Sugababes have spoken to NME about new music on the way, wanting to join forces with “incredible” PinkPantheress, and why they believe that speaking out against injustice is “the reason why we’re all here on this planet”.
The trio took to the stage at Wembley Arena on Wednesday (March 11) as part of the star-studded line-up for the Trans Mission show, organised by Olly Alexander and Mighty Hoopla’s Glyn Fussell.
Dubbed “A Night of Solidarity For A Lifetime Of Change”, the concert worked to raise funds for non-profit organisations the Good Law Project and the transgender charity Not a Phase.
Joining Sugababes on the bill were Wolf Alice, Beth Ditto, Adam Lambert, HAAi, Jasmine.4.T, Kae Tempest, Kate Nash, MNEK, Romy, Sophie Ellis-Bextor, Sir Ian McKellen, Jordan Stephens, Munroe Bergdorf, Nicola Coughlan, Zack Polanski and more.
Backstage, the pop legends caught up with NME before they went to perform classic tracks ‘Overload’ and ‘About You Now’, and shared that they wanted to join the stacked line-up because they have always seen themselves as “a band that’s about unity”.
“It was a no-brainer when we were asked to be involved in the show,” Siobhán Donaghy said. “It was an immediate yes, especially because it’s such a topical subject at the moment, and one that’s quite close to our hearts. Sugababes have always been a band that’s about unity, bringing people together and about being your authentic self, so we were a good fit for what we’re celebrating today.”
As for why they were determined to use their platform to call for change, Keisha Buchanan insisted that it was the duty of everyone to speak out against issues they see in society and in politics.
“That’s like the reason why we’re all here on the planet! The more popular you are, the more you should be using your voice to bring awareness to the injustice in the world. I think it’s pretty selfish if you don’t,” she said. “There are many things that we stand beside, but love is the biggest thing that we want to put out. We want to just support people being their themselves.”
After revealing that they were most looking forward to seeing MNEK, Wolf Alice, Kae Tempest and former NME Cover star Rose Gray performing on the night, the group reflected on what it was like to contribute to the new remix album from PinkPantheress.
“It was really cool, she sampled one of our songs from years ago, then we had the opportunity to kind of expand on that and write new verses and stuff, which we did,” Buchanan said, adding that it has made the three of them want to join forces with the BRITs Producer of the Year again.
“It was amazing, and congratulations to her [on reaching Number One in the US] because I believe that she’s amazing. It was so much fun working on it, and we’ve never met her before actually, so that would be quite cool if we could do that at some point this year.”
When asked about if the group have any more announcements planned for the year, Sugababes kept their cards close to their chest, and said that there will “definitely be new music in 2026”, as well as “a few surprises in the pipeline.”
The appearance at Trans Mission came following the group – which also features Mutya Buena – dropping the standalone singles ‘Weeds’ and ‘Jungle’ last year, shortly before they kicked off their biggest-ever arena tour.
Before the two songs were released, Sugababes confirmed that they were now independent and would be dropping any future music on their own label The Orchard – and told NME that they’ve always put their own money into their music.
More details about their upcoming music is expected to be shared at a later date.
Alongside all of the powerful performances from singers and DJs at Wembley last night, other impactful moments came from guest speakers. These included Sir Ian McKellen, who recited Shakespeare’s The Strangers’ Case speech from Thomas More to the crowd, and Caroline Litman – the author of Her Name Is Alice – who made a moving speech in tribute to her transgender daughter, who took her own life.
Find out more about what went down at the Trans Mission show here.
