Girls Aloud Eras/Album Concepts
hi there Girls Aloud superfan and first-time poster here! with the now announced re-release of OOC all across my feeds; it's got me thinking of all the different eras and concepts GA have done. what are your thoughts, because i have several haha
with OOC and on my instagram reels showing me the concepts plus the instrumental of The Promise - my first thought is like, this entire album doesn't fit the idea of Out of Control at all haha. Like basically the songs - Loving Kind, Untouchable, Turn to Stone - across the board great songs but are like very much polished put-together in terms of concepts haha like think about now today that Katseye are in their WILD era and their outfits and choreo are so chaotic all over the place so that is fitting - meanwhile the beautiful sparkly dresses for the Promise, i absolutely loved the pink outfits for Loving Kind promo - and really the only TV appearance for Untouchable was the greek goddess concept which is like NOT out of control. so what do I think insteaddd? party girl era! if they were running on the OOC idea then push Sarah to the front and its all club bangers, mixed drinks and techno beats, stumbling home and slipping into your girlfriend's jeans haha so that: I think Miss You Bow Wow is the only OOC that fits the bill
IMO - tangled up is their only cohesive concept (and maybe I am biased as this is my fav album haha). across the board: TU is sleek, stylish, sexy, synthy, sophisticated. If we look at the songs, there is such a thru-line in the production and sound. and even lyrically when Tangled Up is referenced in Close to Love (not even a single!) and i love love LOVE the word stumble that reoccurs as well. and of course the visuals, all of the single sleeves were all tied together cohesively but had their own styles, so sleek clean and honestly stunning. and HELLO they released that rando STYLE dvd because their visuals up to that point were out of this world; the combo of CSF promo being both the 18th century french fashion but also promoting in just stylish highstreet fashion is sooo ::chefs kiss::. I even framed my picture book from the TU vinyl because this photo is basically perfect: Tangled Up with the girls in the most sophisticated sexy outfits and poses and THEN we have them ACTUALLY tangled up in phone wires a la Call the Shots?! im sorry this is top tier Girls Aloud to me and I wish they did another well rounded concept after that with OOC which is just sorta all over the place (my guess is burnout not just the girls but the label and Xenomania plus they all started to venture out of the group.
now with Chemistry - I feel this totally had potential but it got bogged down by a few circumstantial things. First off, to name the album Chemistry when the highlight is Biology, literally that's two different scientific studies girls haha but i would have loved the test tube shot as the album cover pic and a few more songs running on the Science theme - remember the SKO era and the joke that the girls are in business attire at 8am GMTV? Give them glasses and songs about the chemistry of love and I would have been on board haha - AND i feel like xenomania got stuck during Chemistry basically being forced to do two things: Long Hot Summer tie in with Herbie movie, and having to push another Christmas #1 attempt with See the Day - two slots on the album that don’t fit the album concept. Meanwhile what I think COULD have been done in this era is embracing the fact that the girls were shifting into spotlight celebrities at the time and i love love LOVE Models and Swinging London Town - two songs actually I think fit the OOC concept! I would throw in No Good Advice “here we go off the road crank the stereo” plus “baby cause I’m sliding out of control!” like YES totally on brand of the concept of OOC!
Okay everyone, would you move songs from one era to another that would be more fitting? How do you feel about their concept and eras and what could we have seen more of? Any favs??