Girls Aloud poke fun at resurfaced Cheryl comment ahead of reunion shows

Pop stars are preparing to embark on their sold-out reunion tour in May

Girls Aloud have shared a new clip in which they poke fun at bandmate Cheryl for her past comments about the prospect of a reunion.

The girl group delighted fans last year when they announced a huge UK and Ireland tour for 2024, with plans to celebrate late member Sarah Harding, who died of breast cancer in 2021.

Along with Harding, Girls Aloud rose to fame while competing on ITV talent show Popstars: The Rivals in 2002, splitting in 2013 following a greatest hits tour.

Singer Cheryl had previously brushed off questions about whether a reunion tour would ever take place.

Speaking to camera for the Girls Aloud documentary Off the Record in 2006, she insisted: “There’ll be no reunions, though. Could you imagine? 30-odd-year-old... ‘I’m just a love machine’? Nah. No thanks.”

In their latest Instagram post, Girls Aloud gather around Cheryl, awkwardly glancing around as they play a Lady Gaga clip that says: “Oh look... you know what? I don’t... I... we didn’t say that, no, but it looks an awful lot like that doesn’t it?”

The post is captioned with Cheryl’s quote: “There’ll be no reunions though.”

“So... yeah, anyway... See you at the Girls Aloud Show next month,” the group joked.

In a statement last year announcing the tour, Cheryl said that a reunion had in fact been on the band’s minds until Harding’s death.

“We all started talking about the possibility of doing something to celebrate Girls Aloud’s 20-year anniversary a few years ago. The anniversary seemed like an obvious thing that we would celebrate. But when Sarah fell ill all priorities changed,” the “Love Machine” singer explained.

“She passed away a year before the anniversary and it just didn’t feel right, it felt too soon. But now, I think there is an energy that does makes it feel right. It’s the right time to celebrate Sarah, it’s the right time to celebrate the band and the right time to celebrate the fact we can still do this 21 years later. That’s a big honour in lots of ways.”

Sarah Harding died of breast cancer in 2022 (PA Archive)

Kimberley Walsh added that the band has noticed an “outpouring” of love from their fans following Harding’s death, adding that the love they have felt has somehow “ignited” the band again.

“Over the last year, we’ve felt this outpouring of love – obviously towards Sarah, but actually towards all of us as a group. And I guess it’s ignited something in all of us again,” Walsh said. “It feels like something has changed and it does feel like the right time to celebrate Sarah and the 20-year anniversary that we didn’t celebrate at the time.”

The Girls Aloud reunion shows will kick off from 18 May at the 3Arena in Dublin and conclude on 29 June at the M&S Bank Arena in Liverpool.