A four month gap followed their initial success whilst label Polydor Records and manager Louis Walsh found their next single. 'If You Wanna Roll' was the first idea, but this was ditched due to connections with a previous Popstars act. Then it seemed certain that 'Cant Stop Rockin' (now 'Mars Attack') would be the second single.
Then 'No Good Advice' landed in the office and the record company immediately saw its potential. Following a break at Christmas the band members all moved into the same apartment block in London, so they were all close by just like in the Popstars house. Also at the beginning of the year there was the toilet incident involving Cheryl, which many speculated could see the end of Girls Aloud. Luckily, this was not the case as Polydor and her bandmates were behind her 100%.
Then, there was the cancellation of the Popstars tour, which also put the bands popularity into question. However, nothing was going to stop these fiesty ladies from becoming Britains favourite girl group.
In May 2003, 'No Good Advice' went to #2 in the charts and become one of the years most talked about hits. It was another shock to the public who never expected the girls to produce such a high quality second single. A critically acclaimed #2 album followed shortly after and confirmed that Girls Aloud were here to stay.
At the same time, Girls Aloud's rivals One True Voice announced their split following the departure of Daniel and a flop second release.
Not long after that, 'Life Got Cold' became their 3rd Top 3 single and showed that they were capable of doing slower tracks as well as upbeat pop songs. The girls performed at various summer festivals and gained more support as they prepared for another release in November. Cheryl was ill with a kidney infection for some of the events, but returned in October to film the groups next promotional video.
Before that, the singer was cleared of racially aggravated assault but charged with common assault and had to take part in 120 hours of community service. Once again, newspapers were certain the group would loose fans. But they proved them wrong yet again by securing another #2 single with their cover of 'Jump' which appeared on the Love Actually soundtrack!
By the end of their first year as a band, Girls Aloud had officially become one of sexiest, most successful girl bands in Britain and winners of a Disney Channel Kid's Award! Their album went platinum and their singles were entering charts throughout Europe. They took a well deserved break over Christmas before heading back into the studio at the start of 2004, to begin work on the second studio album.