Why Pussycat Dolls’ Nicole Scherzinger never happened?

And what makes selling sex so difficult?

Not everybody survives the solo life. Backstreet Boys, Spice Girls, One Direction. All those groups sold millions of records, and yet so many of the members faded away as soon as they parted ways with their groupmates.

The Pussycat Dolls’ Nicole Scherzinger seemed like a safe bet. She was beautiful, talented, and, most importantly, the group’s only singer. But it never happened.

The Beginnings

Before The Pussycat Dolls bulldozed the charts with “Don’t Cha”, they were a famous burlesque group, headed by Carmen Electra. All changed when Interscope Records’ co-founder, Jimmy Iovine suggested to make a switch and bring girls into the music world. After a couple of audition and line-up changes, they were ready to kill it.

The group tested waters with “Sway” in 2004, which featured in Richard Gere-led romantic comedy, Shall We Dance.

The official debut came in April 2005 and smashed out of the gate. CeeLo’s produced “Don’t Cha” debuted at №95 on Billboard Hot 100 and quickly gained momentum, placing at №8 by the tenth week and finally peaking at №2 in the sixteenth week. The single was a worldwide success and a big step in creating “The Pussycat Dolls” brand.

A few months later the girls released a mid-tempo “Stickwitu”, a creation of Ron Fair, responsible for kickstarting Black Eyed Peas’ career with “Where Is the Love?”. The song reached the №5 spot, giving the group another hit.

The Pussycat Dolls received mainstream recognition and Scherzinger, the group’s face and the only vocalist was in the centre of attention.

I’m Going Solo

Scherzinger was plotting a solo career from 2006. Her first release outside of the group was a feature on Diddy’s “Come to Me”, which eventually peaked at №9 on Billboard Hot 100, the highest-peaking single from the album.

The following year brought her first solo single “Whatever U Like”. The song was produced by Polow da Don, the guy responsible for The Pussycat Dolls’ “Buttons” — their biggest hit to date. If this wasn’t enough, T.I, who has just released his №1 album T.I vs. T.I.P, featured on the track and appeared in the music video. The dimly lighted video had Scherzinger dance in skimpy clothes and pose in a bikini.

Despite the big guns involved in “Whatever U Like”, the song was a tough sell. Back in 2006, Beyonce tried a similar blaring siren sound in “Ring the Alarm” and it ended up as her lowest peaking single at the time. The Pussycat Dolls’ main vocalist fared even worse — “Whatever U Like” missed the top 100 altogether.

Two months later and Scherzinger was back. “Baby Love” was a sweet middle tempo track, produced by Black Eyed Peas’ will.i.am. The pair performed the song together at American Music Awards in November 2007. It was Scherzinger’s biggest stage as a solo artist.

And the performance was a disaster.

While Scherzinger didn’t do herself any favours with unusually shaky vocals, what completely tanked the performance was the lack of chemistry between the duo. Watching her sing about their love, while stone-faced will.i.am awkwardly shuffles his feet was almost as painful as Meghan Trainor and Charlie Puth locking lips at 2015’s ceremony.

“Baby Love” was a minor success in Europe, but once again missed the top 100 in the USA.

Scherzinger released two other digital singles. The first one, “Supervillain” had the vocalist singing about the kind of man she wants. The last song to wrap up the album’s promotions was “Puakenikeni”, which I can only assume was chosen as a middle finger to all people who swear they can’t pronounce her name. Both songs were made available on iTunes but received no radio support. None of the songs caught on, the album was scrapped and Scherzinger rushed back to the group.

Doll Domination

Luckily, the demand for dolls was still there. In 2008 they released two singles: “When I Grow Up” and “I Hate This Part” — both reportedly pulled from Scherzinger’s discarded album. They did miles better than the main vocalist’s solo efforts.

“When I Grow Up” was a top ten hit, while the pop ballad “I Hate This Part” placed №11, eventually going platinum. The group continued for a year, before ending their activities on a high note in 2009. In their last year, they released two hits: “Jai Ho! You Are My Destiny” and “Hush Hush; Hush Hush”.

It was time for Scherzinger to try again. However, instead of striking while the iron is still hot, she moved onto television. And she did great, winning “Dancing with Stars” and receiving a positive reaction from her stint as “X Factor UK” judge.

In 2010 she finally released new music, a digital single called “Poison”. It was a departure from her previous song, a trendy electro-pop tune. The catchiness of the track was undeniable, but it felt like yet another Lady Gaga reject (Poison was produced by RedOne, who created all of Gaga’s biggest hits). The imitation wasn’t helped by a cartoonish costume Scherzinger donned in music videos and performances.

