Bootylicious

Background and composition

"Bootylicious" was written and produced by Beyoncé, Rob Fusari and Falonte Moore, and was recorded at Sugarhill Studios, Houston, and Sound on Sound Studios, New York City. There are conflicting stories about the song's origins. According to Knowles, she was inspired to write the song on a flight to either London or Japan as she was listening to the guitar riff of Stevie Nicks' song "Edge of Seventeen", which reminded her of a "voluptuous woman". According to Fusari, he wanted to build a track on a sample of Survivor's "Eye of the Tiger". Unable to locate the song, he chose to sample "Edge of Seventeen" instead. He wanted to replay the guitar riff himself in the studio so as not to lose publishing royalties, but group manager Mathew Knowles (father of Beyoncé Knowles) would not let him do this. He reportedly later told Fusari in response to Beyoncé's claims of writing the song, "People don't want to hear about Rob Fusari, producer from Livingston, NJ. No offense, but that's not what sells records. What sells records is people believing that the artist is everything." Kelly Rowland has mentioned that "Bootylicious" is the most irritating Destiny's Child song for her since she has heard it too many times. Rowland sings the majority of the lead vocals on the track, with her leading both verses, Knowles leading choruses, and Michelle Williams leading the bridge.

According to the sheet music published by EMI Music Publishing at Musicnotes.com, "Bootylicious" is an R&B song set in common time with a medium hip-hop tempo of 104 beats per minute. It is written in the key of E minor (recorded in D♯ minor), and Destiny's Child's vocals span from G₃ to B₅.

Chart performance

"Bootylicious" debuted at number 66 on the Billboard Hot 100 on June 9, 2001 and climbed to its peak position nine weeks later, though it remained on the chart for a further nineteen weeks. To date, this remains the last song by a girl group to top the U.S. charts. The song peaked at number five on the Hot 100 Airplay chart and number two on the Hot 100 Singles Sales chart, behind Mariah Carey's "Loverboy".

In the United Kingdom, "Bootylicious" was released on July 23, 2001 and debuted and peaked at number two on the UK Singles Chart behind the Atomic Kitten cover single "Eternal Flame". It sold over 169,000 copies and propelled Survivor back to the top of the UK Album Chart.

Remixes

A hip hop-styled remix (the "Rockwilder Remix") was produced by Rockwilder, Knowles, and Missy Elliott. This version was issued to urban markets, and had a hip-hop culture-based music video to accompany it, in which Beyoncé wears a belt that has the word "Bootylicious" misspelled as "Bootyliciuos", as pointed out by Carson Daly on an episode of TRL.

A combination of the R&B vocals from this song and the grunge rock music of Nirvana's "Smells Like Teen Spirit" is one of the best-known examples of the "bastard pop" or "mashup" genre, where elements from seemingly incompatible songs are mixed together. A later mashup used the music of Stevie Wonder's "Superstition" with the "Bootylicious" vocals.

Music video

The music video for "Bootylicious", directed by Matthew Rolston, showed Destiny's Child performing dance steps from Michael Jackson's famous "Billie Jean" performance from the special Motown 25: Yesterday, Today, Forever. During the video, moves from several other Michael Jackson videos can be seen such as parts of the choreography from "Thriller", "Beat It", "Bad", and "The Way You Make Me Feel". Dance moves that were used by Jackson during live performances of "They Don't Care About Us" can be seen as well.

As the group is dancing, the members appear in several different costumes. These scenes are interloped with the group dancing in front of a dance troupe made of all boys. The dance sequence ends with a diamond-shaped stage where the group appears wearing pink crop-tops, while the all-male dance troupe appears shirtless, wearing Michael Jackson's signature one glove and sagging pants that showed their underwear with "Destiny" at the back. Stevie Nicks makes an appearance in the beginning of the song's video. Solange Knowles, Beyoncé's sister, also makes a brief cameo in the video.

The music clip is featured on the DualDisc edition of the album #1's and as an enhanced video on the UK and French editions of the Single. The video for the "Rockwilder Remix" featuring Missy Elliott is available on the Single "Emotion Bootylicious Survivor – The Urban Remixes".

Live performances

Destiny's Child opened the 1st Annual BET Awards with a performance of "Bootylicious". They performed it on both Michael Jackson: 30th Anniversary Special concerts. According with Kelly Rowland, he liked this song so much, and when he saw them for the first time, he started to sing it, and they got very surprised. On February 3, 2013, Beyoncé performed the song along with Kelly and Michelle during the Super Bowl XLVII halftime show. They also performed Beyonce's "Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)."

