The Saturdays (sometimes referred to as "The Sats") were a British-Irish girl group consisting of (clockwise from top): Frankie Bridge (née Sandford), Mollie King, Vanessa Whitenote , Una Healy, and (in the center) Rochelle Humes (née Wiseman).
Formed in 2007, The Saturdays first gained attention by opening for Girls Aloud and The Jonas Brothers at various concerts throughout 2008.
Shortly thereafter, they released their first single "If This Is Love", which peaked within the UK top ten. Their debut album Chasing Lights soon followed, boasting further hit singles "Up", "Issues", and "Work". During this time, they also released a cover of Depeche Mode's "Just Can't Get Enough" for the Comic Relief.
Wordshaker, their sophomore effort, was released less than a year later. Though it roughly matched the success of their debut, some considered Wordshaker a disappointment, and it only spawned two singles. Perhaps in response to this, an Updated Re-release called Headlines! was issued months after, featuring a revised tracklisting and new songs.
The Saturdays released their third album, On Your Radar, in 2011. Featuring a more electronic-dance sound than their previous works, it spawned one of their most popular singles "All Fired Up", a lyric from which named the album itself.
In 2013, The Saturdays attempted to break into the American music market with a reality show on E!! called Chasing The Saturdays, complemented by an internationally-released EP of the same name. Though the endeavor wasn't exactly successful for them, the EP did produce the single "What About Us", which gave The Saturdays their first-ever #1 in the UK.
Their fourth studio album Living for The Weekend was also released later in 2013, featuring "What About Us" and a handful of other singles of varying success. In 2014, they released their first greatest hits album, Finest Selection. Though the album itself charted well, its lead single "What Are You Waiting For?" was a flop.
As of 2017, the group is on indefinite hiatus and focusing on individual projects. Una released a solo album, The Waiting Game, and served as a coach on The Voice of Ireland for its final two seasons. Rochelle has focused on television presenting, hosting shows like The Xtra Factor and Ninja Warrior UK. Mollie has released two singles with an album on the way, and is participating on the 2017 edition of Strictly Come Dancing, following Frankie's successful stint on the show in 2014. Frankie herself hasn't released any solo music since the group's hiatus, opting to focus on her family with her husband, rugby player Wayne Bridge. Vanessa has released a total of three solo EPs since 2014, and confirmed her departure from the group in 2017.
Discography:
- Chasing Lights (2008)
- Wordshaker (2009)
- Headlines (2010)
- On Your Radar (2011)
- Chasing The Saturdays EP (2013)
- Living For The Weekend (2013)
- Finest Selection: The Greatest Hits (2014)
The Saturdays provide examples of:
- '70s Hair: The first segment of the "Disco Love" video takes place in The '70s and so most of the girls have waist-length hair, Vanessa in particular wearing hers in a side parting. Frankie has the feathered Farrah Fawcett style. Mollie is attempting to curl hers into ringlets with a curling iron.
- '80s Hair: The second segment of "Disco Love"'s video is in The '80s, and so everyone's hair is extremely big and curly. Frankie has short hair with a side parting, and the boys they dance with have dos reminiscent of New Kids on the Block
- '90s Hair: The final segment of "Disco Love" is in The '90s. Rochelle has a side ponytail, Mollie has the 'easy breezy' curls a la Julia Roberts and Drew Barrymore, Vanessa has Bantu knots, Frankie has a bob like Posh Spice and Una has quasi cornrows (it was a trend in the 90s and 2000s to braid the front of the hair and leave the rest loose).
- Album Title Drop: On Your Radar is named for a line in "All Fired Up".
- An Ice Person: Rochelle in the video for "Ego".
- A Wild Rapper Appears!: Flo Rida in "Higher" and Sean Paul in "What About Us".
- Bad Girl Song: "Notorious".
- Beach Episode: The videos for "What Are You Waiting For" and, weirdly enough, "Missing You".
- Blonde, Brunette, Redhead: Mollie, Rochelle/Vanessa, Una.
- Frankie flip-flops between Blonde and Brunette.
- Break-Up Song: Where do we begin... "Keep Her", "Chasing Lights", "Fall", "Lies", "Missing You", "Karma", "Forever is Over", "Ego", "Not Good Enough", just to name a few.
- The Cameo: Mollie appeared in McFly’s video for That Girl as the lead female.
