Girls Aloud
Encyclopedia
Girls Aloud are a British and Irish pop
Pop music
Pop music is usually understood to be commercially recorded music, often oriented toward a youth market, usually consisting of relatively short, simple songs utilizing technological innovations to produce new variations on existing themes.- Definitions :David Hatch and Stephen Millward define pop...

 girl group
Girl group
A girl group is a popular music act featuring several young female singers who generally harmonise together.Girl groups emerged in the late 1950s as groups of young singers teamed up with behind-the-scenes songwriters and music producers to create hit singles, often featuring glossy production...

 based in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...

. They were created through the ITV1
ITV1
ITV1 is a generic brand that is used by twelve franchises of the British ITV Network in the English regions, Wales, southern Scotland , the Isle of Man and the Bailiwicks of Jersey and Guernsey. The ITV1 brand was introduced by Carlton and Granada in 2001, alongside the regional identities of their...

 talent show Popstars The Rivals
Popstars The Rivals
Popstars The Rivals was a British television talent show series that was broadcast on ITV1 in late 2002. It was the second UK series of the international Popstars franchise...

 in 2002. The group consists of Cheryl Cole
Cheryl Cole
Cheryl Ann Cole is an English pop and R&B recording artist, songwriter, dancer, actress and model. She rose to fame in late 2002 when she auditioned for the reality television show Popstars: The Rivals on ITV. The programme announced that Cole had won a place as a member of the girl group, Girls...

 (née Tweedy), Nadine Coyle
Nadine Coyle
Nadine Coyle is an Irish singer, songwriter, actress, and model who rose to fame in the early 2000s as a member of the band Six before becoming a member of successful girl-group Girls Aloud. The group amassed a joint fortune of £25 million by May 2009...

, Sarah Harding
Sarah Harding
Sarah Nicole Harding is an English singer-songwriter, actress and model best known for being a member of the pop group Girls Aloud, formed through ITV's reality television programme Popstars: The Rivals...

, Nicola Roberts
Nicola Roberts
Nicola Maria Roberts is a British recording artist and entrepreneur. In 2002 Roberts auditioned for the reality televisions series and competition Popstars The Rivals which saw her finish in the final line-up of a girl group named Girls Aloud...

 and Kimberley Walsh
Kimberley Walsh
Kimberley Jane Walsh is an English singer-songwriter, dancer, model, television presenter and actress. She is best known for being a member of girl group Girls Aloud, formed through ITV's reality television programme Popstars: The Rivals...

. They are signed to Fascination Records
Fascination Records
Fascination Records is a UK-based record label, owned by Universal Music Group, and operated as an imprint of Polydor Records. The label was launched in spring 2006, and is managed by former TOTP Magazine editor Peter Loraine...

, a Polydor
Polydor Records
Polydor is a record label owned by Universal Music Group, headquartered in the United Kingdom.-Beginnings:Polydor was originally an independent branch of the Deutsche Grammophon Gesellschaft. Its name was first used as an export label in 1924, the British and German branches of the Gramophone...

 imprint. The group achieved a string of twenty consecutive top ten singles, including four number ones, and two number one albums in the United Kingdom. All of their albums have been certified platinum, with their albums The Sound of Girls Aloud
The Sound of Girls Aloud
The Sound of Girls Aloud: The Greatest Hits is the first greatest hits anthology by British and Irish all-female pop group Girls Aloud. It was released in the United Kingdom on 30 October 2006 and entered the UK Albums Chart at number one, making it Girls Aloud's first number one album. As of...

, and Out of Control
Out of Control (Girls Aloud album)
Out of Control is the fifth studio album by British all-female pop group Girls Aloud. It was released in the United Kingdom on 3 November 2008 by Fascination Records. Like their previous albums, Out of Control was crafted by the production team of Brian Higgins and Xenomania...

 both selling over one million copies. They have been nominated for five Brit Awards
Brit Awards
The Brit Awards are the British Phonographic Industry's annual pop music awards. The name was originally a shortened form of "British", "Britain" or "Britannia", but subsequently became a backronym for British Record Industry Trust...

, winning the 2009 Best Single for "The Promise
The Promise (Girls Aloud song)
"The Promise" is a pop song performed by British all-female pop group Girls Aloud, taken from their fifth studio album Out of Control . The song was written by Miranda Cooper, Brian Higgins and his production team Xenomania...

".

Girls Aloud's collaborations with Brian Higgins
Brian Higgins (producer)
Brian Thomas Higgins is a British music producer who has written and produced albums and tracks for several highly successful pop music singers and groups, most notably Girls Aloud, through his Xenomania production group...

 and his songwriting and production team Xenomania
Xenomania
Xenomania is a British songwriting and production team founded by Brian Higgins and based in Kent, England. Formed after Higgins met Miranda Cooper, Xenomania has written and produced for renowned artists such as Cher, Kylie Minogue, Dannii Minogue, Pet Shop Boys, and Sugababes...

 have earned the group critical acclaim, due to an innovative approach to mainstream
Mainstream
Mainstream is, generally, the common current thought of the majority. However, the mainstream is far from cohesive; rather the concept is often considered a cultural construct....

 pop music. The group has become one of the few UK reality television acts to achieve continued success, amassing a fortune of £
Pound sterling
The pound sterling , commonly called the pound, is the official currency of the United Kingdom, its Crown Dependencies and the British Overseas Territories of South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands, British Antarctic Territory and Tristan da Cunha. It is subdivided into 100 pence...

25 million by May 2010. Guinness World Records
Guinness World Records
Guinness World Records, known until 2000 as The Guinness Book of Records , is a reference book published annually, containing a collection of world records, both human achievements and the extremes of the natural world...

 lists them as "Most Successful Reality TV Group" in the 2007 edition. They also hold the record for "Most Consecutive Top Ten Entries in the UK by a Female Group" in the 2008 edition, and are credited again for "Most Successful Reality TV Group" in the 2011 edition.

2002: Formation and Popstars The Rivals

Girls Aloud were formed on 30 November 2002, in front of millions of viewers on the ITV1 programme Popstars: The Rivals. The concept of the programme, hosted by Big Brother
Big Brother (UK)
Big Brother UK is the British version of the Dutch Big Brother television format, which takes its name from the character in George Orwell's 1948 novel Nineteen Eighty-Four...

 presenter Davina McCall
Davina McCall
Davina McCall is an English television presenter and actress, most notable as the presenter of the UK version of Big Brother up until its move to Channel 5.- Early life :...

 was to produce a boyband
Boy band
A boy band is loosely defined as a popular music act consisting of only male singers. The members are expected to dance as well as sing, usually giving highly choreographed performances. More often than not, boy band members do not play musical instruments, either in recording sessions or on...

 and a girlgroup
Girl group
A girl group is a popular music act featuring several young female singers who generally harmonise together.Girl groups emerged in the late 1950s as groups of young singers teamed up with behind-the-scenes songwriters and music producers to create hit singles, often featuring glossy production...

 who would be "rivals" and compete for the 2002 Christmas number one single. Following the initial success of Hear'Say
Hear'Say
Hear'Say were a British manufactured pop group created in February 2001 from the winners of Popstars, an ITV reality TV show based on a New Zealand show of the same name. They enjoyed huge success with their debut single "Pure and Simple", helped by the publicity surrounding Popstars, the first of...

 (winners of the original Popstars show), several thousand applicants attended auditions across the UK in hope of being selected. Ten girls and ten boys were chosen as finalists by judges Pete Waterman
Pete Waterman
Peter Alan Waterman OBE is an English record producer, occasional songwriter, radio and club DJ, television presenter, president of Coventry Bears rugby league club and a keen railway enthusiast. As a member of the Stock Aitken Waterman songwriting team he wrote and produced many hit singles...

, Louis Walsh
Louis Walsh
Louis Walsh is an Irish music manager and judge on the British television talent show The X Factor.-Band manager:...

 and Geri Halliwell
Geri Halliwell
Geraldine Estelle "Geri" Halliwell is an English pop singer-songwriter, author and actress. After coming to international prominence in the late 1990s as Ginger Spice, a member of the girl group the Spice Girls, Halliwell launched her solo career in 1998 and released her album Schizophonic...

. However, two of these were disqualified before the live shows began: Hazel Kaneswaren was found to be too old to participate whilst Nicola Ward
Nicola Ward
Nicola Ward began her television career on UK television show Stars in Their Eyes, where she performed as Britney Spears. In 2001, she successfully auditioned for the initial series of Pop Idol, but was eliminated before the live rounds began. She went on to reach the final ten female contestants...

 refused to sign the contract, claiming the pay the group would receive was too low. Kimberley Walsh
Kimberley Walsh
Kimberley Jane Walsh is an English singer-songwriter, dancer, model, television presenter and actress. She is best known for being a member of girl group Girls Aloud, formed through ITV's reality television programme Popstars: The Rivals...

 and Nicola Roberts
Nicola Roberts
Nicola Maria Roberts is a British recording artist and entrepreneur. In 2002 Roberts auditioned for the reality televisions series and competition Popstars The Rivals which saw her finish in the final line-up of a girl group named Girls Aloud...

, who had made it into the final fifteen but not the final ten, were chosen as their replacements.

During October and November, the finalists took to the stage participating in weekly Saturday night live performances (alternating week-by-week between the girls and boys). Each week the contestant polling the fewest phone votes was eliminated, until the final line-ups of the groups emerged. The five girls who made it into the group were (in the order announced by the host) Cheryl, Nicola, Nadine, Kimberley and Sarah; Javine Hylton
Javine Hylton
Javine Dionne Hylton , often known simply as Javine, is an English singer. She is most notable for representing the UK at Eurovision Song Contest 2005; beating competition favourite, model Katie Price, for the ticket to Kiev...

 missed out on a place in the group, despite previous expectations that she would be placed in the line-up. The group were named Girls Aloud and were managed by Louis Walsh until 2005 when Hilary Shaw replaced him.

The two groups competed to become 2002's Christmas number one single. Girls Aloud won the battle with their single "Sound of the Underground
Sound of the Underground (song)
"Sound of the Underground" is the debut single by British all-female pop group Girls Aloud, later featured on their debut album of the same name. The song was written by Miranda Cooper, Brian Higgins, and Niara Scarlett, and produced by Higgins and his production team Xenomania...

", produced by Brian Higgins
Brian Higgins (producer)
Brian Thomas Higgins is a British music producer who has written and produced albums and tracks for several highly successful pop music singers and groups, most notably Girls Aloud, through his Xenomania production group...

 and Xenomania. The song spent four consecutive weeks at number one and was certified platinum in March 2003. "Sound of the Underground" received critical acclaim; Alexis Petridis of The Guardian
The Guardian
The Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...

 wrote that it "proved a first: it was a reality pop record that didn't make you want to do physical harm to everyone involved in its manufacture."

2002–2005: Sound of the Underground and What Will the Neighbours Say?

After the success of their first single "Sound of the Underground", Girls Aloud spent five months recording the follow-up single and their debut album. Sound of the Underground was completed in April 2003 and released the following month, described as a mix of "Blondie and Bananarama, with a smattering of the Spice Girls at their best thrown in." The album entered the charts at number two and was certified platinum by the British Phonographic Industry
British Phonographic Industry
The British Phonographic Industry is the British record industry's trade association.-Structure:Its membership comprises hundreds of music companies including all four "major" record companies , associate members such as manufacturers and distributors, and hundreds of independent music companies...

. One of the tracks, "Girls Allowed", was written for the group by ex-Westlife
Westlife
Westlife are an Irish boy band established on 3 July 1998. They are to disband in 2012. The group's line-up was Nicky Byrne, Kian Egan, Mark Feehily, Shane Filan, and Brian McFadden . The group are the only act in British and Irish history to have their first seven singles peak at number one...

 star Bryan McFadden, while "Some Kind of Miracle" was co-written by former B*Witched member Edele Lynch. The second single, "No Good Advice
No Good Advice
"No Good Advice" is a song by British all-female pop group Girls Aloud, taken from their debut album Sound of the Underground . The song was written by Aqua's Lene Nystrøm Rasted, Miranda Cooper, Brian Higgins and his production team Xenomania, and produced by Higgins and Xenomania...

", was also released in May 2003 to similar success. Nadine Coyle said, "We waited from December to May before releasing a second single because we knew it had to be our strong point or we might as well kiss our careers goodbye." Kimberley Walsh further exclaimed, "We knew it was strong enough to come back with." Girls Aloud's third single, "Life Got Cold
Life Got Cold (song)
"Life Got Cold" is a song by British all-female pop group Girls Aloud, taken from their debut album Sound of the Underground . The song was written by Miranda Cooper, Brian Higgins and his production team Xenomania, and produced by Higgins and Xenomania. Noel Gallagher of Oasis received a writing...

", charted at number three in August 2003. The song features a guitar riff similar to that of the 1995 Oasis
Oasis (band)
Oasis were an English rock band formed in Manchester in 1991. Originally known as The Rain, the group was formed by Liam Gallagher , Paul "Bonehead" Arthurs , Paul "Guigsy" McGuigan and Tony McCarroll , who were soon joined by Liam's older brother Noel Gallagher...

 hit "Wonderwall
Wonderwall (song)
"Wonderwall" is a song by English rock band Oasis, written by the band's guitarist and main songwriter Noel Gallagher. The song was produced by Owen Morris and Gallagher for their second album, Morning Glory?...

", for which Oasis songwriter Noel Gallagher
Noel Gallagher
Noel Thomas David Gallagher is an English musician and singer-songwriter, formerly the lead guitarist, backing vocalist and principal songwriter of the English rock band Oasis. He is currently fronting his solo project, Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds.Raised in Burnage, Manchester with his...

 has been credited.

In November 2003, Girls Aloud released a cover version of the Pointer Sisters' 1980s dance hit "Jump". The song appeared on the to the 2003 film Love Actually
Love Actually
Love Actually is a 2003 British romantic comedy film written and directed by Richard Curtis. The screenplay delves into different aspects of love as shown through ten separate stories involving a wide variety of individuals, many of whom are shown to be interlinked as their tales progress...

