5 Years Of Britney Spears & Iggy Azalea’s “Pretty Girls”

Mike Wass | May 4, 2020 2:19 pm
Lost Hit: Britney's 'Passenger'
Britney Spears should have released 'Passenger' as single from 'Britney Jean.'

May 4 should be a national holiday. On this day in 2015, Britney Spears and Iggy Azalea unleashed “Pretty Girls” upon the world — and didn’t exactly set the charts on fire. The pop/rap hybrid peaked at number 29 on the Billboard Hot 100 after being decimated by critics and decried by fans. But was it really that bad? The answer is obviously no. Produced by The Invisible Men, “Pretty Girls” is a perfectly cute bop — with a truly memorable video — that had the misfortune of dropping right in the middle of Iggy’s cancelation.

One of the best things about “Pretty Girls” is that it allowed Britney to flex her sing/rap muscle, something that was a fixture on her early ’00s albums. “Tell me, is it true that these men are from Mars?” the pop icon ponders. “Is that why they be acting bizarre?” She then rhymes “rolling my eyes” with “buzzing around me like flies,” which is Teen Choice Awards-worthy, at the very least. It has to be said that Iggy’s verse is also stupidly enjoyable. “It’s a thin line between the beauty and the beast,” she spits. “Slim waist, thick cake, the whole world want a piece.”

They then come together for the sing-along chorus. “All around the world pretty girls, wipe the floor with all the boys,” Britney and Iggy chant. “Pour the drinks, bring the noise — we’re just so pretty!” The song was elevated further by a wacky visual, which was inspired by 1988 cult film Earth Girls Are Easy and contains some of the most cringe-inducing product placement of all time. Oh, and then there’s Iggy’s weird alien accent that should have come with a trigger warning. Revisit a true guilty pleasure below.

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