Carrying on in the wake of a founding member’s demise is an immense challenge for any musical group, and The Script was no exception. Following Mark Sheehan’s passing in April 2023, there were strong suggestions to pause, recollected by the band’s lead, Danny O’Donoghue, hailing from Dublin. However, declining to carry on with what Sheehan had helped build would have been a disrespectful disregard to his memories, as O’Donoghue pointed out.
Satellites, the seventh studio output of The Script, wasn’t merely a continuation, it was underscored by profound emotions and missions, ably shouldered by O’Donoghue and Glen Power, with considerable assistance from several co-authors.
The kick-off track, Both Ways, composed in collaboration with Steve Robson and Wayne Hector, seasoned UK song scribes, unearths an unexpected side of The Script. The fusion leads to a musical illusion reminiscent of Bruno Mars immersed in Black Eyed Peas. This reminds us of O’Donoghue’s songwriting origins in the late 90s in Canada and Los Angeles, penning and producing music for the likes of TLC, Boyz II Men, and Britney Spears.
Moving ahead with tracks like Home Is Where the Hurt Is, Inside Out, One Thing I Got Right, and Gone (the latter an ode by O’Donoghue to Sheehan, with lines “like a shooting star across the sky, in a second you were gone”), the band reconnects us with their distinctive style of making pop-rock apt for arenas. Nonetheless, the core soul of the album is exemplified in the ballads At Your Feet, the title track, Before You Go, and Promises.
Feeling empathy for modern-day teenagers is inevitable.
Some staple dietary items like bread, cereals, and yoghurts are surprisingly ultra-processed.
“I’m Not a Drunkard: ‘Upon giving up alcohol, the enthusiasm I displayed wasn’t shared by others who strove to emerge from their stereotypes’
A Mixed Bag at All Together Now 2024: Barry finds himself overwhelmed, whilst a destructive Glastonbury pattern makes its appearance
Is it the same old routine? Not always. What we’re clearly familiar with, is punctuated by a palpable feeling of grief and an authentically revised element in this context.”