Rumours had been circulating for a while that Cheryl was dating Aresnal's Ashley Cole. Soon enough the couple went public and in July 2005 went on holiday to Dubai. When they returned home they announced that they'd got engaged! Ashley had proposed to Cheryl while they were away and Cheryl eagerly accepted. After the announcement they jetted off on holiday again and when they returned they did a photo shoot and interview for OK! magazine. They appeared on the cover (a first for Girls Aloud) and were the main feature inside.




Apart from the tour, the girls hadn't been on our screen since February. So when they returned in July 2005 with their new single "Long Hot Summer", it was good to see them back. They performed at various music events over the summer and had a camera crew following them around filming for their documentary "Girls Aloud: Home Truths" which would be shown later in the year. They performed at G-A-Y and did a special G-A-Y version of "Long Hot Summer" which was available to download alongside the single. "Long Hot Summer" entered the charts at No.7, sadly breaking the run of top 5 hits for the girls.


Like "Love Machine", the second single from the new album was a completely new sound for the girls. "Biology" promotion started in October 2005 with the girls sporting a very smart and sophisticated look. The girls also did their third FHM shoot, again each having their own front cover. They also revealed they would be releasing another single before Christmas to be in the running for Christmas No.1. And an extra special Christmas present for the fans... they announced the dates for their 2006 tour.The venues were mainly arenas - a step up from the smaller venues they performed at during the last tour.



It was announced that the highly anticipated third album would be titled "Chemistry" after the chemistry the girls still have with each other three years on. As an extra treat for the fans it was decided that "See The Day", a cover of Dee C Lee's hit, would be released as a bid for the girls' second Christmas number 1. Despite getting rave reviews from the likes of The Guardian and NME, "Chemistry" entered the charts at number 11 making it the first Girls Aloud release not to enter the top 10. "See The Day" reached number 9 on Christmas day securing them another record - the first girl group ever to have 11 consecutive top 10's with their first 11 singles!


The girls headed down under at the start of 2006 to try and break Australia. "Jump" had been released there previously, but hadn't done very well. This time they were promoting and releasing "Biology" (while getting in a bit of a holiday!). "Biology" entered the Australian chart at number 26 which wasn't bad at all considering no one had ever heard of them before!







Before heading back to the UK, the girls jetted off to Paris to shoot the video for their next single; "Whole Lotta History". It was the fouth and final track to be released from "Chemistry", even though some fans thought tracks such as "Models" or "Wild Horses" would have made better singles. The video was very classy and one of their best yet. The girls returned to the UK and spent all their time promoting and it paid off. "Whole Lotta History" entered the charts at number 6, which was a lot better than many people had thought it would do.