Sweet 7

''Sweet 7'' is the seventh studio album by British girl group Sugababes, released on 15 March 2010 by Island Records. Production for the album began in April 2009 and was completed in January 2010. ''Sweet 7'' is the only Sugababes album to feature Eurovision Song Contest 2009 entrant Jade Ewen following the controversial departure of Keisha Buchanan in September 2009. As a result of the group line-up change, ''Sweet 7'' was re-recorded to feature the vocals of new member Ewen and for the removal of Buchanan's vocals. This is the only Sugababes album that features none of the original members, and despite the title, is not the seventh Sugababes album for any of the included members.

Production on the album began with Buchanan's involvement, who was featured on the lead single "Get Sexy", which peaked at number two in the UK. Following her departure, " About a Girl" and " Wear My Kiss" peaked at number eight and seven, respectively. The album was produced by Jay-Z's entertainment company Roc Nation; the involvement of Roc Nation's in-house producers gave the album a strong electro and dance-pop sound due to work from US producers and writers, mainly Fernando Garibay, Stargate and The Smeezingtons. Despite the high-profile input, ''Sweet 7'' was negatively received by critics, and was awarded a 39 out of 100 according to aggregated reviews at Metacritic. The negative reviews stemmed to the originality of the image due to the loss of Buchanan, as well as a lack of an identifiable sound and soul from the project.

''Sweet 7'' peaked at number 14 in the UK and number 35 in Ireland, becoming the group's second-lowest charting album to date in those countries. Promotion for the album ended after the release of the final single so that the group could begin work on a new album, but they split after they released its intended single, "Freedom".

Recording and line-up change

Prior to the album's creation, Sugababes signed a US record deal with Jay-Z's label Roc Nation. The album was recorded by Sugababes mostly in Los Angeles and New York with a couple of sessions in London. The group primarily worked with RedOne, Ryan Tedder, Stargate, Fernando Garibay, and The Smeezingtons. One of the album's tracks, "No More You", was written by Ne-Yo. Keisha Buchanan compared the song to Rihanna's " Hate That I Love You" and " Take a Bow". Buchanan told BBC Radio 1's Newsbeat, the album has "definitely got the British feel throughout the album - we've not gone away and gone 'All American' on our fans." Buchanan continued, "I think it's given us a fresh energy again. I think the one thing we wanted to do was come back with something different." She also admitted the girls had become "complacent" around the time of '' Catfights and Spotlights'' but they also said that they are very proud of that album.

After the release of the album's first single "Get Sexy" and just two months before its projected November 2009 release, it was reported by the media that Amelle Berrabah had quit the group. Buchanan, however, denied any drama within the group and insisted that Berrabah would remain a member "for the moment". On 21 September 2009, it was announced that Buchanan had left the band, although she stated via her Twitter account that it was not her decision to leave. Buchanan was replaced by Jade Ewen, who immediately began recording her vocals over Buchanan's in preparation for the album's release.

Songs

"Thank You for the Heartbreak" is an electropop song with a 1980s electro influence. David Balls of ''Digital Spy'' described it as a "snappy electropop number", and noted its potential to "have slotted quite nicely" onto Sugababes' fifth studio album, ''Change'' (2007). During an interview with ''Digital Spy'', group member Amelle Berrabah stated that "Thank You for the Heartbreak" is amongst the tracks on the album that the Sugababes enjoy, and later named it a potential single from the album. There was a "potential lyrical mashup" with the song's lyric, 'dancing off my tears', on which Heidi Range replied: "If people want to sing that when we perform it, well, we won't complain!" Nick Levine of ''Digital Spy'' wrote that the song "displays the Sugababes spunk of old" in comparison to the other "characterless" tracks on the album. David Balls of ''Digital Spy'' noted that the song suggests that the Sugababes "extracted maximum benefit from their recording sessions in LA earlier this year", and they did not "stray too far from their comfort zone". Balls also described "Thank You for the Heartbreak", as well as the album's second single " About a Girl", as a track that is both "fresh-sounding" and "packed with the attitude that always made the group stand out." Thomas H Green of ''The Daily Telegraph'' listed the song in his "Download this" category. Lauren Murphy of Entertainment Ireland described it as a "minor saving grace" and "very likeable" in comparison to the other "mediocre" tracks on the album.

"She's a Mess" is an uptempo electropop song. Originally called "I'm a Mess", the group decided to retitle it due to concerns that the lyrics (such as "Drinking bottle after bottle / I'm such a mess in that dress / I'm not impressed") encouraged binge drinking. However, Range stated that "there are some lyrics that are quite cheeky but people shouldn't take them seriously." During an interview for ''Digital Spy'', Berrabah described the overall sound of ''Sweet 7'', saying: "It's quite an uptempo album with a lot of different sounds." Berrabah cited "She's a Mess" as an example for this, which she said was "just totally different from everything else." Jon O'Brien of AllMusic wrote that the "aptly named 'She's a Mess' is a chaotic attempt at a Clubland trance-pop floor-filler". Al Fox of the British Broadcasting Corporation
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