Girls Aloud’s impressive body of work has long been part of the pop canon, still dominating the playlists of millennials across the UK in 2017 (we’ve all been under the DJ booth screaming for “Love Machine”, right?). Their debut single, 2002’s banger “Sound of the Underground” continues to be considered a brit-pop game changer, and despite the group splitting four years ago, the gals are still very much in demand (I mean, Sarah just won CBB!)

Thankfully, Nadine Coyle is on hand to serve up some new tunes to fill our aural Girls Aloud fix, teaming up with Brian Higgins (who was basically responsible for all your fave GA jams) on her upcoming single, “Go To Work.” For the past two years she’s been writing new material, exploring her new found “soulful” voice.

Ahead tomorrow’s drop (the single lands 8 September), we caught up with Nadine to discuss the evolution of her sound, her relationship with her Girls Aloud bandmates, and the power of the potato… (yes seriously!)

How has your summer been? What have you been up to?

I went to Spain a few times. I love Spain! And being in London you hop on a plane to Europe and you’re there! There’s this beautiful part, my parents actually took us there when we were kids and I was searching the world for this beach and it was in my mind and I thought it must have just been in my memory, but it turns out, it exists and it’s in Spain and I love it!

Nice. So you’ve just signed with Virgin EMI, how does that feel?

Surreal, completely surreal! I’ve got the chance to do it before and I’ve got the chance to do it again. It brings a tear to my eye, everybody is so good and so amazing that I just feel really really really fortunate.

You’ve had a bit of time away from music, how does it feel coming back to it?

To be a singer you can just walk around the house and sing, you don’t have to be in a studio or on a stage. [It’s] something I’ve always loved to do. [I’m] working with Brian Higgins again, who did all of the Girls Aloud stuff.

You must have a great working relationship with him!

I met Brian when I was 17, we’ve done every Girls Aloud song ever really, all of our singles have all been Brian, he knows how to push me and we just have a great way of working together. I love the challenge with different tunes.

Considering your time away, do you feel nervous or excited about coming back?

I feel excited because it’s one of those really odd things where it’s so out there, like oh my god, you shoot a video, you do photo shoots, you do all these things, it’s such an exciting job that I’m really really happy to be back and I’m really happy to be here and I’m really happy to have all the people here and have these opportunities.

What can we expect to hear? What’s the sound that you’re going for?

The sound is definitely pop. I’m all about the pop! My voice has changed a bit since before, so it’s a bit more soulful, soulful melodies, but just fun, the whole thing! What you can expect is to get up and be dancing and be able to put it on and hopefully feel energised and in a better mood, that’s the hope, that’s what we’re really going for, fun times!