The Saturdays were signed to Fascination Records, a sub-label of Polydor Records. Their album, Chasing Lights, was recorded during May and June 2008 with input from multiple producers and writers, including Ina Wroldsen and Alex Cartana. The group supported Girls Aloud on their Tangled Up Tour before the release of their first single, "If This Is Love" sampling Yazoo's 1982 dance hit single "Situation" as its heavily-synthesised backing rhythm. The single was released in July 2008 and peaked at number 8 on the UK Singles Chart.
The second single, "Up", was released in October 2008 and peaked at number 5, it is also their best selling single. Also in October, the album Chasing Lights was released. The album peaked at number 9 on the UK Albums Chart in its release week. The third single, "Issues", was released in January 2009 and reached number four.
As well as supporting Girls Aloud, The Saturdays also supported the Jonas Brothers at their Hammersmith Apollo gig on 11 September. They also played at Capital FM's Jingle Bell Ball at the The O2 Arena in December. On 5 November they performed at Perez Hilton's One Night In Liverpool, and played at Cardiff's Gay Pride event. On the Christmas 2008 special of British Nickelodeon show Ross Lee's Ghoulies, The Saturdays made a special appearance.[2] They also guest starred in Hollyoaks Later on 18 September 2008 and on a 10-minute BBC show, Myths. Early in 2009, the group produced a "Debut Singles" chart show for 4Music.
In March, the group released their fourth single, a cover of the Depeche Mode song "Just Can't Get Enough" as one of the official Comic Relief 2009 singles, released on digital sales, 1 March, and on physical sales, 2 March. On 8 March 2009, the single peaked at number two on the UK Singles Chart, just behind Flo Rida's single Right Round The song also was the girl's third consecutive top twenty hit in Ireland, breaking into the top ten at number 9 in its second week of release, giving them their first top ten single and their first top ten appearance in a foreign music market.[3]
The group also confirmed that they would be doing their own tour in 2009 – "The Work Tour", which coincided with the release of their fifth single, "Work". The single ended up peaking in the UK outside of the top twenty at #22, despite having heavy promotion.
The group released their second album Wordshaker on 12 October, with opening sales of 15,022. The lead single from the album was "Forever Is Over" and on 22 August 2009 the music video was leaked onto YouTube. It entered the UK Singles Chart at #2 with sales of 38,846 on 11 October and also #9 (their highest debut) in the Irish charts on 9 October.
In 2008 and 2009, The Saturdays appeared in adverts for several products including a brand of deodorant, tampons,[4] mobile phones, hair removal products[5] and an operating system.[6]. They performed a gig under the name of Impulse Diaries at the HMV Forum in London, which was aired on Channel 4 in January 2010.
It was announced on Radio 1 in late September that the second single would be "Ego". The video was shot on 23 October according to King's Twitter account, and it premiered on 17 November. It entered the UK Singles Chart before the official release and continued to climb. It peaked at #9 on the UK Singles Chart on the week of official release, while in Ireland it peaked at #10.