'Love Machine' is not one of my top Girls Aloud favourites or anything but I do understand why it's one of their signature songs! Quite the opposite of the career suicide the girls feared.

Ya I get its popularity aswell, it was a song tgat stuck in people's heads especially the chorus whether you liked it or not.

I did like it at the time, but its overuse in sofa adverts and stuff has really ruined it for me. Hearing it or listening to it just annoys me these days.

It did get overused but im sure that helped them make more money from it aswell.

A bittersweet throwback today. 10 years ago today, a 10 day countdown began, which culminated in the announcement of their reunion, the Ten album and Ten tour.

 

 

That was an incredibly exciting time! Their 3 years on hiatus had felt like an eternity to me.

 

Other Girls Aloud happenings 10 years ago - Cheryl was midway through her A Million Lights UK & Ireland tour, while Kimberley had started her journey as a contestant on Strictly Come Dancing.

It's hard to believe all that was 10 years ago, at the time I was sure the reunion would have also led to a new studio album.

10 years ago today, Girls Aloud announced their reunion + the Ten album and Ten tour at a press conference. It had been 3 years since they were last together:

 

 

 

'The Promise' was released 14 years ago today! Their fourth UK #1 and a Brit Award winning single:

 

 

 

And 20 years ago today, the first live episode of Popstars: The Rivals (with the female contestants) aired on ITV.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I remember watching those Popstars: The Rivals episodes. I was instantly a fan of Nadine and Nicola, some great performances from them. Looking back, Popstars: The Rivals had pretty cheap production values and the song choices were by and large very old fashioned.

 

My first reaction to 'The Promise' after hearing its radio premiere was slight bewilderment and disappointment!! I needed to hear it a few more times before it started to click. Then I really started to love it and couldn't believe I'd ever not liked it. It soon became apparent that the song was catching on in a big way, particularly the reaction to their performance of it on The X Factor. It was a fantastic time to be a Girls Aloud fan. After 6 years together, it felt like they'd gone up another level in terms of success - they felt genuinely massive.

 

It blows my mind that the 'Ten' era was 10 years ago. When 'Something New' premiered, 'Sound of the Underground' (the song) was still a couple of months away from being 10 years old.

Ahhh, can't believe it's 10 years.

 

I agree around The Promise/Out of Control era they felt bigger than they'd ever been previously. I'm still bitter it all pretty much ended there. :cry:

Cheryl looked so incredible on the TEN press conference day. I miss her as a Popstar so much! She is perfection.

Can't believe it's been 10 years since the Ten era began! :(

If anyone wants a trip down memory lane, the girls' performances are being uploaded in better quality on this Instagram! https://www.instagram.com/popstarstherivals/ which was kindly brought to my attention by saturdays20 on popjustice :heart:

 

Wow, Geri's "critique" for Kimberley really wouldn't go down well these days!! So many layers of wrong lol. ("You look beautiful, if I was a guy I'd want to you-know-what you")

One of my biggest concert regrets is not going to the Ten tour :( I was only 15 at the time and wasn't really much of a concert-goer until adulthood. I do own the DVD for the tour at least. I was so excited that they were back anyway! I remember the chart battle between 'Something New' and 'Troublemaker' and despite my username being JadeGagaOlly at the time, I of course downloaded it, sorry Olly but my childhood heroes were back :kink: I now own the lovely blue vinyl for it too, didn't start collecting the format until 2014. My favourite musical moment of the era was actually 'On The Metro' though and I thoroughly agree with the popular opinion that it was a missed single opportunity.

 

My feelings around 'The Promise' were similar to yours Jay! I couldn't believe what I was hearing at first but it soon won me over. It was great to watch the achievements unfold 6 years into their career, like another #1 single and a first Brit Award. A random memory I associate with the song is five teachers in my school singing it for an assembly while aiming to copy the looks from the video on a budget - I was wearing a sparkly dress to the school disco and one of them asked me where I got it from as they said it'd be a perfect GA dress :lol: their impact.

 

I really need to sit down and watch more Popstars content one day - I vaguely remember 'Sound of the Underground' on the radio at the time and have seen their auditions but that's about it!

I'll Stand By You was released 18 years ago today! (15th November 2004)

 

 

 

Biology was released 17 years ago yesterday :heart: (14th November 2005)

 

I’ll Stand By You is a real beauty, saddens me to see this often ranked quite low on their singles list just because it’s a cover. Taken on extra poignancy since Sarah’s passing, her opening and closing lines kill me every time.

 

I often see Biology rated as the very best Girls Aloud song, I can definitely see why but it’s not quite one of my favourites. Still a 9/10 though! Love the unconventional song structure and the way the chorus doesn’t appear until like half way through the song, yet the song is still so catchy and fun. The video is so chaotic, I love it!

Ive always hated theor version of I’ll Stand By You. I wish Deadlines & Diets had been released.

And today is 19 years since Jump was released!

 

So many anniversaries at this time of year. Girls Aloud were the queens of a Q4 release *.*

'Jump' is one of their better covers for me, of course featured in Love Actually also with Hugh's dancing :lol:

I always liked jump and agree it's one of their best covers.

:wub:

Today’s date is 10 years since the release of Ten! :drama:

 

 

My main memory of the album from the time is being quite upset about its chart performance. :kink: Midweek #3 turning into an eventual entry of #9 was a let down. Then falling to #26 in the second week! :cry: (Lol this wouldn’t seem too bad nowadays).

 

I guess the album was a bit of a hard sell. It had only been 6 years since The Sound of Girls Aloud. Granted, Ten had singles on it that were released after that, but then it hadn’t been all that long since Tangled Up and Out of Control. I’ve said it before but I think they were in a slightly weird spot, it felt too early for Girls Aloud nostalgia. I get why they wanted to mark 10 years since forming but after a 3 year break it could have been a more impactful return with a new studio album rather than peddling the hits for a second time.

 

Still, it gave us 4 new songs which is more generous than many Greatest Hits. On the Metro is a career highlight and it’ll always be mad that it wasn’t a single.

 

I’ve never particularly liked the track list order.