It's been just over three years since one of the darkest days in recent pop history when Girls Aloud finished their 'Ten: The Hits Tour' and announced their split through the hallowed medium of Twitlonger (like, seriously?).
Of course, Girls Aloud were one of Britain's most illustrious girl groups, producing a mammoth 21 Top 10 singles, a record still held in the UK, and four Number Ones. Their breakout hit, 'Sound of the Underground', is often heralded as igniting a pop revolution in the early 2000s and kickstarted an 11-year relationship with production team Xenomania.
Since that sad day in 2013, however, Cheryl, Nadine, Kimberly, Sarah and Nicola have been rather busy with solo careers, musicals, babies, divorces, gas leaks and reality TV shows. Here's exactly what they've been up to…
CHERYL
It's unclear at this stage whether Cheryl is going to keep her current married name of Fernandez-Versini. Not that she needs to of course, as our Cheryl has arguably become the most well-known member of Girls Aloud.
Prior to the band's reunion and subsequent split, Cheryl's career was on a high. Her stints as a judge on The X Factor had elevated her to national treasure status, while her solo music career had produced three of the most iconic singles of the last decade, 'Fight For This Love', 'Promise This' and the Calvin Harris-produced megabanger 'Call My Name'.
What to Read Next
It's also worth noting that during this time, Cheryl was also responsible for the invention of the double sex-crab, a dance routine so bizarre that it was immediately recreated the world over.
Following a public falling-out with Simon Cowell in 2011 over an overly-large bouffant, purple flares and a little thing like being fired from The X Factor USA, Cheryl agreed to come back to the (slightly dwindling) UK version of the show in 2014 for a reported £1.5 million.
Of course, there's no point in doing The X Factor as a popstar judge if you don't have music to plug. That year, Cheryl released two Number One Singles, the Tinie Tempah-assisted 'Crazy Stupid Love' and the Bonnie Mckee-written 'I Don't Care', a feat that would make her the only UK female artist to achieve five solo Number One singles (until Jess Glynne).
However, being Cheryl is not an easy ride, and only this year the 32-year-old announced that she was to divorce her husband of 18 months, French playboy and restaurateur Jean-Bernard Fernandez-Versini.
Don't feel too sorry for our Cheryl though, as the singer has been linked to One Direction's Liam Payne. Not only that, but she's announced that she won't be returning to The X Factor, but will instead focus on recording new music, expected to be released later in 2016.
Give us some bangers pls, Cheryl.
NADINE COYLE
During Girls Aloud's hiatus, Nadine Coyle also released a solo album in conjunction with Tesco. The 2010 album, Insatiable, didn't quite match the commercial performance of her fellow bandmate's, landing at Number 42 on the Official Album Chart, but it did produce the now (semi)iconic single of the same name. Seriously, what a banger.
Unlike the rest of Girls Aloud, Coyle has been quite vocal about the band's split. After that fateful tweet was sent, the Irish star took to her own Twitter claiming that she "had no part in any of this split business" and that she "want[ed] to keep going". *sad face*.
While there might be some bad blood between the former band members, when Nadine's baby girl Anaíya Bell was born in 2014, in the spirit of 'Stand By You' the other girls sent their congratulations. Likewise, Nadine sent Cheryl an email to congratulate her on her wedding.
As if popping out a baby wasn't enough, Nadine also took part in the 2014 revival of Michael Flatley's Lord Of The Dance: Dangerous Game, joining the show again in 2015 to reprise her role as the goddess Erin.
More recently, Coyle has spoken out about her near-death experience, after she suffered carbon-monoxide poisoning following a gas leak. She also sang a bonkers rendition of 'Voulez-Vous' as part of ITV's ABBA Christmas Party.
Musically, Nadine has been recording for the past two years, even joining forces with former-Xenomania mastermind Brian Higgins, while the material was touted as being "similar" to London Grammar (*THUMBS DOWN EMOJI*). She also released a duet with Westlife's Shane Filan titled 'I Could Be', with hopes that her second solo album will be released at some point in 2016.
That was, of course, before Nadine revealed that she wanted to change careers entirely. Taking to social media earlier this year, the singer claimed that she was going back to school to get a medical degree with the aims of becoming a psychiatrist. What a time to be alive.