, recorded at the request of director Richard Curtis
Richard Curtis
Richard Whalley Anthony Curtis, CBE is a New Zealand-born British screenwriter, music producer, actor and film director, known primarily for romantic comedy films such as Four Weddings and a Funeral, Bridget Jones's Diary, Notting Hill, Love Actually and The Girl in the Café, as well as the hit...

. According to Cheryl Cole
Cheryl Cole
Cheryl Ann Cole is an English pop and R&B recording artist, songwriter, dancer, actress and model. She rose to fame in late 2002 when she auditioned for the reality television show Popstars: The Rivals on ITV. The programme announced that Cole had won a place as a member of the girl group, Girls...

 in Girls Aloud's 2008 autobiography Dreams That Glitter - Our Story
Dreams that Glitter - Our Story
Dreams That Glitter - Our Story is the autobiography of British pop group Girls Aloud, which was published in October 2008. The book was written with a ghostwriter and published by the Transworld imprint Bantam Press....

, the single "was the point when we realised everything we'd been doing was quite down and moody [...] and that's not what people wanted." Nicola Roberts further stated it "was meant to be. It was a turning point and everyone loved it." The single, which charted at number two, accompanied a new edition of Sound of the Underground. The reissue featured a new album cover and the replacement of three original songs with "Jump", "You Freak Me Out" (which appeared on the soundtrack of Freaky Friday
Freaky Friday (2003 film)
Freaky Friday is a 2003 film based on the novel of the same name by Mary Rodgers. It stars Lindsay Lohan as Anna Coleman and Jamie Lee Curtis as her mother. In the film their bodies are switched due to an enchanted Chinese fortune cookie...

) and "Girls on Film
Girls on Film
"Girls on Film" is the third single by Duran Duran, released on 13 July 1981.The single became Duran Duran's Top 10 breakthrough in the UK Singles Chart, peaking at Number 5 in August 1981...

" (a cover of a Duran Duran
Duran Duran
Duran Duran are an English band, formed in Birmingham in 1978. They were one of the most successful bands of the 1980s and a leading band in the MTV-driven "Second British Invasion" of the United States...

 song originally a B-side to "Life Got Cold"). "You Freak Me Out" was planned as the group's fifth single; however, the plans for this release were scrapped as work began on a second album.

After a brief hiatus, Girls Aloud released "The Show" in June 2004, the first single from What Will the Neighbours Say?
What Will the Neighbours Say?
What Will the Neighbours Say? is the second album by British all-female pop group Girls Aloud. It was released in the United Kingdom on 29 November 2004 by Polydor Records. Brian Higgins and his production team Xenomania were enlisted to produce the entire album, allowing for more inventive ideas...

, the group's second album. It had an unusual structure for a pop song, consisting of a number of interchanged sections rather than the more typical verse-chorus form
Verse-chorus form
Verse-chorus form is a musical form common in popular music and predominant in rock since the 1960s. In contrast to AABA form, which is focused on the verse , in verse-chorus form the chorus is highlighted...

. Polydor built excitement for the release and the group's new look with a promotional campaign featuring five empty director's chairs with each of the girls' names on. "The Show" entered the charts at number two. The next single, "Love Machine
Love Machine (Girls Aloud song)
"Love Machine" is a song performed by British all-female pop group Girls Aloud, taken from their second studio album What Will the Neighbours Say? . The song was written by Miranda Cooper, Brian Higgins and his production team Xenomania, and produced by Higgins and Xenomania...

", also peaked at number two in September 2004. "Love Machine" was nominated for ITV's The Record of the Year
The Record of the Year
The Record of the Year is an award voted by the UK public. For many years it was given in conjunction with television programmes of the same name...

 and finished in sixth place. Girls Aloud recorded a cover of The Pretenders
The Pretenders
The Pretenders are an English rock band formed in Hereford, England in March 1978. The original band consisted of initiator and main songwriter Chrissie Hynde , James Honeyman-Scott , Pete Farndon , and Martin Chambers...

' "I'll Stand by You" as the official Children In Need
Children in Need
Children in Need is an annual British charity appeal organised by the BBC. Since 1980 it has raised over £500 million. The highlight of the Children in Need appeal is an annual telethon, held in November. A teddy bear named "Pudsey Bear" fronts the campaign, while Terry Wogan is a long...

 charity single. The song was not well received by critics; however, the cover became Girls Aloud's second number one single, holding the position for two weeks.

What Will the Neighbours Say? was entirely written and produced by Xenomania
Xenomania
Xenomania is a British songwriting and production team founded by Brian Higgins and based in Kent, England. Formed after Higgins met Miranda Cooper, Xenomania has written and produced for renowned artists such as Cher, Kylie Minogue, Dannii Minogue, Pet Shop Boys, and Sugababes...

. Higgins said, "The pressure to come up with singles was, as always, immense. But [...] we were able to have a lot of fun working on ideas that were maybe a little too odd to be on the radio." The album received favourable reviews from music critics and was a commercial success, a feat in itself considering Girls Aloud's reality television background. A review by entertainment.ie
Entertainment.ie
entertainment.ie is a Dublin-based Irish website which provides extensive cinema, TV, live music, theatre, comedy, exhibition and festival listings for free, as well as celebrity gossip, music and movie news, movie and DVD reviews, CD reviews and up-to-date lottery results.The site was developed in...

's Andrew Lynch said, "Girls Aloud really shouldn't have made it as far as a second album. [...] There's just one problem – the girls have a knack of coming up with utterly infectious pop songs". The Guardian hailed Neighbours as "a great album: funny, clever, immediate, richly inventive." Stylus Magazine
Stylus Magazine
Stylus Magazine was an online music and film magazine launched in 2002. It featured long-form music journalism, four daily music reviews, movie reviews, a number of different podcasts, an MP3 blog, and a text blog....

 declared, "There is no pop in the world like Girls Aloud today." Upon its release on 29 November 2004, the album charted just outside of the top five and was quickly certified platinum.

The final single from the album, "Wake Me Up
Wake Me Up (song)
"Wake Me Up" is a song performed by English pop girl group Girls Aloud, taken from their second studio album What Will the Neighbours Say? . The song was written by Miranda Cooper, Brian Higgins and his production team Xenomania, and produced by Higgins and Xenomania...

", was released in February 2005. It charted at number four, making it their first to miss the top three but still their eighth top-five single. In early 2005, the group won Glamour Magazine
Glamour magazine
Glamour magazine means:* Glamour magazine, a U.S. publication aimed at a predominantly female readership* a girlie magazine aimed at a male readership featuring photographs of women...

's "Band of the Year" award, and was also nominated for a BRIT Award
Brit Awards
The Brit Awards are the British Phonographic Industry's annual pop music awards. The name was originally a shortened form of "British", "Britain" or "Britannia", but subsequently became a backronym for British Record Industry Trust...

 for Best Pop Act. Following the album's success, Girls Aloud announced their first tour What Will the Neighbours Say? Live, which took place in May 2005. The group also released its first DVD, Girls on Film
Girls on Film (DVD)
Girls On Film is the first music DVD by Girls Aloud and was released in 2005. The video contained all of their music videos at the time of release. It contained some of their most memorable television performances, and footage from their MTV special Girls Aloud - The Show...

.

2005–2007: Chemistry and The Sound of Girls Aloud

Following their first tour, Girls Aloud began work on their third studio album, Chemistry. The album was described as "a concept album which relates to the girls and what it's like to be a twentysomething girl in London". The Guardian said that the album's "lyrics sound like Blur
Blur (band)
Blur is an English alternative rock band. Formed in London in 1989 as Seymour, the group consists of singer Damon Albarn, guitarist Graham Coxon, bassist Alex James and drummer Dave Rowntree. Blur's debut album Leisure incorporated the sounds of Madchester and shoegazing...

's Parklife
Parklife
Parklife is the third studio album by the English alternative rock band Blur, released in April 1994 on Food Records. After disappointing sales for their previous album Modern Life Is Rubbish , Parklife returned Blur to prominence in the UK, helped by its four hit singles: "Girls & Boys", "End of a...

 rewritten by the editorial staff of Heat
Heat (magazine)
Heat is a British entertainment magazine published by German company Bauer Media Group. it is one of the biggest selling magazines in the UK, with a regular circulation over half a million. Its mix of celebrity news, gossip and fashion is primarily aimed at women, although not as directly as in...

 magazine" and "holds a distinctly ambiguous mirror up to noughties celebrity." The album peaked on the charts at number eleven, their lowest so far, despite overwhelming critical acclaim. It was their third consecutive album to be certified platinum.

The first single from the album was "Long Hot Summer", recorded for inclusion on the soundtrack to the 2005 Walt Disney reboot of the Herbie
Herbie
Herbie is an anthropomorphic Volkswagen Beetle, a character that is featured in several Disney motion pictures starting with the 1968 feature film The Love Bug. He has a mind of his own and is capable of driving himself, and is a serious contender in auto racing competitions...

 franchise, Herbie: Fully Loaded
Herbie: Fully Loaded
Herbie: Fully Loaded is a 2005 American comedy film directed by Angela Robinson and produced by Robert Simonds for Walt Disney Pictures. It stars Lindsay Lohan as the youngest member of an automobile-racing family, Michael Keaton as her father, Matt Dillon as a competing racer, Breckin Meyer as...

, although plans fell through. Released in August 2005, the single ended Girls Aloud's run of top five singles when it charted at number seven. Brian Higgins has expressed his disdain with the song, saying that "chasing the soundtrack [...] disrupted us creatively. It was making us miserable. Something had to come out and that was Long Hot Summer. It was made in a panic. It was a disaster record. I can't stand it." In reaction to the single's disappointment, Higgins and Xenomania crafted "Biology
Biology (song)
"Biology" is a song performed by British all-female pop group Girls Aloud, taken from their third studio album Chemistry . The song was written by Miranda Cooper, Brian Higgins and his production team Xenomania, and produced by Higgins and Xenomania. Composed of distinct sections, it avoids the...

". Higgins continued, "I think that it is a wonderful record – so uplifting. It meant so much to us and it really set Chemistry up well." The track is made up of distinct sections. The single saw a return to the top five for Girls Aloud, peaking at number four. The song was critically acclaimed; Peter Cashmore of The Guardian
The Guardian
The Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...

 labelled it "the best pop single of the last decade". Despite Girls Aloud's near total obscurity in the United States, the song was listed at number 245 on Pitchfork Media
Pitchfork Media
Pitchfork Media, usually known simply as Pitchfork or P4k, is a Chicago-based daily Internet publication established in 1995 that is devoted to music criticism and commentary, music news, and artist interviews. Its focus is on underground and independent music, especially indie rock...

's "The Top 500 Tracks of the 2000s" list in 2009.
The release was followed by a cover of Dee C. Lee
Dee C. Lee
Dee C. Lee is an English pop singer.-Career:Lee was a backing vocalist for the pop group Wham! in the early 1980s, but she left the group to work as a solo artist and also to join Paul Weller's band, The Style Council...

's "See the Day", released in the Christmas week of 2005. "See the Day" became Girls Aloud's biggest hit in terms of radio airplay since "Sound of the Underground", but became their lowest-charting single at the time when it peaked at number nine. Girls Aloud won the Heart Award for the single at the O2 Silver Clef Lunch. The group travelled to Australia and New Zealand in February 2006 to release "Biology" and Chemistry. Despite, a one-week promotional tour, "Biology" peaked at number twenty-six on the ARIA Singles Chart
ARIA Charts
The ARIA charts are the main Australian music sales charts, issued weekly by the Australian Recording Industry Association. The charts are a record of the highest selling singles and albums in various genres in Australia. ARIA commenced compiling its own charts in-house from the week ending 26 June...

, failing to break the group in the Australian market. "Whole Lotta History
Whole Lotta History
"Whole Lotta History" is a song by British all-female pop group Girls Aloud, taken from their third studio album Chemistry . The song was written by Miranda Cooper, Brian Higgins and his production team Xenomania, and produced by Higgins and Xenomania. Described as "a lush ballad", "Whole Lotta...

", the fourth and final single to be taken from Chemistry, was released in March 2006. Despite sounding more traditional than most Girls Aloud songs, "Whole Lotta History" is made up of seven different parts rather than following a verse-chorus formula. The music video for "Whole Lotta History" was filmed in Paris, France. The single charted at number six. Girls Aloud starred in their first television series, Girls Aloud: Off the Record
Girls Aloud: Off the Record
Girls Aloud: Off the Record is a six-part series recorded by Girls Aloud for E4 that started on 11 April 2006 at 10:30pm. The show was produced by E4 and Monkey Kingdom Productions for Channel Four Television Corporation....

, which followed the girls as they promoted Chemistry and travelled overseas. In May 2006, Girls Aloud embarked on their second UK tour (and first arena tour), the Chemistry Tour. The group performed for over 100,000 people across ten UK arenas, receiving critical acclaim. In the same month, Girls Aloud were moved to Fascination Records
Fascination Records
Fascination Records is a UK-based record label, owned by Universal Music Group, and operated as an imprint of Polydor Records. The label was launched in spring 2006, and is managed by former TOTP Magazine editor Peter Loraine...

, a sub-label of Polydor Records
Polydor Records
Polydor is a record label owned by Universal Music Group, headquartered in the United Kingdom.-Beginnings:Polydor was originally an independent branch of the Deutsche Grammophon Gesellschaft. Its name was first used as an export label in 1924, the British and German branches of the Gramophone...

.

In October 2006, Girls Aloud released their first greatest hits collection, The Sound of Girls Aloud
The Sound of Girls Aloud
The Sound of Girls Aloud: The Greatest Hits is the first greatest hits anthology by British and Irish all-female pop group Girls Aloud. It was released in the United Kingdom on 30 October 2006 and entered the UK Albums Chart at number one, making it Girls Aloud's first number one album. As of...

. It debuted at number one on the UK album chart and went on to sell over one million copies. A limited edition was also available, featuring a bonus disc containing previously unreleased tracks. The album was accompanied by the single "Something Kinda Ooooh
Something Kinda Ooooh
"Something Kinda Ooooh" is a song by British all-female pop group Girls Aloud, taken from their first greatest hits collection The Sound of Girls Aloud: The Greatest Hits . The song was written by Miranda Cooper, Brian Higgins and his production team Xenomania, and produced by Higgins and Xenomania...

