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Girls Aloud couldn’t let their reunion tour end without Cheryl addressing the elephant in the room – that being a viral video.
The Promise hitmakers brought their anniversary tour to a close in Liverpool on Sunday, their first without late bandmate Sarah Harding, before performing a one-off special concert at London’s O2 Shepherd’s Bush Empire on Tuesday.
Fans got a surprise last night when the girl group, also consisting of Nicola Roberts, Nadine Coyle and Kimberley Walsh, halted the show right before singing their 2004 hit Love Machine.
It was all so that Cheryl, 41, could set the record straight about a resurfaced video of her that has been going viral for the past year.
In the clip, the former X Factor judge is seen musing on Girls Aloud’s future in the E4 documentary Off the Record, saying: ‘Can you imagine a 30-year-old [singing] “I’m just a love machine?” Nah. No thanks.’
During last night’s show, Cheryl addressed her iconic quote and told the audience: ‘Before we move onto this next one I’d just like to clear something up. You might have seen a video floating around that is of me saying I would never perform Love Machine in my 30s…’
Cheryl and Nicola shared candid moments with the audience during Girls Aloud’s final tour show
Girls Aloud reunited to belatedly celebrate their 20th anniversary (Picture: Rex Features)
‘OK well if we’re going to go there, last tour I was 29, today I’m 41,’ pointing out that she, in fact, did manage to avoid singing Love Machine in her 30s thanks to the group’s hiatus.
It was an eventful tour for the Sound of the Underground hitmakers, as they had experienced everything from wardrobe malfunctions to forgotten song lyrics and even Cheryl nearly being pulled off stage by an overzealous fan.
Oftentimes, emotions were high as both the band and fans mourned Harding’s death.
After performing Love Machine in Liverpool, the group reflected on losing Harding and their career before singing A Whole Lot Of History.
Harding died in September 2021 at the age of 39 after being diagnosed with breast cancer.
Nicola said late bandmate Sarah Harding was ‘very involved’ in the show (Picture: Rex Features)
Girls Aloud will perform one more show at London’s O2 Arena but their future afterwards remains to be seen (Picture: JR / BACKGRID)
Harding died in 2021 at the age of 39 (Picture: Getty Images)
‘We couldn’t have known then, what a journey they would go on as five girls, and now as four, missing and loving our dear Sarah,’ Nicola told fans at the M&S Bank Arena in Liverpool.
Nicola, 38, had earlier told Metro.co.uk that Sarah was ‘very involved’ in the reunion tour, which was to celebrate their two decades in the music industry since being formed on Popstars: The Rivals.
‘She’s very involved in the show. That was the priority from the get-go,’ Nicola said. ‘We planned those moments carefully… everybody adding what they wanted to see of Sarah, and what we thought the fans would want to see, keeping all of her parts in there, but finding the balance, thinking about how her family would see the show, and her friends, and what she would like to have seen of herself.’
She added: ‘There was a lot of thought and discussion. I think we got it right… the DMs are full of people saying we did Sarah proud. It’s very rewarding to know that we did our friend proud.’
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