"Shape" is a song by English girl group Sugababes, released as the fourth and final single from their second studio album, Angels with Dirty Faces (2002).
The midtempo pop and R&B ballad incorporates a sample of Sting's 1993 recording "Shape of My Heart", whose vocals are featured in the chorus.
The single attained moderate success and reached the top twenty on the charts in Ireland, the Netherlands, Norway and the United Kingdom.
The song's music video was directed by Michael Gracey and Pete Commins, and filmed in Sydney, Australia.
Alexis Petridis of The Guardian criticised the track as a "lumbering, mirthless AOR ballad, grown-up in the worst sense of the phrase".
[8] The Birmingham Post's Andrew Cowen panned the song as "horrible", and regarded the sample from "Shape of My Heart" as "not big or clever".
[9] Andy Kellman of AllMusic called "Shape" a "bum moment" on the album, and dismissed it as a "misguided re-configuration" of the sample.
[11] The Jerusalem Post writer Harry Rubenstein viewed "Shape" as "[a] sing- along, more than a cover, that sounds completely uninspired and out of place amongst the faster-paced R&B tracks on the rest of the album".
[12] In contrast, David Byrne of RTÉ.ie called the track a "nice touch" on the album,[13] while Daily Record writer Julie MacCaskill complimented the sample of Sting's "Shape of My Heart", which she felt produced the song's powerful hook.
[37] Buena walks towards a mirror which depicts a reflection of the Sugababes, while Buchanan drops her white mask which subsequently shatters.
[40] The group sang "Shape" at the Edinburgh Corn Exchange on 18 August 2004 as part of a set list.
[41] The third line-up of the Sugababes, comprising Buchanan, Range and Amelle Berrabah, played the single while on the Taller in More Ways tour as part of a medley with "Stronger".
[42] The trio also performed these two songs as an acoustic medley at the 2006 V Festival,[43] and at the 100 Club in London to promote the release of their greatest hits album, Overloaded: The Singles Collection.