Top 10 Best Girl Group Songs of the 2000s

Written by group member Vanessa Petruo as a reaction to the band's media coverage, especially to them being written off as inessential artists not to be taken seriously due to having been "manufactured" in the talent search show "Popstars," "Something About Us" became one of the finest pop efforts of the early 2000s.

Unlike the light bubblegum pop of their first album, it's a juicy, upbeat contemporary R&B jam that has one clear message to everyone who claimed they were just a short-lived product stemming from a not very organic hype: "We entered the ring, and we're the leading ladies now. Deal with it." "Something About Us" became the group's third number one hit in both Germany and Austria, helping cement the group's now indisputable status as one of the leading figures in German popular music.

Not only are all individual members national treasures on their own, but their 2021 reunion album featuring re-recorded versions of their hits was a smash across German-speaking Europe. A TV show may have opened the door for them, but it was the quality of their many hits that made them stick around.

The careers of the winning bands from the German talent search show "Popstars" were inconsistent beyond belief. Sometimes, they had a short-lived hype that vanished after one hit. Other times, they went unnoticed entirely. However, there were cases where the groups made a good career after their triumph.

Next to the pioneering girl group No Angels and the mixed boy/girl vocal group Bro'Sis, who both managed to become associated with 2000s pop music and still have band members who are popular celebrities, Monrose was the big deal of the show. Over the span of four albums, they released some of the coolest English-language pop hits to come from Germany. Known mostly for danceable or at least midtempo material, "What You Don't Know" is Monrose's heaviest, most melodic effort.

A dramatic ballad that can rival the biggest divas, it showcases the girls' sheer vocal power, which in this case doesn't mean boastful belting, but giving their most sincere and honest emotions into the performance. Combined with the first-class composition that knows exactly which chords push the right buttons, "What You Don't Know" is a most exquisite pop ballad.

I will stand by my point that Sugababes was the greatest girl group to have ever surfaced on Earth. While their band name suggests eye candy for gazing men, the group was the exact opposite: strong women who wrote their own songs, had the right mix between catchy earworm pop and emotive soulfulness, and offered good lyrics that never went for cheap no-brainers.

"Ugly," an uplifting guitar pop song about bullying, envy, and finding self-confidence, remains not only one of their strongest works but also one of the greatest girl group songs ever made.

For reasons unknown, "Why Not Us" may not have been their biggest commercial success and was actually among their lesser charting singles. However, no one can deny the infectiousness of the mix of radio-ready electro pop, spicy R&B, and blissfully intense melodrama, all peppered with a "Careless Whisper"-reminiscent chorus.

Released posthumously after Left Eye's death, "Turntable" never reached the same status as TLC's classic songs from their first three albums. However, no one can deny that the soft, delicate guitar sound colliding with these glorious turn-of-the-millennium drum patterns doesn't give off an irresistible human warmth, especially when the girls' vocals airily soar over it.

Armed with a ridiculously catchy sing-along melody in both choruses and verses and undeniable urban production (including a rap verse), "One Night Stand" manages a balancing act between catchy European pop and American R&B that gets the best of both worlds.

It flows freely, thanks to the girls' smooth vocals, including harmonies, the punchy drums and crunchy synth bass, and last but not least, the instantly memorable string synth motif.

At least in Europe, "Whole Again" is one of the most essential girl group songs, and by a girl group that still gets quite a lot of airplay with their hit singles. The punchy and uplifting but still relatively slow-paced production and vocal harmonies of their signature sound simply combine the best elements of the turn-of-the-millennium music landscape.

While many of their classics were covers, "Whole Again" was their biggest original track and remains their signature song for a reason.

Queensberry may never have had the same status or catalog that No Angels and Monrose had, but that's not to say their material wouldn't please a pop lover. Their debut single "No Smoke" departed from the then-modern pop sounds of their peers and was a closer resemblance to the 60s/70s throwback sound that Amy Winehouse and Duffy conquered the charts with.

However, it was grander and lusher in sound.

The Pussycat Dolls were less a genuine girl group than a stage for Nicole Scherzinger to shine while profiting from the craze around girl group formations in the 2000s. There have been disputes in other girl groups about one member receiving more attention, but no one went as far as the Pussycat Dolls, who had Nicole set as the lead singer, with the others providing backing vocals and very occasionally a short part.

However, it was the era of MTV, and a great dancing group was worth gold. Nevertheless, the music released under the moniker was simply good, and they received heavy rotation for a reason. "I Don't Need A Man" is catchy as catchy can be. Every part of the song burns itself into your ear, and there's a great dynamic between verses, pre-chorus, and chorus, building up on each other by continuously raising and then resolving tension. Plus, it has one of the fullest-sounding instrumentals of any song of its era.

Shanadoo was a Japanese girl group founded by David Brandes, a songwriter and producer who worked for artists as diverse as eurodance icons E-Rotic, rock group Vanilla Ninja, and schlager queen Andrea Berg. Their debut album "Welcome To Tokyo" aged horribly, to say the least, as it was solely built around showcasing Asian stereotypes to dance music ("Ninja Tattoo," "My Samurai," "King Kong," and "It's Like An Anime" were some of the song titles).

However, their second album "The Symbol" allowed them to show a lot more thematic range. So we get a song like "Think About," which lyrically may be inspired by Magic Affair's eurodance classic "Omen III," but has enough energy on its own. It's one of those cool songs that combine an intensely cinematic, almost sacral-sounding mood with stomping techno beats, making for an experience that stands out among radio pop but still works on the same engine.