* {{Adorkable}}: Hannah, especially in the movie. Trying to distract guard dogs with a sock puppet routine, wearing all her clothes on top of each other to hide that she's sneaking out of a hotel, trying to hide a kidnapping with an improvised dance? She's a dork and beloved for it.
* AudienceAlienatingEra: The third album ''Sunshine''. Despite having the group's best known single "Don't Stop Movin'", it's conspicuously lacking in the enjoyable bubblegum fun of the ''S Club'' album, and the mixture of pop and R&B from ''7''. While the ballad "Have You Ever" is decently popular, the attempts at a more mature sound meant that the album had overall less heart. The fourth album ''Seeing Double'' would improve on this, adding lots more disco, electronic and even garage influences. Aside from "Don't Stop Movin'", ''Sunshine'' tends to have the fewest songs performed from it.
* BestKnownForTheFanservice: Three scenes from the ''Seeing Double'' movie that have endured in public consciousness.
** Rachel distracting a security guard by doing a seductive window wash, all while wearing a tight tank top.
** Natalie mistakenly pulling out a vibrator when packing S Club's things for the trip to Los Angeles.
** Then there's the big group shower scene, where the real Hannah and Rachel have to strip off to blend in with the clones.
* BizarroEpisode: The one episode of ''Miami 7'' where the band gets sent back in time to the 1970s.
* BrokenBase:
** Jo vs Rachel: who was better? Jo was pushed as the face of the band from "Two In A Million" onward and Rachel's only lead single was "Natural". It's very much a TechnicianVersusPerformer situation - Jo having the powerful voice, but Rachel having more sex appeal and charisma. Nowhere is this divide more apparent than with the alternate version of "Alive", which features Rachel's vocals instead of Jo's.
** There's also Rachel's HotterAndSexier image after the band split. Too much or just what she needed to distance herself from S Club?
* EnsembleDarkhorse:
** Despite "Don't Stop Moving" being considered their best song, "Reach" was a huge crowd favourite. Many of the members expressed shock and surprise at how often it would be requested at performances. It was so popular with fans that Jon admitted he was sick of hearing it everywhere.
** Hannah was not pushed in any capacity outside of the TV series and only sang lead vocals on two songs, yet she's one of the most popular members.
** ''LA 7'' seems to be the preferred season of the TV series. Surprise surprise, 'Reach' is the theme song. The band members themselves said ''Hollywood 7'' was their favourite. Out of the TV series itself, Joni gets lots of love. Being played by Creator/LindaBlair for as much {{Adorkable}} charm as possible will do that to you.
* EstrogenBrigade: All the boys, though Jon probably got the most of it. {{Squee}}ing fangirls were not uncommonly seen around him.
* FanPreferredCutContent: An alternate version of the "Alive" single with Rachel's vocals instead of Jo was planned to be released but never got one. Thanks to footage of performances where Jo couldn't participate due to her back problems and bootleg copies making it online, a lot of fans have said they prefer that version. A lot of fans would have also liked to hear the original plan for Paul to sing lead on that rather than Bradley.
* FandomRivalry: With fellow British mixed-gender pop group Music/{{Steps}}. S Club had more international success but eventually disbanded, while had successful reunion after their first breakup and still performs today.
* GrowingTheBeard:
** Each new album moved away from the bubblegum pop sound of ''S Club'' with ''7'' featuring a lot more R&B type songs, ''Sunshine'' getting very mature and ''Seeing Double'' perhaps [[WhatDoYouMeanItsForKids a little too much so]].
** By the time ''LA 7'' was in production, the budget had increased, the gang had settled into their personas a lot more, writing was better and the production values overall were much better.
* HamAndCheese: David Gant, playing Victor Gaughan in the ''Seeing Double'' movie, understood the assignment - a MadScientist cloning the world's pop stars to influence the youth of today - and he helps make the movie quite fun to watch.
* HarsherInHindsight:
** Three out of four TV specials had plots about a member considering leaving the group. In the ''Christmas Special'' it's Paul who considers leaving (due to EasyAmnesia) which becomes a little harsher to watch with the knowledge that he would eventually leave. Although his actual departure was an amicable one in real life, as opposed to the ones caused by fights on the show. He would also be the first of the group to pass away.
