No Can Do

## **No Can Do**Single by Sugababes

**No Can Do** is the second single and third track of the Sugababes' fifth studio album, *Catfights and Spotlights*. It was written by Jason Pebworth and George Astasio of The Invisible Men, Jon Shave and VV Brown, and produced by The Invisible Men in collaboration with Si Hulbert. The song was released in the United Kingdom and Ireland on 29 December 2008 as the album's final single. It contains a sample of Sweet Charles Sherrell's "Yes It's You".

The song received mixed reviews from critics, who were ambivalent towards its Motown influence. "No Can Do" peaked at number 23 on the UK Singles Chart and is one of the group's lowest-charting singles in the UK. The single also charted on the Danish and Slovakian airplay charts.

## Background

"No Can Do" is an uptempo pop song with influences of soul and R&B. It features prominent bass instrumentation provided by the keyboard, guitar, trombone, trumpet, saxophone and brass. "No Can Do" is based around a sample of Sweet Charles Sherrell's "Yes It's You", as written and produced by Nugetre and Hal Ritson, respectively. The song is largely inspired by Motown music and is reminiscent of songs performed by The Jackson 5, namely their 1969 song "I Want You Back". The Motown influences are most evident within the song's beat. The record's influences also derive from the music of girl groups from the 1960s. According to the digital sheet music published at Sheet Music Direct, "No Can Do" was composed in the key of G major using common time, with a tempo of 96 beats per minute.

The lyrics of song address the riddance of a boyfriend, following the group's "trademark super-energised big goodbye songs". Buchanan stated during an interview with BBC's Sarah Jane Griffiths that the lyrics are "about your partner treating you really bad and you saying, 'Not any more. Or No Can Do'".

### Release

When Digital Spy questioned group member Keisha Buchanan about her reaction to its release, she responded: "I'm really excited about it. I'm looking forward to people hearing another side to the album. This single has got a kind of Jackson 5 feel to it which I love. The whole album has got a really old-school, laid-back Motown sound, so hopefully 'No Can Do' will get more people interested in the album."

"No Can Do" was released as a digital download in the United Kingdom and Ireland on 19 December 2008. The following day, it was made available as a CD single, which consists of three remixes of the track and a cover version of Keane's song "Spiralling".

### Reception and performance

Critical reception for "No Can Do" was mixed, who were ambivalent towards its Motown influence. "No Can Do" entered the UK Singles Chart on 13 December 2008 at number 170, based on digital downloads from Catfights and Spotlights. Upon its release as a single, the song peaked at number 23 in the issue dated 10 January 2009 with 12,890 copies sold. Subsequently, "No Can Do" became the group's lowest-charting single since 2006's "Follow Me Home" and their third-lowest charting single overall. The song is also one of their lowest-selling singles to date. "No Can Do" brought the Sugababes' total single sales in the UK to three million. The single also peaked at number eleven on the Danish airplay chart, number 53 on the Slovakian airplay chart, and number 67 on Billboard's European Hot 100 Singles chart.

## Track listing

Digital download
1. No Can Do - 3:12

CD Single
1. No Can Do - 3:12
2. No Can Do (Bimbo Jones Remix) - 2:44
3. No Can Do (Wawa Remix) - 3:10
4. Spiralling (Radio One Live Lounge) - 3:10

Digital EP
1. No Can Do (Wawa Club Remix) - 6:31
2. No Can Do (Bimbo Jones Remix) - 5:48
3. No Can Do (Mowgli Remix) - 5:48
4. Spiralling (Radio One Live Lounge) - 3:10

## Personnel

* Bass, Guitar – George Astasio
* Engineer [Brass] – Spencer Dewing
* Engineer [Vocals, Assistant] – Xavier Stephenson
* Engineer [Vocals] – Matt Lawrence
* Keyboards, Programmed By – Jason Pebworth, Jon Shave, Si Hulbert
* Keyboards, Programmed By, Producer [Additional] – Melvin Kuiters
* Mixed By – Jeremy Wheatley
* Mixed By [Assistant] – Richard Edgeler
* Producer – Si Hulbert, The Invisible Men
* Saxophone – Jim Hunt
* Trombone – Nichol Thompson
* Trumpet – Henry Collins
* Written-By – Geeki, George Astasio, Jason Pebworth, Jon Shave

### Spiraling

* Written-By – Richard Hughes, Tim Rice-Oxley, Tom Chaplin

## Music video

The music video for "No Can Do" was directed by Marco Puig. The video was filmed in November 2008. On YouTube, it was released on 2 December 2008. The video's inspiration stemmed from a piece of art created by the sculptor Allen Jones in the 1960s, involving the use of female mannequins as everyday pieces of furniture. The Sugababes wore glamorous gowns and had large hair and long eyelashes for the video, which features twenty muscly men who are used as pieces of furniture. TBalls described the video as "a little racier than we'd expect from Keisha and Co", but acknowledged that "it's nice to see the girls letting their hair down for a change". He compared it to the music video for Kylie Minogue's 2003 single "Slow". VV Brown, the co-writer of "No Can Do", stated that she did not expect the video to be racy: "Being very honest, I didn't see in that way. I saw the song as more fun and cheeky, rather than sassy and glossy like that."

## Remixes

"No Can Do" has four official mixes and remixes from their promotion of their single, namely two from Bimbo Jones, Mowgli, and two remixes from Wawa.

## References

1. ↑ No Can Do. Discogs/iTunes. https://www.discogs.com/release/11989561-Sugababes-No-Can-Do
2. ↑ No Can Do. Discogs. https://www.discogs.com/release/1624690-Sugababes-No-Can-Do
3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 NO Can Do. Discogs. https://www.discogs.com/release/11989561-Sugababes-No-Can-Do
4. ↑ Catfights and Spotlights. Discogs. https://www.discogs.com/release/1777745-Sugababes-Catfights-And-Spotlights

This page uses Creative Commons Licensed content from Wikipedia (view authors)