Girls Aloud: Difference between revisions
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Girls Aloud recieved another sponsorship deal in [[2007]], this time from [[Samsung]]. They will promote the new range of Samsung [[mp3|mp3 players]]. |
Girls Aloud recieved another sponsorship deal in [[2007]], this time from [[Samsung]]. They will promote the new range of Samsung [[mp3|mp3 players]]. |
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On [[13th July 2007]] Girls Aloud's Official website announced that the new single is to be called 'Sexy, No, No, no ...' and is to be release [[September 3rd]] Sarah saying ''We've loved seeing all the fans while we've been on tour and its been such a busy summer recording new material that we can't wait to play it to everyone. We can't reveal anything just yet except that it's a really great new edgy sound and we hope you love it as much as we do''. |
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===2007: Fourth Studio Album=== |
===2007: Fourth Studio Album=== |
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Revision as of 11:32, 14 July 2007
Girls Aloud |
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Girls Aloud are a Smash Hits Poll Winners, TMF award-winning and BRIT Award-nominated British girl group created on ITV1 talent show Popstars: The Rivals in 2002. The group, consisting of Cheryl Cole (née Tweedy), Nadine Coyle, Sarah Harding, Nicola Roberts and Kimberley Walsh, has gone on to become one of the most successful pop groups of the decade with a record breaking fifteen consecutive Top 10 singles (including three number ones), four platinum albums (including a number one) and record sales in excess of 4.2 million in the UK alone. They have also scored successes around Europe with Number One singles in Greece and Ireland.
Girls Aloud hold the record for the shortest time between forming and reaching number one in the UK Charts (with their platinum-selling debut single "Sound of the Underground", and have since become one of the few reality television groups to have had continued success with Guinness World Records listing them as the Most Successful Reality TV Group in the 2007 edition. Their record of fifteen consecutive top ten singles is also unmatched by any other girl group beating the Spice Girls' previous record of ten, but not their string of number one singles.
For a contemporary pop group manufactured on reality television they have received unprecedented praise from broadsheet newspapers and the rock music press, with publications including the Observer Music Monthly,[1][2] and the NME[3] giving their music rave reviews.
Widely known as the sexiest girl group ever, their stunning looks have been noted throughout their career as winners of two Glamour Women of the Year Awards and their annual high placings in the FHM 100 Sexiest Women poll.
Formation
Girls Aloud were formed on November 30 2002 in front of millions of viewers on the ITV1 programme Popstars: The Rivals. The concept of the programme was to produce a boyband and a girlband who would be 'rivals' and compete for the Christmas number one single in 2002. Following the initial success of Hear'Say (winners of the original Popstars show), several thousand applicants attended auditions across the UK in hope of being selected for the show. Ten men and ten women were chosen as finalists by judges Pete Waterman, Louis Walsh and Geri Halliwell with Big Brother presenter Davina McCall taking the contestants through the auditions and the shows each week. However, two finalists were disqualified before the live shows began: Hazel Kaneswaren was found to be too old to participate[4] whilst Nicola Ward refused to sign the contract, claiming the pay the band would go on to receive was too poor.[5] Kimberley Walsh and Nicola Roberts were chosen as their replacements, who had made it into the final fifteen, but were not originally chosen for the final ten.
During October and November, the finalists took to the stage participating in week-by-week live performances every Saturday night (alternating between the girls and boys each week). One contestant was eliminated each week (due to polling the least amount of phone votes) until the final line-ups of the boy band and girl band emerged. The five girls who polled enough votes to make it into the band were (in order) Cheryl Tweedy, Nicola Roberts, Nadine Coyle, Kimberley Walsh, and Sarah Harding, with Javine Hylton missing out on a place in the band. They called themselves Girls Aloud and were managed by Louis Walsh and then managed by Hillary Shaw from 2005. The runners up, a boy band called One True Voice were managed by Pete Waterman.
The two bands competed for the number one position in the Christmas Week UK singles chart. Girls Aloud won the battle with their single "Sound of the Underground" (produced by Brian Higgins and Xenomania) which stayed at number one for four weeks. Disney Channel viewers later voted this as best single of 2002–2003 at the Disney Channel Kids Awards. Originally tipped to be more successful than the girls, One True Voice released just two singles before disbanding in Summer 2003.
