Say what folk will about The Pussycat Dolls, but quinter managed to acheive a feat every artist dreams of: delivering a faultless single run from a singular album.
From The Vault journeys back a decade to a time where the Dolls were ruling the charts with their brand of fun, fierce Pop. ‘Wait A Minute’ is this week’s selection.
Serviced as the sixth and last single from hit-factory ‘PCD’ in 2006, ‘Minute’ featured producer extraordinaire Timbaland as a guest vocalist. It was helmed by the latter and written by Miss Keri Hilson.
Just like Timbo’s work on Nelly Furtado’s ‘Promiscuous,’ the track centres on a “girl vs boy” back-and-forth; only the ladies are less flirtatious and much more assertive.
The cut was a US Top 30 for the group (#28) and peaked at #16 in Australia. Not bad for the last of six uber-successful singles from an album released more than a year prior.
Directed by Marc Webb, the tune’s visual – which features Timbaland too – saw the girls take on the streets of LA as well as its underground. Indeed, the Dolls delivery trademark pole-dancing inside a subway train and stop traffic with their killer choreography. As ever with PCD, the video drips sass, glam and camp.
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We won’t dwell on the demise of The Pussycat Dolls and how premature it seemed (they only had two albums). Instead we’ll focus on the slay-by-slay era that was their debut.
It’s refreshing when artists skew left with their music and visuals. Yet, we also relish a filler-free body of work where every song – not just the 3 singles lined up for release – tells its own story in an easily digest-able and mass appealing manner (e.g: ‘PCD,’ Gwen Stefani’s ‘LoveAngelMusicBaby’, and Katy Perry’s ‘Teenage Dream.’)
With today’s artists overly pre-occupied with being “anti” and one-upping one another with edgy “event” releases, it feels as though the era of the simple slay is long behind us. So join us as we salute the Pussycat Dolls for their uncomplicated brand of Pop domination.
