Prepare for the North American Sugababes invasion! That’s not to be confused with the Blue invasion, the Atomic Kitten invasion, and the Westlife invasion, each of which ended up being more of a quick exit than an attack.

The Sugababes, the UK pop trio, are attempting to break into the tough North American market. Some of the UK’s most successful pop acts have tried to succeed at launching careers in North America, but few have succeeded. They are idolized in Europe, yet failed to find the magic key to the U.S. and Canadian music scenes.

Group members Keisha Buchanan, Mutya Buena and Heidi Range realize the difficulty of the task that they are about to endeavour, perhaps a quality not possessed by the other international bands before them.

“We don’t actually think that we will succeed [for sure],” Buchanan tells andPOP, on the line from Los Angeles. “We’re going to come over here and have a go. We’ve had so much success, and been blessed in so many other ways. If we ever break America, it will be adding to our dreams.”

The group will release “Three,” an album that combines their previous 2 UK releases, in North America later this summer. Although some of the material on the album is a few years old, they feel it still represents them accurately today.

“From the beginning, we’ve never had an immature sound [or] a sound that maybe was seen as childish. Our music was very grown-up from the beginning. When we first started out, we were 15-years-old and people thought we were a lot older than we were,” says Buchanan.

The girls broke-out overseas in 2002 after the release of their second album, “Angels With Dirty Faces,” which spent 40 weeks on the charts. That was also the first album with Range as a member, replacing original member Siobhan Donaghy, who left because she was unhappy as a Sugababe. Having the same artist roster now for a few years is one of the reasons the girls believe they are ready to launch in North America.

“I think we’ve gelled as a band now and it just feels like the right time,” says Range.

Along the way, the girls have won a Brit Award (equivalent to the Grammys) and have had a dozen top ten hits.

Towards the end of 2003, they released “Three” overseas. The North America version of the album will include hits from their second album: “Round Round,” “Stronger,” and “Freak Like Me.”

There’s also a song on the album called “Nasty Ghetto.” When they performed that song on their European tour, well, let’s let Range explain.

“We have a bed on the stage and we call a guy up from the audience. We dance around him and Keisha whips him. We tie him to the bed with handcuffs.”

Is North America ready for such an act? Maybe not, if the backlash from the Super Bowl incident is any indication (coincidently, Janet Jackson performs a similar routine on her tour). However, given the chance, the Sugababes say their “Nasty” routine will take the trip with them. With such provocative moves, it is no wonder why Q Magazine named “Freak Like Me” as the sixth sexiest songs of all time. Being seen as a sex symbol is something Buena expects, being a young female singer.

“I think that if someone wants to say that you’re sexy, it’s a nice compliment,” she says. “It’s better than them dissing the way you look.”

“Dissing” them has become a favourite pastime for the British tabloids. “When they say something good,” says Range, “they have to say something bad. So they give us really good write-ups on our music but then maybe about us, they don?t really say good things.”

They don’t seem to say accurate things either.

“I think that Mutya was pregnant with twins and that Heidi was having a breakdown,” recalls Buchanan of some recent tabloid rumours. “Apparently, we split up every single week.”

According to several tabloid reports last month, the Sugababes were on the verge of breaking up, if they hadn’t already. Yet all three members are touring, promoting, and taking part in interviews. Logic overrides this rumour.

“We just ignore the newspapers,” says Buchanan. “We just finished our European tour. We just signed a new deal in America. We?re enjoying what we do.”

Although they can barely walk down the street in the UK without being noticed, it’s a completely different story in America. During their brief trip to Los Angeles, they had some free time to walk around and shop, and they didn’t need a bodyguard following their every step.

They also understand that since they are new to North America, they will have to face the same questions that every “new” band must go through.

“If you go to the same country for three years and then they ask you the same questions like, ‘how did you join the band?’ than that’s bad,” says Range. (Note to self: in three years, don’t ask Heidi Range how she joined the Sugababes.)

The Sugababes will perform at several festivals over the summer. They plan to return to the U.S. to record their next album, and the rest of their plans depend on how well they are received. If their first single is any indication, the girls are ready to break the UK pop curse. “Hole in the Head” reached the number one spot on Billboard’s Hot Dance Music/Club Play chart.

And if their invasion doesn’t end up being quite as big as The Beatles’, The Sugababes still have their British fans eager to spend more time with them at home.

“It wouldn?t be a huge blow to our career because we still have a career overseas,” says Buchanan. “We know you have to work your butt off a hundred times more here so we’re looking forward to it.”






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