Girls Aloud

Girls Aloud for British Vogue 2023

FuckYeaGirlsAloud celebrates 2000 Followers Milestone - Singles Videography

The Comic Relief single has to have some kind of novelty - it’s in the name. Nothing serious here. And it’s definitely not a good idea to take this awful cover of a Run DMC classic seriously. Styled as a ‘battle’ between the country’s two big girl groups, none of their voices are suited to this shouty cover track, with none of them having any real attitude compared to the original. Instead it just sounds like a karaoke version. Separately they’re great - together not so much. I remember it came up as a suggested track on my Spotify recently and I recoiled, being reminded it for the first time in years! At least it raised loads of money for charity?

Alex’s dancing. haha 

Yassss Cheryl <3

Girls Aloud: Absynth (2005)

Girls Aloud photographed by Ian Bartlett (2008)

kimberleywalshofficial: “Happy 15th Birthday girls @cherylofficial @lilcola @nadinecoyle @sarahnicoleharding so proud of us and all we achieved! #HappyBirthdayGA #GirlsAloud15 #GirlsAloud”

Although their debut single hit number one, it took Girls Aloud 6 years to get another one. In that time they’d been quietly building up a reputation for creating amazing pop songs, with every single hitting the top 10. ‘The Promise’ was something of a change in style for them, having usually leaned more towards the electro-pop end of the spectrum. Echoing the girl bands of the 60s in both sound and image in the gorgeous video, the track is a luscious-sounding classic love song about an irresistible lover, built up of layers of heavenly vocals, twinkly synths and a brass section. Sure, it’s a bit too sickly sweet at times, sounding like the theme tune to a 1980s quiz show in the chorus, but it’s nice how each girl gets a moment to shine vocally, and the attitude present in all their other music is still intact here.