“Issues” (2009)
“Issues” is a mid-tempo pop song performed by British girl group The Saturdays. The song was written and produced by Carl Sturken and Evan Rogers for the group’s debut album Chasing Lights (2008). The track was released as the group’s third single on 5 January 2009 in the United Kingdom to mixed reviews from pop music critics.
The song reached number four on the UK, number fourteen in Ireland, and number twenty-one in Europe. Prior to its single release, the lyrics to “Issues” were rerecorded after being misinterpreted as promoting violence. The music video for “Issues”, directed by Petro, features the group singing on a beach and inside a beach house.
Prior to the single release of “Issues”, The Saturdays were forced to rerecord the song’s lyrics. Radio stations in the UK thought that the group were singing “stab you or kiss you” instead of “slap you or kiss you”. The group changed the lyrics to “leave you or kiss you” because they feared that the lyrics may promote violence.
“Issues” received mostly mixed reviews from pop music critics. James Masterton of Yahoo! Music described the song as a “drippy mid-Atlantic love ballad” that lacked the “spark, energy and sheer excitement” of the group’s past singles. In a review for Allmusic, Jon O’Brien called the track “dated” and wrote that it “sounds like a Max Martin reject from the ’90s”.
The music video for “Issues” was directed by Petro and filmed in late 2008. The video features the group signing on a beach with colourful umbrellas and inside a beach house. The video begins with the group wandering inside a beach house. They are then shown walking along the beach. The video concludes with scenes of the group standing in front of a white picket fence, holding umbrellas and singing to the camera.
“Issues” debuted on the UK singles chart on 13 December 2008 at number eighty-four.[11] The song reached its peak position at number four on 24 January 2009. In Ireland, the track reached number fourteen and remained on the singles chart for eleven weeks. “Issues” reached number twenty-one in Europe and number eight on the European Digital Songs and Digital Tracks charts.