** And in the ''LA 7'' episode "The News" Paul's love interest Linda tells him he should leave the band in a KickTheDog moment.
** The movie opens with S Club burnt out from constant touring, while Alistair says "it won't always be like this. One day, your records won't sell, the label will drop you and even I won't return your calls". S Club split up shortly after the film was released, partly due to their music not selling as well as it used to.
** Paul's endangered animal for the ''S Club Go Wild'' special was the black rhino, three subspecies of which were declared extinct in 2011.
** Any time the TV show depicts Paul being at odds with Hannah is harsher with the knowledge of a very public Twitter spat between them in 2017 - where Paul accused her of leaving him to further her acting career. Additionally Paul would be estranged from the members of the group as of 2018. And in an episode of ''Miami 7'', Hannah chooses to give up her romance with a lifeguard in favor of her work with the band. Rachel does likewise in the ''Boyfriends & Birthdays'' special.
** As well as the above, the video for "Have You Ever" has the ending line of "I loved and lost" playing over a clip of Paul and then fading into a clip of Hannah. Especially ironic, since they were already dating at this point.
** Some episodes see the group struggling financially. Jo's reason for participating in ''Celebrity Series/BigBrother'' was that she was in danger of having her house repossessed and Paul later became so hard up that he resorted to selling his BRIT Award on EBay. Hannah also had a well publicised case in 2022 where she and her family were evicted and left homeless for a few months.
** The very premise of the show is about a band trying to make it big in America. In RealLife, the band only acheived OneHitWonder status in America, but were much more successful in their home country.
** The opening of the movie has the group in constant disagreements with their manager. Jo's attempts at going solo were hampered by continuous clashes with various managers. Despite a decently received cover of "What Hurts the Most", the ExecutiveMeddling over the second single led to her leaving the label altogether.
** In some of the episodes, Jo does give the rest of the group a hard time in a comical matter. However, considering 43.4 percent of the population of Guyana is East Indian according to Census 2002, seeing Tina, who's half-Guyanese, getting her fair share seem harsh after Jo's disastrous appearance on ''Series/BigBrother'' due to her criticism of Shilpa Shetty, an Indian actress, being taken as an attack on the actress rather what Jo was really talking about... Shetty's cooking.
** "Wind Resistance", about an upcoming hurricane is harsh to after Hurricane Katrina, which killed 1,833 people in 2005... 3 years after Tropical Storm Hanna in 2002. Another storm, Hurricane Hanna, struck in Haiti in 2008, killing 500 people.
** A minor one in the film. Early on Rachel panics about the guard dogs and tells the group what she wants to buried in. Later in the film, Victor Gaughan nearly kills her personally to make an example of her.
** In the movie, Jon jokes that they could do loads of solo projects that "no one's gonna buy". Jo and Tina's attempts at going solo didn't work out so well - though Rachel managed to have some solo success.
** The TV show made a couple of jokes about Rachel's chest. Hannah later revealed she felt insecure about [[ACupAngst her small frame]] compared to the other girls, and got breast implants for this reason. She suffered serious health problems as a result and had to have them removed.
** Additionally, the movie has a gag where the press asks if any of the girls have had implants. Hannah has a moment of ComicallyMissingThePoint, and thinks a reporter's talking about owning plants. What's more is that she says the plant died from being watered too much - when she suffered severe health problems from her real implants.
** The show's happy-go-lucky nature gets a little tarnished when you hear the band members mention how they were worked like dogs the entire time, and how they were always tired and jet-lagged from shuttling back and forth from the US (where the show filmed) to the UK (where they were performing concerts).
** While the final single "Say Goodbye" was already sad, due to the disbandment, the fact that it's the six members minus Paul makes it even more heart-breaking after his passing. There's even a shot of the group watching a clip of Paul from the "Have You Ever" and then Bradley having to look away as the next line is "I'll miss your love in every day".
* HilariousInHindsight:
** In the movie, Jon's clone happily jumps into the shower with Bradley (and the girls), freaking Bradley out. The real Jon is also quite hesitant to shower with everyone else. Comes across this way, now that it's known Jon's gay in real life. As Jon later said that most of his friends and family knew he was gay for years, it's likely everyone was in on the joke at the time.
