The 2000s were, I have already somewhere claimed, the decade of the girl group. All Saints, Atomic Kitten, Sugababes, Girls Aloud… All big, all girls, all British.
Don’t Cha, by The Pussycat Dolls (their 1st of two #1s) ft. Busta Rhymes (his 1st and only #1)
3 weeks, from 11th September – 2nd October 2005
Here though come the Yanks. Not to suggest that the States have no girl group pedigree, of course. The Supremes, Ronettes, Shangri Las all say hello. But even the sassy Shangri Las would have blushed at something as strident as ‘Don’t Cha’. The Pussycat Dolls are very much a new, 21st century version of the all-American girl group.
Don’t cha wish your girlfriend was hot like me, Don’t cha wish your girlfriend was a freak like me…? I mean, British girls would never be so brazenly forward (cough cough). But it was definitely a chat-up line that embedded itself in the zeitgeist for a while. The rest of the song is similarly sultry, with raunchy horns, an X-rated rap from Busta Rhymes, and lines about black and blue balls, and sharing partners. It was released in three versions: a kid friendly edit (without Busta), the original, and a ‘more booty’ mix.
In fact, the entire song is slower and more seductive than I remembered. I thought it was faster, poppier; but in reality it has a swing beat, and a Latin-inflected guitar line. This is much more in keeping with the Dolls’ pre-chart history. At the time, the one thing everyone had to say about PCD is that they were strippers. They themselves liked to call it ‘neo-burlesque’, but you can definitely imagine someone slowly removing their clothing to the rhythm and tempo of ‘Don’t Cha’.
They had been around since the mid-‘90s, but it wasn’t until 2004 that they tried to move into pop music. And they were a near instant success. ‘Don’t Cha’ was huge, unavoidable that autumn. But, at the same time, though they had a few years of decent success, and one more #1, PCD never turned into the chart force that their debut hinted at.
Their lead singer, Nicole Scherzinger, on the other hand did become a household name. Even at this early moment it was a bit of a Diana Ross situation, and they might as well have been named Nicole & The Pussycat Dolls. She has the chops for it, and sells every line in a manner so extravagantly sexy that it actually sounds quite funny. Burlesque, even. Listen to the way she rolls her tongue around every syllable of the Your secret is safe with me… line, for example.
For rapper Busta Rhymes meanwhile, this would be the only chart-topper of a career that was surprisingly more successful in the UK than in the States. This was his 9th Top 10 hit since debuting in 1996, and he would continue to have British chart success well into the 2010s.
Anyway, as enjoyable as this track is, though it is a little try-hard, up next we have some British ladies showing these American upstarts how to do a proper girl group banger.
You forgot to mention Destiny’s Child, TLC and the Andrews Sisters when talking about major American girl groups.
This song is an absolute classic. Super sexy, too, and a No. 1 hit here in Australia. It’s such a distinctly American blend of R&B, pop, dance and hip hop. It was co-written by Sir Mix-a-Lot, the man behind “Baby Got Back” – one of the great and genuinely culturally important rap songs ever, basically helping popularise the big booty in mainstream pop culture along – with CeeLo Green, who would become a massive star in the late 2000s. Tori Alamaze, a former backing vocalist for the fantastic rap duo OutKast, recorded the original version, but the Pussycat Dolls obviously made it famous and iconic.
That hook had serious longevity, too. I remember girls singing it in the primary-school playground well into the early 2010s. Relistening to it now, though, I’m surprised by how subdued the actual production is. In my memory the song was much more forceful and bombastic, but most of that power actually comes from the vocals. The instrumental itself is relatively low-key.
The Pussycat Dolls are also one of the only major girl groups where I genuinely cannot name another member. Even with the Supremes and the Ronettes, I can name multiple members besides Diana Ross and Ronnie Spector. If someone put a gun to my head and told me to name another Pussycat Doll besides Nicole Scherzinger – who, incidentally, I thought was Arnold Schwarzenegger’s daughter when I was a kid lol – I’d just tell them to shoot me.
The other girls might as well have been backing dancers. Honestly, I think that was more or less how they were perceived at the time anyway: glorified backing dancers while Nicole was unmistakably positioned as the star. Their management and promotion made absolutely no attempt to hide it. I remember seeing an interview with Girls Aloud where Kimberley, Nicola and Cheryl were basically dissing the Pussycat Dolls and saying the other girls couldn’t sing. Nicole was clearly the centre of everything, which I certainly wasn’t complaining about as a kid because I had a massive crush on her. Still kind of do, to be honest. She has aged absurdly well.
Also, I love seeing Busta Rhymes on a song like this lol. Awesome rapper, although his verse does feel slightly parachuted in from another song.
And I’m very excited to see the Sugababes back with arguably their best song – or at the very least their most famous – accompanied by an equally sexy music video to boot.