It’s an exciting, tumultuous time to be a girl group enthusiast.
In just a few short weeks, the Almighty Aloud have taken their final bow (and allowed our lives to grow cold once again), the original Sugababes—MKS—have made their slow-but-sure return to the musical landscape on various amazing covers and remixes, and The Saturdays have, at last, notched their first-ever #1 in the UK.
Now, there’s another group worth putting on our radar (on our ray-duh): M.O.
The newly formed trio consists of Nadine (not of the Coyle variety), Annie (not of the “Chewing Gum variety) and, quite excitingly, Frankee—formerly one-half of the gone-too-soon Xenomania duo, Mini Viva. (“I Wish” alone remains better than the bulk of all pop music released in the past year.)
The girls have been holed up in the studio with the likes of Rack N Ruin, Show N Prove, Woz, Timothy Bloom and Prince Charles over the past 6 months, steadily working on carving out their debut.
“Ain’t Got Time” is M.O’s most recent release, a breezy throwback to ’90’s girl group harmonizing and soulful sound (but sadly, not an ode to Sweet Brown.) No synthesizers, no atmospheric guitars to be found here, really–just a solid percussive pulse.
“I ain’t got time to care about people that don’t care about me,” the girls chant above the beat (which, to be honest, could benefit from just a little more mmph.) It’s a refreshing sound, and the girls sound amazing as a group–even if it doesn’t necessarily sound like a Top 10 smash.
The accompanying video dropped last week, and it’s very ’90’s–plaid shirts tied ’round light wash jeans, cut-offs, gold chains and all. Evidently, they can all cut a rug too. Get that choreography, Frankee!
Their single released back in November on the other hand, “Wait Your Turn,” is a much more modern, club-friendly affair, as the girls give us their best RiRi impression across twerk-worthy claps and pounding, aggressive beats. “Watch and learn–don’t get in my way,” the girls warn.
It’s still very early days for M.O, but keep your eyes and ears peeled—there’s plenty of promise packed into this troupe.
“Ain’t Got Time” was released on March 18. (iTunes)