KIMBERLEY WALSH
Good ol' Kimbo was always the most stable member of Girls Aloud. Following the release of her autobiography, appropriately titled A Whole Lot of History, in 2013, Kimberly revealed that she was pregnant, giving birth to her son in September 2014.
Walsh's post-Aloud career might not include record-breaking singles, but her work in London's West End is not to be sniffed at, and even landed her a solo record in the shape of 2013's Centre Stage, a collection of songs from screen and stage. Likewise, she joined the 2015 production of Elf: The Musical, playing the role of Jovie. In April of this year, it was rumoured that Walsh would be taking to the stage in a musical adaptation of the 1993 rom-com Sleepless in Seattle.
Representing her Yorkshire roots, Kimberly recorded a duet (bizarrely) with Fame Academy runner-up Alistair Griffin titled 'The Road'. What was it in aid of? It could only be the 2014 Tour De France's Grand Départ in Yorkshire… what else? Obviously getting the bug, Kimberly also took part in the recording of England's 2014 World Cup song, a stirring cover of Take That's 'Greatest Day' alongside Emma Bunton, Mel C, Eliza Doolittle (!), Pixie Lott and many more. Queen of sport-related one-off singles.
Kimberly also appeared as a contestant on The Great Sport Relief Bake Off, and recently co-presented Channel 4's Weekend Brunch as part of Grand National Day.
In January 2016, Kimberly married her partner Justin Scott, accompanied by her Girls Aloud bffs Cheryl and Nicola. Aww.
SARAH HARDING
Sarah Harding has been threatening to release a solo album since the halcyon days of 2012. However, only last year it seemed that Sarah was finally ready to unleash her music to the world and indeed she did in the shape of the Threads EP. Unfortunately, the rocky, dubstep-infused eponymous lead single failed to do, well, anything, and didn't chart.
Luckily for Sarah, she's found some luck with television. Appearing on BBC reality show Tumble, she made it to the final, and she had a brush the culinary world on the 2015 series of Celebrity MasterChef.
Ms. Harding has also made quite the name as an actress. Having already landed a lead role in the 2009 film St Trinian's 2: The Legend of Fritton's Gold, Sarah appeared alongside EastEnders bad boy Danny Dyer in the tragic 2012 film Run For Your Wife, also starring Denise van Outen. And, last year, she made her soap debut as Robert Preston's estranged wife Joni in Coronation Street. Yet, sadly it wasn't meant to be, and Sarah's character's storyline wasn't extended beyond the scheduled four episodes.
This year, Sarah appeared on Channel 4's death-trap The Jump, where she was forced to pull out of the competition after a ligament in her leg ruptured. OUCH!
NICOLA ROBERTS
The most enigmatic member of Girls Aloud, Nicola Roberts emerged from the band as pop's darling. Her 2009 album, Cinderella's Eyes, received almost unanimous praise, despite not setting the charts alight.
Nicola's musical prowess extended to her work with Girls Aloud, with co-writes on the stomping 'On The Metro' and 'Something New'. However, it doesn't stop there. Nicola has also worked with worthy Girls Aloud heiresses Little Mix, co-writing one song for DNA and two for 2013's Salute. Nicola also helped her old pal Cheryl out with her fourth album Only Human, penning four songs for the collection.
If it's a follow-up to Cinderella's Eyes you're after then you might be in for a long wait. While rumours that the singer was working on a new album began to surface two years ago, Nicola told Radio 1 that she wasn't really focused on her own album and instead was writing for others, including a possible collaboration with PC Music's Sophie and A.G. Cook.
While in Girls Aloud, Nicola wasn't afraid to speak up about her issues and insecurities, and was involved in anti-tanning and anti-bullying activism. Indeed, this philanthropic side to her hasn't died down, as only this year Nicole appeared on BBC's This Week to call for more mental health education in schools. "We're taught about how our bodies work, how our hearts work," she said, "but there's nothing about the brain."
Similarly, Roberts has also chastised the government for failing to crackdown on sexting and online predators in schools. Basically, it seems that Nicola should be our next Prime Minister.
