I Don't Need a Man

Infobox Single
Name = I Don't Need a Man


Artist = Pussycat Dolls
B-side = "We Went as Far as We Felt Like Going"
Album = PCD
Released = September 25 2006 (Europe, Canada)
October 21, 2006 (Australia)
May 2007 (U.S.)
Format = Digital download, CD single
Genre = Dance-pop, R&B
Length = 3:39
Label = A&M
Writer = Rich Harrison, Nicole Scherzinger, Kara DioGuardi
Producer = Rich Harrison
Misc = Extra chronology
Artist = Pussycat Dolls
Type = singles
Last single = "Buttons"
(2006)
This single = "I Don't Need a Man"
(2007)
Next single = "Wait a Minute"
(2008)

"I Don't Need a Man" is the fifth single released from the Pussycat Dolls' debut album, "PCD" (2005). The European and Canadian release date for the single was September 25, 2006, and the release date in Australia (according to HMV) was October 21. In the United States, the video premiered on April 18, 2007 on MTV's show "Total Request Live", leading to a single release in the U.S. in May 2007.

Background

The song is co-written by lead singer Nicole Scherzinger, producer Rich Harrison and professional songwriter Kara DioGuardi. Scherzinger's previous group, Eden's Crush, had recorded one song by DioGuardi. Scherzinger and DioGuardi also co-wrote the "PCD" bonus track "Flirt". "I Don't Need a Man" is produced by Rich Harrison and co-produced by Ron Fair. The official instrumental version of this song, that is featured on the CD single, contains some other samples than the album version.

B-side

The single's B-side is a cover version of "We Went as Far as We Felt Like Going", written by Bob Crewe and Kenny Nolan. This was a 1975 single for Labelle and a follow-up to their previous hit "Lady Marmalade". The Pussycat Dolls' version first appeared in September 2004 on the soundtrack to the animated film "Shark Tale".

Formats and track listings

;European maxi CD
#"I Don't Need a Man" (album version) – 3:39
#"I Don't Need a Man" (instrumental) – 3:39
#"We Went as Far as We Felt Like Going" – 3:50
#"I Don't Need a Man" (video) – 3:39

;UK single
#"I Don't Need a Man" (album version) – 3:39
#"We Went as Far as We Felt Like Going" – 3:50

Music video

The music video for "I Don't Need a Man" was directed by Chris Applebaum and was first announced and described by group member Ashley Roberts in a blog entry on their official website. [ [http://www.pcdmusic.com/index.php?option=com_comprofiler&task=viewBlog&userID=89&Itemid=-1 http://www.pcdmusic.com/index.php?option=com_comprofiler&task=viewBlog&userID=89&Itemid=-1] "PCDmusic.com" ]

On August 25 2006, the music video premiered on The Box in the UK, and on September 14, it premiered on "MuchOnDemand" in Canada. The video took the number one spot on MMMTop10.com multiple times. It reached number nine on MTV's "Total Request Live" and number two on the MTV Asia Chart Attack. The video was uploaded to the iTunes Store on April 18 2007.

The first verse begins with Roberts doing her nails dressed in white clothing. The video features Nicole Scherzinger singing, Carmit Bachar doing her hair and Jessica Sutta having a shower as they prepare to go out. In the chorus, the Dolls mimic a hair salon scene. During the second verse, the video shows Kimberly Wyatt in a bath getting ready to go out, Melody Thornton putting on her make-up and Scherzinger singing. In the second chorus, it shows the Dolls performing a dance routine before breaking into different slides of the Dolls dancing separately. Following this, it shows Scherzinger and Thornton singing "Let it Go", a bridge in the middle of the song but actually is Carmit Bachar that is singing "Let it go". This then breaks to more dance clips of the Dolls with Scherzinger singing. The video concludes with the Dolls performing another dance routine against a black background in the final chorus before confetti falls down.

To stay true to the Dolls live show routines, the video features the silhouette of bodies before the second verse of the song. The main background colour for the song is pink, contributing to the girly theme. There are two versions of the video: one full-version and the other which edits dance routines with clips/frames previously shown in the video.

The video of the single "Zgodna Mlada" of the duet Trik FX is a copy of the "I Don't Need a Man" video. [ [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3nAb-zP6hNM&eurl YouTube - Zgodna Mlada - Trik FX ] ]

Vocals

Nicole Scherzinger provides lead vocals, whilst Melody Thornton provide additional ad-libs and backing vocals, also Carmit Bachar contributing backing and additional leads, as well as Ashley Roberts contributing background. During live performances, group member Melody Thornton adds additional ad-libs which are not on the album version (that contains her background and original ad-libs) throughout the song and joins in the duet sections between Nicole Scherzinger and formerly Carmit Bachar. Now that Bachar has left the group, her vocals are sung by Jessica Sutta. [ [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ucNiCbxva7I&feature=related YouTube - Pussycat Dolls Live From Kuwait Pt 4 ] ]

Chart performance

"I Don't Need A Man" became a moderate hit worldwide reaching the top ten in several countries whilst making the top five in others. "I Don't Need a Man" debuted and peaked at number-six in Australia and was certified Gold by ARIA for sales in excess of 35,000. "I Don't Need a Man" was ranked at number fifty-five on the Australian ARIA Year-End Singles Chart for 2006. [http://www.australian-charts.com/showitem.asp?interpret=The+Pussycat+Dolls&titel=I+Don%27t+Need+A+Man&cat=s] "I Don't Need A Man" performed similarly well in New Zealand, peaking at number-seven on the New Zealand RIANZ Singles Chart, but this ended the group's string of consecutive number-one hits. [http://charts.org.nz/showitem.asp?interpret=The+Pussycat+Dolls&titel=I+Don%27t+Need+A+Man&cat=s] The song also peaked at number-seven in the UK, breaking the group's string of top three hits. "I Don't Need A Man" has also performed slightly weaker in Germany where it has reached number twenty.

"I Don't Need A Man" debuted on the U.S. "Billboard" Hot 100, at number ninety-three in the issue dated May 12 2007 bt failed to chart any higher.

{| class="wikitable"!align="left"|Chart (2006–2007)!align="center"|Peak
position
-
align="left"|New Zealand RIANZ Singles Chart
align="center"|7
-
align="left"|Polish National Top 50 [ [http://euro200.net/Polish%20Hitfiles.htm Polish National Top 50 Archives] ]
align="center"|2
-
align="left"|Romanian Singles Chart
align="center"|4
-
align="left"|Sweden Singles Top 60
align="center"|27
-
align="left"|Switzerland Singles Chart
align="center"|15
-
align="left"|UK Singles Chart
align="center"|7
-
align="left"|U.S. "Billboard" Hot 100
align="center"|93
-
align="left"|U.S. "Billboard" Pop 100
align="center"|83
-
align="left"|United World Chart
align="center"|30

References