It’s officially time to deck the halls, because the nation’s favourite pop princesses, Girls Aloud, are serving up a dazzling dose of nostalgia (and plenty of glitter) with the long-awaited re-release of their festive mini-album “Christmas ’Round At Ours” — this time as a fully fledged standalone record.
Originally tucked away as a bonus disc with their 2005 album ‘Chemistry’, the sparkly holiday collection has become a fan-favourite over the years — packed with classic covers, cheeky charm, and that unmistakable Xenomania pop magic!
Now, twenty years later, it’s finally getting the star treatment it deserves, complete with a remaster, a brand-new remix (‘Not Tonight Santa – Christmas Party Mix’), and even a gorgeous red vinyl edition that is almost guaranteed to match your Christmas décor.
The album’s track-list can only be described as a stocking full of pop treats: ‘Merry Xmas Everybody’, ‘I Wish It Could Be Christmas Everyday’, and the delightfully flirty original ‘Not Tonight Santa’.
To make things even merrier, the re-issue comes with unseen photos, updated sleeve notes, and that gloriously kitschy 1950s-inspired artwork that made the original such a cult favourite.
The album’s focus track ‘Not Tonight Santa’ will be accompanied by an adorable festive video featuring previously unseen footage of all five of the girls from the Girls Aloud Christmas archive.
Looking back on the origins of the albums conception, each of the girls reflect in their own way saying…
“Just as we were adding the finishing touches to what would become our ‘Chemistry’ album, our producer Brian Higgins had a wildcard last minute idea. As the album had been scheduled for a December release, how about we record some bonus Christmas tracks? Our record label loved the idea but went one step further and suggested we record a whole Christmas album which could be packaged with the main album as a strictly limited edition deluxe format.” — Kimberley
“We decided to record 4 classic Christmas covers – and the Xenomania team were going to write 4 brand-new original Girls Aloud Christmas songs. There was only one issue – time. We had one week for the remaining new songs to be written and to record everything. Everyone went into festive overdrive. While we were recording the Christmas covers in the Xenomania studio (we picked ‘Jingle Bell Rock’ because it was in the movie Mean Girls), Miranda Cooper and Lisa Cowling spent a weekend in Devon writing lyrics to the four brand new Christmas songs.” — Nicola
“The new songs were all highly kitsch and sometimes ridiculous. The album was always meant to be called “Christmas ‘Round At Ours” – that’s why the Christmas TV advert was themed ‘At home with Girls Aloud’, but it was decided it was too confusing to give it a name of its own, as it would only ever be available as part of the ‘Chemistry’ album. Until now that is.” — Cheryl
“The day we photographed the front sleeve was the same day we were photographed for the main ‘Chemistry’ sleeve. When we walked into the photo studio it was like walking on to a film set – the kitchen scene you see on the front of the album was a set build and it looked so impressive, like something from a 1950s Hollywood movie. If you’d told us then than many years later the chosen image from the day would be celebrated by the National Portrait Gallery (which it did in Christmas 2023) we’d never have believed you!” — Nadine
“Christmas ‘Round At Ours” is available to download / stream now! CD and vinyl editions will be released November 14th and are available to pre-order here.
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