Girl Groups - is three the magic number

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Client Eastwood

Well-known member
There's loads and loads of girl groups fronted by 3 singers in Pop, RnB. Why is 3 such a popular set up ? Does this phenonenom cross to other genres, or non western music ?

Feel free to post examples Pop, RnB and otherwise (Go Go Youtube dump)
 
john eden

john eden

male pale and stale
Girl duos are really rare aren't they - it all gets a bit too "girlish" or "sisterly" Shampoo, Daphne and Celeste, Mel and Kim, those nazi sisters, ha ha.

e2a or overtly "male fantasy"/faux lesbian/ like tatu or the cheeky girls.

Maybe 3 gets you away from this and any more than that then it looks more like a "band". I think it's been quite hard for Girls Aloud and The Pussycat Dolls for example to establish concrete identities for all of their individual members.

Presumably there is also something about trios and harmonies?!
 
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B

baboon2004

Darned cockwombles.
3 or 5, innit?

Spice Girls, Girls Aloud etc.

But...All Saints, 4...

I'd have trouble naming any non-threesomes in RnB though...
 
L

lazybrowndog

Well-known member
Destiny's started as a four - but gained mindblowing worldwide success as a three - can't fuck with TLC ... Three Degrees ... Supremes ... am going with 3 for definite ... a few others started as fours but became established 3's - Pointer Sisters / Eternal ! haha ... Sugababes is interesting as it was clearly all about Mutya and Keisha with that 3rd member being a weird rotating chair vibe until Mutya's disastrous departure ...
 
Alfons

Alfons

Way of the future
ESG - a trio plus 2 guys (to begin with at least, if I remember correctly?)
TLC
destinys child (started out as a quintet tho right?)
 
slackk

slackk

-
Someone recommend some "foreign" girl groups please? I only know The Peanuts and feel like I should know more.

Preferably 60s or 80s
 
hint

hint

party record with a siren
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John Eden said:
Presumably there is also something about trios and harmonies?!
Click to expand...

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C

CrowleyHead

Well-known member
En Vogue is a quartet... Even though Dawn Robinson's the only one who can really sing. But I digress.

And has anybody noticed that now, out of nowhere, Beyonce has two back up dancers in every friggin' video? This never happened before... Is she trying to remind us of something? Does she feel comfortable knowing there's the 'two other girls' taking attention off her in theory only? Hmmm?
 
B

boomnoise

&#9835;
it's all about starting with more than you need then whittling em down.

or just replacing them like they don't matter.

[insert your own reference points]
 
N

Ness Rowlah

Norwegian Wood
Shonen Knife

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mixed_biscuits

mixed_biscuits

_________________________
john eden said:
Girl duos are really rare aren't they - it all gets a bit too "girlish" or "sisterly" Shampoo, Daphne and Celeste, Mel and Kim, those nazi sisters,
Click to expand...

I remember reading some research on whether pupils like working in threes or twos. It came to the conclusion that boys prefer the former and girls the latter. Maybe being in a triad and, comparatively speaking, out of their comfort zone helps make a girl group more dynamic (and perhaps more easily manipulable by a mediator/manager).
 
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