Stream What The Future Holds (single) here (Spotify)
Pre-order What The Future Holds (album) here (Steps store)
It may have been delayed due to that pesky Covid-19 disrupting the world for the last six months or so, but that doesn't mean the return of Steps via a brand new single, What The Future Holds, didn't create a Buzz so tangible this week that all of Twitterverse and beyond felt absolutely Steptacular. What is clearly just Step One of a year long campaign for the accompanying album and future singles, it is likely to culminate in the tour the group just announced which will bring their pop magic to the masses once more in the winter of 2021. For now, What The Future Holds is here to wipe away those Tears On The Dancefloor and Light Up The World with its simmering pop potency. Here are just five reasons why it is your new favourite future classic anthem...
- 1. Pop Antidote! It has not been a brilliant year has it? And there may still be gloomy times ahead. Yet by fortune, fate or just blind chance, the Steps song is an absolute antidote to the woes that bring us down. The lyrics seem brilliantly prescient for our current situation - and that it is set to such a shimmering contemporary groove means it showers healing pop glitter onto the cracks in our hurting hearts. Their emphatic and hopeful vocals make you want to take their collective hands and fly into a better tomorrow, powered by irrepressible hooks and dynamic beats...
- 2. Sia! I mean, the woman just eats, drinks, breathes and lives pop music. Whether it be her own songs (her latest, Every Day Is Christmas, is still a year round classic) or songs for others (Kiss Me Once for Kylie and Boy Problems for Carly Rae Jepsen are particular faves), she delivers every single time. She's gifted H, Claire, Lee, Lisa and Faye with a brilliant gem that feels indelibly them yet lets them emerge as serious competitors in the current charts to the likes of Ava Max and Dua Lipa. STUNNING.
- 3. Four Word Title! Steps have always done well with a four word title to their pop songs. Is Deeper Shade of Blue not flawless pop? Isn't When I Said Goodbye a ballad that Celine would long for? Does Light Up The World not do just that each time you hear those harmonies? And was Scared Of The Dark not the pop comeback we all longed for? What The Future Holds joins the halcyon ranks of those timeless bops and swirls along beside them with euphoric joy.
- 4. The Cover Art! I've always loved futuristic Steps. Whether it be their pioneering look in Deeper Shade of Blue (I still say this inspired Kylie's Can't Get You Out Of My Head) or their space age adventures in You'll Be Sorry, these pop powerhouses always look good in a themed outfit. Bathed in Neon Blue light for the single cover, they look ready to take on the world (and galaxy) with tips of the hat to pop gone by. There's definitely shades of ABBA in the all-in-one outfits while Lee is going full on MC Hammer pants. And Lisa? Full on sass that makes me want to scream, faster pussycat! Kill! Kill!!
- The vocals! Just like when Steps were blessed with Story Of A Heart by Benny and Bjorn of ABBA fame, they know that when you are given a song by pop royalty you damn well better deliver. And they knock it out the ball park here (whatever that means). Its not just the textured harmony moments, it is the nuance of the delivery - each one knows how to frame the moments of uncertainty before emerging like a butterfly into a more positive vibe for the chorus. Their voices become the beating heart of the song, drawing the listener in to the song and giving us all an endorphin rush the size of Saturn.
- 5. Scared Of The Dark ~ The 2017 comeback was just so triumphant that you couldn't help but fall irrevocably in love with the sing-along chorus, the decadent dance moves and the buoyant beats. The whole gang was in absolutely fine fettle, bridging the gap between their earlier songs and the brave new world of chart trends. It was a balancing act they pulled off with the precision of a Britain's Got Talent finalist and a song that still sounds as blisteringly brilliant 3 years down the road. I'll tell you what the future holds - this song as an undeniable evergreen in their discography...
- 4. You'll Be Sorry ~ Criminally shoved on as a "double a" side with Here and Now, this should have definitely had it's time in the sun as a single in it's own right. Totally representative of how effortless they made pop seem at the time and bought that Swedish production smack bang into the UK charts. Plus for some reason they are on a spaceship in the video! Amazellent!
- 3. After The Love Has Gone ~ It was The Winner Takes It All done One For Sorrow style and it totally worked. The intricately worded verses combined with the juxtaposition of the melodic yet melancholy chorus makes it one of their finest moments. Add into that a Golden Child meets Shanghai Surprise themed video with one of their more difficult dance routines and it is one song and dance I often return to on a Saturday night...
- 2. Deeper Shade of Blue (Sleazesisters Anthem Edit) ~ Tremendulent! What a bleeding corker of a single. It was songs like this that helped Steps become an act that couldn't be dismissed as a "kiddies pop act" (the nerve). It proved to snobby critics that they could come out with a blinding pop song that stands up alongside the best of Britney, Girls Aloud, Backstreet Boys, etc. It was also their most grown up video today with Lee getting all Gay Times photoshoot with his greased up body. Still sounds bloody amazing to this day...
- 1. It's The Way You Make Me Feel ~ a delightful mid-tempo version with some lovely harmonies and a genuinely heartwarming chorus. I still blame Woolworths for their early release of some cd singles for the fact that this didn't give them another number one right after Stomp... Plus it's the one you couldn't dance to without dressing up like a 19th century dandy and going all Strictly on the dancefloor :)
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