Subsequent career
2002–2004: Sound of the Underground
After the huge success of "Sound of the Underground" the newly formed group took several months to record their debut album.
They followed their début single with the number two hit "No Good Advice" in May 2003. The song received critical acclaim and the video, whilst known to have been the girls' least favourite video due to problems in production, was deemed one of the sexiest videos of the year.[citation needed]
The debut album, Sound of the Underground, was released on 26 May 2003. It went straight in at number two, behind Justin Timberlake's album Justified. One of the tracks, "Girls Allowed", was written for the girls by ex-Westlife star Bryan McFadden while "Some Kind of Miracle" was co-written by former B*Witched star Edele Lynch.
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Third single "Life Got Cold" charted at number three in August 2003, making them the first act to go 1-2-3 with their first three releases. The single also helped their album back into the UK top twenty, which had up to this point only sold around 100,000 copies.
In November 2003 the girls released "Jump" — a cover of a Pointer Sisters song. The song featured on the soundtrack to the 2003 film Love Actually. It entered the chart at number two behind Westlife's single "Mandy". "Jump" helped increase sales of the album, which went platinum after a re-issue was released on 1 December 2003.
The new version of Sound of the Underground featured a new album cover, deleted three of the songs from the original track listing and replaced them with "Jump" (which wasn't included on the original version), "You Freak Me Out" (which appeared on the soundtrack of Freaky Friday) and "Girls on Film" (a cover of a Duran Duran song originally a B-Side to "Life Got Cold"). "You Freak Me Out" found its way onto release schedules and was performed on CD:UK in early 2004, with presenter Cat Deeley stating it would be their next single. However the plans for this release were scrapped as work began on their second release.
Due to a sharp cut in price, and the increased popularity after the release of their Greatest Hits collection, in December 2006, 'Sound of The Underground' re-entered the Top 75, helping the album sell a further 10,000 copies to increase its overall sales total to roughly 330,000 copies. It still however remains their least well selling album behind 'Chemistry's' 360,000 and 'What Will the Neighbours Say's 570,000.
The album stayed on the Top 75 chart for 20 inconsecutive weeks, over a period of over three years.
2004–2005: What Will the Neighbours Say?
After a brief break, the girls returned to promote brand new single "The Show", in June 2004. It is the first release from their 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. This single showed off a new look for the girls and was backed with a promotional campaign prior to its première featuring five empty chairs with each of the girls' names on. This built up excitement over the new look and later featured on the single cover with the girls in their seats. When released, it entered the singles chart at number two.
Follow-up release "Love Machine" also peaked at number two in September 2004. They became the first girl group since the Spice Girls to achieve six consecutive top three singles in the UK. "Love Machine" was nominated for ITV's The Record of the Year and finished in sixth place. "Love Machine" went on to be used in a television advert for Homebase.
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Their seventh single, a cover of The Pretenders' hit "I'll Stand by You", reached the number-one position on the UK Singles Chart in November 2004, and stayed there for two weeks. This was 2004's single for the Children in Need appeal with its proceeds going towards the charity. The single sold almost 60,000 in its first week of release.
"What Will the Neighbours Say?" was released on November 29 2004 and entered the album charts at number six. The album featured the production and song writing skills from Xenomania. The immediate success of this album led to the girls announcing their first What Will the Neighbours Say? Live tour, which took place in May 2005. What Will the Neighbours Say? received excellent reviews; most critics deemed it an improvement on their début release. It was also a bigger seller than their début; the album sold just under 400,000 within its first month of sale, thus going platinum.
The final single to be taken from this album was "Wake Me Up", released in February 2005. It charted at number four — their first to miss the top three, but their eighth top-five single.
In early 2005, the girls won a Glamour Magazine Award for Band of the Year, and were also nominated for a BRIT Award for Best Pop.
2005–2006: Chemistry
After a short break following their first tour, the girls began work on their third album. The first single to be released from "Chemistry" was "Long Hot Summer" in August 2005 and charted at number seven, ending their consecutive top five run but continuing their unbroken run of top ten singles. The single that launched their third album was "Biology". It entered the UK charts at number four in November 2005 and equalled the Spice Girls record of ten consecutive top ten singles in the UK.
