We haven’t been as excited about a reunion tour since the Spice Girls regrouped in 2019, but while Girl Power ruled the nineties, Girls Aloud dominated the noughties. After forming in 2002, the band went on to sell over four million albums, claimed four number ones, racked up a record-breaking run of 20 consecutive top 10 singles, took home a Brit Award and by 2012, were crowned the UK’s biggest-selling girl band of the 21st century.

It’s been over 20 years since Nadine, Cheryl, Sarah, Nicola and Kimberley released their first single, Sound Of The Underground – and over a decade since the band hit the pause button on their time together in 2013. A lot has changed since then including, very sadly, the loss of Sarah to breast cancer in 2021, but three years on, the time felt right to reunite and celebrate everything they achieved together, with the four remaining Girls Aloud members flying the flag for Sarah.

Prepare for a heavy dose of noughties nostalgia. The band promise to revisit their smash-hits, speckled with some personal favourites. Expect pyrotechnics, flying harnesses, co-ordinating costumes and big hair (the band has teamed up with sponsors Shark to ensure their strands can withstand some seriously energetic hair flicks each night throughout the tour).

Ahead of the first show, which kicks off in Dublin on 17 May, we caught up with the girls to talk a whole lotta history, fashion fails and beauty wins – and obviously we had to theme the questions to their lyrics…

I’m talking bout a whole lotta history…

What’s your favourite memory with each other?

Nicola: “How can you possibly pick one memory from 22 years? The Brits was a very poignant moment for us. That was a really special time. We’d worked really hard for a lot of years – the single had been number one, the album had been number one, the tour was sold out, then we won a Brit. It felt like everything had been building and then that night everything came together, it was a big moment for us.”

The Girls talk motherhood, beauty and what to expect from their upcoming tour

Boho belts, tank tops and low-slung jeans: fashion is in peak noughties nostalgia mode. And now, on the eve of the Girls Aloud reunion tour in May, we’re cranking up the tunes from the OG noughties girl band. Their fans may be (re)wearing their 2004 ’fits but, for the pop stars, a lot has changed, including their attitude to fame. ‘We don’t give a shit what people think of us,’ says Cheryl Cole.

‘We were really, really nervous the night before the tour was announced,’ admits Kimberley Walsh, who is joined by Cole and bandmates Nicola Roberts and Nadine Coyle today. The girls – now women in their late thirties and early forties – are in full popstar mode, all glossy hair, complementing nude outfits and in-jokes. There was little need for nerves. The news of a comeback caused hysteria among Millennials and the tour promptly sold out. But, as Cole puts it, ‘Under the circumstances it all felt a bit weird.’

The absence of bandmate Sarah Harding, who died from breast cancer in 2021, aged 39, hangs over the tour, but the girls are determined to pay tribute to her. ‘There are going to be so many amazing moments that celebrate Sarah,’ says Roberts. The band are tight-lipped about what these will entail but it’s thought that Harding’s original vocals may be used. ‘We’re not “us” without her so we’ve kept her involved,’ adds Walsh.

Reuniting as a group of four isn’t the only thing that’s different. Cole, Walsh and Coyle are now mothers. Has this influenced their views on touring? ‘If you knew me before I had my son, you don’t know me now,’ Cole muses. ‘I’m a different human being. With motherhood, your whole being and perspective on life changes. Now, performing is just for fun, it’s a joy.’

As they get ready for their reunion tour, the iconic British girl group spill on beauty looks they regret, creative control and which TikTok aesthetic is just their 00s style

Girls Aloud prepare to ride again, with Nicola Roberts, Kimberley Walsh, Nadine Coyle and Cheryl (Tweedy) coming together for a *major* reunion tour. It’s been 22 years since we – as in, those of us old enough to remember 2002 – first saw them form on Pop Stars The Rivals. To say that their return is stirring up a tonne of nostalgia would be an understatement. It’s also an opportunity to celebrate the beloved late Sarah Harding.

Beyond the matching Timberlands, co-ordinated draped lycra dresses, and primary-coloured tights and heels, the five girls set the tone of British beauty in the 00s. Their archive looks are a time capsule for all the hits – and sometimes misses – of the millennial and zillenial coming-of-age. I got lucky enough to meet the band for what felt like the ultimate girls’ loo chinwag.

Greeting four strangers whose faces I’d known most of my life sat in front of me, I was a little nervous. Imagine Girls Aloud not liking you? If their very sweet hellos didn’t put me at ease, Nadine checking if her socks and stiletto combo was in shot did; “I kept my socks on and Victoria [our stylist] would kill me.”

The bands’ stylists and glam team have mostly stayed the same over the years. The band describe them now as mother-like figures in the chaotic, rapidly changing world they were catapulted into as teens; “It was imperative that we had a team around us,” says Nicola. “Lisa [Laudat], our hairdresser, has actually been with us for 20 years now.” MUA Karen Darnell who did Nicola’s makeup that day, worked on their iconic debut video “Sound of the Underground”. These flags couldn’t be more green.

“Camp and chaotic” is how we described this interview in the headline, and it’s apt. Here, Cheryl, Kimberley, Nadine and Nicola discuss all of the above moments in their career, as well as the divisive single they no longer claim, why they don’t feel the need to record new music and why the “stars have aligned” for this exciting new era in Girls Aloud’s history.

Girls, this will be a very camp and gay interview.

Nadine: Love that.

Kimberley: So happy, we are here for this.

The gays love you… You love the gays. Makes sense.

Kimberley: It’s a mutual thing.

Cheryl: I’ve had many text messages saying, ‘The gays are gagged.’ So, I am fully in the know.

I wouldn’t be surprised if the news reveals that a 5.2 magnitude earthquake was registered at 8pm on Wednesday 22nd November from the sound of queers screaming.

Kimberley: One of my favourite messages on socials was the one about the 4, 3, 2, 1 [countdown] saying, ‘This is basically the gay calendar of the year.’

Nicola: Listen to this message from my best friend. He said, “Promo has got the gays up in a heap, deceased, dead, bodies hanging out of bins, Soho is no more, French bulldogs all up for adoption. Due the mass extinction of the gays, girls: go, go, go, go, go!”

Cheryl: My friend text, “Panics in gay.” What does that mean?

Nadine: It’s like you’re panicking, but in gay mode.

It’s like this: [panics in gay].

Kimberley: That is it, come to life.

Nicola: That’s the level of drama that we deserve.

You’ll see it on this tour. Fainting, crying, dying…

Nadine: No, we don’t want anyone dying.

But if I’m going to die, it’s going to be at a Girls Aloud concert. Know what I mean?

Cheryl: You’d be happy?

Nadine: No better place. That’s the way to go out.

Read more of the interview on Gay Times website: https://www.gaytimes.co.uk/originals/girls-aloud-tour-interview/

Aired 30th November, but recorded on 23rd November