The Saturdays roared to number one in the UK charts this week with their single ‘What About Us’ taking everyone by surprise and having the strongest opening week of the year, selling an incredible 114,000.
While I came out this weekend saying that the band needed this win to keep them in the pop game and not get left in the shadows, the sheer amount of copies the girls sold makes it all the more perplexing why they’ve never hit the top step of the podium before.
The Saturdays have always been a strong presence in the singles charts, but have always been the bridesmaids. Even when they teamed up with Comic Relief, they failed to reach the top of the charts. So how come they’ve finally hit the nail on the head after five years and thirteen other attempts at the feat?
Sometimes singers just hit on the magic formula when it comes to a particular track, but ‘What About Us’ isn’t anything ground-breaking or revolutionary for the group. In fact, it’s not even the best sing The Saturdays have released in the singles charts.
The more prescient influence might be a rather impressive piece of timing from the girls. Not only have they made sure they were the only big release of the week, Girls Aloud have also firmly placed the spotlight on the girl-group world again. How better to console fans of the freshly split band than to present them with a fun, upbeat number like ‘What About Us’?
With the TV show also letting the girls finally show their personalities, something that’s been really lacking over the last few years in terms of the media assault. It’s been a key part in the success of One Direction and Girls Aloud, and The Saturdays need to make the most of themselves.
The Saturdays will be hoping that this glory will help propel them on to success both overseas and in the UK (it’s a whole lot easier to market them when they have a number one to their name), and only time will tell if this is a flash in the pan, or if this is actually the stage for the group to kick on and cement themselves in the pop scene.
Click here to buy ‘What About Us’
Tagged in The Saturdays