History Music / GirlsAloud

* AVeryBritishChristmas: "Sound of the Underground" debuted at #1 on the Christmas charts as part of the goal of ''Popstars'', and the Christmas special "The Girls Aloud Party."

** Cheryl caused a minor meltdown in the fanbase by jokingly [[https://twitter.com/KimberleyJWalsh/status/298898681279700995 proposing to Kimberley on Twitter.]]

-->'''Nicola''': It was on its way in and then people saw it at us, it was on its way back out!

* AVeryBritishChristmas: "Sound of the Underground" debuted at #1 on the Christmas charts as part of the goal of ''Popstars''.

* AntiChristmasSong: "Something New", which is a subversion as it was never meant to be one, but it's treated as one in the London commuter belt by local radio stations. (And it's always on at the motorway services down that way, natch!)
** "Sound of the Underground" counts as well because the initial goal of ''Popstars'' was to get the Christmas #1 chart position, which they did.

* BlondeBrunetteRedhead: Sarah (blonde), Cheryl (brunette), and Nicola (redhead). Nadine and Kimberly tend to stay in the blonde-brunette middle range.

** Nicola's solo career gained more critical praise than both Cheryl ''and'' Nadine, [[AcclaimedFlop but her album was only a modest, if slightly underperforming, success]]. However, her range of [[SpinOff make-up products has been successful]], and MoneyDearBoy ''doesn't'' come into it.

** Girls Aloud entered the [[http://www.xfm.co.uk XFM]] playlist when [=GCap Media=] owned them in 2006, although they haven't been played since 2009, and [[BerserkButton don't try requesting them on the network]], it won't fly with them.
** Or so Global Radio would have you think, well, until April 2013, anyhow.

* {{Fanservice}} / ThreeMinutesOfWrithing: Their videos for "Long Hot Summer", "Wake Me Up", "Can't Speak French" and "Sexy! No No No..." are prime examples.

* HeterosexualLifePartners / LesYay: Kimberley and Cheryl are very close, to the point that the band's fanbase enjoy reading into this, nicknaming them "Chim".

** The sheer irony is, it caused RevivalByCommercialization (in the automotive sense) for the Buick Regal in the United Kingdom.

* SpiritualSuccessor: Considered this to [[{{Music/SpiceGirls}} the Spice Girls]] as Geri Halliwell had a hand in selecting them since she was a judge on the show that formed them. Arguably, though, they've cast this off since 2003.

* CoverVersion: "Jump" (originally by The Pointer Sisters), "I Think We're Alone Now" (Tommy and The Shondells/Tiffany), [[TheCoverChangesTheGender "Girls on Film"]] (Duran Duran), "I'll Stand By You" (The Pretenders), "Here We Go", "Deadlines & Diets" (both by Moonbaby), "See The Day" (Dee C. Lee). The girls have also done a multitude of live covers, including "I Predict a Riot" (Music/KaiserChiefs), "Rehab" (Amy Winehouse), "Beneath Your Beautiful" (Labrinth and Music/EmeliSande), "With Every Heartbeat" ({{Robyn}}), "Womanizer" (BritneySpears) and "Call Me Maybe" (CarlyRaeJepsen).

-->''Nicola'': We had something that was fresh, rather than us just doing an Music/AtomicKitten track.

* RealityShow / TalentShow: tHIS IS One of the few success stories to come from those types of programs. In fact, they're listed in the Guinness Book of World Records as the "World's Most Successful Reality TV Group". It does remain to be seen if Music/OneDirection and Music/LittleMix can be as long lasting.

Originally created by the 2002 TalentShow ''Popstars: The Rivals'' in the sense that members were actually voted for by the viewing public, Music/GirlsAloud long outlasted the male group also created and have 20 UK Top 10 singles to their name, including four UK Number Ones. They also appeared as the school band at the end of the 2008 ''StTrinians'' movie.

* BannedInChina: Supposedly, according to [[UrbanLegends urban legend]], banned from a school disco playlist at a school in The Black Country.

* BikerBabe: The "Wake Me Up" video. Sarah and Cheryl have commented that they found parts of it more hilarious than sexy.

