Sugababes are due to unveil a self-titled album early next year, marking their second record released under the original name and lineup since their 2000 debut, One Touch.
The trio—Mutya Buena, Keisha Buchanan, and Siobhán Donaghy—state that the return to the music scene came with its share of turbulence. Keisha describes having to “take on a few giants” to reclaim the group’s name, calling the revival long, messy and costly.
She told British Vogue: “I had the rights to the name from old contracts, and there was a lot of tricky things going on behind the scenes and, pretty much, I had to take on a few giants in order for that to happen… It wasn’t easy. There were a lot of things that went on financially.”
Mutya still believes the years haven’t dimmed their spark.
She laughed: “I mean, I still look at myself as quite young.”
“It doesn’t feel like as many years as it’s been. I find it quite refreshing to always keep going out with new material and performing with the girls.”
The twelve-track collection draws from UK garage, trip-hop, distortion-heavy dance-pop, and the London grit that has long set them apart.
The lead single, Ghost, is out today (24.09.26).
Siobhán said: “It came from something that happened to me with my first love.”
“He essentially ghosted me before we even had the terminology for it… There’s something strange about grieving someone who’s still out there.”
Their enduring appeal was underlined when both of their Glastonbury performances in 2022 and 2024 triggered security shutdowns.
Siobhán reflected: “Even just looking at what happened to our band, and how we’ve been able to come back together is a triumph.”
Keisha commented on their resurgence and the influx of new fans: “At any age, at any point, you can restart… You can bounce back from any situation.”
The self-titled LP follows 2022’s The Lost Tapes, which had originally been planned for release under their former alias MKS amid the long-running name dispute.
The original lineup didn’t stay intact for long. Siobhán left in 2002 and Heidi Range joined as a replacement. Mutya exited in 2005, later speaking about postnatal depression, and Amelle Berrabah joined the group. Keisha remained until 2009 before leaving again, with Jade Ewen stepping in for the then-new lineup. The founders regrouped around 2011 as MKS, launching a prolonged legal battle that eventually enabled them to reclaim the Sugababes name.