". Girls Aloud became the first British act to reach the top five purely on download sales; the single peaked at number three following its physical release. The next single was a cover of "I Think We're Alone Now", previously a hit single for Tommy James and The Shondells (in 1967) and for Tiffany
Tiffany (singer)
Tiffany Renee Darwish , known popularly as Tiffany, is an American singer and former teen icon. She is most notable for her 1987 cover version of "I Think We're Alone Now", originally recorded by Tommy James and the Shondells in 1967. Released as the second single from her eponymous album, Tiffany,...

 (in 1987). The release marked the third time Girls Aloud had entered the Christmas chart battle; it peaked at number four. The song was also the official theme to the film It's a Boy Girl Thing
It's a Boy Girl Thing
It's A Boy Girl Thing is a 2006 romantic comedy film directed by Nick Hurran and written by Geoff Deane, starring Samaire Armstrong and Kevin Zegers and set in the United States but produced in the United Kingdom. The producers of the film are David Furnish, Steve Hamilton Shaw of Rocket Pictures...

. Girls Aloud collaborated with fellow British girl group Sugababes
Sugababes
The Sugababes are an English pop girl group based in London, consisting of members Heidi Range, Amelle Berrabah and Jade Ewen. The Sugababes were formed in 1998 with founding members Siobhán Donaghy, Mutya Buena and Keisha Buchanan. Their debut album, One Touch, was released in 2000 under London...

 for their fifteenth single, a cover of the song "Walk This Way" by Aerosmith
Aerosmith
Aerosmith is an American rock band, sometimes referred to as "The Bad Boys from Boston" and "America's Greatest Rock and Roll Band". Their style, which is rooted in blues-based hard rock, has come to also incorporate elements of pop, heavy metal, and rhythm and blues, and has inspired many...

. The track was released in March 2007 as the official single for Comic Relief, billed as "Sugababes vs. Girls Aloud". It became the group's third number one and their fifteenth consecutive top ten single. In May 2007, Girls Aloud went on their third tour, The Sound of Girls Aloud: The Greatest Hits Tour. During the tour, the group appeared at fifteen arenas across the UK and Ireland.

2007–2009: Tangled Up and Out of Control

Girls Aloud released their fourth studio album, Tangled Up
Tangled Up
Tangled Up is the fourth studio album by the British all-female pop group Girls Aloud. It was released in the United Kingdom on 19 November 2007 by Fascination Records. Like their previous albums, Tangled Up was crafted by the production team of Brian Higgins and Xenomania...

, in November 2007. Called "yet another unrelenting pop masterpiece" by BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...

, the album was another commercial and critical success. It continued their streak of platinum albums.

The first single, "Sexy! No No No...
Sexy! No No No...
"Sexy! No No No…" is a song by the British all-female pop group Girls Aloud, taken from their fourth studio album Tangled Up . The song was written by Girls Aloud, Miranda Cooper, Brian Higgins and his production team Xenomania, and produced by Higgins and Xenomania. The song samples Nazareth's...

", was another top five single. It was described as "one of the most daring songs they've yet released" and "yet another sample of their [Girls Aloud's] perfect pop: bold, sassy, slightly loopy and unbelievably catchy." "Sexy! No No No…" is actually three songs welded together: one with a samba
Samba
Samba is a Brazilian dance and musical genre originating in Bahia and with its roots in Brazil and Africa via the West African slave trade and African religious traditions. It is recognized around the world as a symbol of Brazil and the Brazilian Carnival...

 rhythm, one with a sped-up sample and a breakbeat
Breakbeat
In 1992, a new style called "jungalistic hardcore" emerged, and for many ravers it was too funky to dance to. Josh Lawford of Ravescene prophesied that the breakbeat was "the death-knell of rave" because the ever changing drumbeat patterns of breakbeat music didn't allow for the same zoned out,...

, and an intro from elsewhere. The guitar riff is sampled from Scottish rock band Nazareth
Nazareth (band)
Nazareth is a Scottish hard rock band, founded in 1968, that had several hits in the UK in the early 1970s, and established an international audience with their 1975 album Hair of the Dog. Perhaps their best-known hit single was a cover of the ballad "Love Hurts", in 1975...

's 1975 track "Hair of the Dog
Hair of the Dog (song)
"Hair of the Dog" is the title track of Nazareth's 1975 album Hair of the Dog. It is sometimes called "Son of a Bitch" because of the repeated lyric in the hook . The title is a pun on the refrain...

." "Call the Shots
Call the Shots
"Call the Shots" is a song performed by British all-female pop group Girls Aloud, taken from their fourth studio album Tangled Up . The song was written by Miranda Cooper, Brian Higgins and his production team Xenomania, and produced by Higgins and Xenomania...

", which entered the top three, welcomed even more critical acclaim, with pop music journalist Peter Robinson
Peter Robinson (journalist)
Peter Robinson is a British music journalist. He is the creator of the pop music-based blog Popjustice. Robinson first came to the attention of music fans with his self-published biography/fanzine of The KLF, Justified and Ancient History...

 calling it the "greatest pop song of the 21st century." It was described as "an elegant electro-pop ballad delivered with a restraint and maturity to rival groups of twice their age". The song was almost put forward as a single for the greatest hits compilation The Sound of Girls Aloud, but the song was deemed "too downbeat, when a greatest hits single needs to be a celebration." Cheryl Cole cited the song is her favourite from Tangled Up, and that it "gives me goosebumps
Goose bumps
Goose bumps, also called goose flesh, goose pimples, chill bumps, chicken skin, funky spots, Dasler Bumps, chicken bumps or the medical term cutis anserina, are the bumps on a person's skin at the base of body hairs which may involuntarily develop when a person is cold or experiences strong...

". The third and final single from the album, "Can't Speak French
Can't Speak French
"Can't Speak French" is a song performed by British all-female pop group Girls Aloud, taken from their fourth studio album Tangled Up . The song was written by Miranda Cooper, Brian Higgins and his production team Xenomania, and produced by Higgins and Xenomania...

", continued Girls Aloud's top ten streak. A French version and "Hoxton Heroes", a satirical track aimed towards indie bands, were included as B-sides. The release coincided with Girls Aloud's second television series, The Passions of Girls Aloud. The show revolved around each member achieving aspirations outside of the group. Girls Aloud also received their second BRIT Award
Brit Awards
The Brit Awards are the British Phonographic Industry's annual pop music awards. The name was originally a shortened form of "British", "Britain" or "Britannia", but subsequently became a backronym for British Record Industry Trust...

 nomination in 2008, nominated for the Best British Group award. In May and June 2008, Girls Aloud embarked on the Tangled Up Tour
Tangled Up Tour
The Tangled Up Tour was the fourth concert tour third arena tour, by British pop group Girls Aloud, in support of the group's fourth studio album Tangled Up. The tour was initially announced to reach arenas across the United Kingdom in November 2007. The shows commenced in Belfast on 3 May 2008 and...

 – their third arena tour and fourth overall. They played a total of 34 concerts around the UK.

In 2008, Girls Aloud released their fifth studio album Out of Control
Out of Control (Girls Aloud album)
Out of Control is the fifth studio album by British all-female pop group Girls Aloud. It was released in the United Kingdom on 3 November 2008 by Fascination Records. Like their previous albums, Out of Control was crafted by the production team of Brian Higgins and Xenomania...

. The group called it their "most exciting and thrilling album yet". It entered the UK Albums Chart
UK Albums Chart
The UK Albums Chart is a list of albums ranked by physical and digital sales in the United Kingdom. It is compiled every week by The Official Charts Company and broadcast on a Sunday on BBC Radio 1 , and published in Music Week magazine and on the OCC website .To qualify for the UK albums chart...

 at number one. It became their most successful studio album to date, being certified double platinum. Out of Control has described as "their most melancholy album to date", a "break-up album [...] atop a mix of ’80s electro-pop", and "chock-full of those trademark, otherworldy electro-synth songs". The album's lead single, "The Promise
The Promise (Girls Aloud song)
"The Promise" is a pop song performed by British all-female pop group Girls Aloud, taken from their fifth studio album Out of Control . The song was written by Miranda Cooper, Brian Higgins and his production team Xenomania...

", became their fourth number one on the UK Singles Chart
UK Singles Chart
The UK Singles Chart is compiled by The Official Charts Company on behalf of the British record-industry. The full chart contains the top selling 200 singles in the United Kingdom based upon combined record sales and download numbers, though some media outlets only list the Top 40 or the Top 75 ...

, selling more than 77,000 singles in its first week of release—making it the fastest-selling single of 2008 up to that point. The single returned the group to the top two on the Irish Singles Chart
Irish Singles Chart
The Irish Singles Chart is Ireland's music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by the Irish Recorded Music Association and compiled on behalf of the IRMA by Chart-Track. Chart rankings are based on sales, which are compiled through over-the-counter retail data captured...

. Brian Higgins said, "We knew that was the piece of music Girls Aloud needed to announce them as a supergroup in this country, so we knew we couldn't drop the ball melodically or lyrically." He described it as "the theme tune to the biggest girl group on the planet". Girls Aloud also performed at the BRIT Awards
Brit Awards
The Brit Awards are the British Phonographic Industry's annual pop music awards. The name was originally a shortened form of "British", "Britain" or "Britannia", but subsequently became a backronym for British Record Industry Trust...

 for the first time in their careers, with "The Promise" being awarded Best British Single. They were also nominated for Best British Group, but lost to Elbow
Elbow (band)
Elbow are an English rock band. They have played together since 1990 and recorded five studio albums, the most recent of which is Build a Rocket Boys!, released in March 2011...

.

"The Loving Kind
The Loving Kind
"The Loving Kind" is a song performed by British girl group Girls Aloud, taken from their fifth studio album Out of Control . The song was written by Pet Shop Boys, Miranda Cooper, Brian Higgins and his production team Xenomania, and produced by Higgins and Xenomania...

" was released as the album's second single. Xenomania and Pet Shop Boys wrote the song in sessions for the latter's album Yes
Yes (Pet Shop Boys album)
Yes is the tenth studio album by English electronic duo Pet Shop Boys. The album was recorded throughout 2008 and is produced by Brian Higgins and his production team Xenomania. Xenomania also co-wrote three of the tracks. Guitarist Johnny Marr and string arranger Owen Pallett appear as well...

. Both parties had previously agreed there would be just three co-written songs on the album, and having noticed Chris Lowe
Chris Lowe
Chris Lowe is an English musician, who, with colleague Neil Tennant, makes up the pop duo Pet Shop Boys.-Childhood:...

's "slight reticence" towards the song, Higgins suggested that Girls Aloud record "The Loving Kind". "The Loving Kind" peaked at number ten, becoming Girls Aloud's twentieth consecutive top ten single. "Untouchable
Untouchable (Girls Aloud song)
"Untouchable" is a song performed by British all-female pop group Girls Aloud, taken from their fifth studio album Out of Control . The song was written by Miranda Cooper, Brian Higgins and his production team Xenomania, and produced by Higgins and Xenomania. Influenced by trance music and Balearic...

", a trance-inspired "rave ballad" which marries "Balearic
Balearic Beat
Balearic Beat or either Balearic House and Balearic Trance is an eclectic blend of DJed dance music that originally emerged in the mid-1980s. It later became the name of a more specific style of electronic dance music that was popular into the mid-1990s...

 guitar lines with a pulsating techno throb," was released as the third single from the album. The song became Girls Aloud's first single to chart outside of the top ten, peaking at number eleven. Girls Aloud embarked on the Out of Control Tour
Out of Control Tour
The Out of Control Tour is Girls Aloud's fourth arena-based concert tour and their fifth tour overall. The tour started on 24 April 2009 in Manchester's MEN Arena, with the final show on 6 June 2009 in Newcastle's Metro Radio Arena...

, which ran from April to June 2009. Fascination Records released a singles boxset collection to coincide with the tour.

2009–present: Hiatus

Girls Aloud signed a new record deal with Fascination that would see the group release another three albums. In July 2009 Girls Aloud announced that they were taking a year-long hiatus to pursue solo projects, but would reunite for a new studio album in 2010. Two months later, Girls Aloud briefly interrupted the hiatus to do two shows supporting Coldplay
Coldplay
Coldplay are a British alternative rock band formed in 1996 by lead vocalist Chris Martin and lead guitarist Jonny Buckland at University College London. After they formed Pectoralz, Guy Berryman joined the group as a bassist and they changed their name to Starfish. Will Champion joined as a...

 along with Jay-Z
Jay-Z
Shawn Corey Carter , better known by his stage name Jay-Z, is an American rapper, record producer, entrepreneur, and occasional actor. He is one of the most financially successful hip hop artists and entrepreneurs in America, having a net worth of over $450 million as of 2010...

 at Wembley Stadium
Wembley Stadium
The original Wembley Stadium, officially known as the Empire Stadium, was a football stadium in Wembley, a suburb of north-west London, standing on the site now occupied by the new Wembley Stadium that opened in 2007...

