2001: Popstars While attending
Thornhill College in 2001, Coyle auditioned for the
Irish version of the reality television talent show
Popstars, on which
Louis Walsh was a judge. She won a place in the band
Six, but it was later revealed that she had lied about her age. She was 16 years old, two years younger than the minimum age requirement of 18. She returned to Thornhill College in Derry.
2002–2009: Girls Aloud Walsh encouraged Coyle to enter
Popstars: The Rivals, the second British series of the international
Popstars franchise. The series' goal was to create two winning pop groups – a
boy band and a
girl group, each consisting of five members who would then partake in "a battle of the sexes" as they vie for the
Christmas number one on the
UK Singles Chart. Several thousand applicants attended auditions across the UK in hope of being selected. Ten girls and ten boys were chosen as finalists by judges Walsh,
Pete Waterman and
Geri Halliwell. These finalists then took to the stage participating in weekly Saturday night live performances (alternating weekly between the girls and boys). Following her performance of "Fields of Gold", Walsh told her she gave the "performance of the night. Stole the show for me," while fellow judge Halliwell said, "I'd love to buy a single of yours already". Coyle joined
Cheryl Tweedy,
Sarah Harding,
Nicola Roberts and
Kimberley Walsh to comprise the new girl group
Girls Aloud, formed through the show by a public vote on 30 November 2002. The group's debut single "
Sound of the Underground" peaked at number one on the
UK Singles Chart, becoming the 2002
Christmas number one. Girls Aloud hold the record for the shortest time between formation and reaching number one. The group released their debut album
Sound of the Underground in May 2003, which entered the charts at number two and was certified platinum by the
British Phonographic Industry (BPI) later the same year. Their singles "
I'll Stand by You", "
Walk This Way" and "
The Promise" charted at number one. Two of their albums have reached the top of the
UK Albums Chart: their greatest hits album
The Sound of Girls Aloud and 2008's
Out of Control, both of which entered the chart at number one, with over one million copies of the former being sold. They also achieved seven certified albums and have been nominated for five
Brit Awards, winning the 2009 Best Single for "The Promise". The group's musical style is
pop, but throughout their career they had experimented with
electropop and
dance-pop. Girls Aloud's collaborations with
Brian Higgins and his songwriting and production team
Xenomania earned the group critical acclaim, due to an innovative approach to mainstream pop music. The group became one of the few UK reality television acts to achieve continued success, amassing a fortune of
£30 million by May 2010.
Guinness World Records lists them as "Most Successful Reality TV Group" in the 2007 edition. They also hold the record for "Most Consecutive Top Ten Entries in the UK by a Female Group" in the 2008 edition and are credited again for "Most Successful Reality TV Group" in the 2011 edition. The group was also named the United Kingdom's biggest-selling girl group of the 21st century, with over 4.3 million singles sales and 4 million albums sold in the UK alone.
2009–2013: Insatiable and Girls Aloud reunion In 2009, Girls Aloud decided they would partake in a
hiatus to pursue solo projects. That same year, Coyle collaborated with
Boyz II Men for their album
Love, recording a cover of the
Take That song "
Back for Good", although the song was cut from the final track listing. Coyle also worked with
Jay Sean, although the duet was later scrapped. Coyle announced plans to release a solo album during Girls Aloud's hiatus. She enlisted
Barbara Charone, who has worked with
Madonna and
Christina Aguilera, as a publicist and Bruce Garfield as her manager. Early reports indicated three major record labels interested in Coyle, In April 2010, it was reported she had signed to
Geffen Records. The deal later fell through. In August 2010, Coyle officially signed a deal with grocery store chain
Tesco's new record label, releasing the album through her own Black Pen Records imprint. According to an interview with Booker, Coyle had worked on song ideas using
GarageBand which she then presented to Booker in England to work on together further. The producer said, "She was singing her songs to loops, and then I took the loops out and rewrote the music from scratch to her ideas." The album was preceded by the release of her debut single, the title track "
Insatiable". Co-written with Guy Chambers and produced by Ricci Riccardi, the song has an "80s feel" and "a harder, guitar-led sound." The single peaked at number twenty-six in the UK Singles Chart. In November 2012, Coyle reunited with the rest of
Girls Aloud to celebrate their tenth anniversary. On 18 November 2012, the band released their new single "
Something New" which was also the official charity single for
Children in Need. The group released their second greatest hits compilation
Ten on 26 November 2012. Coyle and the group embarked on the
Ten: The Hits Tour in February. After the tour's conclusion in March 2013, the group announced that they were disbanding.
2015–present: Nadine and new projects In late June, Coyle appeared on ITV's
Michael Flatley: A Night to Remember, as part of
ITV Music Specials. On the programme she sang a cover of "Dangerous Games", shortly thereafter she announced she would star alongside Flatley on his 2014 tour on select dates. Coyle, in August, also revealed she has been in the studio recording new songs for a forthcoming second studio album. On 16 September 2014, Coyle announced that she began working with longtime collaborator
Brian Higgins. In March 2015, Coyle spoke about the details concerning her second album, stating that she intended on signing with a major label and that the sound is "similar" to that of
London Grammar. Later that year, Nadine recorded a duet with
Shane Filan from the band
Westlife for his album
Right Here. They performed the single, titled "I Could Be" together on that year's annual
Children in Need telethon. In July 2017, it was announced that Coyle had signed a recording deal with
Virgin EMI Records. She released her new single, "
Go to Work", on 8 September 2017. In February 2018, it was announced that Coyle will release a four-track EP
Nadine in April 2018. "Girls on Fire" was the first track to be released from the EP, on 8 February 2018. Coyle announced a seven-date tour, touring the UK and Ireland in May 2018. In 2019, Coyle returned to the music scene with her summer anthem "
Fool for Love", produced by Brian Higgins of Xenomania. In December of that year, Coyle announced another track called "All That I Know" which was released in 2020. In October 2022, Nadine sang a cover of
the Cranberries classic "
Zombie", as it was voted the number 1 Irish song of all time by RTE2FM listeners. Her performance gathered great reviews. In May and June 2024, Coyle and her
Girls Aloud bandmates got back together for an arena tour titled
The Girls Aloud Show in memory of their late bandmate
Sarah Harding. ==Other ventures==