Girls Aloud - Sound Of The Underground

What this video is

Released 16 December 2002, 'Sound of the Underground' served as the debut single for Girls Aloud, formed through the ITV1 reality competition Popstars: The Rivals. The song — written by Brian Higgins, Niara Scarlett, and Miranda Cooper, and produced by Xenomania — became the UK Christmas number one, spending four weeks at the top of the chart. The video's deliberately underground, industrial visual grammar ran…

Why it matters

A landmark artefact at the intersection of UK reality-television pop and Xenomania's art-pop production philosophy. The video's industrial warehouse aesthetic and rapid-cut editing codified a new visual template for British girl groups, departing from the pastel, choreography-first conventions of…

The director

Phil Griffin is a British music video director who worked extensively with Girls Aloud during their early career. He directed the band's first three music videos, including 'Sound of the Underground,' 'No Good Advice,' and 'Life Got Cold,' establishing the…