** In ''Boyfriends & Birthdays'' after Rachel has (temporarily) left the band, Jo says "I suppose it's the S Club 6 now". Bradley then says "it sounds wrong". Evidently they felt that in real life, too, as they changed the name to simply S Club when a member left for real.
** In the ''S Club Go Wild'' series, Hannah is the only member of the group not to find her endangered animal (the monk seal). After the group she would get to find all sorts of critters and dinosaurs on ''{{Series/Primeval}}''.
** An episode of ''Miami 7'' has Hannah getting annoyed when her one line in a movie is cut. She's the only member of the group to have had an acting career after the split.
** ''Artistic Differences'' has Bradley nearly joining a BoyBand. After S Club split, he starred in an MTV show where members from disbanded pop groups were assembled into a boy band.
** Jo's persona has been compared to someone from ''{{Series/Eastenders}}'' due to them playing up the 'tough Essex girl' trope. In 2017 Hannah joined the cast of ''Eastenders''.
** Considering he later came out as gay, any scene where Jon show interest in women immediately becomes funnier.
** In one episode, Jo uses her lesson on American idioms ("This is a lift. In America, it's called an elevator.") to [[TakeThat throw some shade]] on Music/{{Hanson}} by saying "In American, they're called talented." A manufactured vocal pop act throwing shade on a rock band was already the pot calling the kettle black, but it becomes even more hilariously sad now that Hanson are an acclaimed indie rock band and S Club are simply seen as a product of their time.
* HoYay: In the video for "Natural", all three boys get several shots where they're showering together under a waterfall.
* HollywoodHomely: The TV show makes a lot of jokes at Paul's expense about his appearance, acting as if he's physically repulsive. While his ManChild personality might turn some girls off, it's odd that he's meant to be considered unattractive.
* HollywoodPudgy: Paul found himself attacked for his weight gain during the ''Sunshine'' years, and there were a few criticisms of him being out of shape on the ''Carnival'' tour.
* HoYay:
** Spike, the thirteen-year-old billionaire says he'll help Bradley beat the game for the price of a hug (he means from Hannah). Paul hugs him first.
** There's of course quite a bit of it between Jon and the other two boys on the TV series.
** There's a lot of this between Rachel and Hannah throughout ''Miami 7'', as well as the TV special ''Boyfriends & Birthdays''. The two make quite a bit of intimate contact between each other throughout both, but one moment in particular that stands out is at the end of "Howard's Hotel", when the two of them whisper compliments at each other in the middle of the night from their bunks before reaching out and holding hands. In ''Boyfriends & Birthdays'', Hannah is the first person to comfort Rachel after [[spoiler: her boyfriend dumps her]] on multiple occasions, and even the final shot of dialogue is of Rachel leaning her head into Hannah's chest after the latter asks her if she's okay.
* MemeticBadass: Jo, considering the TV series portrayed her as the tough cookie of the group. She was often compared to a feisty ''{{Series/Eastenders}}'' character in a children's show. Ironically enough, her back injury during the ''Seeing Double'' film led to them playing into this - the others run all over town looking for Natalie's house when Jo simply walks across the road to find it, and she scares the guard dogs away by growling at them.
* MemeticLoser:
** Paul is often considered the LesserStar, not having much of a distinguishing characteristic, and for his badly thought out decision to leave and join a Nu Metal band. As a singer, he was competent but not as powerful as Jo, Rachel or Jon. He lacked the stage presence and charisma of Bradley, the acting skills or comedic timing of Hannah or the dancing ability of Tina. The only areas in which he really shone was on the various series with his entertaining ManChild persona and (at the time, anyway) as being the designated group MrFanservice. And this got exacerbated when he admitted to getting turned down for several reality shows for "not being famous enough". He likewise gets mocked often for live performances of "S Club Party", where in the video he does the worm for "Paul's getting down on the floor", and never does it live.
