Mutya Buena, founding member of the multi-million selling Sugababes, follows her debut no. 2 hit Real Girl and recent Top 10 Groove Armada collaboration Song 4 Mutya, with the release on October 22nd of her new single Just A Little Bit. Taken from her hugely acclaimed debut album, Real Girl, Just A Little Bit looks set to give Mutya her third major hit from the album. Real Girl, is a collection of songs that unveil the R&B heart that always lay beneath Ms. Buena’s Sugababes’ contributions, but never abandons the joy of pure pop. Its supporting cast of composers, producers and artists all keep the quality effortlessly high without distracting from the strength of Mutya’s voice and personality. There is a certain rawness, an edge, present throughout the recording and it was Mutya’s idea to keep the sound flawed and spontaneous, to show off the humanity, as well as the technique, of her vocals. Real Girl already contains a hit single, Mutya’s duet with George Michael, This Is Not Real Love, which hit the charts last November and introduced Planet Pop to Mutya the solo artiste. Recording with George gained Mutya entry to a very select and exclusive group of female singers that George has worked with throughout his long and hugely successful career, the other three artistes being Aretha Franklin, Whitney Houston and Mary J Blige.
Another potential single is the Salaam Remi-produced B Boy Baby which features Amy Winehouse, another artist who chooses very carefully who she works with. Based around The Ronettes’s classic Be My Baby, B Boy Baby is transformed, in the hands and voices of Mutya and Amy, into a slyly dirty tribute to a hip hop-loving boyfriend. Other standout cuts include Out Of Control, an ‘80s dance pop- influenced collaboration with Groove Armada, the trio of powerfully sung R&B scorchers Just A Little Bit, Suffer For Love and Wonderful and the dark, distressed Strung Out.
‘Its about drugs,’ Mutya confirms. ‘Its sung from the perspective of a friend standing there watching someone kill themselves. It’s a wake-up call. I’m no saint, and I try not to judge, but I know right from wrong.
It’s Not Easy brings it all back to the reason this album exists: Mutya’s daughter Tahlia. Mutya reunited with Felix Howard, Paul Simm and Sam Frank (producers and writers of Overload from the Sugababe’s debut One Touch) pays tribute to her daughter. Like most of the album the lyrics of It’s Not Easy are sharp and concise enough to ensure Mutya won’t be misunderstood.
‘During the Sugababes people did misunderstand me. But you’ve got to remember that I started when I was fourteen. When you’re that young you don’t know much and you’re not really gonna be sitting there taking in the media training ‘cos you’re not concerned. I grew up in north-west London and I didn’t know any better!
If Real Girl presents her soul credentials for inspection, it’s also a varied set, with its twelve songs giving approving nods to all manner of rock, pop and urban stylings. Blame her mum, her dad and her seven music-loving siblings. As well as the likes of Mariah, Whitney and TLC, Mutya also fell in love with her dad’s T.Rex and Black Sabbath records. I had a brother into hip hop, another into jungle, another into garage and me into R&B and funky house. That’s why I can jump into different types of music.’