Wordshaker is the second studio album by British-Irish girl group The Saturdays, released on 12 October 2009 through Fascination Records. It is the group's first album to feature a song where they are credited as writers. Upon release the album peaked at number nine on the UK Albums Chart, but the following week fell out of the top 30. In August 2010, the album was removed from digital music platforms, due to Headlines! being released featuring some of the same material. In August 2018, the album returned to digital music platforms following a request to the label by the Pop Music Activism Twitter account. It was preceded by the lead single "Forever Is Over", written by James Bourne and produced by The Runaways which peaked at number two. Second single "Ego" was released on 4 January 2010 and equalled the album's success by reaching number nine on the UK Singles Chart
Background and production
The group started work on their second album in early March 2009 whilst they performed their first headline shows, The Work Tour. Two songs from the recording sessions "One Shot" and "Wordshaker" were part of the setlist and appeared on the album. The track list for the album contains the song "Not Good Enough", which was originally recorded during the Chasing Lights sessions but was later remixed for inclusion on Wordshaker. The official cover was revealed in a special mailer to fans on the group's official form/website on 23 September 2009. The majority of the album were written/co-written by Norwegian songwriter Ina Wroldsen who has written previously for the group as well as working with The Pussycat Dolls, Pixie Lott and Leona Lewis. Additionally the album features one song called "Deeper" which accredits every member of the group as a writer. Additionally it was revealed that the song "Forever Is Over" was in fact written for Kelly Clarkson to record for her album. However, during a visit to the record label's HQ The Saturdays heard the song and requested the song's writer James Bourne to let them record it instead.
Promotion
The news section on the group's official website indicated that through September and October 2009, the girls can be seen on many TV shows as they promote the album. On 26 September the group were interviewed on T4 where they introduced the music video for new single "Forever Is Over". Additionally on 28 September the group appeared on daytime chatshow the Paul O'Grady Show for the first live performance of the single and an informal interview. They did the same on ITV1's daytime show This Morning on 6 October. On 12 October they appeared on the new season of The Alan Titchmarsh Show for a chat and performance before a scheduled appearance at the Hollyoaks Music Festival on 17 October to perform "Forever Is Over" and the title song "Wordshaker". With the release of "Ego", promotion for the album was furthered over the Christmas period, as the group appeared on GMTV, Blue Peter, ' and the Christmas edition of Top of the Pops, as well as a T4 special filmed at an exclusive concert held for competition winners at the London Forum, as part of the group's promotional tie in with the Impulse range of deodorants. Additionally, the album track "Lose Control" came to prominence when featured on the soundtrack to the film ', released by the group's record label Fascination.
Reception
"Wordshaker" generated generally favourable reviews amongst critics upon its release. Allmusic's Matthew Chisling awarded the album three out of five stars, praising the girls and the album for "combining aggressive basslines and vocals that are a pinch of prowess". Chisling's praised tracks like "Open Up," "Lose Control," and "Not Good Enough" for their "catchiness can't be denied". However he criticised "Forever Is Over" and "One Shot" for being "unoriginal" and for being "too Americanized". David Balls of Digital Spy said that "If anything, the girls are showing even more confidence this time around", Praising 'One Shot' and 'Wordshaker' for both combining "grinding basslines with lethal pop hooks". However he was less impressed with the ballads criticising and calling them a "curse" on the album. As a whole he called the album "fresh-sounding" and that it "should take the group one step closer to household names". He went on to give the album three out of five stars. Michael Cragg from musicOMH called the album as a whole an "enjoyable blast of well-crafted pop" with "throbbing synths" that's "joyful". The only critique Michael had was that "The Saturdays have yet to master – the ballad" stating they "bludgeon most of the slower songs to death." but when they stick to having fun its very "enjoyable". Michael went on to give the album three out of five stars.
Singles
"Forever Is Over" was written by: Louis Biancaniello, Sam Watters, Kahmarl Gordon, James Bourne and produced by: Sam Watters and Louis Biancaniello. It was released as the lead single from the group's second studio album Wordshaker on 5 October 2009 and peaked at number two.
"Ego" was written and produced by Steve Mac, and co-written by Ina Wroldsen. A glossy electropop track, it was the second and final single released from the group's second studio album Wordshaker. The song was added to mainstream radio on 25 November. A superhero-themed music video, directed by Richard A. Moore, was released on 17 November 2009 and the single itself was released on 4 January 2010.
The album debuted at number 36 on the Irish Albums Chart but fell to 91 in the second week. Meanwhile, in the UK Albums Chart it debuted at number 9, equalling the peak position of their debut album Chasing Lights.
