If the reviews are anything to go by, The Girls Aloud Show is an incredible night of pop nostalgia, so it’s surprising that ticket prices for Cheryl, Nadine Coyle, Nicola Roberts and Kimberley Walsh’s comeback tour have been halved in a bid to fill arenas. And, after all the hard work and endless promotion that came beforehand, we’re told Cheryl is especially upset that things haven’t turned out how she’d hoped.
“This is obviously not the big fanfare Cheryl had in mind and she’s feeling it more than the other girls, because it comes off the back of her failed solo comeback,” an insider tells heat.
“It was tough enough for her to call it a day as a solo artist and Girls Aloud always felt like a foolproof fall-back plan for her. The interest in their reunion seemed huge and they’ve been teasing fans and building the excitement for months, so for them to not be completely selling out arenas like they used to has come as a blow.”
It’s not surprising that the 40 year old is the band member most anguished by the disappointing ticket sales. In 2014, Cheryl became the first British female solo artist to have five No1 singles in the UK and was reportedly being paid £1.4million to appear as a judge on The X Factor. Cut to just a few years later, and the mum of one’s solo career came to a disappointing end with her single Let You, which failed to crack the Top 50.
And now Girls Aloud – who had four chart-topping singles in their heyday – seem to be following the same trajectory as Cheryl’s solo career, which is devastating for the Fight For This Love hitmaker.
Our source adds, “Up until now, the mood with the band had been really strong and they were hoping to build on this momentum to get back in the studio and lay down some brand-new tracks, but record companies could be put off by sluggish ticket sales, so Cheryl can’t help feeling they’ve failed to achieve what they set out to do. She feels like it’s a let down, as it’s just so different from what she was used to at the height of her popularity. There was a time when British Vogue was practically begging her to be on the cover and she was the ‘Nation’s Sweetheart’.”
But, the source adds, ultimately the tour has been about Girls Aloud getting back together and celebrating their late bandmate Sarah Harding’s legacy.
“Cheryl is doing her best to focus on the positive and rally the girls together to finish off the tour in style,” our insider says. “They are all so proud of how they have paid tribute to Sarah, and they know they’ve done the best job they can with this tour.”