The Pussycat Dolls

Before The Pussycat Dolls’ string of racy pop and club hits through the 2000s, they’d already found fame in another realm altogether. The group was originally a dance troupe conceived by choreographer Robin Antin as a contemporary spin on the burlesque performers of the ‘50s and ‘60s. In 1995, The Pussycats Dolls started a Thursday-night residency at The Viper Room that swiftly turned them into a sensation in Los Angeles, with Las Vegas soon to follow. A deal with Interscope led to the formation of a PCD-branded musical project featuring many of the original dancers along with three newly recruited singers, including Nicole Scherzinger. While the group’s shows and videos gave plenty of prominence to the members’ burlesque moves and skimpy costumes, the Dolls’ music proved to be more than an afterthought thanks to Scherzinger’s powerhouse vocals and undeniable star power. The Dolls also benefited from some assistance by CeeLo Green on “Don’t Cha” and Lil Jon and Polow Da Don on “Buttons,” two of the many steamy and irresistibly funky hits on the group’s 2005 debut, PCD. Like all parties, The Pussycat Dolls’ rager couldn’t last forever, and the group petered out before the decade’s end as Scherzinger sought to launch her solo career. But by late 2019, new reunion performances and a guest appearance on Meghan Trainor’s album Treat Myself were greeted with enough excitement to suggest The Pussycat Dolls’ flirtatious dance pop may be the most enduring (and most fun) offshoots of Antin’s bump-and-grind empire.