. In June 2010, Kimberley Walsh said she expected a tour in 2011. The hiatus has however continued well past the twelve-month mark, with no sign of any specific plans for a reunion. In August 2010, Nicola Roberts told the media that she did not expect a reunion before 2012. Cheryl Cole confirmed that Girls Aloud would mark their tenth anniversary together in 2012, a reiteration made by Nadine Coyle in an earlier interview. Nadine Coyle later stated that the time of the reunion would be dictated by Cole due to Cole's successful solo career. On 24 April 2011, Hilary Shaw confirmed that the group would perform together in 2012, marking their tenth anniversary together. On 2 June 2011, Nicola Roberts
Nicola Roberts
Nicola Maria Roberts is a British recording artist and entrepreneur. In 2002 Roberts auditioned for the reality televisions series and competition Popstars The Rivals which saw her finish in the final line-up of a girl group named Girls Aloud...

 confirmed in an interview with Scott Mills
Scott Mills
Scott Robert Mills is a British radio DJ, television presenter and occasional actor, best known for presenting The Scott Mills Show on BBC Radio 1...

 on BBC Radio 1
BBC Radio 1
BBC Radio 1 is a British national radio station operated by the British Broadcasting Corporation which also broadcasts internationally, specialising in current popular music and chart hits throughout the day. Radio 1 provides alternative genres after 7:00pm including electronic dance, hip hop, rock...

 that "all 5 members are up for a reunion for their 10th anniversary (in 2012)" stating that even if she "has to drag the girls by their hair, it'll happen". In July 2011, Nadine Coyle
Nadine Coyle
Nadine Coyle is an Irish singer, songwriter, actress, and model who rose to fame in the early 2000s as a member of the band Six before becoming a member of successful girl-group Girls Aloud. The group amassed a joint fortune of £25 million by May 2009...

 openly spoke about the Girls Aloud reunion in NME Magazine. In the interview, Coyle stated that it was "a milestone that the girls are all going to celebrate" by doing "something". In August 2011, Coyle spoke about the reunion during an online skype
Skype
Skype is a software application that allows users to make voice and video calls and chat over the Internet. Calls to other users within the Skype service are free, while calls to both traditional landline telephones and mobile phones can be made for a fee using a debit-based user account system...

 video call with blogger
Blogger
Blogger may refer to:* A person who writes a blog, or weblog* Blogger , a web service for publishing blogs...

, Perez Hilton
Perez Hilton
Mario Armando Lavandeira, Jr. , better known as Perez Hilton , is an American blogger and television personality. His blog, Perezhilton.com , is known for posts covering gossip items about celebrities...

, where she states that, "the offers for us to do stadium tours, and open the Olympics are there.. it's just now whether all 5 of us want to do it". She also continues saying that, "If it'll be like our last tour, we may have to put tour tickets on sale soon, so fingers crossed!"

Other musical projects

Girls Aloud also appeared on the 2007 compilation Radio 1: Established 1967, celebrating the 40th anniversary of BBC Radio 1
BBC Radio 1
BBC Radio 1 is a British national radio station operated by the British Broadcasting Corporation which also broadcasts internationally, specialising in current popular music and chart hits throughout the day. Radio 1 provides alternative genres after 7:00pm including electronic dance, hip hop, rock...

, with a cover of Wheatus
Wheatus
Wheatus are an American rock group from Northport, New York. They are known for their 2000 single "Teenage Dirtbag" which was featured in the movie Loser, as well as in the HBO miniseries Generation Kill.-1995-2002: Formation and Wheatus:...

' "Teenage Dirtbag
Teenage Dirtbag
"Teenage Dirtbag" is the title of a song recorded by American alternative rock group Wheatus. It was released in July 2000 as the lead single from their eponymous debut album. It was included on the soundtrack of the movie Loser. The single was massively successful in Australia, spending four weeks...

", as well as singing backing vocals on Franz Ferdinand
Franz Ferdinand (band)
Franz Ferdinand are a Scottish post-punk revival band formed in Glasgow in 2002. The band is composed of Alex Kapranos , Bob Hardy , Nick McCarthy , and Paul Thomson .The band first experienced chart success when their second single, "Take Me Out", reached #3 in...

's cover of David Bowie
David Bowie
David Bowie is an English musician, actor, record producer and arranger. A major figure for over four decades in the world of popular music, Bowie is widely regarded as an innovator, particularly for his work in the 1970s...

's "Sound and Vision
Sound and Vision
"Sound and Vision" is a song and single by David Bowie which appeared on the album Low in 1977.The song is notable for juxtaposing an uplifting guitar and synthesizer-led instrumental track with Bowie’s withdrawn lyrics...

". In addition to these appearances, Girls Aloud recorded two tracks for the soundtrack to the new St Trinian's
St Trinian's (2007 film)
St Trinian's is the sixth in a long-running series of films based on the works of cartoonist Ronald Searle. The first five films form a series, starting with The Belles of St Trinian's in 1954, with sequels in 1957, 1960, 1966 and 1980....

 movie ("Theme to St. Trinian's
Theme to St. Trinian's
"Defenders of Anarchy" is a song recorded by British pop girl group Girls Aloud for the album St. Trinian's: The Soundtrack, and subsequently released as single on 10 December 2007. Written by the film's score composer Charlie Mole and Ali Thompson, the song features production from long-time...

" and "On My Way to Satisfaction"). They also make a cameo appearance
Cameo appearance
A cameo role or cameo appearance is a brief appearance of a known person in a work of the performing arts, such as plays, films, video games and television...

 in the film as the school band. The soundtrack was released on 10 December 2007, and the video for "Theme to St. Trinian's" premiered in mid December 2007. On 6 January 2008, "Theme to St. Trinian's" became the first Girls Aloud song to enter the UK Singles Chart without any plans of a physical release, peaking at number fifty-one. Additionally, the girls also performed covers of Amy Winehouse
Amy Winehouse
Amy Jade Winehouse was an English singer-songwriter known for her powerful deep contralto vocals and her eclectic mix of musical genres including R&B, soul and jazz. Winehouse's 2003 debut album, Frank, was critically successful in the UK and was nominated for the Mercury Prize...

's "Rehab", Robyn
Robyn
Robin Miriam Carlsson , better known by her stage name Robyn, is a Swedish recording artist, singer, and songwriter. Robyn became known in the late nineties for her worldwide dance-pop hit "Do You Know " from her debut album Robyn Is Here . She co-wrote the song "Du gör mig hel igen" for...

's "With Every Heartbeat
With Every Heartbeat
"With Every Heartbeat" is a song by Swedish recording artist Robyn with Swedish producer Kleerup. It was released on 30 July 2007 in the United Kingdom as the second single from the international edition of Robyn's self-titled fourth studio album, Robyn...

", and Timbaland
Timbaland
Timothy Zachery Mosley , better known by his stage name Timbaland, is an American record producer, songwriter and rapper....

 & OneRepublic
OneRepublic
OneRepublic is an American pop rock band from Colorado Springs, Colorado. Formed in 2002 by Ryan Tedder and Zach Filkins, the band achieved massive success on MySpace, becoming the most prominent unsigned act on the website then...

's "Apologize
Apologize (song)
"Apologize" is a song written by OneRepublic frontman Ryan Tedder for OneRepublic's debut album Dreaming Out Loud. A remix version was included on the Timbaland album, Shock Value and on the deluxe version of Dreaming Out Loud...

" for Jo Whiley
Jo Whiley
Johanne "Jo" Whiley is a British radio disc jockey and television presenter. She was the host of the long running weekday Jo Whiley Show on Radio 1.-Early life and education:...

's Live Lounge
Live Lounge
The Live Lounge is a segment on the British radio station BBC Radio 1. Originally hosted by Jo Whiley on her mid-morning radio show and now hosted by Fearne Cotton, it exhibits well-known artists usually performing one song of their own and one by another artist, in an acoustic format...

 programme on BBC Radio 1
BBC Radio 1
BBC Radio 1 is a British national radio station operated by the British Broadcasting Corporation which also broadcasts internationally, specialising in current popular music and chart hits throughout the day. Radio 1 provides alternative genres after 7:00pm including electronic dance, hip hop, rock...

.

Girls Aloud recorded backing vocals for "My Love Is Better
My Love Is Better
"My Love Is Better" is a song by Norwegian singer–songwriter Annie from her second studio album, Don't Stop . Released as the album's second single on 9 October 2009, the track originally had featured backing vocals by Girls Aloud....

" from Norwegian pop singer Annie's second album Don't Stop
Don't Stop (Annie album)
Don't Stop is the second studio album by Norwegian recording artist Annie. Originally intended for a 2008 release on UK-based Island Records, the planned release date was pushed back...

. It was reported that their mutual producer Brian Higgins didn't ask for permission, which upset Girls Aloud. However, Annie herself revealed in an interview that "Brian asked them if they'd like to help out. They were really up for it and came into my studio and it was really fun." She continued, "of course their record company said no and they ended up not singing on the song after all. I thought it was a little bit stupid but what can you say? It wasn't my choice. They were really nice, very sweet."

Film and television

In 2005, Girls Aloud filmed a one-off documentary entitled Girls Aloud: Home Truths
Girls Aloud: Home Truths
Girls Aloud: Home Truths is a fly on the wall style documentary that was broadcast as a prelude to the group's first full length documentary series, Girls Aloud: Off the Record...

 for ITV2
ITV2
ITV2 is a 24 hour, free-to-air entertainment television channel in the United Kingdom owned by ITV Digital Channels Ltd, a division of ITV plc. It was launched on 7 December 1998, and is available on digital television via satellite, cable, IPTV and terrestrial platforms. The channel has the...

. The group witnessed the group's first tour, the release of their single "Long Hot Summer", and recording sessions for the group's third studio album Chemistry. The success of the show later made way for Off the Record
Girls Aloud: Off the Record
Girls Aloud: Off the Record is a six-part series recorded by Girls Aloud for E4 that started on 11 April 2006 at 10:30pm. The show was produced by E4 and Monkey Kingdom Productions for Channel Four Television Corporation....

, a six-part fly on the wall
Fly on the wall
Fly on the wall is a style of documentary-making used in filmmaking and television production. The name derived from the idea that events are seen candidly, as a fly on a wall might see them...

 documentary series for E4. The program started its run on 11 April 2006. The series was filmed during the Chemistry era and focused on the band's promotional activities, including the shooting of the "Biology" video and the lead-up to and aftermath of the release of "Whole Lotta History
Whole Lotta History
"Whole Lotta History" is a song by British all-female pop group Girls Aloud, taken from their third studio album Chemistry . The song was written by Miranda Cooper, Brian Higgins and his production team Xenomania, and produced by Higgins and Xenomania. Described as "a lush ballad", "Whole Lotta...

". It also showed the band travelling abroad, to places such as Greece, Paris, Shanghai and Australia. A DVD of the series, which included an unaired episode, was released on 4 September 2006. Girls Aloud then appeared in an episode of Ghosthunting with...
Ghosthunting With...
Ghosthunting With... is based on investigating purported paranormal activity. Yvette Fielding hosts the programme, broadcast on digital channel ITV2, where she takes celebrities to haunted buildings to investigate....

 (without Nadine) towards the end of 2006, in which Yvette Fielding
Yvette Fielding
Yvette Fielding is a British broadcaster, producer and actress. She is best known for being the presenter of the TV shows Blue Peter, Most Haunted and Ghosthunting With....-Early life and career:...

 guided them through haunted locations.

In April 2007, Girls Aloud filmed a cameo appearance in the new St. Trinian's
St Trinian's (2007 film)
St Trinian's is the sixth in a long-running series of films based on the works of cartoonist Ronald Searle. The first five films form a series, starting with The Belles of St Trinian's in 1954, with sequels in 1957, 1960, 1966 and 1980....

 movie, playing the school band. The film was released in the UK on 21 December 2007, with Girls Aloud providing two songs for the movie's original soundtrack, including its theme song. The Girls also make a cameo appearance in the Oasis
Oasis (band)
Oasis were an English rock band formed in Manchester in 1991. Originally known as The Rain, the group was formed by Liam Gallagher , Paul "Bonehead" Arthurs , Paul "Guigsy" McGuigan and Tony McCarroll , who were soon joined by Liam's older brother Noel Gallagher...

 documentary, Lord Don't Slow Me Down
Lord Don't Slow Me Down
Lord Don't Slow Me Down is a rockumentary film, looking back on British rock band Oasis' Don't Believe the Truth world tour which took place from May 2005 to March 2006. The film is directed by Baillie Walsh...

. The girl group starred in a new television series on ITV2
ITV2
ITV2 is a 24 hour, free-to-air entertainment television channel in the United Kingdom owned by ITV Digital Channels Ltd, a division of ITV plc. It was launched on 7 December 1998, and is available on digital television via satellite, cable, IPTV and terrestrial platforms. The channel has the...

, Passions of Girls Aloud
Passions of Girls Aloud
The Passions of Girls Aloud is a four-part television series starring girl group Girls Aloud. The series premiered on ITV2 on 14 March 2008.-Premise:The show is based around each member achieving something they always wanted to do, other than sing:...

, broadcast from 14 March to 4 April 2008. The premise of the show involves each member achieving something that they have always wanted to do. It was reported on 13 November 2007 that Nadine would not be taking part, due to the programme's bosses refusing to let her undertake charity work.

Girls Aloud appeared in a variety show entitled The Girls Aloud Party
The Girls Aloud Party
The Girls Aloud Party was a one-off Christmas variety show starring British girl group Girls Aloud, produced for ITV. The show was aired on 13 December 2008, in between The X Factor series finale and its results show....

. The show aired on 13 December 2008 on ITV, between The X Factor finale and its results show. Girls Aloud performed hits and revealed their Christmas single, as well chatting to showbiz pals and performing comic sketches. Cilla Black
Cilla Black
Cilla Black OBE is an English singer, actress, entertainer and media personality, who has been consistently popular as a light entertainment figure since 1963. She is most famous for her singles Anyone Who Had A Heart, You're My World, and Alfie...

 and Julie Goodyear
Julie Goodyear
Julie Goodyear, MBE is an English television actress and media personality, best known for playing the long-running role of pub landlady Bet Lynch on British soap opera Coronation Street.-Biography:...

 appeared as Nicola Roberts' grandmother and Sarah Harding's mother, respectively, in some of the sketches. Kimberley and Nicola also made a cameo appearance in the family drama show Britannia High
Britannia High
Britannia High was a British musical drama television series co-produced by Granada Television Britannia High was a British musical drama television series co-produced by Granada Television Britannia High was a British musical drama television series co-produced by Granada Television (now part of...

. Sarah has starred in the direct-to-DVD feature film Bad Day as Jade Jennings, starred in a BBC film called Freefall in 2009 and also starred in St. Trinian's II: The Legend of Fritton's Gold
St. Trinian's II: The Legend of Fritton's Gold
St Trinian's 2: The Legend of Fritton's Gold is a 2009 comedy film directed by Oliver Parker and Barnaby Thompson, both of whom directed the previous film in the series...

, reprising her character from the first film. The band's "St. Trinian's" theme song is reprised during the film, including once in an a capella version by the cast (including Harding).

