6 October 2005
My relief at finally seeing a proper A-list pop act at the top of the 2005 charts is tempered by the fact that ‘Push The Button’ is the Sugababes’ only Irish number one. We’ve been here before, with ‘Sound Of The Underground’ as the only Irish chart-topper for Girls Aloud. Does this matter? Probably not. I can match my litany of Girls Aloud classics with a similar list of fine Sugababes bangers: ‘Overload’, ‘New Year’, ‘Freak Like Me’, ‘Round Round’, ‘Hole In The Head’, ‘Stronger’, ‘In The Middle’, ‘Red Dress’, ‘About You Now’. In particular, ‘Freak Like Me’ was kept off the Irish top spot by Nickelback’s ‘How You Remind Me’: even at the time we knew this was just plain wrong.
As you may have deduced by its absence from that authoritative and objectively verifiable list, ‘Push The Button’ isn’t quite top-tier Sugababes. Rather than being a Richard X soundclash or Xenomania scorcher, this is a co-write with US R&B-pop bigshot Dallas Austin, who hawks his wares widely. So, the melody feels a bit by-numbers: as with Stock Aitken and Waterman product of yore, you can almost predict how the chorus will resolve itself. Also, Xenomania’s habit of writing different styles of verse for each member is sadly missing here: Keisha gets that urgent pre-chorus that’s right on the upper limit of her range, but otherwise it’s relatively samey all the way through.
Still, though, there are obvious reasons ‘Push The Button’ nabbed that overdue number one spot. The girls bring their own native wit and swagger: Mutya’s “My sexy ass has got him in a new dimension” deserves to appear on a bronze plaque at the spot where it was written. On the Sugababes timeline ‘Push The Button’ is still at the UK R&B-inflected version 2 (Mutya – Keisha – Heidi) but edging towards the pure daytime radio pop of version 3 (Amelle – Keisha – Heidi). That incipient glossy sheen helps ‘Push The Button’ over the line. Plus, it’s catchy.
The Trigger’s Broom that is Sugababes version 4 (Amelle – Jade – Heidi) won’t be featuring in our affections, but this group’s place in the ’00s pop pantheon was already secure. I hope that, along with Girls Aloud, they’ll eventually get rediscovered by a new generation of music fans. And even if ‘Push The Button’ isn’t the best of this group, it nonetheless gives us the quaint thrill of a 2005 Irish number one from a great pop act with a good single. Imagine if the charts worked like this all the time.
