 |
UNTANGLING THE TRUTH BEHIND GIRLS ALOUD
The fab five released their fourth album, Tangled Up recently. The girls tell us about their new songs, how they still get nervous when performing and how they deal with being gossip column favourites.
If the tabloids are to be believed, Girls Aloud are an intimidating bunch; bitchy, loud and not afraid of voicing their often controversial views. They like a drink too, as the papers like to point out on a daily basis when they print pictures of the girls falling out of taxis and nightclubs in the wee small hours.
Entering a hotel room to meet all five of them, then, might seem like walking into a vipers den of candid opinion and lairy behaviour, but the truth is much more civilised than that. It almost always is.
Lounging around on sofas having just finished their lunch, the girls are the picture of normality. Dressed casually and chatting enthusiastically among themselves, they could be any quintet of close friends at a sleepover or similar girly gathering. Theyre all gorgeous too, somehow even prettier in the flesh than the countless airbrushed images of them that have adorned many a glossy magazine since they formed five years ago.
Surprisingly, as Kimberley explains, theyre feeling nervous ahead of the release of their fourth studio album.
Its not a new thing, we get nervous about everything, the Bradford-born lass says. We just still really care. Everything has gone great so far, but we still worry. Because things have gone so well for us, we want to keep that level up and improve if anything. Thats quite a high expectation, so we end up putting a lot of pressure on
ourselves.
Its immediately clear after meeting the girls that each member brings something very different to the band.
Kimberley is the wisest and most mature, offering reasoned and articulate answers to whatever question thrown her way, while Nadine - wearing small shorts and voluminous hair while the others are tracksuited and ponytailed - adds glamour. Shes also famous in the States, thanks to her high-profile relationship with Desperate
Housewives star Jesse Metcalfe. She owns a chain of restaurants there, and property in LA.
Cheryl, married to Chelsea defender Ashley Cole, is blessed with a steely attitude and a quick wit - not to mention a diamond ring as big as a house - and Scouser Nicola (shes actually from Runcorn in Cheshire) has a bone-dry humour, sometimes mistaken for her being moody or sullen.
Sarah, meanwhile, is asleep under a pile of coats for most of our interview and is lost behind her outlandishly sized shades. Maybe shes ill, maybe shes hungover - either way, she certainly adds the rocknroll element missing from most girl bands.
This new album then, Tangled Up...
Its more mature, definitely. Less tongue-in-cheek, adds Sarah, briefly lifting her head from her slumber.
All five members are united in praise for recent single Call The Shots, while Cant Speak French, rumoured to be the next release, is a particular favourite of Cheryls.
It gives me goosebumps that song, I love it, she beams. I cant speak French although I did go out with a French boy for a little while, so I got some CDs to learn the language. I picked up a bit, but Ive forgotten apart from a few bad words.
The album also features a number of songwriting credits for the girls, building on the handful of B-sides and album tracks theyve contributed to in the past.
We never got into this industry to be brilliant lyricists, says Cheryl, but recently weve felt more comfortable with writing bits and pieces. Sometimes you just have to let people do what theyre talented at, and stick to what you know best.
Thrown together as winners of Popstars: The Rivals, the girls soon gelled as a band and have gone on to break chart records. When their last single Sexy! No No No hit the Top 10, they also entered the Guinness Book Of Records as the most successful female group in UK chart history.
The song was their 16th consecutive song to hit the Top 10, smashing the previous standards set by Destinys Child and GAs spiritual mothers, the Spice Girls. Its only fair really, as neither of those bands had a song to come close to the pop perfection of Biology either. Or No Good Advice, The Show, Something Kinda Ooh and Love Machine for that matter.
Such success does have its downsides, however. Namely being pursued by mercenary photographers on a daily basis. You wont hear the girls moaning about it, but thats not to say they like it. |
 |
|
