Stooshe - Artist Analysis

English girl group from London

 Members: Alexandra Buggs, Karis Anderson and Courtney Rumbold

Signed to Warner Music in August 2011

Promotional single "Betty Woz Gone" released October 2011

Official debut single, "Love Me" featuring Travie McCoy, peaked at no.5 on the UK Singles Chart

Released "Black Heart" in June 2012, peaking at no.3 after a month in the top ten.

"Slip" released as the third single from their forthcoming debut album on 12 May 2013, reached no.12.

Debut album London with the Lights On debuted at number 8 in the UK Albums Chart on 2 June 2013.

The original concept was to create an urban and soulful Spice Girls

Jo Perry put the girls together after a series of auditions and scouting in UK fashion shop Topshop  over a nine-month period.

 Perry explained to HitQuarters why she chose this unconventional location for talent spotting:

"I didn't put an ad in The Stage because I didn't want people that want to be in the music industry, I wanted people that are stars but don't even know it."

Name came from the word 'Stoosh', urban slang for something expensive, "a girl who thinks she's nicer than she is," or being stoned or stashed away. They then added 'she' on the end for female empowerment or girl power. (The band's name is pronounced: stooshie)

WEBSITE

 The emphasis on personality is really important to us, as we want our three girls to stand out individually, not fade into one group. When looking at the Stooshe website (www.stooshe.com) a clear sense of individuality is established with a page dedicated to each of them. The website is very interactived, with 'Where's Stooshe?' and Agony Aunt sections.Their 'Agony Aunt' section allows fans to communicate with them, and they are able to offer advice, as any one of the girls can respond to a message, their different voices come through, giving their audiences a greater understanding of the band, and a connection to them as an individual.

The girls are all highly relatable, all coming from working class backgrounds, having grown up in London, and were working at the time of them being discovered. Courtney attended a musical theatre school called Step Up in South London for a number of years, and here she was well respected as a singer, singing a number of solos in group shows over the years.

SONGS

LOVE ME-

 A lot of slang is used in their songs, and a few feature the girls talking, and having banter, such as during the introduction to 'Love Me' where the girls have a fake jokey argument amongst them, and refer to guys as 'wastemen'. Their lyrics promote the strong individual girl image, asserting their dominance through highly sexualised lyrics.

"Let me give you double helpings
You’ll be screaming baby, baby, baby, baby, uh uh"

"Oh Oh Oh
Turn it up and I’ll go, coz I won't need ya no more - no
Your play’s fine but I aint got the time, why don’t you
Hurry up yeah, hurry up yeah, hurry up...... love me, ha ha ha ha ha"

"You better call ya friend jonny
You wanna hope he's in town
Coz ya know that when he blow I don't want no danger without him it ain't going down"

"Not unless its dirty dirty dirty filthy dirty uh uh"

"I don't mean to brag, I'm telling ya I'ma be the best you had so let’s roll"

"Hey diddle diddle my cat needs a fiddle...ha ha ha"

RAP (Travie McCoy): "Kiss me soft right here, I’m a freak but hey
… Me off swear to god I’m gon' leak the tape
Matter of fact I’d rather….than deal with another basket case
What a waste of a fat booty, I used to beg but why bother when they hand it to me"

The video is fun and crazy, we see the girls running around having fun in a hotel style setting. Each girl is visited in their own room, with beach, football and circus settings seen. Clothes are bright and urban, and the girls clearly have their own styles, with very big and unique hairstyles.

BLACK HEART-

About love gone wrong, being in love with someone who is wrong for you, he's emotionally damaging and has a 'black heart'.

"Naming hurts me more than weight thrown around but whatever"

"Tell me when you'll make these tears keep falling
Do you feel like a man?"

"Daddy I've fallen for a monster
Somehow he's scaring me to death
He's big and he's bad
I love him like mad
Momma, he's the best I ever had
Daddy I've fallen for a monster
He got a black heart"

The video shows the girls singing in a 60's film studio style setting, while off stage Alex is in a seemingly loving relationship, which takes a turn when we see her boyfriend with another girl. Karis and Courtney are there in every situation defending and helping Alex through it, and are seen to be always watching out for her. As they break up the girls are seen in black clothes, as if in mourning, and the hearts in the studio have been partially painted black, symbolic of the relationship regret.