Don't Cha

Background

In January 2004, Cee Lo Green finished writing and producing the song "Don't Cha" which it's chorus reprises the hook from Sir Mix-a-Lot's "Swass" taken from album of the same name in a basement studio in Atlanta, Georgia. The song was originally written for Tori Alamaze, a former backing vocalist for the hip hop duo OutKast. In November, Alamaze signed with Universal Records and decided to release the song as her first single from her debut album which was due to release that same year. However, months later, Alamaze decided to part ways with the label as she was "unhappy" and felt that she "got caught up in the middle of egos and favors." Thus she agreed to give up her rights to the song to get out of her contract. The song was still playing on radio while copies were available at stores. Her version of the song received minor success reaching number 53 on Billboard's Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart.

Meanwhile, Intersope Records signed the Pussycat Dolls, a sextet spun off from the burlesque group which was created by Robin Antin. After Universal Records dropped Almaze, the label was still very much interested in "Don’t Cha". Doug Morris—then chairman of Universal Music Group—suggested that "Don't Cha" should be given to the Pussycat Dolls as the label was trying to reinvent the girl group. Initially Green was skeptical saying, "I didn't know too much about them [...], but when I found out that [Universal-owned] Interscope Records was involved, that was an alliance I didn't hesitate to make." The Pussycat Dolls version was recorded around March adding two verses from rapper Busta Rhymes. Lead singer Nicole Scherzinger admitted that two records sounded identical. "I had [Alamaze's] version as a guide. But ours is just a bit fresher." This song was initially offered to both Sugababes and Paris Hilton, but both declined. In 2006, Hilton claimed that she was presented with the track, but was not impressed with it, commenting. "I think I did hear the song, but not in the format that we all came to know and love. If I'd heard that, of course I'd have jumped at the chance".

Composition

"Don't Cha" is a R&B song that lasts four minutes and thirty-two seconds. The song was written by Thomas Callaway, Anthony Ray and Trevor Smith and produced by Callaway. According to the sheet music published by Sony/ATV Music Publishing, "Don't Cha" was composed using common time in the key of B♭ minor, and set in a moderate hip hop tempo of 120 beats per minute. Naomi West described Busta Rhymes rap as "garrulous".

Speaking of their collaboration, Scherzinger said, "He is so much fun. He's so humble and he just makes you feel good. We are so grateful that [Busta] did it and was a part of it with us. We feel blessed." The song's lyrics is about "taunting a hapless man with the lyrics, "Don't cha wish your girlfriend was hot like me / Don't cha wish your girlfriend was a freak like me". The chorus of the song is based on Sir Mix A Lot's song "Swass" (1988). Maeve McDermott distinguished "Don't Cha" from other girl group songs like "Wannabe", "Independent Women" and "No Scrubs" which promote female camaraderie.

Critical reception

"Don't Cha" received mainly positive reviews. Sal Cinquemani of described the song as "brassy and sassy" adding that, "the Pussycat Dolls have certainly carved a niche for themselves in 21st century pop history. Stephen Thomas Erlewine also favored the song saying "there has never been a sex song quite as knowingly ironic yet undeniably sexy as this." Writing for musicOMH John Murphy described "Don't Cha" as "a silky, sexy little number that will become ubiquitous by the end of the month." However, he added that Busta Rhymes is annoying. "It's a shame that Busta Rhymes is as typically annoying as ever, but he doesn't spoil the song too much." Spence D. from IGN wrote that the track's "sultry swagger-n-shuffle is the type of stuff that nasty boys and girls might enjoy grinding to." A reviewer from Contactmusic.com gave the song 4 out 5 stars favoring the "serious dose of high energy and raunchy message," while criticized the song for not having "any vocal talent." Lisa Haines from BBC described the track as "memorable". She continued saying "[it's] a groovy R&B duet with Busta Rhymes, is easily the best." Isaac McCalla from About.com praised the song. "This single is a serious dose of high energy, wickedly fun and slammin' house music." Azeem Ahmad also from musicOMH in a separate review commented, "strangely enough 'Don't Cha' isn't purely eye candy." However, he was critical stating: "not even Busta Rhymes' cameo appearance can prevent Don't Cha from seeming like nothing more than a promo for some generic product aimed at young males." Chuck Arnold and Ralph Novak of People magazine wrote that the group is "responsible for [2005] guiltiest pleasure."

