As far as pop groups go, Girls Aloud do make some good pop records. They can all sing to a degree and they all look the part, it has to be said. The real key to their success is the Xenomania songwriting team - not to dissimilar to The Matrix songwriting collective that made Avril Lavigne a star. The Xenomania tunes have a real edge compared to most pop records. They are full on and do have some very nice hooks that suit the girls very well. Like the Sugababes, the do the upbeat pop thing so well, but they can adapt to the more slushier side of things and have done some reasonable covers.

Whilst they certainly wont be remembered in 20 years time, they are a sign of the times. Think along the lines of the Spice Girls with a kick up the arse. I tend to prefer their more upbeat style and i really do rate "Biology" as a very very good pop record.

Oh, for the record, i'm a Nicola man myself!

Girls Aloud - a veritable avalanche of make-up, pouting and bare flesh. A project of 'Popstars: The Rivals', one of the earlier 'reality' music shows where 5 girls and 5 boys were picked from thousands of hopefuls to appear in two single-sex bands who would then go head-to-head for the number 1 chart slot.
The male band were picked by Pete Waterman who being a bit of pop traditionalist went down the 'vocal harmony group' route well trodden by the likes of Westlife with One True Voice.
So when it came down to the final and the two bands performing their respective songs on one hand we had One True Voice with their sharp suits and syrupy lyrics and on the other we had 5 blindingly attractive young ladies (ok, 4 and a half - the jury's always been out on Nicola) in skimpy outifts shaking their collective booties to the immediately arresting and upbeat 'Sound Of The Underground' - a tune that sonically was a distant cousin to 'Addicted To Bass' by Puretone.

Guess who won? Well I say won, Girls Aloud completely thrashed the passe OTV into the ground, grabbed the number slot by a considerable margin and went on to greater successes. Meanwhile One True Voice disbanded within 6 months....

So what we have now is a girl band as geared towards the Nuts and FHM reading blokes as cd-buying teenage girls. Far more mature and sexually provokative than the (with hindsight) childish Spice Girls. Whatever you think about the songs, the girls themselves and the whole nature of reality talent shows, someone is consistently pushing the right buttons as the hits seem to be still racking up after 5 years - aside from the odd blip (Cheryl ending up in court after a to-do with a bathroom attendant in a club) the mixture of upbeat numbers, movie song placements, charity records, and kitsch cover versions seem to keep the lasses going for longer than your average girl group.

Me? Im a Nadine man myself :P