Locked in and musically unified, Say Now are living up to the urgency in their name. That’s because the London-based trio – Ysabelle Angeli, Maddie Haynes and Amelia Onuorah – are “determined” to maintain the “forward momentum” of their last single, ‘Brick By Brick’, which dropped in June and became their most-streamed song so far. Say Now knew they’d hit the mark when this skittering, Y2K-style R&B banger was reposted by one of their musical heroes: SZA.
“That showed us that things will keep building as long as we’re doing what we’re passionate about,” Haynes says. Say Now have grafted hard to get to this point – 498,000 monthly Spotify listeners and 527,000 TikTok followers – but their rise has been steady rather than spectacular. “When we started, we kept pushing the [message] of ‘we’re a girl group’, and people loved it, but they weren’t 100 per cent sure what it meant,” Onuorah admits.
At that point, it had been over a decade since a really successful UK girl group smashed through – and that act, Little Mix, had The X Factor as a launchpad. “But people now are super-ready for a major girl band renaissance,” Onuorah says. It’s certainly encouraging that fellow London trio FLO (also former NME cover stars) cracked the Top Three with last year’s accomplished debut album, ‘Access All Areas’.
It’s also encouraging that Say Now seem to be channelling the guerrilla spirit of the UK’s most iconic girlband of all: Spice Girls. Before the fiery five-piece stormed the charts with 1996’s ‘Wannabe’, they would storm boardrooms to play their demo tape for record execs. Similarly, Say Now have only been talking to NME for five minutes, but already they’re sharing their own rambunctious anecdote: “Oh my god, we got kicked out of Asda!” Haynes squeals.
In fairness, the trio were just trying to do their job. They had a sparkling new single called ‘Supermarket’ to promote, so they absolutely had to film TikTok content in the aisles of their local convenience store. On the fly, and as fast as possible.
“You’d think it would take not long at all, but because there were so many [store] workers around, it was hard not to get caught,” Angeli recalls. “Also, we’re in booty shorts with our bras out, so like, it’s just not the ideal situation to be in.” Onuorah nods in agreement, then chips in: “But actually, a lot of older women doing their shopping were looking at us and being, like, ‘Love!’ Butt cheeks were out.”
“If we were industry plants, we’d have a Number One single by now” – Amelia Onuorah
Say Now’s journey began back in 2021, Birmingham-based Angeli and Luton-born Onuorah forming a duo after being introduced by a manager who discovered them online. Londoner Haynes joined a year later – shortly before they launched with the temporary moniker needanamebro – but Onuorah says the plan was always to move forward as a “vocal-focused trio”.
“Me and Yssy were already best friends, but we always left this little gap ready for someone to come in,” she says. “So when we met Maddie, it was literally like she slotted straight in. The day we met her, we were like: ‘She’s in the band.’”
Haynes’ mother did a stint in ’90s pop group Deuce, and Onuorah’s older sister is a musical theatre performer, so their pursuit of pop stardom has never alarmed their families. But things were a little trickier for Angeli, at least to begin with. “Obviously coming from an Asian household, it’s very much like one way [in life]: an education route,” she says.
When she first auditioned for her local performing arts school, Angeli didn’t tell her dad. “But because he saw how much work I was putting into my songwriting club, he got behind me,” she says. In fact, she admits she was “more unsure” than her father when the offer to form a band with Onuorah came in. “I was like, ‘I don’t know this other girl and I’ve never been to London before!’” she recalls.
Thankfully, Angeli made the leap and found bandmates “who helped to bring me out of my shell”. Three years after they became a trio, the girls’ friendship is as watertight as their harmonies. Still, they freely admit that finding their sound required a bit of trial and error. Their first single as Say Now, 2023’s ‘S.I.N.G.L.E.’, was a guitar-led midtempo cut with echoes of Little Mix. Then, their 2024 offerings ranged from the airy balladry of ‘Five Years’ to the club-ready ‘Trouble’, a bombastic banger built on a sample from EMF’s ’90s anthem ‘Unbelievable’.
“At the beginning, we were definitely pulling influences from early Sugababes in terms of sonics and, like, Spice Girls in terms of [that] fun, cheeky vibe we had with ‘Trouble’,” Haynes says. “We’ve kind of tested out different influences from different girl bands and different genres.”
They call Little Mix their “most recent mothers” because they grew up listening to them, and praise Girls Aloud’s “incredible vocals” on their 2024 reunion tour. The latter’s Nadine Coyle makes a cameo in Say Now’s ‘Trouble’ music video: a sweet passing of the torch.
