Girls Aloud's Kimberley Walsh On Not Feeling Pressure To Match Cheryl Cole's Success

12 February 2013, 11:25

The 'Centre Stage' singer says the five girls have each chosen different paths for their solo careers.

Girls Aloud star Kimberley Walsh says she felt no pressure to match up to the success of Cheryl Cole or her other bandmates with the release of her first solo album.

The 'Something New' singer launched 'Centre Stage' this month, an album of stage musical covers, but says there was no competition between the girls on how well their respective solo careers have done.

"Not really," Kimberley told The Sun, when asked about the pressure of following her bandmates into pop music. "Cheryl was sort of coaxed into it by will.i.am, and Nicola [Roberts] had no clear idea of what she wanted to do.

"I didn't feel like I wanted to record an album, I was happy to try out other things," the pop singer explained. "Being in the West End was one of the best things I have done and the girls could see that I was happy in that environment.

"They knew that I had it in me and would always make jokes about dodgy songs on my iPod," the Girls Aloud star joked.

Kimberley went on to explain that she didn't feel a pure pop album would have been right for her as a solo artist, and says starring in the West End musical Shrek helped her realise where her talents lied.

"My label had always made it clear that they would love to do a pop album, but I didn't feel it was the right thing for me," she revealed. "I went back to my roots and did Shrek and the idea came from there.

"It was something I'd dreamt about doing," Kimberley added. "I can indulge myself with this."

Check out a picture of Girls Aloud stars Kimberley Walsh, Cheryl Cole and Nicola Roberts enjoying a nap on tour rehearsals this week below (Credit: Twitter):

Earlier this month the 'Beautiful 'Cause You Love Me' singer admitted she doesn't think she could deal with the same level of fame Cheryl Cole has to cope with on a daily basis.

Girls Aloud are due to kick off their 'Ten' UK arena tour at the Newcastle Arena on 21st February.