It’s been four years since Girls Aloud announced they were reuniting for their incredible ‘Ten’ celebration where they brought us some classics such as ‘Something New’ and ‘On The Metro’ packaged nicely with a collection of their greatest hits. It’s crazy to think that 14 years ago they were just starting off when they were bundled together on Popstars The Rivals on November 30th 2002.
They had an incredible reunion, even though it really was a farewell for fans who have supported them since 2002 and they truly pulled out all the stops – okay maybe apart from a few hiccups such a Beautiful Cause You Love Me (but we won’t talk about that). However, none of the new tracks really matched up to their 2006 hit ‘Something Kinda Ooooh’ which turns 10 years old this Sunday.
With the release of their 2006 Greatest Hits album most likely intending to be the final Girls Aloud album after the shaky performance of ‘Chemistry’ back in 2005, the girls needed a song to launch the campaign. ‘Call The Shots’ was recorded and was ready for release, however, was shelved due to its lack of punch and in reflection, probably wasn’t the best song to launch a Greatest Hits – especially a GIRLS ALOUD collection of singles. The result of this scrapping led to the birth of ‘Something Kinda Ooooh’ which was famously recorded and mastered just days before the deadline.
The track was eventually released on iTunes on 16th October 2006, with physical copies landing the week after. The Greatest Hits which it featured on, ‘The Sound of Girls Aloud’, was released the week after and since it’s release has gone on to sell over a million copies worldwide. Especially impressive as at the time, the industry was at it’s weakest ever.
The track landed the girls with their 13th top 10 hit and the success of the album, made way for another successful arena tour which ultimately guaranteed another two studio albums where the girls would rise to incredible heights (such as the glory of Out of Control’s release). However, the song was also a turning point in the way the girls put on a show. The song was such a dance banger that a full on dance routine was needed – and on tour, they always delivered without fail.
The ‘Out of Control’ Tour in 2009 (where they sold over 300,000 tickets), was most arguably the best tour performance of the song which closed the show before the encore. The high-intensity routine, the glimmering outfits and not to mention the endless confetti. They made a good effort to match this performance in 2013 for the ‘Ten Tour’, and whilst that performance was incredible, it didn’t quite match up to the flawless performance on the previous tour (although it did get top marks for that intro).
And, of course, it goes without saying that, even though it is ten years on, it doesn’t sound a day old. The track was even featured on an advert for The X Factor this year and because the ultimate banger was released before the big dance music craze hit the industry in 2009, it really doesn’t like it was forced, and again, doesn’t sound like it’s aged at all.
And that is why it’ll always be a classic. Girls Aloud never did a conventional ‘girl band’ thing in their entire careers. I mean, just look at their winners single. ‘Sound of the Underground’ SCREAMS unconventional. And of course, in addition to their unconventionality, Something Kinda Ooooh was released around a time that tracks like ‘Bad Day’ by Daniel Powter, and ‘You’re Beautiful’ by James Blunt were the biggest hits of the year.
And I can guarantee that in ten years from now, when the track is celebrating its twentieth anniversary, it’ll most likely still sound as fresh as the day it came out.