Their third studio album Chemistry was released on December 5 2005. It features "Models", a song first heard being recorded on their ITV2 documentary Girls Aloud: Home Truths and also used as the theme music to their E4 documentary Girls Aloud: Off the Record. It also boasts writing credits from JC Chasez of 'N Sync fame, who penned the track Watch Me Go. The album peaked on the charts at number eleven, their lowest ever, despite overwhelming critical acclaim; it eventually went platinum and has currently sold over 350,000 copies in total.
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Their cover of Dee C. Lee's "See the Day", released in the Christmas week, charted at number nine. "See the Day" became Girls Aloud's biggest hit on Radio Airplay since "Sound of the Underground," peaking at number six due to its success on stations such as BBC Radio Two.
Girls Aloud released their début DVD Girls on Film in June 2005, featuring the first eight music videos and television performances. It peaked at number five on the DVD Music chart. This was followed by What Will the Neighbours Say? Live DVD in November 2005, which reached number six.
The group travelled to Australia and New Zealand in February 2006 to release the single "Biology" and the album Chemistry. Arriving on 23 February, their promotional tour lasted one week, appearing on many TV shows. "Biology" peaked at number twenty-six in the Australian singles chart. The trip also started press speculation about a relationship between Coyle and American actor Jesse Metcalfe.
"Whole Lotta History" was the fourth and final single to be taken from Chemistry. Released on March 13 2006, it became the fourth highest download-only entry at eighty - this was the first time singles had ever been able to chart on downloads alone. The week after its download release the song reached number six, and as the number-eighty position was outside the top seventy-five, this became the week's highest new entry. The single is accompanied by a video filmed in Paris, their first outside the UK.
The girls embarked on their second UK tour Chemistry (their first Arena Tour) in May 2006. During the tour, the girls performed at ten large arenas in the UK, playing to over 100,000 people in total. The tour got rave reviews, with the majority of tabloids awarding 4/5 marks. In the same month, Girls Aloud were moved to Fascination Records, a sub-label of Polydor Records; all future Girls Aloud releases will be published by Fascination Records. Girls Aloud also won the Heart Award for the single "See the Day" at the O2 Silver Clef Lunch, with Roberts and Walsh attending the awards presentation ceremony.
2006–2007: The Sound of Girls Aloud
In September 2006, the official Girls Aloud web site confirmed the release of The Sound of Girls Aloud — a compilation that contains Girls Aloud's singles and some new and unreleased material. The album was released on October 30 2006 and on November 5 2006 debuted at number one on the UK album chart. After a mere eight weeks it became the group's biggest selling album to date. The album was also released on a limited edition double CD format containing live tracks and previously unavailable tracks such as "Singapore"; this has now become a highly priced collectors item.
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The lead single from the album was "Something Kinda Ooooh", which was released on October 16, 2006 on downloads, and October 23 2006 on physical formats. Girls Aloud became the first British act to enter the top ten purely based on download sales with the song entering at number five. On its second week of release the single climbed two places to number three on the chart, later bettering the sales and chart run of that weeks number one from McFly, however at the end of the year Girls Aloud had sold more copies than Mcfly.
The next single, "I Think We're Alone Now", a number-one hit in 1988 for Tiffany, was the third time the group have entered the Christmas chart battle. The single charted at number fifty on downloads alone, based on downloads of the album version only. It then climbed to number four, making it Girls Aloud's fourteenth consecutive Top 10 and eleventh top five — more than any other girl group in UK chart history. The song is the official theme of the film It's a Boy Girl Thing.
Girls Aloud then collaborated with the Sugababes on their fifteenth single, a cover of the song "Walk This Way" by Aerosmith. The track was released on March 12 2007 as the official single for Comic Relief, as "Sugababes vs. Girls Aloud". It became the group's third British number one, and their fifteenth consecutive top-ten single selling 52,000 copies in its first week.[6]. Despite a strong start the single dropped quickly down the chart, though it still managed to sell better than many of their previous releases.
In 2008, Girls Aloud will make a cameo appearance in the re-make of the St. Trinians movie, playing the part of school girls, which was filmed in Spring 2007. The girls have finished their mammoth 'Greatest Hits UK Tour' and are currently working on their 4th studio album, due out in November after a single in September. During the tour, the girls appeared at 16 sold-out arenas across the UK and Ireland, performing to over 150,000 people in total. Girls Aloud won an award for being the highest selling girl group in terms of ticket sales to appear at the Metro Radio Arena, where they played to over 22,000 people over a period of two nights.
