Cheryl is "thankful" she found fame along with Girls Aloud before social media and smartphones

She told Scott Mills on BBC Radio 2 in a chat alongside her bandmates: "I'm thankful to just be in this generation where we got to live as pop stars without the phones."

Kimberley chipped in: "Without Instagram, without any of that stuff."

Opening up about how much access there is to the daily lives of celebrities, Cheryl added: "It does, and I don't know whether that's a good or a bad thing. I can't decide.

"Because in a way it humanises you and makes people realise, actually she's just another person, just another human, and we should not be, like, adoring or idolising anybody.

"But in another way it takes away the sprinkle or magic of being, you know, a pop star, someone to aspire to or look forward for."

Kimberley added: "Growing up we kind of loved that, you know? I loved that I couldn't see what Kylie had for breakfast."

The group are embarking on their reunion tour, which starts in Dublin, in memory of their bandmate Sarah Harding, who died in 2021 aged 39 after her breast cancer spread to other parts of her body.

Cheryl fondly recalled how she still remembers the dances to all Girls Aloud's songs, adding: "It's funny because it's like muscle memory. We've done it, it's so ingrained and we did it so many times on different tours, the same choreography, your body remembers even before your brain catches up, really."

Girls Aloud previously reunited with new music for their 10th anniversary and a second reunion was planned for the group's 20th birthday when Sarah was diagnosed with cancer.