Any artists who work with a writing/ production collective, they have never worked with before are taking a risk as to what the final output is going to sound like and as those writers/ producers are usually paid before work commences, I see why the group would release the work they’ve already commissioned and paid for.
Ive held of giving my opinion as I really wanted to like it (and spend time with it to discover if the track is a grower), prior to commenting on it. I’ve done that now and try as I might, “When the Rain Comes” (at best) is nothing more than generic. It does not go anywhere and is nothing special.
I was never a fan of “Girls” (and “Flatline” was ironically my least favourite track from the entire MKS era, with the exception of the writers demos), but “When the Rain Comes” (for me), is not even as good as those two.
It sounds very ‘London’ and I like that they used their live band on it, but no way is this ‘first single from a new studio album by Sugababes’ material. This is no launch bomb, it plods along and it sucks.
It is not Sugababes fault their session coalesced with George Moore and Iain James on a day when those writers/ producers were feeling particularly uninspired, but I would have expected George and Iain to have better tunes ready to pull from their back pocket, knowing they had such a legendary girl group lined up to write a top-line over them.
Whilst I am disappointed in the track (and Sugababes even have some ‘B’ Sides I prefer to it), the one good thing I can say about “When the Rain Comes” is that I prefer it over and above “In the Middle”.
One track of course, does not make an album and maybe this is just a ‘taster’ track and not a full blown first single (who can say at this moment in time).
However, the way for Sugababes to really have put their collective middle fingers up to Island, Crown, Mark & Elliot Hargreaves, Sarah Stennett, Polydor, absent members of past lineups (and other sources of background toxicity) from intervening years, would have been to have worked with Dallas Austin (or someone still up to that calibre) and really have brought something to the table to launch with that ate.
”When the Rain Comes” is simply not a track that says “Sugababes are back in town, here to scalp and mean business”.
The unnecessary use of autotune (confined to the harmony sections), also detracts from proceedings.
I keep my mind open to the possibility they found the goosebump inducing magic that’s sorely missing (on this particular track), in other places on the album.