Now You're Gone

How did I receive the news that Keisha Buchanan had left the Sugababes, to be replaced by Jade Ewen, meaning that the band no longer has any original members? I received the news philosophically...

Leibniz: That’s it. The Sugababes are all over.

Locke: Why’s that?

Leibniz: Because the new band has no original members. The Sugababes can only be considered Sugababes if they include a member of the original classic Sugababes line-up of Keisha, Mutya and Siobhan.

Locke: But surely if one of the girls being replaced didn’t prevent the band being the Sugababes before, why should it mean that now?

Leibniz: Because, mereologically speaking, as the essential Sugababes have now been entirely substituted, the new group can no longer be considered the Sugababes.

Locke: But they sing the Sugababes songs.

Liebniz: So they are a Sugababes tribute act. But they are not the real thing.

Locke: But if the band has remained a continuous entity, with an unbroken run of top forty singles, they must still be the same band.

Leibniz: No, because in theory Keisha, Mutya and Siobhan could now re-form the original Sugababes and there would be two bands. Like with the Drifters.

Locke: Yes, but that’s not going to happen, because Keisha and Mutya don’t get on and Siobhan has moved in a different direction musically.

Leibniz: I said ‘theoretically’.

Locke: I can understand your point if all three girls had been replaced at once, but they haven’t. The platonic ideal of three Sugababes remains unchanged, and in many ways, their most recent line-up was the best, with hits such as ‘About You Now’.

Leibniz: Ah, but I prefer their early stuff, like ‘Push The Button’. It had a more urban edge.

Plutarch: You know, this reminds me of that thing I was saying about the other day about Theseus’ boat.