Songoftheday 6/16/22 -Question tell me what you think about me, I buy my own diamonds and I buy my own rings...

 

 

"Independent Women Part 1" - Destiny's Child

from the albums Charlie's Angels (Original Soundtrack) (2000) and Survivor (2001)

Billboard Hot 100 peak: #1 (eleven weeks)

Weeks in the Top-40: 25

 

Today's song comes from the group Destiny's Child, whose second album The Writing's On The Wall had catapulted them to stars with four top-40 pop hits including "Bug A Boo", "Jumpin' Jumpin'", and two #1 singles in "Bills, Bills, Bills" and "Say My Name".  However in the process they revolved out three members in LeToya Luckett, LaTavia Roberson, and Farrah Franklin. Leaving the trio of Beyonce Knowles, Kelly Rowland, and Michelle Williams, the "final" DC lineup recorded their first song with Williams for the soundtrack of the movie reboot of the Charlie's Angels hit television show, starring Drew Barrymore,Cameron Diaz, and Lucy Liu. The result was "Independent Women Part 1", though the record was recorded before Franklin left, including her in the mix. Written by Beyonce with co-producers Jean-Claude "Poke" Olivier, Sam "Tone" Barnes, and Cory Rooney, the track was actually a remix of what would be "Independent Women Part II" on their third album Survivor, with both parts appearing on the set. The lyrics paint them in a self-worthy light, not needing a man for any material needs, but only emotional and sexual ones. Rousing the audience in a call-and response in the chorus, as well as the unconventional naked capitalism in name-checking the movie and its stars made it a possibly dated and thirsty cash-grab (see Will Smith's "Wild Wild West"), but the gimmick worked, and the group scored not only the biggest single of their career, but the longest running #1 hit of 2000. The music video was all about the movie tie-in, with the trio running a spy training camp including watching clips from the film...

"Independent Women Part 1" spent eleven weeks at #1 on Billboard magazine's Hot 100 pop chart in America starting in November of 2000. The song also topped Billboard's R&B Singles chart for three weeks, four weeks at the top of the dance-oriented Rhythmic and seven on the Mainstream Top-40 radio lists, and even popping on to the older-skewing Adult R&B format at #34. The remixes of the track, done by tribal house DJ Victor Calderone and house music vet Maurice Joshua, helped "Independent Women" land their first #1 on Billboard's Dance Club Play chart.  Internationally, the single spent a week at #1 on the singles charts of the UK and New Zealand, and reached the top ten in the Netherlands (#2), Switzerland (#2), Ireland (#2), Norway (#2), Iceland (#2), Canada (#3), Australia (#3), Belgium (#3F/#4W), Denmark (#3), Spain (#5), Finland (#5), Hungary (#5), Sweden (#6), Greece (#6), Croatia (#7), Germany (#10), and Poland (#10). The Charlie's Angels soundtrack album, released in October of that year, rose to #7 on the Billboard 200 sales tally, selling over a million copies. As mentioned, it also showed up on Destiny's Child's next release Survivor in April of 2001, which topped the Billboard 200 for two weeks (their sole studio album to hit #1), going on to sell over four million records. At the Grammy Awards in 2001, "Independent Women Part 1" was nominated for Best Song Written for Visual Media, losing to "When She Loved Me" from Toy Story 2, written by Randy Newman and performed by Sarah McLachlan. Destiny's Child and that album will return to the series.

As for the Charlie's Angels soundtrack, the set included two songs from the group as well as a handful of new tracks but dominated by "oldies" from the 70's, 80's, and 90's. A new song from rock band Aerosmith, the loud and brash "Angel's Eye", climbed to #4 on Billboard's Mainstream Rock radio chart. "Charlie's Angels 2000", from the British neo-techno act Apollo 400 which interpolated the original TV theme, became a top-40 hit in the UK at #29. 

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This is what the "Independent Women Part II" from the album sounds like...

 

 

Here's the trio appearing on the British TV show CD:UK to promote the single...

At the Grammys in 2001, Destiny's Child performed "Independent Women" as well as "Say My Name"...

...as well as a year later at the World Music Awards...

and lastly, in concert in 2002..

Up tomorrow: Quirky Canadians need some proof they're not dreaming.