Accolades

The song was nominated for Top Selling Single of the Year at the 2005 Billboard Music Awards. At the 2006 Billboard R&B/Hip-Hop Awards the song won the award in the category for Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs Sales. At the 21st International Dance Music Awards, the song was nominated in the Best R&B/Urban Dance Track and Best Pop Dance Track categories, winning for Best R&B/Urban Dance Track. In May and August the song was listed as one of the recipients of the Broadcast Music, Inc. (BMI) Pop Awards and Urban Awards. The same year, the song was nominated for Best R&B/Soul Single, Group, Band or Duo at the 2006 Soul Train Music Awards.

Chart performance

In the United States, "Don't Cha" debuted at number 95 on the Billboard Hot 100 on the issue dated May 7, 2005. In its tenth week, "Don't Cha" entered the top ten at number eight. The track reached number two in its sixteenth week, becoming their highest charting single in the country. The song stayed there for three consecutive weeks, being held off the top spot by Mariah Carey's "We Belong Together", which spent a total of 14 non-consecutive weeks at number one. Despite the song not reaching the top position on the Billboard Hot 100, it reached number one spot on the Hot Dance Club Play and Pop 100 and charts for three and seven consecutive weeks respectively. "Don't Cha" is the second longest-charting song on the Hot Digital Songs chart spending 68 weeks behind Kelly Clarkson's "Since U Been Gone" and Usher's "Yeah!" which both spent 74 weeks. "Don't Cha" took three-and-a-half years to reach the two million mark in paid downloads, and by May 2011 the song has sold three million copies according to Nielsen Soundscan. The song was certified platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), for shipment of a million copies of the single.

In the United Kingdom, before officially being released as a single, "Don't Cha" debuted at number 44 only on import. Following its single release, the track peaked at number one on the UK Singles Chart becoming the first all-American female group to top the singles chart since Destiny's Child's "Survivor" in 2001 selling 85,021 copies. The track spent three weeks atop and present within top 10 and 40 of the chart for 10 and 23 weeks respectively. By September 2015 the song sold 336,130 digital downloads, 284,200 physical copies and was streamed 2.11 million times. It was certified platinum by the British Phonographic Industry (BPI) for shipments of 600,000 copies. According to the Official Charts Company "Don't Cha" is the 147th best-selling single of the 21st century. In Ireland, the song debuted at number one on the Irish Singles Chart and stayed for four consecutive weeks. The song has also reached the peak in a number of European countries including Belgium (Flanders), Germany, Norway and Switzerland.

Across Oceania, the song topped the charts in its first week in both Australia and New Zealand. "Don't Cha" spent 7 non-consecutive weeks at number one in Australia, where it also remained on the chart for 23 total weeks. It was certified two-times platinum certification by the Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA). In New Zealand, the song reached number one in its first week and spent more than half of its time on the chart in the top ten. It was certified gold, selling over 7,500 copies, according to the Recording Industry Association of New Zealand (RIANZ).

Background

An accompanying music video for "Don't Cha" was directed by Paul Hunter during the week of April 11, 2005. Nicole Scherzinger told MTV News that the video was all about having fun. "Busta Rhymes is pretty phat, man. He is so much fun. He's so humble and he just makes you feel good. When you're around him, you feel magical. The lyrics are, 'Don't cha wish your girlfriend was hot like me.'... But if you see the video, it's all about being who you are, having fun and being confident — and feeling hot. It's not so much about looking hot ... although looking hot is important."

Synopsis

The opening sequence of the video features the Pussycat Dolls riding in jeeps and Busta Rhymes rapping his verse, simultaneously. The video continues to switch back and forth from Scherzinger singing her parts separately and the other Pussycat Dolls singing along. Scherzinger is seen throughout the video wearing the infamous "don't cha" hoodie that features the first line of the chorus ("Don't cha wish your girlfriend was hot like me") on the top part of her sweater. Once the chorus kicks in, the group is seen performing a dance routine surrounded by walls with graffiti printed on each side. Then, the group is seen at an underground party where each member is jumping from a ground trampoline. The Pussycat Dolls are seen surrounded by party guests as they strut down a case of stairs. Once the girls are on the ground, another dance routine is performed. Busta Rhymes is featured in the next scene where he raps his final verse. The scene continues to switch between Scherzinger and Busta Rhymes together and Scherzinger with the group until chorus starts again and Scherzinger is in the center of the group and then lifts herself and kicks two chairs in front of her. The Pussycat Dolls continue to dance and sing until the video ends. Robin Antin and Cee-Lo Green make appearances in the video towards the end.

