What Will the Neighbours Say? is the second studio album by English-Irish all-female pop group Girls Aloud. It was released in the United Kingdom on 29 November 2004 by Polydor Records. Brian Higgins and his production team Xenomania were enlisted to produce the entire album, allowing for more inventive ideas. What Will the Neighbours Say? explores various subgenres of pop music.
What Will the Neighbours Say? was released to mostly positive reviews from contemporary music critics. It yielded five top-ten singles and had high sales, going double platinum in the United Kingdom and Ireland. The album was followed by Girls Aloud's first tour, the What Will the Neighbours Say...? Tour.
For the album's 20th anniversary, it was reissued in March 2024 in three formats: a sky-blue vinyl LP, a picture disc vinyl LP, and a three-CD deluxe edition, as well as a digital download and on streaming. The non-vinyl editions feature the original UK album along with remixes, alternative cuts, rarities, and three previously unreleased tracks: a cover of Chris Isaak's "Wicked Game" originally slated for a shelved 2005 reissue of the album, the original song "Disco Bunny", and a cover of British pop duo Mania's "Baby When You Go."
Polydor enlisted Brian Higgins and Xenomania to produce Girls Aloud's second album in its entirety, following their production of six tracks from Sound of the Underground, including the album's three singles, and three more tracks: "Girls on Film", "You Freak Me Out" (for the film Freaky Friday) and "Jump" (for the film Love Actually), which all featured on the album's late 2003 reissue. "When the second album came round, the label said, 'Listen, we're not going to do this group any more if you don't do it.'" Higgins explained. "I think my initial reaction was to do a few tracks and he said, 'No, you have to do this because I think you're the only person who understands exactly what it is'. So, that's how we took it on." while "Wake Me Up" includes a guitar riff inspired by garage rock. What Will the Neighbours Say? also includes a number of ballads.
The lyrics focus on a number of more adult topics, often dealing with sexuality, as well as themes of teenage rebellion and heartbreak. The lyrics to "The Show" contain an anti-promiscuity message. "Wake Me Up" faced a slight controversy due to its "boozy lyrics." The song references Bud and margaritas in the first verse. Unlike Sound of the Underground, Girls Aloud became involved in the writing process. "We don't let them out of the room till they've given every ounce of melodic instinct that they've got in them, [...] at the end, you find they've contributed really well," Higgins stated in an interview with The Observer. noting "the girls are usually singing something interesting. Someone at Xenomania has a knack for writing witty couplets". It was also compared to "an early-1990s rave record." The first version of "I'll Stand by You" that Xenomania created was described as a "weird, modernist breakbeat version", which was scrapped upon deciding an updated version of the original song would be better suited for Children in Need. Critics felt it was "arguable whether this cover adds much to the Pretenders' original." The song received comparisons to All Saints, specifically their breakthrough single "Never Ever". The international versions of the album exclude the bonus tracks "I Say a Prayer for You" and "100 Different Ways". What Will the Neighbours Say? and other Girls Aloud releases appeared on the US iTunes Store on 26 June 2007.
Singles
The album's first single was technically their cover of "Jump", although the song initially appeared on the re-release of Sound of the Underground and was the recorded for the Love Actually soundtrack. The music video for "Jump" was made to appear like it was intertwined with Love Actually. The song debuted at number two on the UK Singles Chart. "The Show" was the first single exclusive to What Will the Neighbours Say?. The song was critically acclaimed and peaked at number two. The Times noted that "Brian Higgins's Xenomania hit factory proved itself as good as the greatest song teams in pop history with this thrillingly off-the-wall chart-topper. The music video for "The Show" takes place in a salon called "Curls Allowed." "The Show" was released in Australia in June 2006, as the second single from the Australian version of Chemistry. "Love Machine" was the second single from What Will the Neighbours Say?. Critics said the song was "so unlike anything else in the charts right now...proving once again that they're still one of the most exciting bands in pop right now." The music video takes place at the fictitious nightclub, the Eskimo Club. It was number two on the UK Singles Chart for two consecutive weeks. The song appeared in television advertisements for Homebase from 2006 to 2009. "I'll Stand by You" served as the album's third single, released for Children in Need. The track was announced as a single just ten days before its 15 November 2004 release. The album's final single was "Wake Me Up". In 2005, "Wake Me Up" won the award for the Popjustice £20 Music Prize, an annual prize awarded to the best British pop single of the year. Girls Aloud had previously won the award in 2003 for "No Good Advice". The music video for "Wake Me Up" was directed by Harvey & Carolyn and starred Girls Aloud as "biker chicks". It became their first single to miss the top three when it peaked at number four. "Graffiti My Soul" was going to be the sixth single released from the album, but was cancelled because the group wanted to start work on their third album.