Sugababes, Beth Ditto, Tia Kofi, and Horse Meat Disco

The very name ‘Sugababes’ probably means different things to different people, depending on how old you are; they’ve undergone so many lineup changes these past few years that they make The Smashing Pumpkins look stable. The present lineup, in fact, contains precisely zero original members; Heidi Range is the closest thing they have to a stalwart, at over a decade in the group, but Amelle Berrabah and Jade Ewen are both relatively recent additions. To make things even more confusing, the very first iteration of the band - comprising Siobhan Donaghy, Mutya Buena and Keisha Buchanan - have gotten back together, too, under the inventive banner of Mutya Keisha Siobhan. The current Sugababes are currently on hiatus, with their only record between them, Sweet 7, meeting with an unfavourable response both critically and commercially. Should they choose to regroup, though, the one thing they will have on their side is a formidable back catalogue; one of the strongest in recent British pop history, in fact, with the likes of ‘Freak Like Me’ and ‘Too Lost in You’ only sounding better as the years roll by; the mark of a genuinely excellent commercial pop song. In an ever more fickle scene, though, they’d be well-advised not to leave it too long; irrespective of which version of the group they’re most used to, the public forget alarmingly quickly these days.

As the lead singer of The Gossip, Beth Ditto has pretty much spent her entire career polarising opinion; in fact, during the band’s mid-noughties heyday, when ‘Standing in the Way of Control’ was a staple of indie discos the world over, it almost seemed as if critics wanted to talk about everything to do with Ditto other than her music. She lapped up the controversy, defying expectations to appear nude on the riskiest NME cover for some time, and went on to be held up as an icon for aspiring female punk singers. Of course, when it does come to Ditto’s musical ability, she’s certainly not found lacking; she has a superb voice, one that’s all powerful funk strut one minute and soulful, often bluesy the next; there’s no one you can quite compare to her when it comes to her contemporaries. She also dipped her toe into solo waters in 2011, with the Beth Ditto EP capitalising upon the solo promise that she’d displayed when she covered ‘Temptation’ by Heaven 17 with Pulp frontman Jarvis Cocker back in 2008; she only played a handful of shows in support of that release, but it’s difficult not to see Gossip live shows as the Beth Ditto show anyway.

One of the best nights of my life. Disco in New York? Nothing could be better! Sexy boys, sexy tracks and large and sexy disco ball. Met some cracking people and danced the night away! I felt love!