A Very Juicy Oral History of “Lady Marmalade”

[messfortwo]

To celebrate the 20th (!) anniversary of "Lady Marmalade," here's my brand-new oral history of the iconic song and music video for @Cosmopolitan https://t.co/YTlPHzxCpO
- Brennan Carley (@BrennanCarley) March 26, 2021

[Some tidbits...]

Missy Elliott: We wanted to showcase each of the “four badass chicks from the Moulin Rouge,” bringing together their different

Comments

[epicdonald]

One thing I remember from this song is that a lot of radio stations cut Lil Kim's rap, and at one point our local DJs even made fun of her being on the track like "why is she even there all she does is say uh-uh-uh-uh-uh"

And a bunch of people called in and explained that she had a whole verse that their version just didn't include. It always amazes me that pop/top 40 DJs didn't realize this and had to later apologize on the air.

[genbu_no_miko24]

ugh I hate when they cut the rap off songs! I remember they would do this with Katy Perry's Dark Horse, completely cut Juicy J's verse all together!

[pciam]

The best part of DH is Juicy J’s rap imo!

[drbat]

[zizy]

lmao Lorraine ;__;

I will say that some segments definitely wouldn't fly today, like Miss Swan. I'm still so shocked people were okay with it even back then.

[pciam]

Omg yes. Recently I went back and watched a lot of MadTV skits and like 9 out of 10 skits would not fly today.

[dacrenon]

I only have very vague memories of watching Mad TV with my older sister late late laaaaaate at night (we weren't allowed to watch it, so she would tape it and we'd get up at 2AM to watch the VHS) and it was only very recently that I found out Ms. Swan was Alex Bornstein. It caused a lot of cognitive dissonance for me, because I definitely remember the character, but...for some reason did not remember the yellowface.

[genbu_no_miko24]

This song was a global hit! I remember when much music just played the music video 24/7 lol! I think one of the station did it too iirc.

YOU DON'T GET THAT HAPPENING ANYMORE LOL!

[pciam]

I love that Patti Labelle called Xtina “baby Patti” in the article. I know a lot of people criticize X’s singing style, but that kind of compliment from Patti is high praise, and Patti has raved about X’s voice before too. And I know X looks up to Patti and holds her in very high regard.

I wonder why Pink didn’t participate. Would’ve liked her insight too!

[genbu_no_miko24]

I'm always ???? at people complaining about Christina's singing style. Compared to the "vocals" we get nowadays......Christina has always been a treat.

She better than most faves out there.

[pciam]

I think she has a great voice, and quite reminiscent of the style of early soul singers (the “shouty” style).

She can be a bit extra with her ad-libs though, and I respect it’s not everyone’s cup of tea - but she most definitely “can” sing. But pop hasn’t favored a lot of big vocalists in quite a while. Especially since the decline in ballad popularity on radio.

[genbu_no_miko24]

Call me when the girlys can justify doing this

[zizy]

This era was Xtina's wildest in terms of fashion choices and when she debuted her blaccent, bc nothing sets you apart from your teenybopper counterparts like a dash of blackness. lol Ari learned from the best.

[rissa_delovely]

I remember her doing cornrows multiple times in 01 and even clueless, conservative, 12-year-old me was side-eying