Sound of the Underground (album) written with the aim of launching their own girl group. The song was originally recorded in 2001 by London girl group Orchid, who disbanded before gaining a firm record deal. It was chosen by Girls Aloud's manager Louis Walsh as their debut single. "Sound of the Underground" was 2002's Christmas number one single and spent a further three weeks at number one. "Sound of the Underground" and another Xenomania production, Sugababes' "Round Round", have been called "two huge groundbreaking hits", credited with reshaping British pop music for the 2000s. Following the single's success, Girls Aloud proceeded to begin recording their
The Promise (Girls Aloud song) pyrotechnics occurred at the front of the stage. The group also performed the song on "Friday Night with Jonathan Ross", "GMTV", "T4", and "This Morning" throughout promotion. Girls Aloud performed the song at the annual "Children in Need" telethon, as well as year-end shows like Top of the Pops' Christmas and New Year's Eve specials and 4Music's Top Tunes of 2008. For their variety show "The Girls Aloud Party", which aired between "The X Factor"'s finale and its results show on 13 December, Girls Aloud wore tight silver fishtail dresses. The outfits were compared to those of Diana Ross in