“Poison” was promoted exclusively in the UK. It achieved moderate success peaking at №3 and going silver. Quickly after Scherzinger started promotion for her first album Killer Love. “Don’t Hold Your Breath” was the first US single, a pop ballad about a woman scorned. It was the first time she entered Billboard Hot 100 as a solo artist, peaking at 86 and hitting №1 in the UK.

Revigorated by the progress, the next single received a bigger push. “Right There” with 50 Cent, saw Scherzinger performing at “American Idol” and “So You Think You Can Dance?”. The promotion brought the single to Billboard’s №39, the highest peak of her career.

However, the top 40 wasn’t satisfying Interscope. “Right There” was the last single promoted in America and Killer Love never saw the light in the US. In 2013 news announced that Scherzinger was dropped from the label.

Not all hope was lost. Sony saw her potential and released her 2014 album Big Fat Lie. In total four singles were released, a mix of ballads and run-of-the-mill breezy pop songs. Big Fat Lie underperformed in all markets and remains her last album.

What Went Wrong?

The common opinion seems to be the music. It was too safe, too generic. It’s not an unreasonable claim, but generic never stopped popstars from getting hits. The answer had to lie somewhere else.

The first thing that jumps out was the lack of image. Scherzinger jumped between genres, never settling on one. However, there was a reason behind this madness.

Scherzinger’s release rollout wasn’t that unreasonable — in fact, it perfectly mirrored The Pussycat Dolls' trajectory. “Whatever U Like” was meant to be a sexy number like “Don’t Cha” or “Buttons”. And mid-tempo “Baby Love” was judged as a bad second single, but it was very similar to The Pussycat Dolls’ “Stickwitu”, which performed well on the charts.

The difference is The Pussycat Dolls smashed right out the gate. If “Don’t Cha” had bombed, it’s hard to imagine “Stickwitu” would have made them into superstars.

The way Interscope Records blundered the promotions is just puzzling because they had a blueprint — just a year earlier Fergie’s The Dutchess dropped.

Fergie was in a similar situation, if not worse since she had to share the spotlight with will.i.am. It didn’t stop her; the debut was top-notch. Her team kickstarted the release with “London Bridge” (also Polow Da Don’s production!), a noisy number with suggestive lyrics. The polarizing number quickly gained attention due to the music video, which had Fergie grinding on royal guard and dancing on the table in Union Jack-painted underwear. It became her first №1.

The next single was “Fergalicious”, an infectious tune focused on Fergie bragging about her awesomeness. Then she transitioned into “Glamorous”, a slower song that served as the natural progression to the album’s big ballad, “Big Girls Don’t Cry” the fourth single and the biggest hit of the album.

Fergie did so well because her team knew what the public expected from her. “London Bridge” portrayed her as loud and confident — the Fergie we all knew. The next singles showed different sides of her and represented sonical change.

The Art of Selling Sex

Don’t make any mistake: Scherzinger’s team knew about the importance of image, they just missed the mark. Yes, “Buttons” was The Pussycat Dolls’ biggest song and yes, the sexy part was always there —after all, they were a burlesque group turned girl group. But The Pussycat Dolls were also a bit tacky and, most importantly, they were fun. Scherzinger herself was aware of this — in 2005’s interview with MTV News she said:

"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.”

She hit the nail on the head. “Don’t Cha” was the kind of song you wanted to bump in the car and sing along with your friends. No woman would sing along to “Whatever U Like”: I do the thing, I do the thing you wanna/I’m gonna do, do anything you wanna (I know what you want). It was a submissive kind of sexy, the kind that only appeals to men. And as a pop star that’s the last group you want to target.

“Buttons” was also male gaze galore, but it did so well because they already had an audience, made of women and men. Starting with a sexy image is always a risque move because it alienates part of the potential fanbase.

The other issue was that Scherzinger’s brand of sexy was boring — “Whatever U Like” didn’t treat her as the main character but like Bond girl. And pop diva should always feel like the most important person in the room.

Interscope’s team never fixed this issue, and let her go through her entire solo career without establishing her identity. The fact that she never sang a big ballad when “Bleeding Love” or “Halo” were selling like hotcakes is astounding.

It’s been six years since the release of her last album, therefore it’s very unlikely we’ll see another solo project. However, it doesn’t mean Scherzinger is hunting for a job — she’s hosting tv shows and stunning people with her singing in musicals.

Last year she made a comeback with The Pussycat Dolls. Before the global pandemic cut their plans short, they released “React” and promised more is coming. I can only hope the “more” will involve something like this: