Thong Song
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| "Thong Song" | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
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| Single by Sisqó | ||||
| from the album Unleash the Dragon | ||||
| Released | February 15, 2000 | |||
| Format | CD single, vinyl record, music download | |||
| Recorded | Fall 1999 | |||
| Genre | R&B | |||
| Length | 4:12 | |||
| Label | Def Soul | |||
| Writer(s) | Mark Andrews, Tim Kelley, Bob Robinson, Desmond Child, Robi Rosa | |||
| Producer | Tim & Bob | |||
| Sisqó singles chronology | ||||
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"Thong Song" is a 2000 song recorded by Sisqó of Dru Hill for the Def Soul imprint of Def Jam. The song was issued as the second single from Sisqó's Unleash the Dragon LP in February 2000, and was its second biggest hit.
A remixed version featuring Foxy Brown of "Thong Song" was made exclusively for the 2000 film Nutty Professor II: The Klumps.
The record celebrates, in a playful way, women who wear thong underwear and bikinis.
It was covered recently by the cast of Glee, for the TV series Glee. Sisqó performed it on Celebrity Big Brother and afterward it re-entered the chart at number 97. The song was also recently remixed by electronic music producer Elephantitan.
Contents |
[edit] Production
The song was written by Sisqó, Tim Kelley and Bob Robinson and also produced by Tim & Bob as well. Songwriters Desmond Child and Robi Draco Rosa receive songwriting credit because of the interpolation of part of their composition, "Livin' la Vida Loca" (Ricky Martin), in the song's lyrics. The strings heard throughout the song are lifted from Wes Montgomery's cover of "Eleanor Rigby".
Inspired after attending his cousin Nelson's baptism, Sisqó set out to write "The Thong Song" shortly after, adding it to the list of singles he had already prepared for his hit album Unleash the Dragon.
The alternate version, the official remix to the original version, "Thong Song Uncensored" (which has no explicit adult language), features a guest rap from Foxy Brown in the spot where Sisqó whispers the main verse for the third time, and is included on the soundtrack for Nutty Professor II: The Klumps. A second, more urban-themed,[clarification needed] video was shot for the remix by Little X.
[edit] Music video
[edit] MTV version
Set in Miami, Sisqó goes to the beach from his home to participate in a Spring Break party with a large number of young women who are all wearing bikinis and thongs, with the exception of one female who wears a g-string. There are also scenes with Sisqo and the members from Dru Hill driving a Bentley Azure down the highway and cameos from Method Man, Redman, Ja Rule and LL Cool J. Sisqó proceeds to perform acrobatic feats atop the crowd that contradict the laws of physics, culminating in a stage performance lit with blacklights and an orchestra in the background. The whole video, being cuts between Sisqó and barely clad women, drew minor criticism for exploiting women as sex objects, and was credited for starting a new wave of "booty" videos. The director of the video, Joseph Kahn, was quoted as saying, "I listen to 'Thong Song', and I say, 'Well, this song is about asses.' So you can either accept it and do something like I did, or you can go and try and turn the 'Thong Song' into some kind of Chemical Brothers video and make it all pretentious; about some fucking communist upheaval or something. Let's just relax and make a booty video, and let's make a really good one, and make it fun." [1]
[edit] Alternate version with Foxy Brown
After giving a radio interview in his home town of Baltimore, Sisqó escapes from a group of fans with the help of Foxy Brown to a fashion show, where models strut in sexy costumes, which (again) all consist of bikinis just as in the original video, this time for the exception of two females who did sport thongs. The video also features a cameo by professional wrestler Big Show. The song was done for the soundtrack of Nutty Professor II: The Klumps.
[edit] Charts
| End of year chart (2000) | Position |
|---|---|
| U.S. Billboard Hot 100[2] | 14 |
[edit] Notes
- ^ Lee, Jimmy (June 2001), The Wrath of Kahn: Joseph Kahn's trek to music video stardom, KoreAm
- ^ "Billboard Top 100 - 2000". http://longboredsurfer.com/charts.php?year=2000. Retrieved 2010-08-31.
[edit] External links
- "Thong Song" Official music video on YouTube
- "Thong Song" music video (Uncensored) on YouTube
- "Thong Song" Remixed by Elephantitan on YouTube
| Preceded by "Poison" by Bardot |
RIANZ (New Zealand) number one single 28 May 2000 |
Succeeded by "Oops!... I Did It Again" by Britney Spears |