** Tina to a slightly lesser extent, as she had the least amount of solo songs, and the ones she did get weren't as well-known. She possibly gets it the worst in ''Miami 7'' when her only role for the series was "the seventh member of ''S Club 7''" and her one DayInTheLimelight episode had her [[ButtMonkey wandering off with a bucket stuck to her head for the majority of it.]] She did thankfully grow into her own in ''LA 7'' - developing an entertaining bossy persona.
* MorePopularReplacement: In the ''Seeing Double'' period, Jo had back problems, which meant that an alternate version of "Alive" - with the lead vocals sung by Rachel - was performed live. Although this was never released as a single, a lot of people stated they preferred Rachel's version.
* NarmCharm:
** "Reach" is of course the most bubblegum of their songs, with saccharine lyrics about following your dreams and reaching for the stars. The accompanying video is likewise ridiculously upbeat and colourful. But there's no denying it's one of their most popular songs and the sweetness is part of the appeal.
** The song "Gangsta Love" from ''Seeing Double'' is the group flirting with UK garage music. The weird lyrics make it unintentionally amusing ("soul apple in every bite...pineapple is playing all night") - but the music itself is good.
** The acting in most of the specials and the sitcom was never that great - although in ''LA 7'' things did improve - but there's still a lot of charm for 90s and 2000s kids recapturing their youth by watching it.
** The "Have You Ever" video is a bit excessively dramatic in parts, but not enough to ruin the song.
* NightmareFuel: While TheMovie is a light-hearted comedy, there are a few moments with the clones.
** The first half of the story has the band just assuming they're lookalikes, with robots being jokingly suggested once. Then Jon, Rachel and Hannah notice how the clones don't have any belly buttons.
** When Bradley, Jo and Tina are trying to convince the clones to remember their identities, they each get flashbacks of being in Eagle Peak, with jump cuts to Victor inspecting them that can be quite startling.
** And each of the clones has to go to bed every night with headphones in playing various facts about each member they're a clone of, effectively brainwashing them into thinking they're the real S Club. Rachel even points out "they're not just lookalikes, they're permanent replacements", with Hannah sounding terrified as she says they have to get out of here.
** It's also not glossed over that, since Victor Gaughan has DNA of them all, he intends to KillAndReplace the real S Club. He would have previously just had them put in prison for impersonation, but they're being killed for knowing too much. And this likely would apply to the clones of Rachel, Jon and Hannah.
* OnceOriginalNowCommon: TV musical series? Attractive young cast with equal singing parts? Current music all the kids are listening to? Sounds familiar, right? Well, it didn't back in 1999. The BandToon was nothing new and Music/TheMonkees had a show, too. However, in 1999, musicals were essentially for old folks (it took ''{{Theatre/Rent}}'' to attract a younger demographic back to musical theatre). The idea of combining the genre with this style of music was new. These days the show simply comes across as a pop group singing their own songs with a standard sitcom plot tacked on. The likes of ''Series/{{Glee}}'' and ''Film/HighSchoolMusical'' have certainly been influenced by the format, even if they came to much better results.
* OvershadowedByControversy: Jo, of course, was better known for a while for her actions on ''Celebrity Big Brother'' than her music, to the degree that someone threw a bottle at her while she was on stage performing with Bradley and Paul.
* PlatonicWritingRomanticReading: The chemistry between Jo and Bradley in the TV series was pretty good and, although the intent was to portray them as PlatonicLifePartners, often it seemed like they were teasing a romantic pairing. It bled over into real life, as the ''S Club Party'' tour of 2001 had Bradley serenading Jo during "Two in a Million".
* RescuedFromTheScrappyHeap: A 'reunion' performance on an Australian breakfast show was very poorly received, since it only featured three of the original seven. However, their proper reunion for the Children In Need telethon was much better received and seems to have erased the uncomfortable incident from general memory.
* RetroactiveRecognition:
** Hannah later got a prominent role in the series ''{{Series/Primeval}}'', not to mention starring in ''{{Series/Casualty}}'' and ''Series/{{Eastenders}}''.
** Jon enjoyed a successful career on the West End. He lampshaded this in an interview, saying he felt very flattered when he was asked "are you the guy from ''Theatre/LesMiserables''?" as opposed to S Club.