Merchandise and sponsorship deals

Girls Aloud came together with Mattel
Mattel
Mattel, Inc. is the world's largest toy company based on revenue. The products it produces include Fisher Price, Barbie dolls, Hot Wheels and Matchbox toys, Masters of the Universe, American Girl dolls, board games, and, in the early 1980s, video game consoles. The company's name is derived from...

 in 2005 to produce Fashion Fever Barbie
Barbie
Barbie is a fashion doll manufactured by the American toy-company Mattel, Inc. and launched in March 1959. American businesswoman Ruth Handler is credited with the creation of the doll using a German doll called Bild Lilli as her inspiration....

s. Each member designed the outfit and look of a doll modelled after themselves. In addition to live DVDs of their tours and both of Girls Aloud's television series, the group has also released Girls on Film
Girls on Film (DVD)
Girls On Film is the first music DVD by Girls Aloud and was released in 2005. The video contained all of their music videos at the time of release. It contained some of their most memorable television performances, and footage from their MTV special Girls Aloud - The Show...

 and Style
Style (DVD)
Style is the fifth DVD featuring Girls Aloud, was released on November 12, 2007. It features commentary from Girls Aloud on all of their favourite and least favourite outfits from their careers, as well as fashion tips...

. Official calendars have also been issued annually from 2004 to 2009, the only exception being 2005. Girls Aloud co-wrote an autobiography titled Dreams That Glitter – Our Story
Dreams that Glitter - Our Story
Dreams That Glitter - Our Story is the autobiography of British pop group Girls Aloud, which was published in October 2008. The book was written with a ghostwriter and published by the Transworld imprint Bantam Press....

. The book, named after a lyric in "Call the Shots
Call the Shots
"Call the Shots" is a song performed by British all-female pop group Girls Aloud, taken from their fourth studio album Tangled Up . The song was written by Miranda Cooper, Brian Higgins and his production team Xenomania, and produced by Higgins and Xenomania...

", was published in October 2008 through the Transworld
Transworld (company)
Transworld Publishers Inc. is a British publishing division of Random House and belongs to Bertelsmann, one of the world's largest media groups. It was established in 1950, and for many years it was the British division of Bantam Books. It publishes fiction and non fiction titles by various...

 imprint
Imprint
In the publishing industry, an imprint can mean several different things:* As a piece of bibliographic information about a book, it refers to the name and address of the book's publisher and its date of publication as given at the foot or on the verso of its title page.* It can mean a trade name...

 Bantam Press
Bantam Press
Bantam Press is an imprint of Transworld Publishers which is a British publishing division of Random House.It is based on Uxbridge Road in Ealing near Ealing Broadway station, the same address as Transworld....

. Before the release, OK!
OK!
OK! is a British weekly magazine specializing in celebrity news. Originally launched as a monthly, its first issue was published in April 1993. In September 2004, OK! publishers Northern and Shell launched in Australia as a monthly title – the magazine went weekly in October 2006...

 magazine bought the rights to preview and serialise the book.

In 2007, Girls Aloud signed a £1.25m one-year deal to endorse hair care
Hair care
Hair care is an overall term for parts of hygiene and cosmetology involving the hair on the human head. Hair care will differ according to one's hair type and according to various processes that can be applied to hair...

 brand Sunsilk
Sunsilk
Sunsilk is a hair care brand, primarily aimed at women, produced by the Unilever group, which is now considered the world's leading company in hair conditioning and the second largest in shampoo. Sunsilk is Unilever’s leading hair care brand, and ranks as one of the Anglo-Dutch conglomerate's...

. The girls filmed a television advertisement and appeared in and magazine advertisements, with each of the five members being the face of a different shampoo. The same year, Girls Aloud also sealed a deal with the UK division of Samsung
Samsung
The Samsung Group is a South Korean multinational conglomerate corporation headquartered in Samsung Town, Seoul, South Korea...

. They endorsed mobile phones and MP3 players, made personal appearances and sang at Samsung events, and contributed to competition prizes, among other activities. The Samsung F210 Purple came with a 1GB memory card featuring Girls Aloud content. Girls Aloud appeared in television advertisements for Nintendo DS
Nintendo DS
The is a portable game console produced by Nintendo, first released on November 21, 2004. A distinctive feature of the system is the presence of two separate LCD screens, the lower of which is a touchscreen, encompassed within a clamshell design, similar to the Game Boy Advance SP...

 the following year. The girl group signed a deal to front a promotional campaign for a new low-calorie KitKat bar called "Senses" in March 2008. The chocolate bar manufacturer also sponsored Girls Aloud's Tangled Up Tour
Tangled Up Tour
The Tangled Up Tour was the fourth concert tour third arena tour, by British pop group Girls Aloud, in support of the group's fourth studio album Tangled Up. The tour was initially announced to reach arenas across the United Kingdom in November 2007. The shows commenced in Belfast on 3 May 2008 and...

. The exact worth of the endorsement is unknown, but a figure of £500,000 each has been suggested. Sales increased 6.8% in the United Kingdom.

Philanthropy

All five members of the group have been involved in charity work. Girls Aloud's cover of The Pretenders
The Pretenders
The Pretenders are an English rock band formed in Hereford, England in March 1978. The original band consisted of initiator and main songwriter Chrissie Hynde , James Honeyman-Scott , Pete Farndon , and Martin Chambers...

' "I'll Stand by You
I'll Stand by You
"I'll Stand by You" is a 1994 song recorded by The Pretenders from their sixth studio album, Last of the Independents. Written by Chrissie Hynde in collaboration with the songwriting team of Tom Kelly and Billy Steinberg , it was the Pretenders' most recent significant hit single, and their last...

" was released as the official 2004 Children in Need
Children in Need
Children in Need is an annual British charity appeal organised by the BBC. Since 1980 it has raised over £500 million. The highlight of the Children in Need appeal is an annual telethon, held in November. A teddy bear named "Pudsey Bear" fronts the campaign, while Terry Wogan is a long...

 single, with proceeds going to the charity. Nicola Roberts said, "Hopefully if our single does well it's a lot of money going to the charity." Their cover Aerosmith
Aerosmith
Aerosmith is an American rock band, sometimes referred to as "The Bad Boys from Boston" and "America's Greatest Rock and Roll Band". Their style, which is rooted in blues-based hard rock, has come to also incorporate elements of pop, heavy metal, and rhythm and blues, and has inspired many...

 and Run DMC's "Walk This Way
Walk This Way
"Walk This Way" is a song by American hard rock group Aerosmith. Written by Steven Tyler and Joe Perry, the song was originally released as the second single from the 1975 album Toys in the Attic. It peaked at Number 10 on the Billboard Hot 100 in early 1977, part of a string of successful hit...

", a collaboration with the Sugababes
Sugababes
The Sugababes are an English pop girl group based in London, consisting of members Heidi Range, Amelle Berrabah and Jade Ewen. The Sugababes were formed in 1998 with founding members Siobhán Donaghy, Mutya Buena and Keisha Buchanan. Their debut album, One Touch, was released in 2000 under London...

, was the official charity single for Comic Relief
Comic Relief
Comic Relief is an operating British charity, founded in 1985 by the comedy scriptwriter Richard Curtis and comedian Lenny Henry in response to famine in Ethiopia. The highlight of Comic Relief's appeal is Red Nose Day, a biennial telethon held in March, alternating with sister project Sport Relief...

 in 2007, recorded at Comic Relief co-founder and trustee Richard Curtis
Richard Curtis
Richard Whalley Anthony Curtis, CBE is a New Zealand-born British screenwriter, music producer, actor and film director, known primarily for romantic comedy films such as Four Weddings and a Funeral, Bridget Jones's Diary, Notting Hill, Love Actually and The Girl in the Café, as well as the hit...

' request. Kimberley Walsh said, ""It's a fantastic song and hopefully will raise tons of money for people living in really difficult situations here and in Africa." In March 2009, Cheryl Cole, Kimberley Walsh, and various other celebrities climbed Mount Kilimanjaro
Mount Kilimanjaro
Kilimanjaro, with its three volcanic cones, Kibo, Mawenzi, and Shira, is a dormant volcano in Kilimanjaro National Park, Tanzania and the highest mountain in Africa at above sea level .-Geology:...

 in aid of Comic Relief. The trek raised £3.4 million for the charity. Between 3 February and 23 March 2009, Cole, Walsh, and other celebrities also raised money for Comic Relief by providing the voice for the BT Speaking Clock. Walsh is also a charity ambassador for Breast Cancer Haven
Breast Cancer Haven
Breast Cancer Haven is a charity in the United Kingdom which rebranded in September 2010 and is now called The Haven.The Haven runs centres in London, Hereford and Leeds, offering free support, information and complementary therapies to anyone affected emotionally or physically by breast cancer and...

. She helped open a £2.2 million breast cancer centre in 2008 and participated in a "heel-a-thon" in 2009. In February 2011, Cheryl Cole launched her own charitable foundation with The Prince’s Trust following a meeting with The Trust’s President, HRH Charles, Prince of Wales
Charles, Prince of Wales
Prince Charles, Prince of Wales is the heir apparent and eldest son of Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh. Since 1958 his major title has been His Royal Highness The Prince of Wales. In Scotland he is additionally known as The Duke of Rothesay...

. The Cheryl Cole Foundation will provide vital funds for The Trust in the North East, helping disadvantaged young people from Cheryl’s own region.

Musical style

Girls Aloud have worked closely with Brian Higgins
Brian Higgins (producer)
Brian Thomas Higgins is a British music producer who has written and produced albums and tracks for several highly successful pop music singers and groups, most notably Girls Aloud, through his Xenomania production group...

 and his songwriting and production team Xenomania
Xenomania
Xenomania is a British songwriting and production team founded by Brian Higgins and based in Kent, England. Formed after Higgins met Miranda Cooper, Xenomania has written and produced for renowned artists such as Cher, Kylie Minogue, Dannii Minogue, Pet Shop Boys, and Sugababes...

 since the beginning of their careers. Xenomania have produced all of Girls Aloud's albums and singles, excluding their debut album Sound of the Underground and the charity single "Walk This Way
Walk This Way
"Walk This Way" is a song by American hard rock group Aerosmith. Written by Steven Tyler and Joe Perry, the song was originally released as the second single from the 1975 album Toys in the Attic. It peaked at Number 10 on the Billboard Hot 100 in early 1977, part of a string of successful hit...

". Of Higgins and Xenomania, Girls Aloud's former manager Louis Walsh
Louis Walsh
Louis Walsh is an Irish music manager and judge on the British television talent show The X Factor.-Band manager:...

 says, "He just makes great songs for radio. They just jump out at you and stay in your brain." In a review of the group's debut single "Sound of the Underground
Sound of the Underground (song)
"Sound of the Underground" is the debut single by British all-female pop group Girls Aloud, later featured on their debut album of the same name. The song was written by Miranda Cooper, Brian Higgins, and Niara Scarlett, and produced by Higgins and his production team Xenomania...

", The Guardian
The Guardian
The Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...

s Alexis Petridis exclaimed it "proved a first: it was a reality pop record that didn't make you want to do physical harm to everyone involved in its manufacture." In response to Girls Aloud's debut album, Jacqueline Hodges of BBC Music
BBC Music
BBC Music is a team working in the department of Audio and Music Interactive at the BBC. Responsible for the BBC Music website - the portal site to music content across the BBC website....

 said that "Higgins injects an element of instant-catchy-cool to the songs without going overboard in trying to shape uber-chic dance floor hits."

Petridis of The Guardian described What Will the Neighbours Say?
What Will the Neighbours Say?
What Will the Neighbours Say? is the second album by British all-female pop group Girls Aloud. It was released in the United Kingdom on 29 November 2004 by Polydor Records. Brian Higgins and his production team Xenomania were enlisted to produce the entire album, allowing for more inventive ideas...

 as "a great album: funny, clever, immediate, richly inventive." He later wrote that Chemistry is "a record that dispenses with the tiresome business of verses and instead opts for songs apparently constructed by stitching eight different choruses together." Talia Kraines of BBC Music
BBC Music
BBC Music is a team working in the department of Audio and Music Interactive at the BBC. Responsible for the BBC Music website - the portal site to music content across the BBC website....

 exclaimed that Girls Aloud "have resuscitated its corpse by wedding chart-friendly melodies to experimental avant-garde sounds". "Biology
Biology (song)
"Biology" is a song performed by British all-female pop group Girls Aloud, taken from their third studio album Chemistry . The song was written by Miranda Cooper, Brian Higgins and his production team Xenomania, and produced by Higgins and Xenomania. Composed of distinct sections, it avoids the...

" was described as "about as far from tired formula as you can possibly get. It sounds like three separate melodies condensed into one." Popjustice
Popjustice
Popjustice is a music website founded in 2000 and is the work of UK freelance music journalist Peter Robinson, who has worked for NME, The Guardian, Attitude and many others....

 referred to the song as "pop music which redefines the supposed boundaries of pop music." In a review for 2007's "Sexy! No No No...
Sexy! No No No...
"Sexy! No No No…" is a song by the British all-female pop group Girls Aloud, taken from their fourth studio album Tangled Up . The song was written by Girls Aloud, Miranda Cooper, Brian Higgins and his production team Xenomania, and produced by Higgins and Xenomania. The song samples Nazareth's...

", Nick Levine of Digital Spy
Digital Spy
Digital Spy is a British entertainment and media news website. According to Alexa Internet traffic statistics, as of February 2011, Digital Spy is the 93rd most popular website in the United Kingdom, with an overall Alexa ranking of 2,088....

 complimented Xenomania's work on the song: sacrificing "conventional song structure in the name of keeping [...] hooks coming thick and fast – and quite right too."

Influences

The group's debut album Sound of the Underground takes influence from a number of 1980s genres, such as synthpop
Synthpop
Synthpop is a genre of popular music that first became prominent in the 1980s, in which the synthesizer is the dominant musical instrument. It was prefigured in the 1960s and early 1970s by the use of synthesizers in progressive rock, electronic art rock, disco and particularly the "Kraut rock" of...

, power pop
Power pop
Power pop is a popular musical genre that draws its inspiration from 1960s British and American pop and rock music. It typically incorporates a combination of musical devices such as strong melodies, crisp vocal harmonies, economical arrangements, and prominent guitar riffs. Instrumental solos are...

