Why Girls Can't Catch could've been the best girl group ever

(Note: this was originally written in a Discord forum so if you've seen it hi this is me I am not committing plagiarism)

Girls Can't Catch were a 3-member girl group managed by Polydor Records, active from 2009 through 2010. As a sister group to The Saturdays (even borrowing a scrapped group name that The Saturdays originally rejected!), they served as a sassier, more unfiltered counterpart to the beloved UK girl band. To further solidify their alliance with contemporary girl groups, they performed as openers for the Girls Aloud Out of Control tour.

Their debut single, Keep Your Head Up, was released in July 2009, to very moderate chart success. The music video, recorded in a dumpster, gave off the impression that the budget was two quid and a dream. The song itself, however, told a different story:

Girls Can't Catch managed to get another single out, named Echo, in January 2010. By this time though, half a year had passed, and the hype for the group was gone. The label's biggest fumble in my opinion was having such spaced out promotions for an upcoming group. They ended up disbanding after this single failed to earn them any significant success.

In the time the group was together, they recorded over an entire album's worth of music. An album sampler with fully finished songs was sent out and eventually leaked after the group's disbandment. The original high-quality CD rips are largely lost media as of today, but I was lucky enough to receive a copy from a trader on Discogs.

There is not much known about the album. The title is unclear, but we know for sure it had 13 tracks, with tracks 7 and 11 being named Mind It and Discover Me, respectively. The source of this information is actually the original files the leak came from, which had metadata in indicating this partial track order as well as the quantity in the track number section.

Some tracks such as the two singles were performed live, and a CD with the performance mixes (instrumentals with only minor backing vocals by the way, the girls were singing live!) is circulating among traders. Combining the songs from the sampler and the performances, we'd have the following list of songs to be included:

Sampler songs: Keep Your Head Up, Echo, Another Day, Happy Alone, Turn Me Up, LES Artistes, Alone

Performed live: Unconditional

Other speculation on the album tracklist and fun facts:

• Love Shy and Stop were two b-sides released on the CD singles for Echo and Keep Your Head Up respectively (I was lucky enough to get a signed CD for Keep Your Head Up!). This was a common practice for musicians back in the day, and the b-sides usually stayed as single exclusives. It is unlikely that these songs would've been included in the final album. 
• Hearts & Flowers is an unreleased song that leaked along with the studio version of Unconditional in 2021. It is possible that this song was also meant to be included in the album, assuming that it came from the same source as Unconditional (a track we are almost confident was going to be included in the tracklisting).
• Some other leaked songs from the era include You're the Kinda Man and I Won't Look Back, but I personally believe it to be unlikely that these would have been included in the tracklist. You're the Kinda Man is a rough cover of Sarah Connor's original song, and I Won't Look Back has no vocals by Phoebe. Phoebe was the first to leave the group and this could be an indicator that Girls Can't Catch was trying to find a replacement or continue as a duo, but this is very loosely put-together speculation.

In a time where music wasn't ready for girl groups to be a little spiteful and angry, Girls Can't Catch was unable to prosper. Looking back on their very limited catalogue, I can say with confidence most of it holds up beautifully to this day. The music that they left us in their short-lived career was too innovative, high-quality and inspired to be forgotten the way it was. Some other quick fun-facts below before I close off this post and urge everyone reading to go digging for their music on YouTube:

• Their album sampler track Alone was written by none other than Pixie Lott! If you're not familiar with her, she's a (former because now she barely sells anything) UK pop hitmaker. You might know her from her songs Nasty, All About Tonight and Mama Do.
• Album sampler track Turn Me Up (my personal favourite) was written by Shaznay Lewis, another great pop singer. If you're a fan of this track (which you should be because it's incredible) check out her debut album. It's really interesting how much you can tell that her influence and style dominate the song even if she's not singing it.
• Girls Can't Catch did a media training interview that eventually leaked. It is one of the funniest things ever in how they're supposed to be training for media appearances yet they make fun of Americans, make a "your mom" joke and even laugh at their own group name. Check it out if you ever need a good laugh.
• A snippet from a track named Walk On allegedly leaked? The only mention of it is a Genius page and I'm almost inclined to believe the song isn't even real because I cannot get any info on it no matter how many people I ask. See for yourself.
• Where did the members go? Phoebe made some solo music which she has released under her real name, Phoebe Brown. Daizy has some fun songs posted on her SoundCloud under the name Daizy Dance. As for Jess, not much is known.
• Phoebe used to be a member of an X-Factor participant group named Hope. Unsearchable name and very little material to speak of, but I do really like their tune Black Leather Jacket: 

I might have missed some interesting stuff but this is all I can think of at the moment. Please ask me about them and I'd be happy to yap some more! 

STAN GIRLS CAN'T CATCH