Amelle, Heidi and Jade, also known – rightly or wrongly – as the Sugababes, unveiled the video for their new single ‘About a Girl’. The group, who have been at centre of much controversy as of late – almost entirely due to the ousting of original member Keisha Buchanan last month – hope to set the chart’s alight with this their new single. With a big budget (in UK terms) and a more sexed up image, the big question is: “does the video redeem them?”
In short, unfortunately, the answer is a no. Getting the good out of the way first; I’m definitely feeling the cinematic look of the clip, while the choreography was a great step forward for a group, who have really not been renown for that. However, I can’t help but feel this was a poor, rushed, badly edited clip. Clearly the stunt doubles were supposed to be reflective of the pre-Jade line-up, and though the ladies have since said the stunt company went ahead and shot their scenes while the drama was going on behind the scenes, there surely could have been more workable ways of using the footage. It really seems as if the label paid a hefty sum to the stunt company and come hell or high water were going to get their money’s worth – regardless of whether the vid seemed random as hell. I mean for someone not in the know of what’s happened, they’d likely sit there wondering why in one shot we are seeing muscle-y chicks (ala WWF/E’s Chyna) and in the next, a random dance routine by the group who look nothing like them. For all the £££$$$ thrown at this, the aforementioned makes it come off cheap and tacky.
While I never wish any one bad, I can’t help but feel a little pessemistic about the group’s future. They needed to knock the ball out of the park with this video, which IMO had what’s left of their reputation on the line, and I don’t feel they did.
What do you think of the video?
