This Day in Pop: 'Lady Marmalade' is released in 2001 (March 27)

[PokemonSpears]

On March 27, 2001 Lady Marmalade was released as part of the soundtrack as the lead single of the movie Moulin Rouge!'s soundtrack. The song was an all-girl collaboration between Christina Aguilera, Lil' Kim, Mýa and Pink. It also featured Missy Elliott, who co-produced the track along with Rockwilder. The song was written by Bob Crewe and Kenny Lonan and it was originally performed by Labelle, released in 1974 as the lead single of their album Nightbirds. The 2001 track also credits Kimberly Jones (Lil' Kim) as a co-writer, since it includes her rap which gives it a modern twist.

The song reached #1 on the BBH100 and remained there for 5 weeks, becoming the ninth song in history to top the chart by different artists (Labelle's version also reached the #1 26 years prior). It was also the third airplay-only song to top the chart (Aaliyah's Try Again and Shaggy's Angel). It's also the longest reigning number one on the Top 40 chart for an all-female collaboration (9 consecutive weeks) and by the end of 2001 it had already sold 5.2M copies worldwide, hitting #1 in 15 other countries.

A music video was directed by Paul Hunter and it was filmed in Los Angeles. It features all the singers in lingerie, in a cabaret-style set that resembles the Moulin Rouge club. It was choreographed by Tina Landon. A Making the video episode was done for MTV.

 

 

The video won the MTV Video Music Award for "Best Video of the Year" and "Best Video from a Film". It also landed at #5 on the yearly Top 100 of 2001 on MTV Latin America.

The song also won a Grammy in 2002 for "Best Pop Collaboration with Vocals".

 

It was performed live at the MTV Movie Awards and at the Grammy's

 

 

 

 

 

 

Related:

 

[Stefani]

[PokemonSpears]

 

[DignifiedLove]

2001 was truly pop music’s peak and no one can convince me otherwise

[CHAOTIC STYLE.]

Iconic. When times were simpler. 

[OnlyBeyonce]

at least Pink aged well  

[PokemonSpears]

 

[FemmeFataleBrit]

How short are all these girls because in that first picture they all look Christina’s height and Xtina is like 5 foot 2.

[MyAccountGotBanned]

In the 90s the 70s felt so far away ...  and now 2001 seems like just yesterday 

[popprison]

That song was h u g e 

 

[girl_bye]

im doing a cha cha formation to lady marmalade this spring 😏 

i just have to ~remember~ it

[coss]

ICON!!!!

[The Greatest Show]

13 hours ago, FemmeFataleBrit said:

How short are all these girls because in that first picture they all look Christina’s height and Xtina is like 5 foot 2.

Christina: 5´2

Pink:  5´4

Lil Kim: 4´11

Missy Elliot: 5´2

[FemmeFataleBrit]

1 hour ago, The Greatest Show said:

Christina: 5´2

Pink:  5´4

Lil Kim: 4´11

Missy Elliot: 5´2

Wow thanks! Had no idea Missy was this short.

[PokemonSpears]

5 hours ago, The Greatest Show said:

Christina: 5´2

Pink:  5´4

Lil Kim: 4´11

Missy Elliot: 5´2

The Mya shade

[Brat]

The queens that gave vocal lessons in 2002.

Mya is actually a good vocalist and song writer so