“All of these hours wasted acting civilised / I hideaway by day, that’s why I love the night…”
25 years later, and the Sugababes are still the coolest.
Mutya, Keisha and Siobhan (MKS, if you’re nasty) are back with “Jungle,” ushering in a new era for the group – for real this time.
The track comes over a decade after The Best Song of 2013, “Flatline,” endless delays due to trademark legal battles and leaks, and their too-good-to-waste compilation of demos, The Lost Tapes. (“I’m Alright” forever.)
The slick, clubby banger, drawing from garage / 2-step, sounds perfectly fresh and modern while still retaining the girl group’s original (soul) sound established on their 2000 debut. It’s a quick track (welcome to 2025), but every ‘Babe vocally shines in under three minutes. The spoken word! The post-chorus harmonies!
The Babes did the track with some major pop players: it was produced by Jon Shave – of ‘Brat’ fame, yes, but also Girls Aloud (“On the Metro”!), Babes 3.0 (“No Can Do”) and Ashley O’s “On a Roll” (!) among many others – and co-written with Anya Jones (Kylie’s “Tension”), who is executive producing their upcoming album, and Wayne Hector (Britney’s “Out From Under,” PCD’s “I Hate This Part,” Nicki Minaj’s “Starships”…I mean.)
The accompanying video was directed by Dora Paphides. Not only does each Suga look insanely good, serving up office worker-gone-wild/surrealist warehouse club chaos (and choreography, hello!), but it also provides ample back tattoo inspiration. I’m booking my appointment now.
The trio confirmed to NME today that there’s a “body of work” incoming (thank God), so there won’t be much time before the next single that’s “even more of a bop,” which “could remind you of another [Sugababes] era.” (Which one do we think – Catfights? Sweet 7?!)
And, in yet another co-sign of her pop brilliance, they’ve just done a writing session with JADE. The track’s not done yet, but “it’s definitely got something.” Girl group overload (REFERENCE).
We love every iteration of the Sugababes, throughout all the turmoil and tabloid headlines, but there’s truly nothing like watching the original trio winning again.
WELCOME BACK, SUGABABES.
Check out the MuuTunes Spotify playlist. You can also subscribe on Apple Music.
