This Day in Pop: Britney Spears and Iggy Azalea release 'Pretty Girls' single in 2015 (May 04)

[PokemonSpears]

On May 04, 2015, Britney Spears and Iggy Azalea released their collaboration single Pretty Girls. It was produced by The Invisible Men, who co-wrote along with Iggy herself, as well as Maegan Cottone and British group Little Mix.

The electro-pop track, which some critics considered was reminiscent of Hollaback Girl, was a bit more urban than Britney's latest singles. Lyrically it speaks about men following the "pretty girls" when they go out, like bees to the honey, utilizing several other analogies and expressions to describe their impression, the girls then taking their infatuation to get away with doing what they want.

 

Recorded in September 2014, the song was teased by Britney in an interview with Extra, when asked about who would she like to collaborate with, and replying "I love Katy Perry, I would love to do something with her, or Iggy, that would be cool..."

 

In December, Iggy confirmed the collaboration at the Jingle Ball Tour 2014:

Quote

"We have a song, which is going to be her first single, coming out next year," Azalea told Kiss 108 backstage at the Jingle Ball. I still haven't really got to have a conversation with her, so I'm hoping New Year's will be the time I can get her in a corner.

"She said she would like to work with me in an interview and they reached out. We recorded a few different things and then one of those just ended up being, I think, undeniably great. Hopefully everybody will get to hear it at the beginning of next year.

I think people are really going to love it and enjoy it. It's a really fun track."

 

In March 2015, Larry Rudolph confirmed there were no plans to release a full album: "Right now we're just concentrating on putting out a few great singles as they come. We're not really talking seriously about a new album yet. Albums just aren't as important in the digital age as they used to be. Britney will get to one eventually, but not right now."  However, Iggy Azalea thought otherwise, confirming later that month at the iHeart Radio Awards that she was called by Britney's team to tell her she would take the song as the lead single off her upcoming album, after Iggy had told them she was gonna put it on hers. She also revealed the tracked had been reworked to make it a "true duet" and not just her throwing her rap in the middle of the song.

 

 

In March as well, Britney had talked about it in an interview for Extra, explaining how she came up with the idea of working with Iggy "after her seeing her song on TV".

 

In April, they filmed a music video for the song, directed by Cameron Duddy and Iggy Azalea, and portions of the song could be heard from clips recorded by bystanders (we'll celebrate that anniversary in a few days). On April 30, a cover for the album was revealed on Britney's social media, though all the images would be immediately removed. It was later known that it wasn't the correct cover, since it originally depicted Iggy as a feature, when it was actually a duet.

Notice the word "FEAT." compared to the "&" from the official cover

 

The song eventually leaked in full, a couple of days before the official release. The next day it was announced that the song would be promoted on special Uber rides with a Britney theme, called "Bees", where passengers would be able to listen to the song for the first time.

 

In an interview for Z100, Britney talked again about the collaboration, "I saw her video and I was just a huge fan. I was thinking about my next single for my next album and what I was gonna do, and I wanted to do a girl anthem. Something that was very girl empowering and that was kinda funny. I thought a whole take on valley girls and just kind of making fun of that would be fun for us to do. She was really down for it." She also spoke about eating salads with Iggy, meeting her dog, and shared her guesses about Iggy's nationality based on her accent, as well as her experience shooting the video.

 

The song peaked at #29 on the Billboard Hot 100, yet it topped the US Dance Club Songs chart and also landed at #23 on the Mainstream Top 40. It was also #1 in Belgium and was among the Top 20 in several other countries, Spain and Sweden being the highest at #5. It was nominated at the Teen Choice Awards that year for Choice Song: Female and Choice Song: Collaboration.

The song was first performed live at the 2015 Billboard Music Awards, following the release of the music video and serving as a continuation to it.

 

Later in the year, it was added to Britney's Vegas residency Piece of Me, and it was performed as part of the setlist until 2016.

 

 

 

Iggy Azalea also performed the song on her personal shows later in 2016

This, following a Twitter controversy that happened in June 2015 after a Q&A where a fan commented about "PG flopping".

but wasn't it a "true duet"? 

 

Britney didn't directly address these comments, but tweeted out: "Can’t wait to get back to Vegas. So thankful I have shows for the rest of the year to look forward to... #YouWantAPieceOfMe"

which some fans considered as shade towards Iggy, whose tour dates had just been cancelled.

 

We love a happy ending

 

Come back in a couple of weeks for the anniversary of the music video

[Saoru]

6 years... Omg 

I remember the leaks appearing on here before the release. 

[phinyls]

a bop. change my mind. 

[FemmeFataleBrit]

The Twitter ‘feud’ is still iconic.

I still like the song. Not enough to actually listen to it regularly, but I wouldn’t hate it if it came on the radio.

I can’t believe that was supposed to be her first single for the album. That album would’ve been worse than Britney Jean.

’Undeniably Great’... oh, Iggy.

[mythology]

Song was garbage, cringey as hell.  It deserved to flop

[Isla]

I actually don’t mind this song, it’s fun. I think Britney has worse songs.

[boyinthemirror]

Time flies This isn't the best day to look back on in Britstory

[Towelney]

A classic 

[HairFullOfSecrets]

She looked AMAZE in 2015

[Doja Kitten]

The only thing I care about this song is the muscle daddy in the music video. 

[Universal]

Such a bop! 

[Martian_M00d]

Digging these "This day in history posts" Keep 'em up! 

[Marcanthony]

A BOP

[S jones]

3 hours ago, mythology said:

Song was garbage, cringey as hell.  It deserved to flop

I hated it too, but now I dont mind this song. I feel like this song had a potential to be a hit if promoted well, because it kinda grow in you 

[thebritmaster]

Certified bop! 

[Frankie8]

I like the music video more than the song. I haven't listened to it or watched the video in years, though.

My station played it the day it came out and then dropped it. The song peaked and then dropped in a matter of a few weeks.

Some said they were trying to recreate Fancy and failed.

[bitbitboi]

I refuse to accept this as a duet. I love you, but it's a FEATURE, Amethyst Amelia Kelly.

[PokemonSpears]

43 minutes ago, Frankie8 said:

Some said they were trying to recreate Fancy and failed.

I stand by my theory that when Britney liked her song "after seeing it on the tv" she was actually thinking about Charli XCX and not Iggy  

[bbbsss]

Horrible song.

[Stefani]

I'll never understand why this flopped considering that it was a basically a copy of Fancy. Granted I think the video was a mess but at the time it should've charted higher especially since it was promoted with a highly anticipated live performance at the BBMAs.