On June 26 their albums were made available on the US version of iTunes, marking the Girls' first step into the US market.
Girls Aloud recieved another sponsorship deal in 2007, this time from Samsung. They will promote the new range of Samsung mp3 players.
2007: Fourth Studio Album
Girls Aloud have announced on their website that their new single will be "Sexy! No, No, No...", to be released on September 3 2007. Their fourth studio album is set to be released in November.
Popjustice
The Popjustice £20 Music Prize is awarded every year by a panel of judges (or sometimes a public vote) to the best British pop single of the previous twelve months. The competition has been running since 2003. Girls Aloud have been nominated every year, and have won it three times.
- 2003 "No Good Advice" - won
- 2004 "The Show" - short-listed
- 2005 "Wake Me Up" - won
- 2006 "Biology" - won
Non-musical issues
Cheryl Tweedy's conviction
On 20 October 2003 band member Cheryl Tweedy was convicted of assaulting part-time law student Sophie Amogbokpa, who was working as a toilet attendant at The Drink nightclub in Guildford where the incident had taken place on 11 January of that year. Amogbokpa claimed the attack was racially motivated, but the singer was acquitted of this charge. [7] Tweedy claimed Amogbokpa was the instigator of the assault. During the trial, Judge Richard Haworth criticised Tweedy for showing no remorse whatsoever for the attack and described it as "an unpleasant piece of drunken violence". The court ordered her to perform 120 hours of unpaid community service, £3000 prosecution costs plus £500 in damages. [8] On 5 November 2003 on BBC Radio Five Live, she made a statement: "I'm sorry to the fans and to my family and the other girls that it ever happened." [9] However, she refused to apologise to Amogbokpa, who on the 7 November 2003 revealed in The Guardian newspaper that she would seek aggravated damages in the civil courts on the basis that the assault was racially motivated, [10] although she subsequently chose not to proceed with the case.
Girls Aloud: Off the Record
Girls Aloud recorded a six-part fly on the wall documentary series for E4 called Girls Aloud: Off the Record, which started its run on April 11 2006. A DVD of the series was released on September 4 2006 (after several release date changes), and reached number four on the Music DVD Chart.
Tabloids
The group also remain constant tabloid fodder.
June 2006 saw the group facing a great deal of press attention: first rumours that Harding was tired of the band and quitting to go solo, which prompted the singer to post a message on the group's official website stating she "would be insane to even consider leaving". Tweedy's relationship with footballer Ashley Cole has kept her in the papers. During the 2006 World Cup in June and July 2006, she was in the paper along with other WAGs. Coyle and Harding have recently been in the tabloids because of their Hollywood relationships. Coyle was dating Jesse Metcalfe of Desperate Housewives before she dumped him for cheating on her. Harding was rumoured to be seeing Stephen Dorff, and she dated Daily Star writer Joe Mott, although the couple have since spilt up.
Curls Aloud
On April 2 2007, Girls Aloud signed a one-year, £4m deal to promote Sunsilk hair products. They will each receive £250,000 for their work. The girls will appear in various billboard and magazine advertising campaigns, with Sunsilk sponsoring the upcoming The Sound of Girls Aloud: The Greatest Hits Tour.[11] The girls launched the campaign on April 12 posing for shots in various coloured dresses matching the colours of the Sunsilk range. They also have made an advertisement in accordance with the new deal. The advertisement shows Girls Aloud in a limousine, busy being driven through an everyday street. They come across a careless girl who is busily wandering the street and Girls Aloud then abduct her to give her a make-over, hinting at viewers of forming her into the 6th member of Girls Aloud. However, once she enters the studio and sings, the Girls realise she is not a gifted singer nd quickly throw their new member back onto the street where her hair stops another celebrity. The second advert is similar, though it instead features Girls Aloud posing as mennequins towards the end of the ad whilst Cheryl talks about the competiton. The Sunsilk advert is shown to the right, it is seen on bus shelters, in magazines and on the internet.