, and New Wave
New Wave music
New Wave is a subgenre of :rock music that emerged in the mid to late 1970s alongside punk rock. The term at first generally was synonymous with punk rock before being considered a genre in its own right that incorporated aspects of electronic and experimental music, mod subculture, disco and 1960s...

, and 1990s styles like big beat
Big beat
Big beat is a term employed since the mid-1990s by the British music press to describe much of the music by artists such as The Prodigy, Fatboy Slim, The Chemical Brothers, The Crystal Method, and Propellerheads typically driven by heavy breakbeats and synthesizer-generated loops and patterns in...

, drum and bass
Drum and bass
Drum and bass is a type of electronic music which emerged in the late 1980s. The genre is characterized by fast breakbeats , with heavy bass and sub-bass lines...

, and garage
UK garage
UK garage is a genre of electronic dance music originating from the United Kingdom in the early-1990s. UK garage is a descendant of house music which originated in Chicago and New York, United States. UK garage usually features a distinctive syncopated 4/4 percussive rhythm with 'shuffling'...

. The album received comparisons to girl groups such as Bananarama
Bananarama
Bananarama are an English female pop duo who have had success on the pop and dance charts since 1982. Rather than relying on a two part harmony, the duo generally sings in unison, as do their background vocalists. Although there have been line-up changes, the group enjoyed their most popular...

, The Bangles
The Bangles
The Bangles are an American all-female band that originated in the early 1980s, scoring several hit singles during the decade.-Formation and early years :...

, and the Spice Girls
Spice Girls
The Spice Girls were a British pop girl group formed in 1994. The group consisted of Victoria Beckham , Melanie Brown, Emma Bunton, Melanie Chisholm and Geri Halliwell. They were signed to Virgin Records and released their debut single, "Wannabe" in 1996, which hit number-one in more than 30...

. Similarities to Kylie Minogue
Kylie Minogue
Kylie Ann Minogue, OBE - often known simply as Kylie - is an Australian singer, recording artist, songwriter, and actress. After beginning her career as a child actress on Australian television, she achieved recognition through her role in the television soap opera Neighbours, before commencing...

 and Madonna
Madonna (entertainer)
Madonna is an American singer-songwriter, actress and entrepreneur. Born in Bay City, Michigan, she moved to New York City in 1977 to pursue a career in modern dance. After performing in the music groups Breakfast Club and Emmy, she released her debut album in 1983...

 were also noted. A majority of the songs make use of guitars and electronic
Electronica
Electronica includes a wide range of contemporary electronic music designed for a wide range of uses, including foreground listening, some forms of dancing, and background music for other activities; however, unlike electronic dance music, it is not specifically made for dancing...

 beats
Beat (music)
The beat is the basic unit of time in music, the pulse of the mensural level . In popular use, the beat can refer to a variety of related concepts including: tempo, meter, rhythm and groove...

. The rise of indie rock
Indie rock
Indie rock is a genre of alternative rock that originated in the United Kingdom and the United States in the 1980s. Indie rock is extremely diverse, with sub-genres that include lo-fi, post-rock, math rock, indie pop, dream pop, noise rock, space rock, sadcore, riot grrrl and emo, among others...

 also inspired Brian Higgins to "blur the edges between commercial music and so-called 'indie' music." He continued, "pop music was on its backside and indie music was about to rise, through The Strokes
The Strokes
The Strokes are an American indie rock band formed in 1999 in New York City. Consisting of Julian Casablancas , Nick Valensi , Albert Hammond, Jr. , Nikolai Fraiture and Fabrizio Moretti ....

 and everything else. We were an independent company and we were as indie as the other bands around us. The guitar riff on No Good Advice is very very similar to the riff on the track Michael
Michael (Franz Ferdinand song)
"Michael" is a song by Franz Ferdinand and was the fourth single released from their debut self-titled album. The song was notable for its homoerotic lyrics such as "stubble on my sticky lips" and "beautiful boys on a beautiful dancefloor"....

 by Franz Ferdinand
Franz Ferdinand (band)
Franz Ferdinand are a Scottish post-punk revival band formed in Glasgow in 2002. The band is composed of Alex Kapranos , Bob Hardy , Nick McCarthy , and Paul Thomson .The band first experienced chart success when their second single, "Take Me Out", reached #3 in...

." What Will the Neighbours Say?
What Will the Neighbours Say?
What Will the Neighbours Say? is the second album by British all-female pop group Girls Aloud. It was released in the United Kingdom on 29 November 2004 by Polydor Records. Brian Higgins and his production team Xenomania were enlisted to produce the entire album, allowing for more inventive ideas...

 further explores different subgenres of pop, especially electropop. Synthesizers are more prominent on the album, although the usage of guitar remains prominent in several songs. The backing track to "Love Machine
Love Machine (Girls Aloud song)
"Love Machine" is a song performed by British all-female pop group Girls Aloud, taken from their second studio album What Will the Neighbours Say? . The song was written by Miranda Cooper, Brian Higgins and his production team Xenomania, and produced by Higgins and Xenomania...

", composed by Xenomania musicians Tim Powell and Nick Coler, was inspired by The Smiths
The Smiths
The Smiths were an English alternative rock band, formed in Manchester in 1982. Based on the song writing partnership of Morrissey and Johnny Marr , the band also included Andy Rourke and Mike Joyce...

, while "Wake Me Up" includes a guitar riff inspired by garage rock
Garage rock
Garage rock is a raw form of rock and roll that was first popular in the United States and Canada from about 1963 to 1967. During the 1960s, it was not recognized as a separate music genre and had no specific name...

.

Chemistry takes influences from a wide variety of sources, including "everything from French chanson to piano-pounding blues to the clipped R&B of the Small Faces". Rapping in the same vein as artists like Betty Boo
Betty Boo
Alison Moira Clarkson better known as Betty Boo, is an English singer, songwriter and pop-rap artist...

 and Neneh Cherry
Neneh Cherry
Neneh Mariann Cherry is a Swedish singer-songwriter, rapper, and occasional DJ and broadcaster...

 is prominent. Yahoo! Music
Yahoo! Music
Yahoo! Music, owned by Yahoo!, is the provider of a variety of music services, including Internet radio, music videos, news, artist information, and original programming...

 says "there's nary a 'formula' in sight. There are as many sudden tonal and tempo switches as the tricksiest Chicago art rock band. And all but one song here gives guitars a starring role." The songs are noticeably less rooted in electronic music
Electronic music
Electronic music is music that employs electronic musical instruments and electronic music technology in its production. In general a distinction can be made between sound produced using electromechanical means and that produced using electronic technology. Examples of electromechanical sound...

, although "Swinging London Town" is "a dark, squiggly synth pop epic a la Pet Shop Boys
Pet Shop Boys
Pet Shop Boys are an English electronic dance music duo, consisting of Neil Tennant, who provides main vocals, keyboards and occasional guitar, and Chris Lowe on keyboards....

" and "It's Magic" is composed of "little Royksopp
Röyksopp
Röyksopp is a Norwegian electronic music duo from Tromsø, formed in 1998. Since their inception, the band's line-up has included Svein Berge and Torbjørn Brundtland....

-like keyboard riffs". Alternatively, Tangled Up
Tangled Up
Tangled Up is the fourth studio album by the British all-female pop group Girls Aloud. It was released in the United Kingdom on 19 November 2007 by Fascination Records. Like their previous albums, Tangled Up was crafted by the production team of Brian Higgins and Xenomania...

 features a dancier
Dance music
Dance music is music composed specifically to facilitate or accompany dancing. It can be either a whole musical piece or part of a larger musical arrangement...

, more electronic sound, inspired by the success of their 2006 single "Something Kinda Ooooh
Something Kinda Ooooh
"Something Kinda Ooooh" is a song by British all-female pop group Girls Aloud, taken from their first greatest hits collection The Sound of Girls Aloud: The Greatest Hits . The song was written by Miranda Cooper, Brian Higgins and his production team Xenomania, and produced by Higgins and Xenomania...

". "Call the Shots
Call the Shots
"Call the Shots" is a song performed by British all-female pop group Girls Aloud, taken from their fourth studio album Tangled Up . The song was written by Miranda Cooper, Brian Higgins and his production team Xenomania, and produced by Higgins and Xenomania...

", "Close to Love", and "Girl Overboard" are all electropop numbers reminiscent of 1980s music
1980s in music
For music from a year in the 1980s, go to 80 | 81 | 82 | 83 | 84 | 85 | 86 | 87 | 88 | 89For a history of music in all times, see Timeline of musical events....

. However, "Control of the Knife" is more inspired by reggae
Reggae
Reggae is a music genre first developed in Jamaica in the late 1960s. While sometimes used in a broader sense to refer to most types of Jamaican music, the term reggae more properly denotes a particular music style that originated following on the development of ska and rocksteady.Reggae is based...

 and ska
Ska
Ska |Jamaican]] ) is a music genre that originated in Jamaica in the late 1950s, and was the precursor to rocksteady and reggae. Ska combined elements of Caribbean mento and calypso with American jazz and rhythm and blues...

, while "Can't Speak French
Can't Speak French
"Can't Speak French" is a song performed by British all-female pop group Girls Aloud, taken from their fourth studio album Tangled Up . The song was written by Miranda Cooper, Brian Higgins and his production team Xenomania, and produced by Higgins and Xenomania...

" employs "jazzy guitar changes" and "Black Jacks" recalls "sixties psychedelica". Out of Control
Out of Control (Girls Aloud album)
Out of Control is the fifth studio album by British all-female pop group Girls Aloud. It was released in the United Kingdom on 3 November 2008 by Fascination Records. Like their previous albums, Out of Control was crafted by the production team of Brian Higgins and Xenomania...

 features a number of songs inspired by 1980s electro pop, while also exploring retro styles. "The Promise
The Promise (Girls Aloud song)
"The Promise" is a pop song performed by British all-female pop group Girls Aloud, taken from their fifth studio album Out of Control . The song was written by Miranda Cooper, Brian Higgins and his production team Xenomania...

" is a 1960s Spector
Phil Spector
Phillip Harvey "Phil" Spector is an American record producer and songwriter, later known for his conviction in the murder of actress Lana Clarkson....

-influenced number, while "Rolling Back the Rivers in Time" was compared to Burt Bacharach
Burt Bacharach
Burt F. Bacharach is an American pianist, composer and music producer. He is known for his popular hit songs and compositions from the mid-1950s through the 1980s, with lyrics written by Hal David. Many of their hits were produced specifically for, and performed by, Dionne Warwick...

.

There are a number of influences present in Xenomania's productions, including electronic, glam rock
Glam rock
Glam rock is a style of rock and pop music that developed in the UK in the early 1970s, which was performed by singers and musicians who wore outrageous clothes, makeup and hairstyles, particularly platform-soled boots and glitter...

, Motown soul
Soul music
Soul music is a music genre originating in the United States combining elements of gospel music and rhythm and blues. According to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, soul is "music that arose out of the black experience in America through the transmutation of gospel and rhythm & blues into a form of...

, punk rock
Punk rock
Punk rock is a rock music genre that developed between 1974 and 1976 in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia. Rooted in garage rock and other forms of what is now known as protopunk music, punk rock bands eschewed perceived excesses of mainstream 1970s rock...

, and more traditional pop music. Higgins is a fan of punk rock groups such as the Buzzcocks
Buzzcocks
Buzzcocks are an English punk rock band formed in Bolton in 1976, led by singer–songwriter–guitarist Pete Shelley.They are regarded as an important influence on the Manchester music scene, the independent record label movement, punk rock, power pop, pop punk and indie rock. They achieved commercial...

 and the Sex Pistols
Sex Pistols
The Sex Pistols were an English punk rock band that formed in London in 1975. They were responsible for initiating the punk movement in the United Kingdom and inspiring many later punk and alternative rock musicians...

, as well as more electronic groups such as Depeche Mode
Depeche Mode
Depeche Mode are an English electronic music band formed in 1980 in Basildon, Essex. The group's original line-up consisted of Dave Gahan , Martin Gore , Andy Fletcher and Vince Clarke...

, Duran Duran
Duran Duran
Duran Duran are an English band, formed in Birmingham in 1978. They were one of the most successful bands of the 1980s and a leading band in the MTV-driven "Second British Invasion" of the United States...

, Japan
Japan (band)
Japan were a British New Wave group, formed in 1974 in Catford, South London. The band achieved success in the late 1970s and early 1980s, when they were often associated with the burgeoning New Romantic fashion movement .- History :The band began as a group of friends...

, and New Order
New Order
New Order are an English rock band formed in 1980 by Bernard Sumner , Peter Hook and Stephen Morris...

. The band themselves are known to be fans of artists such as Ne-Yo
Ne-Yo
Shaffer Chimere Smith, Jr. , better known by his stage name Ne-Yo, is an American pop and R&B singer-songwriter, record producer, dancer and actor. Beginning his career as a songwriter, Ne-Yo penned the hit "Let Me Love You" for singer Mario...

, Oasis
Oasis (band)
Oasis were an English rock band formed in Manchester in 1991. Originally known as The Rain, the group was formed by Liam Gallagher , Paul "Bonehead" Arthurs , Paul "Guigsy" McGuigan and Tony McCarroll , who were soon joined by Liam's older brother Noel Gallagher...

, and Michael Jackson
Michael Jackson
Michael Joseph Jackson was an American recording artist, entertainer, and businessman. Referred to as the King of Pop, or by his initials MJ, Jackson is recognized as the most successful entertainer of all time by Guinness World Records...

.

Cultural impact

Girls Aloud's debut single "Sound of the Underground
Sound of the Underground (song)
"Sound of the Underground" is the debut single by British all-female pop group Girls Aloud, later featured on their debut album of the same name. The song was written by Miranda Cooper, Brian Higgins, and Niara Scarlett, and produced by Higgins and his production team Xenomania...

" and another Xenomania production, Sugababes
Sugababes
The Sugababes are an English pop girl group based in London, consisting of members Heidi Range, Amelle Berrabah and Jade Ewen. The Sugababes were formed in 1998 with founding members Siobhán Donaghy, Mutya Buena and Keisha Buchanan. Their debut album, One Touch, was released in 2000 under London...

