London Bridge (Fergie song)

"London Bridge"
Song

London Bridge is the first single from Black Eyed Peas vocalist Fergie's debut album The Dutchess. It had the second highest jump on the Hot 100 ever, from number 84 to number five. By its third week on the Hot 100 it jumped from number five to number one due to high download numbers and a major increase in airplay.

Song information

It was produced by Polow the Don, who produced Pussycat Dolls' "Buttons" with lyrics by Sean Garrett, who helped write "Yeah!" by Usher. Fergie filmed the music video for this song at the Woolwich Army Barracks in London. This song was released to radio on July 13, 2006, however it was leaked on internet June 29, 2006. The music video premiered on Total Request Live on July 18, 2006 and peaked on TRLs countdown at number five. The song was released on iTunes on July 25, 2006. After only five days on iTunes it reached number one.

It is interesting to note that the bridge featured on the cover of the single is not in fact London Bridge but Tower Bridge. This is presumably because the actual current London Bridge is of no particular architectural significance, and consequently most Americans confuse the two. This mistake is also made in the ending of the video for the song (British audiences have noted this after her video recently debuted in the UK [1]).

On most stations, a radio edit changes the subtitle (normally "Oh Shit!") to "Oh Snap!" (to prevent bleeping). This edit was also used in the music video.

Fergie performed the song during the second season finale of So You Think You Can Dance. It was also used in the series for a top 8 hip-hop routine performed by Donyelle Jones and Travis Wall.

Video

Fergie quotes:

We're doing this androgynous-type thing where [me and my girls] go into a gentlemen's club and pull them into a bathroom and come back out in their clothes. They're going to be dressed up really dapper and looking really handsome..

• Fergie said she also collaborated with her fellow member of Black Eyed Peas will.i.am on the clip's concept to make it more distinctive than another-female-solo-singer-does-a-dance-routine

I didn't want it to be, 'OK, here I am now with my whole dancing posse', we wanted to make it more of a tough feel, just like the song is.

• For the video, she brought in backup dancers who double as bodyguards, dressed like cholas — tough Mexican girls known for wearing dark lipstick and big hair — to make the clip "have a bit more edge, be very distinct, be very mixed." Fergie swears she used to want to be a chola growing up.

I used to do my hair and clothes in exactly the same way. It really brings me back. People have never seen me in the Black Eyed Peas videos going to clubs and hanging out with my girls, and that's a big part of me. I love to go to clubs, hang out, get buck wild, get into fashion. I probably need more girl energy in my life, because I'm around boys all the time.

• Fergie designed one of her outfits for the video from her family's crest and tartan — she is partially of Scottish descent — but not exactly, though. She wanted it to be modernized. She also wears a tiara cocked to the side of her head to play off the royal name of her album, as well as the similarity between her real name (Stacy Ferguson) and that of the Duchess of York (Sarah Ferguson).

• To keep the joke going, Fergie shot the "London Bridge" video — where else? — in London, at the Woolwich army barracks and on a boat on the Thames. The director was Marc Webb.

We got to use the whole cheeky London-type thing, playing with the British guards. But at the same time, we were playing with the '60s London feel, with the Brigitte Bardot bouffant hair, and mixing that up with the chola style. It's kind of a weird fusion, and it somehow just all works together.

• It is rather ironic that in the video the ending scene did not actually depict London Bridge, but the more well known Tower Bridge which was probably mistaken for London Bridge.

I'm not the 'woe is me' artist, but it's tongue in cheek, because I do love to laugh at myself. I'm not this serious person who's that sensitive, that you can never say anything about. I mean, I get it. I get the whole aspect of the business, so we kind of play with that a little bit in the video, but I didn't want the whole song to be about that, because it's boring.

Song

This song is kind of like a punch in the face to let people know I'm coming out..I've been getting way too into myself nowadays and I just wanna have fun with as many men as I can possible..

• The song, which was co-written by Sean Garrett and produced by Polow Da Don (Ludacris, The Pussycat Dolls), is a club track that only lightly touches on personal lyrics about fame and celebrity ("It's like every time I get up on the dude/ Paparazzi put my business in the news").

Charts

Chart (2006)	Peak Position
U.S. Billboard Hot 100	1
U.S. Billboard Hot 100 Airplay	23
U.S Billboard Hot Digital Songs	1
U.S. Billboard Pop 100	1
U.S. Billboard Pop 100 Airplay	11
U.S Billboard Hot Digital Tracks	2
U.S Billboard Hot Digital Tracks (Radio Edit)	2

U.S. Billboard Hot 100
Week	01	02	03	04	05	06	07	08	09	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20
Chart position	84	5	1	1	1

Canadian BDS Airplay Chart
Week	01	02	03	04	05	06	07	08	09	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20
Chart position	73	56

United World Chart
Week	01	02	03	04	05	06	07	08	09	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20
Chart position	27	18	19

References

• "London Bridge Songfacts entry".