** Nicola's solo career gained more critical praise than both Cheryl ''and'' Nadine, [[AcclaimedFlop but her album was only a modest, if slightly underperforming, success]].

* NoodleIncident: Whatever it is in British tabloids in Yorkshire concerning Kimberley and Nadine that gets them overexcited.

* RealityShow / TalentShow: One of the few success stories to come from those types of programs. In fact, they're listed in the Guinness Book of World Records as the "World's Most Successful Reality TV Group". It does remain to be seen if Music/OneDirection and Music/LittleMix can be as long lasting.

* SpiritualSuccessor: Considered this to [[{{Music/SpiceGirls}} the Spice Girls]] as Geri Halliwell had a hand in selecting them since she was a judge on the show that formed them.

* [[BreakupBreakout Hiatus Breakout]]: Cheryl's solo career has been more successful than the rest of them. In fact, Nadine is close to becoming TheGarfunkel.
** Nicola's solo career gained more critical praise than both Cheryl ''and'' Nadine, [[AcclaimedFlop but her album was only a modest, if slightly underperforming, success]].
** Time will tell if Kimberley will be able to at least create a niche for herself by releasing a CoverAlbum of showtunes.

Formerly on hiatus (for what was intended to be one year but ultimately became three-and-a-half), it was announced in May 2012 that the girls were recording new material with their longtime collaborators Xenomania. After months of speculation, it was finally confirmed that the fivesome would reunite to release a new single for ChildrenInNeed 2012, as well as embark on a new tour in 2013.

* BackForTheFinale: Cheryl's autobiography seems to hint that their long-awaited 2012 reunion will be their last activity as a group together, but nothing has been confirmed just yet.

* OddFriendship: With some well-known bands such as Music/KaiserChiefs, TheArcticMonkeys and {{Music/Coldplay}}.

** The girls themselves, with the exception of Nadine, regularly make guest appearances on other reality shows as well. Kimberley competed and came in second place on ''StrictlyComeDancing'', Cheryl boosted her solo profile with ''Series/TheXFactor'', Nicola is a mentor[=/=]judge on ''Styled To Rock'', and Sarah hosted the dating program ''Dating In The Dark''. Nadine's reality show appearances so far have been limited to the band's behind the scenes specials and as a guest judge on ''AmericasNextTopModel''.

* OddFriendship: With some well-known bands such as Music/KaiserChiefs and {{Music/Coldplay}}.

* EarlyInstallmentWeirdness: Although the group's debut single "Sound of the Underground" was rather subversive in sound, by listening to b-sides and demos it's clear the record company wanted the group to be a bog-standard girl group. "Stay Another Day" is a prime example.

* CoverVersion: "Jump" (originally by The Pointer Sisters), "I Think We're Alone Now" (Tommy and The Shondells/Tiffany), [[TheCoverChangesTheGender "Girls on Film"]] (Duran Duran), "I'll Stand By You" (The Pretenders), "Here We Go", "Deadlines & Diets" (both by Moonbaby), "See The Day" (Dee C. Lee). The girls have also done a multitude of live covers, including "I Predict a Riot" (Music/KaiserChiefs) and "Womanizer" (BritneySpears).

** TheSixthRanger: Xenomania works so closely with the girls that they have basically said Xenomania is the sixth member.

* UnofficialAnthem: 2012's hit "Something New" became this for Bedfordshire Council.

** Sarah's HardDrinkingPartyGirl ways have now caught up with her as she's entered rehab and her engagement was called off.

* OopNorth: Kimberley, Cheryl and Nicola are from Bradford, Newcastle and Liverpool, respectively.
** Although she has an London accent, Sarah spent much of her life in Manchester and describes herself as a Northerner.

** TheSixthRanger: Xenomania works so closely with the girls and they have basically said Xenomania is the sixth member.

* SingingVoiceDissonance: While they have lovely singing voices, Cheryl's Geordie and Nadine's Northern Irish accents are thick enough to occasionally warrant subtitles.

* ButNotTooWhite: Nicola has been mocked in the press being "ugly" due to her bright red hair and extremely pale [[http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/44933000/jpg/_44933710_pa_girlsaloud466.jpg complexion]]. She's since struck back with a fairly successful makeup range for pale women and championing legislation to regulate the tanning industry.