Girls Aloud by Louis Walsh until 2005 when Hilary Shaw replaced him. The new group competed with the boys' winning group, One True Voice to have 2002's Christmas number one single. Girls Aloud won the battle with their single "Sound of the Underground", produced by Brian Higgins and Xenomania. The song spent four consecutive weeks at number one and was certified platinum in March 2003. The song received critical acclaim; Alexis Petridis of "The Guardian" stated that "it proved a first: it was a reality pop record that didn't make you want to do physical harm to everyone involved in its manufacture".
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