On November 30, 2002, Nadine Coyle, Cheryl Tweedy Cole Fernandez-Versini Payne, Kimberley Walsh, Nicola Roberts and Sarah “HJ on CBB” Harding were selected to form a girl group on Popstars: The Rivals, resulting in what would become Britain’s biggest-selling girl group of the 21st century: the almighty Girls Aloud.
As we know, life’s since gone cold after the untouchable troupe split in the form of a twitlong.er. (Never letting that go.)
Evidently however, somebody still has their debut date marked in their dear diary, because a small treasure trove of previously unreleased Girls Aloud gems now sees the day (REFERENCE).
The first, and definitely most major of the unearthed Aloud gems, is this: a scrapped medley from their 2013 Ten: The Hits Tour featuring fan favorites “Girl Overboard,” “Fling” and “Graffiti My Soul” – really a trio of shoulda-been-smash-hit-singles in a row. It’s a scorching nearly six-minute megamix, which would have gone down fabulously with the girls all strutting their stems in those giant, Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show-rivaling pink wings.
Also amazing, and also tour related, is this next one: the epic encore medley that was featured during their 2009 Out Of Control Tour, now available in glorious studio high quality. The killer megamix includes “The Show,” “Wake Me Up,” “Jump,” “No Good Advice,” “Can’t Speak French” and “The Promise” – which you can watch go down live in DVD version right here.
Next: a newly surfaced “Something New” demo, which features Nadine’s vocals – and alternate verses. The song’s final melodies are superior, but it’s fascinating to hear the track in its early state. (“Oh, I loved you a like a lover! I loved you like I’m never gonna love anotha brotha!” – Brian Higgins might want to lift that for an upcoming Nadine single, actually.) More than anything, the demo proves that Queen Nuhdeen was always the vocal foundation of nearly every Aloud production.
Finally, there’s this: the Xenomania remix of “Something New.” The Aloud’s primary production troupe tackled additional takes of their collaborations in the past, as with “Call The Shots” and “Sexy! No No No.” This pounding, poppers o’clock take makes the song sound even more hype – just don’t start to imagine where this remix was supposed to wind up (a remix album, perhaps?), or you might start to get sad about what could have been.
And that’s it for all the new stuff – for now, anyway.
Merry Aloudmas and Happy Aloudiversary! May you and all of your neighbours, gift-wrapped kitty cats and beautiful robots dancing alone have a joyous, festive and out of control holiday.
