Pop group Girls Aloud have announced a massive reunion tour for 2024, bringing their 11-year break to an end.

Cheryl, Kimberley, Nadine and Nicola will hit the road in May, playing “all the hits” and “a few favourites of our own”, they tell BBC News.

The shows will be dedicated to their former bandmate, Sarah Harding, who died of cancer in 2021.

“We’re going to do our absolute utmost to celebrate her in the most enormous, magical way,” says Nicola Roberts.

“For us, it will feel very much like she’s there,” adds Kimberley Walsh. “She came alive on stage. That was the happiest she ever was.”

But tabloid reports that the band have also recorded a new album and filmed a music video are untrue, they say.

“There is no new music and there is no video – although we’ve shot a commercial,” says Nadine Coyle.

“Making new music without Sarah would be odd,” confirms Cheryl. “But celebrating what we made together? Fabulous.”

Girls Aloud were formed 21 years ago on reality TV show Popstars: The Rivals. The format required that they be pitted against a “rival” boyband, One True Voice, with both acts competing for the Christmas number one.

All eyes were on the boys, but Girls Aloud blew them away with the eccentric, skittering drum-and-bass anthem Sound of the Underground.

They went on to score 20 more top 10 hits, including three further number ones and Brit Award-winning single The Promise.

In an era of formulaic pop, they were a blast of fresh air. Their songs were ballsy, anarchic and defiantly anti-boredom – from the two-finger salute of No Good Advice to the melancholy beauty of Call The Shots.

They first parted ways in 2009 after playing Wembley Stadium with Coldplay, before reuniting for new music and a 10th anniversary tour in 2012-13.

A second reunion was planned to celebrate their 20th anniversary, but then Sarah was diagnosed with breast cancer.

Read more: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-67491420