Transcending their humble reality TV beginnings to become one of the UK’s most successful pop acts, Girls Aloud—comprised of Nadine Coyle, Sarah Harding, Nicola Roberts, Cheryl Tweedy, and Kimberley Walsh—are the musos’ girl band. Formed in the final months of 2002 on Popstars: The Rivals—which they won—the group debuted that Christmas with the instant-classic hit “Sound of the Underground,” a vertiginous twister of crashing drums and surf guitar, obliterating their boy band competitors and kicking off a decade of canny pop subversion. Their musical DNA is intrinsically linked with the production laboratory Xenomania, anchored by founder Brian Higgins and his creative partner Miranda Cooper, who formulated a convention-defying sound wholly singular to Girls Aloud through their unorthodox approach to songwriting. Eschewing the limitations of standard structure, the band’s discography is an amalgamation of obscure samples and wildly disparate melodies—often with three choruses taken from completely unrelated demos spliced together back-to-back—laced with tongue-in-cheek lyrical phrases and concepts. Ricocheting between electrifying pop-rock influences (“Wake Me Up,” “No Good Advice”), jazzy flourishes (“Biology,” “Can’t Speak French”), and gorgeously evocative synth-pop (“Call The Shots,” “Untouchable”), they were a dominant pop force throughout the 2000s, idolized by fans and irresistible to even the most hardened critics. Their charmed streak extended through five studio albums and a record-setting 20 consecutive Top 10 hits, culminating in a BRIT Award win for Best Single with their retro-classic smash, “The Promise.” After a short hiatus, Girls Aloud made a return to music in 2013 to mark their 10th anniversary, before parting ways again, indefinitely. Then in 2023, after the sad loss of Sarah Harding two years earlier, the remaining members of the band announced a new tour, in 2024, in celebration of their joint legacy. With the experience set to be “the nostalgia of your life,” there’s no better time to reacquaint yourself with the sound of Girls Aloud.