' "Round Round
Round Round
"Round Round" is a song performed by British girl group Sugababes, released on 12 August 2002 through Island Records. It was written by band members Mutya Buena, Keisha Buchanan and Heidi Range, as well as Miranda Cooper, Niara Scarlett, Brian Higgins, Tim Powell, Nick Coler, Shawn Lee, and Lisa...

", have been called "two huge groundbreaking hits", credited with reshaping British pop music for the 2000s. The Telegraph
The Daily Telegraph
The Daily Telegraph is a daily morning broadsheet newspaper distributed throughout the United Kingdom and internationally. The newspaper was founded by Arthur B...

 placed the song at number 15 on a list of 100 songs that defined the noughties, while NME
NME
The New Musical Express is a popular music publication in the United Kingdom, published weekly since March 1952. It started as a music newspaper, and gradually moved toward a magazine format during the 1980s, changing from newsprint in 1998. It was the first British paper to include a singles...

 included it at number 39. Spinner.com
Spinner.com
Spinner is an AOL Music property, which bills itself as "the ultimate music blog for free MP3s, free CD listening, [and] discovering new artists."...

 named "Sound of the Underground" the eighth best British song of the 2000s. In 2009, The Times included 2007's Tangled Up
Tangled Up
Tangled Up is the fourth studio album by the British all-female pop group Girls Aloud. It was released in the United Kingdom on 19 November 2007 by Fascination Records. Like their previous albums, Tangled Up was crafted by the production team of Brian Higgins and Xenomania...

 at number 62 on a list of the decade's best pop albums, while the Daily Mail
Daily Mail
The Daily Mail is a British daily middle-market tabloid newspaper owned by the Daily Mail and General Trust. First published in 1896 by Lord Northcliffe, it is the United Kingdom's second biggest-selling daily newspaper after The Sun. Its sister paper The Mail on Sunday was launched in 1982...

 listed it as the twentieth best album of the decade. MSN
MSN
MSN is a collection of Internet sites and services provided by Microsoft. The Microsoft Network debuted as an online service and Internet service provider on August 24, 1995, to coincide with the release of the Windows 95 operating system.The range of services offered by MSN has changed since its...

 listed 2005's Chemistry as one of the decade's best albums. Girls Aloud were one of the few pop acts to achieve continued success and longevity throughout the mid-2000s while R&B and rock music became more popular. In a review for the group's 2008 Tangled Up Tour
Tangled Up Tour
The Tangled Up Tour was the fourth concert tour third arena tour, by British pop group Girls Aloud, in support of the group's fourth studio album Tangled Up. The tour was initially announced to reach arenas across the United Kingdom in November 2007. The shows commenced in Belfast on 3 May 2008 and...

, David Pollock of The Independent
The Independent
The Independent is a British national morning newspaper published in London by Independent Print Limited, owned by Alexander Lebedev since 2010. It is nicknamed the Indy, while the Sunday edition, The Independent on Sunday, is the Sindy. Launched in 1986, it is one of the youngest UK national daily...

 noted that "Girls Aloud remain confidently the only pop show in town." The Times
The Times
The Times is a British daily national newspaper, first published in London in 1785 under the title The Daily Universal Register . The Times and its sister paper The Sunday Times are published by Times Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary since 1981 of News International...

 stated, "Not since Abba
Abba
ABBA is the name of a former Swedish pop music group.Abba may also refer to:* ABBA , a self-titled album by the Swedish pop music group ABBA* "Abba ", a song by Christian pop and rock artist, Rebecca St...

 and Michael Jackson
Michael Jackson
Michael Joseph Jackson was an American recording artist, entertainer, and businessman. Referred to as the King of Pop, or by his initials MJ, Jackson is recognized as the most successful entertainer of all time by Guinness World Records...

 has pure pop been so unanimously praised."

Girls Aloud are also notably one of the few British reality television acts to achieve continued success and longevity. According to The Times
The Times
The Times is a British daily national newspaper, first published in London in 1785 under the title The Daily Universal Register . The Times and its sister paper The Sunday Times are published by Times Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary since 1981 of News International...

, Girls Aloud are the highest-earning UK reality television stars, having amassed a fortune of £25 million by May 2009. The figure was increased to £30 million the following year, following Cheryl Cole's appearance on The X Factor
The X Factor (UK)
The X Factor is a British television music competition to find new singing talent. Created by Simon Cowell, it began in September 2004 and is contested by aspiring singers drawn from public auditions. It is the originator of the international X Factor franchise. The seven series of the show to date...

. All five members were included in a 2010 list of Britain's richest stars under 30. Reviews of Girls Aloud's debut album noted the high quality of the album compared to output from other reality show contestants. In 2004, David Hooper of BBC Music
BBC Music
BBC Music is a team working in the department of Audio and Music Interactive at the BBC. Responsible for the BBC Music website - the portal site to music content across the BBC website....

 exclaimed that "Girls Aloud are currently British pop royalty [...] in the ultra-fickle world of TV-generated pop, Girls Aloud have real staying power." Andrew Lynch of entertainment.ie
Entertainment.ie
entertainment.ie is a Dublin-based Irish website which provides extensive cinema, TV, live music, theatre, comedy, exhibition and festival listings for free, as well as celebrity gossip, music and movie news, movie and DVD reviews, CD reviews and up-to-date lottery results.The site was developed in...

 said, "Girls Aloud really shouldn't have made it as far as a second album. [...] There's just one problem – the girls have a knack of coming up with utterly infectious pop songs".

The group has found themselves a number of celebrity fans such as the Jonas Brothers
Jonas Brothers
The Jonas Brothers are an American boy band. The band gained its popularity from the Disney Channel children's television network. From the shore region of New Jersey, the band consists of three brothers: Paul Kevin Jonas II , Joseph Adam Jonas , and Nicholas Jerry Jonas...

, Aggro Santos
Aggro Santos
Yuri "Aggro" Santos is a Brazilian-born English rapper from Balham, London.-Background:Santos was born in Sao Paulo and raised in London. He decided to become a musician after buying the Carlos Santana album 'Supernatural' when he was eight...

, Arctic Monkeys
Arctic Monkeys
Arctic Monkeys are an English indie rock band. Formed in 2002 in High Green, a suburb of Sheffield, the band currently consists of Alex Turner , Jamie Cook , Nick O'Malley and Matt Helders...

' Matt Helders
Matt Helders
Matthew Helders , is the drummer for English indie rock band Arctic Monkeys. He is the most comprehensive backing vocalist in the group, appearing on several tracks, including the majority of 'Humbug'...

, Guns N' Roses
Guns N' Roses
Guns N' Roses is an American hard rock band, formed in Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, in 1985. The band has released six studio albums, three EPs, and one live album...

 member Duff McKagan
Duff McKagan
Michael Andrew "Duff" McKagan is an American musician and writer. He is best known for his twelve-year tenure as the bassist of the hard rock band Guns N' Roses, with whom he achieved worldwide success in the late 1980s and early 1990s...

, Gabriella Cilmi
Gabriella Cilmi
Gabriella Lucia Cilmi is an Australian singer-songwriter. In 2008, Cilmi was awarded six ARIA awards including Single of the Year and Best Female Artist....

, Oasis
Oasis (band)
Oasis were an English rock band formed in Manchester in 1991. Originally known as The Rain, the group was formed by Liam Gallagher , Paul "Bonehead" Arthurs , Paul "Guigsy" McGuigan and Tony McCarroll , who were soon joined by Liam's older brother Noel Gallagher...

' Noel Gallagher
Noel Gallagher
Noel Thomas David Gallagher is an English musician and singer-songwriter, formerly the lead guitarist, backing vocalist and principal songwriter of the English rock band Oasis. He is currently fronting his solo project, Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds.Raised in Burnage, Manchester with his...

, and Neil Tennant
Neil Tennant
Neil Francis Tennant is an English musician, singer and songwriter, who, with bandmate Chris Lowe, makes up the successful electronic dance music duo Pet Shop Boys.-Childhood:...

. U2
U2
U2 are an Irish rock band from Dublin. Formed in 1976, the group consists of Bono , The Edge , Adam Clayton , and Larry Mullen, Jr. . U2's early sound was rooted in post-punk but eventually grew to incorporate influences from many genres of popular music...

 frontman Bono
Bono
Paul David Hewson , most commonly known by his stage name Bono , is an Irish singer, musician, and humanitarian best known for being the main vocalist of the Dublin-based rock band U2. Bono was born and raised in Dublin, Ireland, and attended Mount Temple Comprehensive School where he met his...

 said that he is a fan of the band, saying "I think Girls Aloud are at the cutting edge of pop music. They are a great band and they deserve to be centre stage". Chris Martin
Chris Martin
Christopher Anthony John "Chris" Martin is an English song-writer, who is the lead vocalist, pianist and rhythm guitarist of the band Coldplay. He is married to actress Gwyneth Paltrow.-Early life:...

 of alternative rock band Coldplay
Coldplay
Coldplay are a British alternative rock band formed in 1996 by lead vocalist Chris Martin and lead guitarist Jonny Buckland at University College London. After they formed Pectoralz, Guy Berryman joined the group as a bassist and they changed their name to Starfish. Will Champion joined as a...

 also said that he is a fan of Girls Aloud, referring to them as "the ultimate form of life". Former Spice Girls
Spice Girls
The Spice Girls were a British pop girl group formed in 1994. The group consisted of Victoria Beckham , Melanie Brown, Emma Bunton, Melanie Chisholm and Geri Halliwell. They were signed to Virgin Records and released their debut single, "Wannabe" in 1996, which hit number-one in more than 30...

 members Emma Bunton
Emma Bunton
Emma Lee Bunton is an English pop singer/songwriter and TV and radio presenter. She was a member of the 1990s girl group, the Spice Girls, in which she was known as Baby Spice as she was the youngest member. In 2010, she joined the judging panel on ITV's Dancing on Ice...

 and Geri Halliwell
Geri Halliwell
Geraldine Estelle "Geri" Halliwell is an English pop singer-songwriter, author and actress. After coming to international prominence in the late 1990s as Ginger Spice, a member of the girl group the Spice Girls, Halliwell launched her solo career in 1998 and released her album Schizophonic...

 are also reported to be fans. Julie Burchill
Julie Burchill
Julie Burchill is an English writer and journalist. Beginning as a writer for the New Musical Express at the age of 17, she has written for newspapers such as The Sunday Times and The Guardian. She is a self-declared "militant feminist". She has several times been involved in legal action...

 has also stated that she is a fan of Girls Aloud. She has stated that they are "simply the most perfect pop group since The Monkees
The Monkees
The Monkees are an American pop rock group. Assembled in Los Angeles in 1966 by Robert "Bob" Rafelson and Bert Schneider for the American television series The Monkees, which aired from 1966 to 1968, the musical acting quartet was composed of Americans Micky Dolenz, Michael Nesmith and Peter Tork,...

." Girls Aloud have had their music covered by artists as varied as Arctic Monkeys, Bloc Party
Bloc Party
Bloc Party are a British Indie rock band, composed of Kele Okereke , Russell Lissack , Gordon Moakes , and Matt Tong...

, and Coldplay, among others.

Solo careers

Cheryl Cole
Cheryl Cole
Cheryl Ann Cole is an English pop and R&B recording artist, songwriter, dancer, actress and model. She rose to fame in late 2002 when she auditioned for the reality television show Popstars: The Rivals on ITV. The programme announced that Cole had won a place as a member of the girl group, Girls...

 replaced Sharon Osbourne
Sharon Osbourne
Sharon Rachel Osbourne is an English television host, author, music manager, businesswoman and promoter as well as the wife of heavy metal singer-songwriter Ozzy Osbourne....

 as a judge on The X Factor
The X Factor (UK)
The X Factor is a British television music competition to find new singing talent. Created by Simon Cowell, it began in September 2004 and is contested by aspiring singers drawn from public auditions. It is the originator of the international X Factor franchise. The seven series of the show to date...

 in 2008. She was the winning judge on The X Factor for two consecutive years: in her debut year with Alexandra Burke
Alexandra Burke
Alexandra Imelda Cecelia Ewen Burke is a British R&B and pop recording artist who rose to fame after winning the fifth series of British television series The X Factor in 2008...

 and in 2009 with Joe McElderry
Joe McElderry
Joseph "Joe" McElderry is an English singer and model. He won the sixth series of the ITV show The X Factor in 2009. His first single "The Climb" reached number one on the UK Singles Chart and Irish Singles Charts. He was also crowned the winner of the second series of Popstar to Operastar, two...

. Since the group's hiatus, Cole has released two solo albums, her triple-platinum debut 3 Words
3 Words
3 Words is the debut studio album from British pop singer Cheryl Cole, released on 23 October 2009 by Fascination Records. The project is Cole's first solo release following a break from releasing material with her band Girls Aloud whom after seven years have enjoyed five successful albums and...

 (2009) and its follow-up Messy Little Raindrops
Messy Little Raindrops
Messy Little Raindrops is the second studio album by British recording artist Cheryl Cole, released on 29 October 2010 by Fascination Records. The project is the follow-up to Cole's multi-platinum debut solo album 3 Words , following seven successful years as a member of girl group Girls Aloud...

 (2010). Both releases went to number one on the UK Albums Chart
UK Albums Chart
The UK Albums Chart is a list of albums ranked by physical and digital sales in the United Kingdom. It is compiled every week by The Official Charts Company and broadcast on a Sunday on BBC Radio 1 , and published in Music Week magazine and on the OCC website .To qualify for the UK albums chart...

. She has also scored two UK number one singles, "Fight for This Love
Fight for This Love
"Fight for This Love" is a song by British recording artist Cheryl Cole, taken from her debut studio album, 3 Words. Initially, the song was released in the United Kingdom and Ireland as the lead single on 16 October 2009 by Fascination Records however, in 2010 it was also released in Europe as the...

" and "Promise This
Promise This
"Promise This" is a song by British recording artist Cheryl Cole, taken from her second studio album Messy Little Raindrops. It was released in the United Kingdom and Ireland as the album's lead single on 24 October 2010 by Fascination Records...

