?? Hopefully their 3rd studio album effort holds the answer.

This EP scores a 3.5 out of 5.