Angeli notes that Say Now have often been called “baby Sugababes” because the Y2K-era hitmakers are “a direct representation of us visually”. Like Sugababes’ original lineup of Keisha Buchanan, Mutya Buena and Siobhan Donaghy, Say Now comprises a Black member (Onuorah), a white member (Haynes), and a member with Filipino heritage (Angeli).
“British girl groups have an authenticity. We’re very outspoken and slightly more rough-cut” – Maddie Haynes
“Quite obviously, we stand for diversity,” Haynes says proudly. “I think it’s really nice for young girls – well, young anyone growing up – to see that representation you might not get in other groups.”
Because they’re signed to a major label, Atlantic Records, and hail from the same management stable as One Direction and Little Mix, Say Now have frequently faced a predictable accusation: “You’re industry plants!” These rumours were fuelled, perhaps, by the fact that they launched publicly in 2022 with the witty but slightly gimmicky temporary moniker: needanamebro.
“Honestly, in the beginning, we had it all the time,” Onuorah says, sounding more amused than exasperated. “And we’d always be like: ‘Guys, if we were industry plants, we’d have a Number One single by now.’” The trio released three trip-hop-flavoured singles as needanamebro – ‘Better Love’, ‘Not A Lot Left to Say’ and ‘Netflix (Better Now Without You)’ – before settling on an official name and rebranding as Say Now in July 2023.
Today, they dismiss any suggestion that this might have halted their early momentum. “A name change will always have some sort of controversy around it,” Angeli acknowledges, “but because we asked our fans to help us decide, it defo helped with that transition.” The trio received “over 500 submissions”, including some “really, really bad ones”, but plumped for Say Now, a name that Haynes came up with during a band brainstorm.
Say Now love sitting down with pen and paper to plot their next move. Earlier this year, they held an “emergency band meeting” where they decided to refine their musical direction – a pivotal moment in their trajectory. “We were like, ‘We’re sat on all these songs that are so, so good. Why haven’t we released them?’” Haynes says. “They feel so Say Now so let’s just put them out, even if it’s scary because they’re more R&B than what we’ve released in the past.”
First, they dropped ‘Don’t Text Don’t Call’, a midtempo gem with ‘Bills Bills Bills’-style rhythmic hooks. Then they followed it with a hat trick of bangers influenced by innovative early-2000s R&B: ‘Can’t Keep A Beat’, ‘Brick By Brick’, and now ‘Supermarket’.
“We stand for diversity representation you might not get in other groups” – Maddie Haynes
Co-written by the mighty RAYE, their latest is a sleek R&B bop about having a minor breakdown – caused by a rubbish man, obviously – while doing your big shop. Say Now didn’t write it, but they fell in love with its offbeat storytelling. “What other pop song would have a chorus like ‘I’m at the supermarket about to flip’? When we heard that, we were like, ‘This is perfect!’” Onuorah says.
Surprisingly, Say Now have been sitting on ‘Supermarket’ for over two years. They first heard RAYE’s demo on the same day they recorded their debut single ‘Better Love’, which dropped in April 2023. “Honestly, we’ve wanted to release ‘Supermarket’ so many times,” Haynes says. “But after ‘Brick By Brick’, we’ve got the most eyes we’ve ever had on us. We were like, ‘Our name is Say Now – we should put it out now.’”
Next up: a multi-song “project” planned for early next year. “We have so much music, but we just need to put it together. And we’re writing all the time,” Onuorah says. “We’ve found a sweet spot now where it feels like we’re really embracing R&B melodies, but with pop production that’s fun and upbeat.” US girl group icons Destiny’s Child are a vocal touchstone. “They’re so known for their incredible riffs, and we always try to embody that too,” Haynes says.
Still, there’s zero chance of Say Now forgetting their roots. “I think British girl groups have a kind of authenticity,” Haynes says. “We’re very outspoken and slightly more rough-cut. Less polished.” And if that means getting chucked out of Asda every now and then, well, so be it.
Say Now’s ‘Supermarket’ is out now via Atlantic Records.
Listen to Say Now’s exclusive playlist to accompany The Cover below on Spotify or on Apple Music here.
Words: Nick Levine
Photography: Tallulah Ballard
Photography Assistance: Zoro Mpondo
Creative Direction: Lola Webster
Hair: Ashley-Michael Graham
Makeup: Nöemie Adebiyi
Styling: Tiolu Enitan
Styling Assistance: Lara Sandres
Label: Atlantic Records UK
The post Say Now are bringing back the chaotic energy of iconic UK girl groups appeared first on NME.