", the former being nominated for a BRIT Award. Cole has also been recognised as a style icon, appearing on the cover of British Vogue
Vogue (British magazine)
The British edition of Vogue is a fashion magazine that has been published since 1916.When British Vogue was launched, it was the first overseas edition of an existing fashion magazine. Under the magazine's first editor, Elspeth Champcommunal, the magazine was essentially the same as the American...

 and working as a brand ambassador for L'Oréal
L'Oréal
The L'Oréal Group is the world's largest cosmetics and beauty company. With its registered office in Paris and head office in the Paris suburb of Clichy, Hauts-de-Seine, France, it has developed activities in the field of cosmetics...

. She was a judge on the U.S. edition of The X Factor
The X Factor (U.S.)
The X Factor is an American television music competition to find new singing talent. The show is produced by creator Simon Cowell's company SYCOtv. It premiered on September 21, 2011 on Fox....

. Reports surfaced in the second week of filming the auditions of the U.S. edition of The X Factor that Cole was to be dropped as a judge and replaced by the singer Nicole Scherzinger
Nicole Scherzinger
Nicole Prescovia Elikolani Valiente Scherzinger is an American singer-songwriter, dancer, record producer, model, and actress. Scherzinger is perhaps best known for being the lead vocalist of the Pussycat Dolls....

. This was later confirmed by Cowell and Fox executives. It has since been confirmed that Cole is working on her 3rd solo album, due for release in late 2011. Far East Movement
Far east movement
Far East Movement is an Asian American electro hop quartet based in Los Angeles. The group formed in 2003 and consists of Kev Nish , Prohgress , J-Splif , and DJ Virman...

 and David Guetta
David Guetta
Pierre David Guetta , known professionally as David Guetta , is a French house music producer and DJ. Originally a DJ at nightclubs during the 1980s and 1990s, he co-founded Gum Productions and released his first album, Just a Little More Love, in 2002. Later, he released Guetta Blaster and Pop Life...

 are among the producers working on songs for her, as well as possible collaborations with Usher
Usher (entertainer)
Usher Terry Raymond IV , who performs under the mononym Usher, is an American singer-songwriter, and actor. He is considered around the world to be the reigning King of R&B. Usher rose to fame in the late 1990s with the release of his second album My Way, which spawned his first Billboard Hot 100...

 and Christina Aguilera
Christina Aguilera
Christina María Aguilera is an American recording artist and actress. Aguilera first appeared on national television in 1990 as a contestant on the Star Search program, and went on to star in Disney Channel's television series The Mickey Mouse Club from 1993–1994...

. Cole is also branching out into other aspects of her career other than music and television, she is also starting to break into the film industry, by getting her first film role alongside Cameron Diaz
Cameron Diaz
Cameron Michelle Diaz is an American actress and former model. She became famous during the 1990s with roles in the movies The Mask, My Best Friend's Wedding, and There's Something About Mary. Other high-profile credits include the two Charlie's Angels films, voicing the character Princess Fiona...

 and Jennifer Lopez
Jennifer Lopez
Jennifer Lynn Lopez is an American actress, singer, record producer, dancer, television personality, and fashion designer. Lopez began her career as a dancer on the television comedy program In Living Color. Subsequently venturing into acting, she gained recognition in the 1995 action-thriller...

, in What To Expect When You're Expecting
What to Expect When You're Expecting (film)
What to Expect When You're Expecting is an upcoming film directed by Kirk Jones from a screenplay by Shauna Cross and based on the book of the same name. It stars an ensemble cast of Elizabeth Banks, Anna Kendrick, Chris Rock, Brooklyn Decker, Jennifer Lopez, Rodrigo Santoro, Cameron Diaz, Rob...

 due for release in 2012.

Nadine Coyle
Nadine Coyle
Nadine Coyle is an Irish singer, songwriter, actress, and model who rose to fame in the early 2000s as a member of the band Six before becoming a member of successful girl-group Girls Aloud. The group amassed a joint fortune of £25 million by May 2009...

, who previously took part in the Irish version of Popstars
Popstars
Popstars is an international reality television franchise and a precursor to the Idol series. The series first began in New Zealand in 1999 when producer Jonathan Dowling formed the five member all-girl group TrueBliss...

, also released music as a solo artist. In August 2010, Coyle officially signed a deal with grocery store chain Tesco
Tesco
Tesco plc is a global grocery and general merchandise retailer headquartered in Cheshunt, United Kingdom. It is the third-largest retailer in the world measured by revenues and the second-largest measured by profits...

's new record label, releasing the album through her own Black Pen Records imprint. In September 2010, Coyle announced the release of her debut album Insatiable on 8 November, which she had been working on for over a year. It was preceded by the single, also called "Insatiable
Insatiable (Nadine song)
"Insatiable" is the debut solo single by Irish recording artist Nadine Coyle. Co-written with Guy Chambers and produced by Ricci Riccardi, the song was released as the lead single from Coyle's debut solo album of the same name . The accompanying music video for "Insatiable" was directed by Wayne...

", which charted at number 26. The album sold around 5,000 copies in its first week of sale, failing to make the top forty. In 2011, she released her debut single in the U.S., "Sweetest High".

Kimberley Walsh
Kimberley Walsh
Kimberley Jane Walsh is an English singer-songwriter, dancer, model, television presenter and actress. She is best known for being a member of girl group Girls Aloud, formed through ITV's reality television programme Popstars: The Rivals...

 found success with a number of television jobs. She was a judge on the charity special Let's Dance for Sport Relief
Let's Dance for Comic Relief
Let's Dance for Comic Relief is a British television programme shown on BBC One, featuring celebrities performing famous dance routines to raise money for the charity Comic Relief. The programme is currently presented by Steve Jones and Alex Jones, who replaced previous host Claudia Winkleman in...

. She also presented a special BAFTA
British Academy of Film and Television Arts
The British Academy of Film and Television Arts is a charity in the United Kingdom that hosts annual awards shows for excellence in film, television, television craft, video games and forms of animation.-Introduction:...

 red carpet show for MTV, The 5 O'Clock Show
The 5 O'Clock Show
The 5 O'Clock Show was a daytime television chat show, which replaced The Paul O'Grady Show and is shown on Channel 4. It is presented by guest hosts every week. The format is along the same lines as O'Grady's show and consists of a mixture of celebrity guests, comic stunts and musical performances...

 for Channel 4
Channel 4
Channel 4 is a British public-service television broadcaster which began working on 2 November 1982. Although largely commercially self-funded, it is ultimately publicly owned; originally a subsidiary of the Independent Broadcasting Authority , the station is now owned and operated by the Channel...

, and Suck my pop
Suck my pop
Suck My Pop is a comedy music chat show presented by Kimberley Walsh and Will Best. It is a weekly show, currently showing on Fridays at 7pm, covering music and celebrity news...

 for Viva
Viva (UK & Ireland)
Viva is a music video and entertainment channel in the United Kingdom and Ireland. The channel was officially launched on 26 October 2009 by Alexandra Burke, with an exclusive live performance of her single "Bad Boys". The channel replaced TMF. The channel is owned by MTV Networks Europe and was...

. Walsh also filmed a documentary entitled Blue Jean Girl for Sky. She also writes a weekly column for OK!
OK!
OK! is a British weekly magazine specializing in celebrity news. Originally launched as a monthly, its first issue was published in April 1993. In September 2004, OK! publishers Northern and Shell launched in Australia as a monthly title – the magazine went weekly in October 2006...

 magazine. Kimberley Walsh also modelled for the clothing retailer New Look and hair product Schwarzkopf
Henkel
Henkel AG & Co. KGaA is an multinational company headquartered in Düsseldorf, Germany.The company operates in three business areas: Home Care , Personal Care ,...

. In 2011, Walsh featured on Aggro Santos
Aggro Santos
Yuri "Aggro" Santos is a Brazilian-born English rapper from Balham, London.-Background:Santos was born in Sao Paulo and raised in London. He decided to become a musician after buying the Carlos Santana album 'Supernatural' when he was eight...

's track "Like U Like
Like U Like
"Like U Like" is a song by British recording artist Aggro Santos. The song was written by Steve Mac, Wayne Hector and Aggro Santos and produced by Mac for his debut album, AggroSantos.com . After Santos was interested of making a duet with Walsh, Gary Barlow, contacted Walsh and sorted out their...

", which entered the top ten in the UK and the top twenty in Ireland.In late 2010, Walsh landed a role in the live-action 3D family comedy film Horrid Henry: The Movie
Horrid Henry the Movie
Horrid Henry: The Movie is a 3D family comedy film based on the fictional character Horrid Henry. The first British film for children to be shot in 3D, its UK release date was 29 July 2011...

 as the titular character's overactive cousin Prissy Polly, with the film being released on 29 July 2011. As of 5 October 2011, Kimberley has been starring in Shrek The Musical in the West End, playing Princess Fiona. She will continue to play the role until 27 February 2012.

Nicola Roberts
Nicola Roberts
Nicola Maria Roberts is a British recording artist and entrepreneur. In 2002 Roberts auditioned for the reality televisions series and competition Popstars The Rivals which saw her finish in the final line-up of a girl group named Girls Aloud...

 turned her attention to her make-up range Dainty Doll, targeted towards people with pale skin tones. The cosmetics line was originally created for Passions of Girls Aloud
Passions of Girls Aloud
The Passions of Girls Aloud is a four-part television series starring girl group Girls Aloud. The series premiered on ITV2 on 14 March 2008.-Premise:The show is based around each member achieving something they always wanted to do, other than sing:...

 in 2008. In August 2010, Roberts relaunched Dainty Doll at London's famous Harrods
Harrods
Harrods is an upmarket department store located in Brompton Road in Brompton, in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, London. The Harrods brand also applies to other enterprises undertaken by the Harrods group of companies including Harrods Bank, Harrods Estates, Harrods Aviation and Air...

 store with an in-store signing. The brand now includes a new logo, as well as new products, including concealer, lipstick, eyeliner and foundation. Roberts also worked on an investigative
Investigative journalism
Investigative journalism is a form of journalism in which reporters deeply investigate a single topic of interest, often involving crime, political corruption, or corporate wrongdoing. An investigative journalist may spend months or years researching and preparing a report. Investigative journalism...

 documentary television programme for BBC Three
BBC Three
BBC Three is a television network from the BBC broadcasting via digital cable, terrestrial, IPTV and satellite platforms. The channel's target audience includes those in the 16-34 year old age group, and has the purpose of providing "innovative" content to younger audiences, focusing on new talent...

, entitled Nicola Roberts: The Truth About Tanning. The documentary highlighted the dangers of sun tanning
Sun tanning
Sun tanning or simply tanning is the process whereby skin color is darkened or tanned. The process is most often a result of exposure to ultraviolet radiation from the sun or from artificial sources, such as a tanning bed, but can also be a result of windburn or reflected light...

 and sunbed use. Roberts has publicly advocated legislation that would outlaw unmanned sunbeds and ban the use of sunbeds for minors
Minor (law)
In law, a minor is a person under a certain age — the age of majority — which legally demarcates childhood from adulthood; the age depends upon jurisdiction and application, but is typically 18...

. Roberts signed a record deal with Universal Music. Her debut solo album, Cinderella's Eyes
Cinderella's Eyes
Cinderella's Eyes is the debut studio album by English recording artist Nicola Roberts. A member of the British five-piece girl-band Girls Aloud, Roberts drew inspiration from her time with the band...

 (2011), reached the top twenty on the UK Albums Chart and produced two top forty singles: "Beat of My Drum
Beat of My Drum
"Beat of My Drum" is a song by British recording artist Nicola Roberts. It was released on 3 June 2011, via Polydor Records, as the first single from Roberts's debut solo album, Cinderella's Eyes. It had an on-air, on-sale release date which meant originally it received no prior promotion,...

" and "Lucky Day
Lucky Day (song)
"Lucky Day" is a song by British recording artist Nicola Roberts. It was released on September 18, 2011 under label Polydor Records as the second single from Roberts debut album Cinderella's Eyes. The song was written by Roberts and was produced by Canadian electropop group Dragonette...

".

Sarah Harding
Sarah Harding
Sarah Nicole Harding is an English singer-songwriter, actress and model best known for being a member of the pop group Girls Aloud, formed through ITV's reality television programme Popstars: The Rivals...

 chose to foray into acting during Girls Aloud's hiatus. She starred in the film Bad Day as Jade Jennings and the BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...

 television movie Freefall as Sam. Harding had a leading role in the major motion picture St. Trinian's II: The Legend of Fritton's Gold
St. Trinian's II: The Legend of Fritton's Gold
St Trinian's 2: The Legend of Fritton's Gold is a 2009 comedy film directed by Oliver Parker and Barnaby Thompson, both of whom directed the previous film in the series...

, portraying the character Roxy. She recorded three solo songs for the film's soundtrack. It has been reported that Harding will release a solo album in 2011. Harding will present the third series of the Living TV show Dating in the Dark
Dating in the Dark
Dating in the Dark is a reality show created in the Netherlands where 3 single men and 3 single women move into a light-tight house getting to know each other and form bonds in total darkness.-International versions:...

.

Discography

  • 2003: Sound of the Underground
  • 2004: What Will the Neighbours Say?
    What Will the Neighbours Say?
    What Will the Neighbours Say? is the second album by British all-female pop group Girls Aloud. It was released in the United Kingdom on 29 November 2004 by Polydor Records. Brian Higgins and his production team Xenomania were enlisted to produce the entire album, allowing for more inventive ideas...

  • 2005: Chemistry
  • 2007: Tangled Up
    Tangled Up
    Tangled Up is the fourth studio album by the British all-female pop group Girls Aloud. It was released in the United Kingdom on 19 November 2007 by Fascination Records. Like their previous albums, Tangled Up was crafted by the production team of Brian Higgins and Xenomania...

  • 2008: Out of Control
    Out of Control (Girls Aloud album)
    Out of Control is the fifth studio album by British all-female pop group Girls Aloud. It was released in the United Kingdom on 3 November 2008 by Fascination Records. Like their previous albums, Out of Control was crafted by the production team of Brian Higgins and Xenomania...



See also


External links

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