Trailer 'Forever Is Over' is a tad underwhelming, but thankfully there's plenty to enjoy elsewhere on the album. Rather than shifting to the pop-rock sound of the single, Wordshaker generally sticks to the sparky electropop stompers that made Chasing Lights such an impressive debut. If anything, the girls are showing even more confidence this time around. 'One Shot' and 'Wordshaker', both of which combine grinding basslines with lethal pop hooks, make it quite clear that misbehaving boys will be punished. Then there's the cracking 'Ego', on which an over-confident male is calmly advised to "have a sit down with his ego".
Though The Saturdays are at their most entertaining on the uptempo cuts - like most pop groups, truth be told - the album's obligatory smattering of ballads do go some way to warming the cockles. 'Here Standing', which has Christmas single written all over it, is a big powerful smacker of a love song topped off with massive stadium drums, while 'No One' and 'Denial' show the girls can be vulnerable as well as vixens.
Wordshaker doesn't quite escape the curse of filler - '2am' is bog-standard girlband fodder and 'Deeper', the only track they co-wrote, suggests their songwriters needn't head down the job centre - but it hits the target more often that not. Though not quite as impressive as their debut, this is still a confident, fresh-sounding album that should take the group one step closer to household name status. With Sugababes looking as steady as a ship in a thunderstorm and Girls Aloud taking a year out, let's hope The Saturdays can make the most of their opportunity.
> Click here to read our recent Saturdays interview