Cultural significance

The song created moderate controversy, in a time when late 1990s and early 2000s (decade) music was pushing the boundaries of female sexuality. Destiny's Child was claiming "G-rated fun" and confidence in body image though the lyrics, yet the music video suggested much more with the group wearing lots of make-up, form-fitting clothes, performing sexually suggestive dancing, and the video featuring close-ups on several dancers' buttocks.

The group later performed the song in front of Jackson for his 30th Anniversary concert, complete with their rendition of his dance moves. Before the premiere of the video on MTV's Making the Video, the girls dedicated the video to Michael Jackson.

The song popularized the portmanteau term 'bootylicious', a combination of the words booty and delicious, although the term had already been used by Snoop Dogg in the song "Fuck wit Dre Day (And Everybody's Celebratin')" (aka "Dre Day" from Dr. Dre's 1992 album The Chronic) as a pejorative. Bootylicious is also mentioned by a character named Champ in the 1993 "Homey, Don't Ya Know Me?" episode of A Different World. The term was also used previously in the 1999 video game Duke Nukem: Time to Kill as the name of a strip club. The success of the song came after the rise in media visibility of voluptuous personalities like Jennifer Lopez. There was a media perception that the appearance of these women corresponded to an appreciation of the supposedly neglected larger hips and thighs common in the figures of Black and Latina women. The approving neologism 'bootylicious' has entered the mainstream English language as part of the 'crossover' of African-American popular culture, fashion, and sexual politics.

Recognition

In September 2011, VH1 ranked "Bootylicious" number 19 on its list of The 100 Greatest Songs of the 2000s.

Credits and personnel

Track listings

European/Australian CD Single

1. "Bootylicious" – 3:27
2. "Survivor" (Jameson Full Vocal Remix) – 6:18
3. "Survivor" (Digital Black-N-Groove) – 3:58
4. "Survivor" (CB200 Club Anthem Mix) – 6:21
5. "Independent Women Part 1" (Live at The Brits 2001) – 3:52

European 2-Track CD Single COL 671393 1

1. "Bootylicious" (Album Version) – 3:27
2. "Bootylicious" (Ed Case Remix) – 4:45

European Enhanced CD Single COL 671393 2

1. "Bootylicious" (Album Version) – 3:27
2. "Bootylicious" (Ed Case Remix) – 4:45
3. "Bootylicious" (M&J's Jelly Remix) – 3:40
4. "Bootylicious" (Music Video)

UK Enhanced CD Single Part 1

1. "Bootylicious" (Album Version)
2. "Bootylicious" (Ed Case Remix)
3. "Cards Never Lie"
4. "Bootylicious" (Music Video)

US CD Single

1. "Bootylicious" (Album Version) – 3:27
2. "Bootylicious" (Richard Vission's V-Quest) – 6:08

US CD Maxi Single

1. "Bootylicious" (Album Version) – 3:27
2. "Bootylicious" (Richard Vission's V-Quest) – 6:08
3. "Bootylicious" (Richard Vission's DJ Dub) – 5:29
4. "Bootylicious" (Big Boyz Remix) – 3:32
5. "Bootylicious" (Case Remix) – 4:46

US Vinyl

Side A

1. "Bootylicious" (Richard Vission's V-Quest)
2. "Bootylicious" (Richard Vission's D.J. Dub)

Side B

1. "Bootylicious" (Big Boyz Remix)
2. "Bootylicious" (Big Boyz Remix Instrumental)
3. "Bootylicious" (Album Version)
4. "Bootylicious" (Album Instrumental)

Official versions

¹ The "Love: Destiny Version" features re-recorded vocals by Beyoncé on the chorus. This version is available on the 2001 EP "Love: Destiny". However the version used in the TV commercial contains additional vocals with different lyrics in the intro and in the chorus, which remains unreleased.

Cover versions

English rock band Keane performed a medley consisting of "Bootylicious" and Christina Aguilera's "Dirrty" on Jo Whiley's Live Lounge. An audio recording is available on Radio 1's Live Lounge – Volume 2. The cast of the Fox television show Glee performed a cover version in the episode "Hairography". The Green Bay Packers covered the song in Pitch Perfect 2

Use in commercials

"Bootylicious" was used in a commercial for the video game Candy Crush Jelly Saga in 2016.