Thirteen

Despite my fondness for both the character and the actress, this is not about Dr. Remy Hadley, better known as "Thirteen" from the great TV series called House M.D., it's in fact a follow up to Twelve, posted here a year ago.



Not that there's much warranting a sequel - bands broken up more than 2 and a half years ago don't usually add much to their story, and Girls Aloud are no exception -, but I quite like the number 13, and I just couldn't resist the opportunity to use it. So here I am again, going on about a pop group, hopefully not as lengthily as I did the previous time.

The first thing that comes to mind is that when they were formed among slightly unusual circumstances 13 years ago, the same thing happened that happens every time when a great band is formed: the collective becomes more than the sum of its parts. They might not have been the best singers or performers individually, but somehow they brought the best out of each other. They're probably not the greatest academics of our time, and pretty girls are frequently labelled stupid, but they were actually quite smart, making smart decisions most of the time, they took risks but didn't go too far, they handled whatever was thrown at them quite well, and didn't take themselves too seriously, making it even more fun for us.

I sort of enjoy the fact that their music was so interesting that it limited their success. Most of their singles weren't A-listed by radio stations, and they only went to #1 when they had an extra push: the first one came on the back of a popular TV show, the second and third were covers released for charity (and the latter was a collaboration with another famous pop group), and the last one was propelled by another popular TV show. I'm not saying that these things meant topping the charts automatically - there are several examples to prove that theory wrong -, but they certainly helped.

Some say the only reason of that success was Xenomania, the songwriting and production team behind most of their songs (and every hit single), but I can't agree with that wholeheartedly. It cannot be a simple coincidence that Xenomania produced their best and most memorable work for the Girls, and it's also worth noting that they aren't doing that well since Girls Aloud went on a hiatus in 2009.

Regardless of some things turning sour since then, there's plenty of audio and video footage to put a smile on our faces, great songs and hillarious moments. Happy Girls Aloud Day, everyone!