Sugababes - Push The Button - Live With ALL members

"Push the Button" is a song by English girl group the Sugababes, released as the lead single from their fourth studio album Taller in More Ways (2005). Composed by Dallas Austin and the Sugababes, it was inspired by an infatuation that group member Keisha Buchanan developed with another artist. Musically, "Push the Button" is an electropop and R&B song with various computer effects.

The song received positive reviews from critics, who praised its conception and production. Some critics named it one of the best pop singles of the 2000s. "Push the Button" became one of the group's most commercially successful releases. The single peaked at number one in Austria, Ireland, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom, and reached the top five across Europe and in Australia. It was nominated for Best British Single at the 2006 Brit Awards.

Matthew Rolston directed the song's music video, which was filmed in Shepherd's Bush, London. It features the Sugababes flirting with three men in a lift. The Sugababes performed the single at festivals and events such as Oxegen 2008 and the V Festival 2008. "Push the Button" appears on the soundtrack to It's a Boy Girl Thing (2006).

Development of "Push the Button" began while the Sugababes travelled to the United States to work on their fourth studio album, Taller in More Ways (2005). American producer and songwriter Dallas Austin collaborated with the group during the album's initial stages of development. He visited London to work with them,[3] although the group later travelled to the US and stayed with him at his mansion in Atlanta, Georgia. Austin wrote five tracks for the album, including "Push the Button", which he composed in collaboration with the Sugababes. According to group member Heidi Range, the song was "the very last thing" completed for the album.

"Push the Button" was conceptualised after group member Keisha Buchanan developed an infatuation with another artist who was collaborating with Austin.[1] Buchanan told Jess Cartner-Morley of The Guardian that she made advances towards the man, but he was unaware of her intentions: "I really liked this guy, so I'd be like, there's this good movie coming out, you know, dropping hints. And he'd be like, that movie sounds great, let me know what it's like if you go see it. I knew he liked me too but he just wasn't getting what I was trying to say." Austin advised Buchanan to tell the man to "push that button" or she would eventually move on. In a video on her songwriting experiences posted onto her YouTube channel in July 2020, Buchanan said that Austin teased her relentlessly about her crush after an outing by rapping and playing the keyboard; she then returned his bantering and the song instantly developed from there. She also said that Austin encouraged her to imagine she was speaking directly to her crush for the spoken word middle-8 section, and she improvised her speech from there.[5]

Mutya Buena, another member of the Sugababes, clarified Buchanan's encounter with the artist to Hot Press magazine's Jackie Hayden, saying: "We all knew there was something going on between them at the time, but we try to give each other space." She described "Push the Button" as a song "with meaning and real life references", and characterised it as having a "street vibe". Austin produced the song, which was recorded at DARP Studios in Atlanta & Home Recordings, London. "Push the Button" was mixed by Jeremy Wheatley at TwentyOne Studios, London, in collaboration with Richard Edgeler. Rick Shepphard engineered the song.