* TheScrappy:
** Paul. To a lot of people, his departure ruined everything and started the band's downfall. Even more so in recent years when he was ironically one of the first members crawling back for a reunion. He's also the only one who's resorted to public mud slinging towards the other members, notably Jo and Hannah. Additionally, Stronger, one of the few songs with Tina singing lead, was originally planned to be a single but that plan was apparently scrapped because of Paul leaving, so some Tina fans aren't too fond of him either. The fact he's lost his looks the most of all the members also certainly doesn't help. [[DueToTheDead His death naturally caused that to change rather a bit]].
** Inevitably, Jo has a few detractors as well. While the racist bullying scandal on ''Celebrity Big Brother'' is still held against her today by some, a drop in her vocal quality over the years thanks to smoking didn't do her any favours. She seemed to shake off both in the 2020s after quitting smoking and demonstrating that she was still able to perform quite well on her [=YouTube=] channel.
* SignatureSong: "Don't Stop Moving" and "S Club Party" are the most well known songs in Europe. In America, they really wanted to push them as ballad singers, and it was "Two in A Million" and "Never Had A Dream Come True."
* SpecialEffectsFailure: The hurricane episode of ''Miami 7''. Jon says he's trying to stop Howard's alligator from blowing away but it's clearly an inflatable pool toy being used. And it's a very obvious rubber model being used when the alligator falls on Howard at the end of the episode.
* StrawmanHasAPoint: In the Hollywood 7 episode "The Stylist", it is wrong to try to change the band's identities to fit an image and it's not like their personalities had to be in-your-face and cartoony like Simon Fuller's [[Music/SpiceGirls previous group]], but the stylist and record label did make a pretty valid point in that the members could stand to be a bit more distinct from one another, especially the boys. Take Paul and Bradley for example, even in the show, a lot of their characteristics tended to [[BigEater overlap]] [[LoudSleeperGag quite]] [[ManChild a bit.]]
* SuspiciouslySimilarSong:
** Their signature hit in America, "Never Had a Dream Come True" sounds like a slightly quicker-paced version of Dru Hill's "We're Not Making Love No More".
** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xaHyvAMLk7U "Wait for You"]] by Elliott Yamin sounds VERY similar to "Never Had A Dream Come True".
* TearJerker:
** Paul leaving in ''Viva S Club''. It was made all the sadder because they had done break up storylines before, but it always ended with the group making up; this time you knew the band member who is leaving wasn't going to come back.
** The episode of ''Miami 7'' where the band have to work in another hotel and Hannah starts dating a lifeguard. At the end they go back to Howard's hotel and Hannah must break up with the guy. The end of the episode has Rachel singing "I Really Miss You" at the hotel. Hannah's expression is perfect in that scene.
** The band leaving their apartment at the end of ''LA 7'', along with Joni's bittersweet "bye, kids" as they drive.
** The song "Have You Ever" is the band's first sad song - in contrast to the ballads like "Two in a Million" and "Never Had a Dream Come True", which were more about feeling strong love for someone (and although the latter is about a love that ended long ago, there are still good memories of it) this one is just about loss and regret. Jo said that her grandfather's passing shortly before they recorded it influenced how she sang the verses. The video is HarsherInHindsight if you realise it's the last one Paul filmed before he left (it was released before "You", which was filmed first).
** The final single "Say Goodbye" and the accompanying video - which has the bittersweet moments of the group watching their old videos and specials, while packing away their things. The final part of the video has them singing solemnly together in a room with all their stuff cleared out. The last shot is of that room empty, with the light turning off.
** Hannah and Tina's verses in the same song can really sting - "In a year from now, maybe there'll be things we'll wish we'd never said", "Maybe in a year from now, we'll see each other standing on a sad street corner with no regrets". The reason this song and video can hit home is because it's true to real life; the group had to disband because of Jo's back problems, collective exhaustion and of course the desire to try other things. Just like moving away, getting married, graduating school - necessary changes in life - but the end of an era can still hurt and be sad.