Discography
Albums
| Year | Album | U.K. | UK sales | UK certificate |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2003 | Sound of the Underground | 2 | 340,000 | Platinum |
| 2004 | What Will the Neighbours Say? | 6 | 580,000 | 2x platinum |
| 2005 | Chemistry | 11 | 360,000 | Platinum |
| 2006 | The Sound of Girls Aloud | 1 | 720,000 | 2x platinum |
Singles
| Year | Title | Album | Chart positions | Audio | UK | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| UK | UK DL | IRL | POL | GR | AUS | NL | BEL | MEX | US DL | Sales | Certification | ||||
| 2002 | "Sound of the Underground" | Sound of the Underground | 1 | - | 1 | 27 | 8 | 31 | 9 | 13 | 74 | 560,000 | Platinum | ||
| 2003 | "No Good Advice" | 2 | - | 2 | 43 | 4 | 88 | 23 | 45 | - | 118,000 | - | |||
| "Life Got Cold" | 3 | - | 2 | 32 | 3 | - | 11 | - | - | 82,000 | - | ||||
| "Jump" | Sound of the Underground (re-issue)/ | 2 | - | 2 | 16 | 2 | 23 | 8 | 6 | 98 | 189,000 | Silver | |||
| 2004 | "The Show" | What Will the Neighbours Say? | 2 | - | 5 | 97 | 1 | 67 | - | - | - | 76,000 | - | ||
| "Love Machine" | 2 | 6 | 9 | 88 | 42 | - | - | - | - | 100,000 | - | ||||
| "I'll Stand by You" | 1 | 5 | 3 | 51 | 5 | - | - | - | - | 182,000 | Silver | ||||
| 2005 | "Wake Me Up" | 4 | 17 | 6 | 12 | 15 | - | - | - | - | 62,000 | - | |||
| "Long Hot Summer" | Chemistry | 7 | 16 | 16 | 90 | 30 | - | - | - | - | 52,000 | - | |||
| "Biology" | 4 | 2 | 5 | 66 | 12 | 26 | - | - | - | 110,000 | - | ||||
| "See the Day" | 9 | 7 | 14 | 17 | 42 | - | - | - | - | 60,000 | - | ||||
| 2006 | "Whole Lotta History" | 6 | 23 | 18 | 76 | 32 | - | - | - | - | 38,000 | - | |||
| "Something Kinda Ooooh" | The Sound of Girls Aloud | 3 | 3 | 7 | 37 | 2 | - | - | 19 | 93 | 42 | 165,000 | Silver | ||
| "I Think We're Alone Now" | 4 | 19 | 11 | 9 | - | - | - | - | 81 | 52,000 | - | ||||
| 2007 | "Walk This Way" with Sugababes | - | 1 | 2 | 14 | 7 | - | - | - | - | - | - | 100,000[12] | - | |
| "Sexy! No, No, No..." | Fourth Studio Album | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||||
Tours
- What Will the Neighbours Say? Live 2005
- Chemistry Tour 2006
- The Sound of Girls Aloud: The Greatest Hits Tour 2007
References
- ^ "Girls Aloud, Chemistry", by Peter Robinson, Observer Music Monthly, November 20 2005
- ^ "Countdown: the OMM top 100 albums", Observer Music Monthly, December 18 2005
- ^ "How I became a Girl Aloud", The Guardian, September 17 2004
- ^ "Hazel is no longer a Popstar Rival...", ShowBiz Ireland (online), October 10 2002
- ^ "Popstar Rivals' Nicola quits show", CBBC Newsround (online), October 13 2002
- ^ "Babes Aloud at No 1", MTV UK (online), March 13 2007
- ^ "Girls Aloud star 'not a racist'". BBC News. 2003-01-13. Retrieved 2006-08-14.
{{cite news}}: Check date values in:|date=(help) - ^ "Singer Tweedy guilty of assault", BBC News (online), October 20 2003
- ^ "Singer Tweedy 'sorry' for assault", BBC News (online), November 5 2003
- ^ "Girls Aloud singer faces civil suit", The Guardian, November 7 2003
- ^ Girls Aloud land shampoo deal, ITN, April 2 2007
- ^ "Walk This Way sells 100,000 copies".
{{cite web}}: Unknown parameter|accessmonthday=ignored (help); Unknown parameter|accessyear=ignored (|access-date=suggested) (help)
External links
- Official Girls Aloud Website
- Official Girls Aloud Myspace
- Offical Girls Aloud Bebo
- Girls Aloud Fan Club Piczo
- Girls Aloud World
- Girls Aloud Forum
- Girls Aloud City Forum
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| Compilation albums | |
| Other albums | |
| Film and television | |
| Video albums | |
| Tours | |
| Related articles | |
