Cheryl reveals Girls Aloud's 'emotional' reason for playing same song before every gig

Simon Duke

20 June 2024 at 11:26 am·2-min read

Cheryl has revealed to fans why exactly the same song is played right before Girls Aloud come on stage every night and it's all down to late bandmate Sarah Harding.

As soon as it was announced that the Brit Award winners were reuniting to go back on the road, excitement was at fever pitch amongst their fans, meaning that tickets flew out for the many arena dates as soon as they went on sale, forcing more to be added due to high demand.

Girls Aloud's The Show tour kicked off in Dublin on May 17 and since then the Popstars The Rivals winners have played to captive audiences in the likes of Manchester, Nottingham and Glasgow, as well as playing three consecutive nights on Cheryl's home city of Newcastle, during which the Geordie star became emotional as she revealed just how much the support of her own had meant to get over the years.

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This week Cheryl, Nadine, Kimberley and Nicola have been in Birmingham for a host of concerts at the World Resorts Arena and, it was midway through the second of those, that Cheryl spoke on the inspiration for Shakira track Waka Waka being the last one played before Girls Aloud arrive on stage every night.

And she explained that the reason that the World Cup anthem from 2010 has such a special place in their hearts is that it was late star Sarah's favourite song, with her often dancing to it on FaceTime during chats with the other girls.

Sarah died in September 2021 at the age of just 39, after a battle with cancer, with her legacy very much living on in the tour, with a poignant tribute to her during Whole Lotta History and her vocals being used for other songs like I'll Stand By You and The Promise, the latter featuring her iconic 'Here I am, walking primrose' line.