* TestosteroneBrigade:
** Rachel has been a lads' mag favourite ever since the group's heyday, and took advantage of this to go HotterAndSexier during her solo career. FHM crowned her the Sexiest Woman of All Time in 2014. The TV show loved to portray her as the MsFanservice of the group, too.
** Hannah is held up as a crush of many 90s and early 2000s fans. Any [=YouTube=] video of her is bound to have a slew of comments from people who crushed on her back in the day. The song "Hey Kitty Kitty" and its blatant sexuality almost seems to be a nod to that. After the group she got a very {{Fanservice}}y role on ''{{Series/Primeval}}''.
** Tina to a slightly lesser extent. She caused a stir at the premiere of ''Seeing Double'' with the very revealing dress she wore, and her solo comeback was promoted mainly in lads' mags.
* UnintentionalPeriodPiece: The TV series dates itself to the early 2000s.
** They're a struggling group trying to make it in America - not marketing themselves online, through [=YouTube=], [=MySpace=] or Facebook. In ''Miami 7'' the plot is started by Howard tricking them into thinking they'll be working in a luxury hotel when it's really a dump. [[TropeBreaker A quick Google search could have told them that these days]].
** Entire episodes revolve around the gang getting stranded or separated from each other, which wouldn't be possible these days, as seven twenty-somethings would most certainly have some cell phones. Not to mention the ''Boyfriends & Birthdays'' special, where they have to stop at a payphone for Rachel to talk to her boyfriend.
** An episode of ''LA 7'' has Paul trying to make a movie for them to star in. The joke is that he shoots it on a cheap camcorder, resulting in some StylisticSuck. These days that idea would be much more sensible, and home technology has improved to the extent that many just-starting-out bands shoot their own music videos themselves.
** ''LA 7'' also seems to embody the [=Y2K=] Era the most in terms of the fashions; bare midriffs, baggy pants, leather jackets, tank tops on multiple members. Jon and Paul have SpikyHair, Hannah has chunky highlights, all the girls have shoulder-length layers, and Joni has a holdover from 90s PowerHair.
** The movie ''Seeing Double'' also has as its plot a mad scientist trying to clone the pop stars of the world. S Club in particular have their clones trotted out on stage while the real ones are stranded in Barcelona. Such a thing would be harder to pull off in the days of smart phones and social media, and the group could have exposed the fakery much sooner. The movie also name drops the notable pop stars of the day that Victor Gaughan clones. A few have endured over time - Music/BritneySpears, Music/RobbieWilliams, Music/{{Eminem}} - but it also features Gareth Gates (runner-up on the first season of ''Pop Idol'') and a clone of Music/MichaelJackson (who passed away in 2009)[[note]]Victor Gaughan does have DNA of Marilyn Monroe and James Dean though, so this wouldn't be too glaring.[[/note]]. There's also a reference to a clone of Victoria Beckham, who was still sort of releasing music then, but by the end of the decade was better known as an entrepreneur.
** TheMovie also has a TakeThat to Creator/TomGreen, as ''Film/FreddyGotFingered'' had just been released.
--> '''Bradley:''' But Tom Green isn't dead.
--> '''Victor:''' A man can dream, can't he?
** In the movie, it turns out the clones have been made from DNA found on memorabilia purchased on the internet. Tina seems surprised that their old belongings could be sold on the internet, further placing the story to a time where online shopping was not as mainstream among twentysomethings.
* ValuesDissonance:
** Most of the time, the group would use terms like bug and parp, which are mild yet kid-friendly alternative to words like damn and crap, to describe a bad situation. For example, Hannah tells Paul to bug off in "Mr. Muscle", which means she’s telling him to leave. However, words like damn and hell have been used with the former being used as an adjective [[note]]when Tina got a dropped call[[/note]] and the latter was used to describe a location [[note]]Jo used this[[/note]]. This was for children and words like that are often used in adult programs in America at least, like a [[WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons certain American family]]. Not to mention that "Stand By You" has "damn you" in the lyrics.
** A scene in the ''Seeing Double'' movie has Jon's clone trying to shower with the real Bradley - who reacts with disgust, and runs out of the shower wailing "that's ''sick'', man!"; as opposed to simply invading his privacy in the shower, when the Hannah and Rachel clones pop in, he's surprised but has no problem with it. This casual display of homophobia would not be seen as bad back in the 2000s.
