Sound of The Underground (Girls Aloud Album) - Conception

Conception

Girls Aloud were formed through the ITV1 programme Popstars: The Rivals by a public vote on 30 November 2002. Their debut single "Sound of the Underground" was one of sixty songs that Brian Higgins and Miranda Cooper had written with the aim of launching their own girl group. The song was originally recorded in 2001 by London girl group Orchid, who disbanded before gaining a firm record deal. It was chosen by Girls Aloud's manager Louis Walsh as their debut single. "Sound of the Underground" was 2002's Christmas number one single and spent a further three weeks at number one. "Sound of the Underground" and another Xenomania production, Sugababes' "Round Round", have been called "two huge groundbreaking hits", credited with reshaping British pop music for the 2000s.

Following the single's success, Girls Aloud proceeded to begin recording their debut album, which shares its title with the single. They reunited with Brian Higgins and Xenomania. Referring to "No Good Advice", Brian Higgins said that Girls Aloud initially didn't like the song - "we played them some of it, and they said: 'That's not our sound.' I objected to the use of that phrase 'our sound'. I told them they had five minutes to talk about whether or not they wanted to continue with me. They went away and spoke about it and since then it's been fine. They come in expecting to work, and there's a trust there which, I think, dates back to that day."

Xenomania had initially only created two songs for the album, "Sound of the Underground" and "No Good Advice". Higgins said, "They'd sent them off to these other Swedish guys and different people in the UK I said, 'There are two completely separate groups on this record. We need to get rid of six tracks and I'll replace them'. We did that and allowed the album to stand up as a body of work." Sound of the Underground remains Girls Aloud's only studio album not to be entirely written and produced by of Brian Higgins and Xenomania. Girls Aloud with a variety of mostly British musicians and producers, such as Betty Boo and the Beatmasters, Graham Stack, and Steve Anderson. "White Lies" was co-written and produced by Tim Kellett, a former member of The Durutti Column, Simply Red, and Olive. The album was completed in April 2003 and described as a mix of "Blondie and Bananarama, with a smattering of the Spice Girls at their best thrown in."