Girls Aloud
Girls Aloud are a British pop girl group that was created through the ITV talent show Popstars: The Rivals in 2002. The line up consisted of members Cheryl Tweedy, Nadine Coyle, Sarah Harding, Nicola Roberts and Kimberley Walsh. In 2012, the group was named as the United Kingdom's biggest selling girl group of the 21st century so far, with over 4.3 million singles sales and 4 million albums sold in the UK alone.[1] During their two decades together, the group achieved a string of twenty top ten singles on the UK Singles Chart, including four number ones. They also achieved seven certified albums, two of which debut at number one. They have been nominated for five Brit Awards, winning the 2009 Best Single for "The Promise".
Girls Aloud
London, England
- 2002–2009
- 2012–2013
- 2023–present
The group's main musical style is pop, but they had experimented with other sounds including electropop, dance-pop and dance-rock throughout their career. Girls Aloud's collaborations with Brian Higgins and his songwriting and production team Xenomania earned the group critical acclaim,[2] because of an innovative approach to mainstream pop music. The group became one of the few UK reality television acts to achieve continued success, amassing a fortune of £30 million by May 2010. Guinness World Records listed them as the "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.[3]
The group went on an indefinite hiatus in March 2013 following the conclusion of the Ten: The Hits Tour.[4] Band member Sarah Harding died of breast cancer on 5 September 2021, at the age of 39.[5] In May 2024, the remaining members are set to embark on an arena tour – The Girls Aloud Show. Consisting of thirty shows, it will be dedicated in memory of Harding and serve as a "celebration" of their music.
Artistry
Musical style
Girls Aloud worked closely with Brian Higgins and his songwriting and production team Xenomania throughout their career. Xenomania produced all of Girls Aloud's albums and singles, excluding nine songs from their debut album, Sound of the Underground, the charity single "Walk This Way" and two songs from Ten. Of Higgins and Xenomania, Girls Aloud's former manager Louis Walsh says, "He just makes great songs for radio. They just jump out at you and stay in your brain."[82] In a review of the group's debut single "Sound of the Underground", The Guardian'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."[83] In response to Girls Aloud's debut album, Jacqueline Hodges of BBC Music 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."[84]
Petridis of The Guardian described What Will the Neighbours Say? as "a great album: funny, clever, immediate, richly inventive."[85] 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."[86] Talia Kraines of BBC Music exclaimed that Girls Aloud "have resuscitated [pop music's] corpse by wedding chart-friendly melodies to experimental avant-garde sounds".[87] "Biology" was described as "about as far from tired formula as you can possibly get. It sounds like three separate melodies condensed into one."[88] Popjustice referred to the song as "pop music which redefines the supposed boundaries of pop music."[89] In a review for 2007's "Sexy! No No No...", Nick Levine of Digital Spy 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."[90]
Despite being most generally associated with the pop genre Girls Aloud have experimented with other genres.[91] In particular rock music with singles like "Sound of the Underground", "Graffiti My Soul", "Wake Me Up" and "Sexy! No No No...".[92]
Influences
The band members themselves are known to be fans of artists such as Ne-Yo and Oasis.[93][94]
The group's debut album Sound of the Underground takes influence from a number of 1980s genres, such as synthpop, power pop, and new wave, and 1990s styles like big beat, drum and bass, and garage.[95] The album received comparisons to girl groups such as Bananarama, The Bangles, and the Spice Girls.[14][96][97] Similarities to Kylie Minogue and Madonna were also noted.[97][98] A majority of the songs make use of guitars and electronic beats. The rise of indie rock also inspired Brian Higgins to "blur the edges between commercial music and so-called 'indie' music."[99] He continued, "pop music was on its backside and indie music was about to rise, through The Strokes 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 by Franz Ferdinand."[99] What Will the Neighbours Say? 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", composed by Xenomania musicians Tim Powell and Nick Coler, was inspired by The Smiths,[100] while "Wake Me Up" includes a guitar riff inspired by garage rock.[85][88]
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".[86] Rapping in the same vein as artists like Betty Boo and Neneh Cherry is prominent.[101][102] Yahoo! Music 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."[101] The songs are noticeably less rooted in electronic music, although "Swinging London Town" is "a dark, squiggly synth pop epic a la Pet Shop Boys" and "It's Magic" is composed of "little Röyksopp-like keyboard riffs".[103] Alternatively, Tangled Up features a dancier, more electronic sound, inspired by the success of their 2006 single "Something Kinda Ooooh". "Call the Shots", "Close to Love", and "Girl Overboard" are all electropop numbers reminiscent of 1980s music. However, "Control of the Knife" is more inspired by reggae and ska,[104] while "Black Jacks" recalls "sixties psychedelica".[105] Out of Control features a number of songs inspired by 1980s electropop, while also exploring retro styles.[106][107] "The Promise" is a 1960s Spector-influenced number, while "Rolling Back the Rivers in Time" was compared to the works of Burt Bacharach.[108]
Legacy
Girls Aloud's debut single "Sound of the Underground" and Sugababes' "Round Round", both of which were produced by Xenomania, have been called "two huge groundbreaking hits".[109] Emily MacKay of NME deemed the two "a whole new kind of pop".[110] The Telegraph placed the song at number 15 on a list of 100 songs that defined the 2000s, while NME included it at number 39.[111][112] Spinner.com named "Sound of the Underground" the eighth best British song of the 2000s.[113] In 2009, The Times included 2007's Tangled Up at number 62 on a list of the decade's best pop albums.[114] MSN listed 2005's Chemistry as one of the decade's best albums.[115] 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, David Pollock of The Independent noted that "Girls Aloud remain confidently the only pop show in town."[116] The Times stated, "Not since ABBA and Michael Jackson has pure pop been so unanimously praised."[114]
Girls Aloud are also notably one of the few British reality television acts to achieve continued success and longevity. According to The Times, Girls Aloud are the highest-earning UK reality television stars, having amassed a fortune of £25 million by May 2009.[117] The figure was increased to £30 million the following year, following Cheryl's appearance on The X Factor.[118] All five members were included in a 2010 list of Britain's richest stars under 30.[119] Reviews of Girls Aloud's debut album noted the high quality of the album compared to output from other reality show contestants.[97][120] In 2004, David Hooper of BBC Music exclaimed that "Girls Aloud are currently British pop royalty [...] in the ultra-fickle world of TV-generated pop, Girls Aloud have real staying power."[121] Andrew Lynch of entertainment.ie 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".[122]
Bono has referred to himself as a fan of the group, 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."[123][124][125] Chris Martin also said that he is a fan of the group, referring to them as "the ultimate form of life,"[126] while Julie Burchill has stated that Girls Aloud are "simply the most perfect pop group since The Monkees."[127] In addition, Girls Aloud have had their music covered by artists as varied as Arctic Monkeys, Bloc Party, and Coldplay, among others.[128][129][130]