"In theory yes," he said, "but…" "But basically no," I offered. Shortly after that I was introduced to Ludvig Andersson, the producer of the new show (among other things), and I asked him if once the digital ABBAtar things had been created, it would be possible to amend them for special occasions, for instance chucking Santa hats on the band for Christmas shows.I'm still computing it all to be honest but right now it feels like the most meaningful moment I've experienced in 25 years of loitering around popstars. As he did that he smiled, and as he smiled, he and I made eye contact. Benny stopped for a moment and when the beat dropped (do beats drop in ABBA songs? Let's go with it) Benny turned to the room and mimed the piano swoop. There was a moment at the end of the launch event last night when Don't Shut Me Down had just started playing and Benny and Bjorn were making their way from the stage to the back of the room.Don't Shut Me Down is about that one thing and that other thing, but it's also about a third thing: a popstar returning as a spooky infinite digital pop entity. The best pop songs are often about one thing (eg a relationship) and another thing (eg a band making a comeback).Of the two new songs, Don't Shut Me Down is THE ONE.But enough about JLS, whose new single is out today, and let's talk ABBA. If there's one thing worth bringing Popjustice out of semi-hiatus for it's the long-awaited return of an iconic, platinum-selling four-piece pop juggernaut whose acronymised name alone can reduce grown adults to tears. But could Girls Aloud have done everything they went on to do, and would any of us be the people we are now, without Sarah Harding? A pig wearing a hat could have had a hit with Sound Of The Underground. To be fair, we didn't put up much of a fight.Īnd if, during those years when Girls Aloud ruled pop, any of us had been asked to identify the spark at the heart of Girls Aloud - one member with the same chaotic, unpredictable energy that was in so much of the band's music - we'd surely have said that spark was Sarah. Such was the power of that band's presence that many fans will feel the same way: those fans in their teens, twenties, thirties and beyond were all dragged along. As Girls Aloud got bigger and better, it felt like the band dragged Popjustice (and the whole of pop music) along with them. With Popjustice having been such a big part of my life for so long, I'm reminded that writing the Popstars: The Rivals book meant I'd been given early access to Sound Of The Underground, which in turn meant I'd been able to write about it on the still-quite-new Popjustice blog. Since hearing yesterday about Sarah's death, many of us will have naturally been reflecting on how Sarah's life impacted our own lives over the last decade or two. By Christmas she was one fifth of a band who'd go on to achieve a record-breaking run of Top 10 singles, hit platinum sales, pull off multiple arena tours, and redefine pop music. Sarah did not have to go back to an awful job. More than some of the other singers entering Popstars: The Rivals, she knew what was at stake. She was twenty at that point, and had recently been working in debt collection.
While future bandmates were mainly concerned about being murdered (?) and spiders, Sarah was scared, she said, of "having to go back to really awful jobs". Sarah's answer stands out today as the only one that captures the precariousness of the pop dream. One question I asked each future band member was: 'What scares you?' During the summer I'd visited the girls' house, tucked away somewhere in Surrey near Cliff Richard's house, to get some profile questions answered. I'd been asked to write the show's official book, which meant I first met Girls Aloud before they were even a band. Nineteen Septembers ago Popstars: The Rivals started its first and only run on Saturday night telly.
#Atrl amerie 1 thing 480p
Back in 2008 a 480p pop video seemed like the height of digital wonder, but at some point between then and now things moved on. It's not easy getting a decent screenshot of Sarah Harding's epic 'walking Primrose' line from The Promise's video.