Recognition

Brandee J. Tecson of MTV commented, "leave it to the Pussycat Dolls to cast someone in their music video who can actually steal attention away from six gyrating half-naked chicks." Billy Johnson, Jr. of Yahoo! Music said, "front and center, the stunning Nicole Scherzinger, surrounded by good company, pranced around in tank tops and short shorts while drag racing in convertible jeeps. They raised the bar." VH1 listed "Don't Cha" at number fourteen on its Top 40 Videos of 2005. The music video was nominated for Best Dance Video at the 2006 International Dance Music Awards. It was also nominated for the Best R&B video at the 2006 MTV Australia Video Music Awards but lost to Chris Brown's Run It!. Billboard described the music video for the song as "iconic" for girl groups. Andrew Unterberger of Billboard said, "It was inevitable that the song and video would become massive, and become massive they did, with the song heating up the Hot 100 chart and the video establishing the group as mainstays on MTV for many subsequent (though not quite as memorable) videos to come."

Legacy

In September 2011, VH1 ranked "Don't Cha" number 96 on its list of The 100 Greatest Songs of the 2000s. Billboard ranked "Don't Cha" third best song of the Summer of 2005. To acknowledge the most popular films, television shows, celebrities and music of the 2000s decade, "Don't Cha" was featured in VH1's I Love the 2000s. Billboard also ranked the song number 29 on the list of Top 40 Girl Group Songs Of All Time, and third on the Favorite Girl Group Single poll the same week. "Don't Cha" has appeared on multiple Fuse countdowns including number 41 on Girls Who Run The World, number 51 on Top 100 Pop Breakthroughs, number 14 on Top 100 Sexy Beats. and number 17 on 4Music's Biggest R&B Hits of the Naughties.

Usage in media and cover versions

The song is featured in Disney's 2009 animation movie G-Force, Date Movie, and Norbit. It was also used in the 2010 comedy film Easy A. The song was used in a 2007 commercial for Heineken beer. In the United Kingdom, the song for was featured as a background music for a 2015 television commercial for Moneysupermarket.com; it stars Sharon Osbourne. The song was featured in the King of the Hill episode Death Picks Cotton in a scene where Bobby was dancing.

Several artists have recorded cover versions of "Don't Cha". In 2006, "Weird Al" Yankovic included the song in his polka medley "Polkarama!" from his 2006 album, Straight Outta Lynwood. In 2006, the song was performed by Westlife on their Greatest Hits Tour. In 2007, Dan le Sac Vs Scroobius Pip sampled the song on their song "Thou Shalt Always Kill". Richard Cheese covered the song on his 2009 album Viva La Vodka. The Baseballs also covered the song on their 2009 debut album Strike!. Garbage gave the impression that their song "Betcha" was a cover version of "Don't Cha"; however, the song alluded to it in the lyrics: Thomas Callaway, Anthony Ray and Trever Smith, the writers of "Don't Cha" are not given any songwriting credit for "Betcha". Colbie Caillat covered the song which she performed for Pepsi. A group auditioning for X Factor (French TV series) called Creme de la Femme, covered the song for the audition process. Rylan Clark performed the song during the bootcamp stages on The X Factor in 2012. A contestant on The Voice named Domo, covered the song during the blind auditions stages of the show in 2012. Myrtle Sarrosa performed the song in the seventh week of the second season of the Philippine edition of Your Face Sounds Familiar, impersonating Nicole Scherzinger.

Live performances

The Pussycat Dolls were the last performers of KIIS-FM's Wango Tango music festival which was held in Los Angeles, on May 14, 2005. Prior the performance Scherzinger said, "We are so psyched [to play tonight]. We can't wait. It's going to be amazing." While closing their set with "Don't Cha", MTV's Brandee J. Tecson commented, "Like a lot of the day's performers, the Dolls were newcomers to the Wango stage, but ended the night like veterans." On August 14, 2005 The Pussycat Dolls performed "Don't Cha" at the 2005 Teen Choice Awards. On December 2005 the group performed for the annual KIIS-FM Jingle Ball wearing "festive candy-cane-striped belly shirts and red-and-green capri pants." The set list included "Don't Cha", 'Stickwitu" and "Wait a Minute". On June 30, 2006, The Pussycat Dolls performed on Good Morning America as part of its Summer Concert Series along with "Buttons" and "Stickwitu".

On July 7, 2007, The Pussycat Dolls together with other artists performed at the Live Earth Concerts, which were held to raise awareness of global warming. They performed "Don't Cha", "Stickwitu", and "Buttons". The group then performed the song at the Walmart Soundcheck, along with "I Hate This Part", "Buttons", "When I Grow Up" and "Takin' Over the World". The Pussycat Dolls also performed "Don't Cha" at the Doll Domination Tour (2009). Maureen Ellis of the Evening Times said that the "high-energy encore of 'Don't Cha' and 'When I Grow Up' ensured the Dolls reigned supreme."

Credits and personnel

Credits adapted from the liner notes of PCD.

Sample

Personnel