- Colour-Coded Characters: Often played with, as the artwork for the Chasing Lights era prominently featured the girls wearing a different colour each, though no one colour was specifically assigned to any of them. This is especially prominent in the video for "Up".
- Cover Version: The girls released a cover of Depeche Mode's "Just Can't Get Enough" for Comic Relief.
- Decade-Themed Party: "Disco Love" has the girls going through three different decades in the video. First they're at an outdoor party in the 70s, then a roller disco in the 80s and finally a rave in the 90s.
- The Gimmick: The color-coded artwork from the "Chasing Lights" era.
- Glamorous Wartime Singer: The video for "Just Can't Get Enough" plays with this trope, as the girls portray classic '50s pin-up girls coming to life in a calendar.
- Hair of Gold, Heart of Gold: Mollie, the main/sole blonde of the group, has been described by her bandmates as "innocent", "always happy", and "[like] a princess".Mollie: The girls refer to me as a Disney character, but I’m not. I don’t think life’s a fairy tale, but I do like to see the good in situations.
- Hard-Drinking Party Girl: Vanessa.
- Idiosyncratic Episode Naming: Every episode of their shortlived E! reality show Chasing The Saturdays has a title in the form of a Twitter hashtag, and also has "Sat" in there somewhere ("#UnitedSatsOfAmerica," "#DeepFriedSats," "#SatsForever" etc).
- In Da Club: Played straight in "Notorious". Subverted in "All Fired Up" in that while the song is about the club, the video does not take place in one, and is actually rather artsy.
- Older Than They Look: Una is the oldest of the group, at 36 (as of 2017). For comparison, Mollie, the second-eldest in the band, is five-six years younger (at 30) and Vanessa, the youngest, is eight (at 28).
- Leg Focus: Their legs are given a healthy amount of screentime in many of their videos ("Up", "Just Can't Get Enough", "Work", "Missing You", "Higher", "Notorious", "30 Days", and so on).
- Melismatic Vocals: Mainly from Vanessa, though sometimes from Rochelle and Una.
- My Friends... and Zoidberg: Poor Vanessa is subject to quite a bit of this. Although she is known by the general public to be 'the vocal powerhouse'.
- New Sound Album: Went from a pop-oriented sound to a more 'ravey' sound in On Your Radar.
- Pay Evil unto Evil: "Karma", and the video for "Ego".
- Reality Show: The Sats received their own (short-lived) TV series, Chasing the Saturdays, on E!.
- Record Producer: Steve Mac & Ina Wroldsen have written and produced nearly all of their singles and album tracks.
- Rule 63: The video for "Gentleman", in which the girls play both the wives and the husbands.
- Sharp-Dressed Man: The husband versions of the girls in the "Gentleman" video.
- Silly Love Songs: Way too many to keep track of.
- Singer Namedrop: Flo Rida in "Higher":Hey, Flo Rida / Frankie, Mollie / Una, Vanessa, Rochelle / Whatcha doin', Saturday girl?
- Travie McCoy does this for himself and The Saturdays during his feature in "The Way You Watch Me".
- Speed Dating: In the video for "30 Days", although Frankie (who was, at that time, almost a year into her relationship with Wayne Bridge), Una (then pregnant with her second child, son Tadhg John), and Rochelle (who's visibly sporting her engagement ring throughout the video) are clearly just doing it for kicks.
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Spiritual Successor: Considered to be this to Girls Aloud by some, especially after the latter group's disbandment in March 2013.- Brian Higgins, the brains behind Girls Aloud's music, wrote and produced "All Fired Up."
- "Gentleman" has also been described as a song befitting Girls Aloud's discography.
- Three Minutes of Writhing: "Just Can't Get Enough", "Work", "Notorious".
- The Show Must Go On: Despite being pregnant during, Una still performed at every date of their All Fired Up Tour.
- We Meet Again: Rochelle and Frankie previously worked together in the pop group S Club 8/S Club Juniors.
- Also, given that Rochelle is married to JLS's Marvin Humes, it's safe to say that the girls are, at the very least, acquainted with the JLS boys in some degree, which makes the fact that Mollie and Aston Merrygold are both participating in the 2017 series of Strictly Come Dancing all the more amusing.
- Whole Costume Reference: Housewife!Una in the video for "Gentleman" is characterized in a way that is reminiscent of Marilyn Monroe during the iconic "Diamonds Are a Girl's Best Friend" scene from Gentlemen Prefer Blondes.