** Another scene in the movie is a gag where a DirtyOldMan gropes Rachel at a press conference. Rachel being sexually assaulted is entirely PlayedForLaughs.
* ValuesResonance: Several things about the show come across rather well these days:
** Seven young friends with an almost equal gender divide existing on good terms with each other without having to resort to sexual tension or PairTheSpares. The one couple that did form (Paul and Hannah) didn't affect the group's dynamic in real life at all. In fact, with all the recent discussion about the difficulty in creating [[GirlShowGhetto female-led shows,]] the fact that the girls outnumber the guys (four-to-three initially, then four-to-two in the final season,) without any discussion about it being a "chick show" is pretty impressive.
** A black male existing as a character in his own right, given equal amounts of flaws, slapstick and competency compared to the rest of the group (while he is TheDitz, both Hannah and Rachel are given ditzy characteristics as well, and Paul is portrayed as a ManChild). His race is never brought up and is not an issue for anyone. And arguably, Bradley was the most prominent male member in terms of talent; taking lead vocals on songs like "Don't Stop Movin'" and "Alive".
** However, Paul does come close to bringing Rachel's religious background when he catches her with bacon by saying it's not good for her.[[note]]In RealLife, Rachel is Jewish, and bacon is a pork-based, which consumption of pigs is forbidden in Judaism [[/note]]. Rachel does ask if she isn't allowed to have bacon, how is it any different for Paul. Just like the fact Bradley is black, Jamaican decent to be exact, Rachel's faith isn't brought up nor an issue to anyone. The villains don't bring this either, including that sheriff in the 50s special, where Bradley (black), Tina (biracial), and Rachel (Jewish) would've been easy targets but everyone was fair game. Oddly, Rachel does take part in Christmas despite this.
** The four girls are also given their own characters with individual quirks and personalities, as well as not having to be immune from slapstick. They were also not presented as being neither morally superior nor inferior to the boys.
** Both sides provided equal amounts of {{Fanservice}} without it being their defining character trait.
* WhatDoYouMeanItsForKids: The band fell into this category with their last album ''Seeing Double''. Two songs in particular that stand out are:
** "Hey Kitty Kitty" which contains the lyrics "Hey, kitty kitty, set me free. Why you'd wanna do what you do to me? So good at being bad, you blow my mind. Hey, kitty kitty, you're so fine"
** "Do It Til We Drop." Bradley's raps were pretty unexpected for kids, but this song starts out with the line "Come on and play with me baby, like girls do" which is sung by ''[[HoYay Rachel]]'' and one line before the chorus that's repeated frequently is "I'm so high/I can't come down."
** Their previous albums weren't safe from this, either. The breakdown of "S Club Party" has the boys calling the girls "hoochie mamas" (whores) and calling for them to "show your nanas" (vaginas)! It's safe to assume that that the lyricists had no idea what those words meant and just threw them in as generic slang. Not to mention that in the video, this is followed by [[ShakingTheRump a montage of each of the girls shaking their asses for the camera]].
** The S Club Party tour of 2001 also has Rachel's part of the titular song, which goes "wanna see Rachel do her thing" - and it's followed by Rachel shaking her ass slowly while [[MaleGaze the camera is capturing everything]]. By contrast, the music video to the song just has her doing a normal dance.
** "Natural", lead by Rachel (the MsFanservice of the group), has her singing "when you touch me, the reaction it just blows me away" and "turn out the light, lay your head next to mine". The video likewise has several slow motion shots of the girls writhing around on the beach with {{Sexy Soaked Shirt}}s and the boys showering under a waterfall.
* WTHCostumingDepartment: Pretty much no one in the band was happy with the garish choice of outfits for the "You're My Number One" video. Clashing colours, excessive make-up on the girls and Bradley wearing an orange beanie because the rushed production meant no one had time to braid his hair.
* TheWoobie: Rachel in the special ''Boyfriends & Birthdays''. While on the road to LA, her boyfriend gives her an ultimatum - come home to England at once or he'll dump her. And when she chooses being in the band, he dumps her over the phone.
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