"Bills, Bills, Bills" is a 1999 smash hit single by
Destiny's Child, released as the first single from their second
album
The Writing's on the Wall. It echoed the female
empowerment sentiments of TLC's single "No Scrubs", and
featured the same producer (Kevin She'kspere Briggs) and
songwriter (Kandi Burruss). The song provided the quartet with
their first US chart-topper in July 1999, and also reached the
UK Top 10. The album featured a greater creative input from the
quartet, although they still relied on a heavyweight production
crew including Rodney Jerkins, Missy Elliott, Chad Elliot, and
Dwayne Wiggins of Tony! Toni! Tone!. The song was nominated for
"Best R&B Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals" at the
2000 Grammy Awards.
The music video for "Bills, Bills, Bills" (directed by
Darren Grant) was shot in a beauty salon as a tribute to Tina
Knowles, group member Beyoncé Knowles mother. It was also the
first of three videos that would include Farrah Franklin,
though she played only a minor role as a salon client.
"Bills, Bills, Bills" debuted at #84 on the Hot 100 and
climbed to #1 five weeks later, where it remained for a week
and spent a total of twenty weeks on the chart. It was the
first Destiny's Child song that peaked at number one on the
Billboard Hot 100 chart. The song also won a BMI Pop award for
being the most played song. Before "Bills, Bills, Bills," the
only top ten single the group had achieved was "No, No, No Pt.
2".
"Bills, Bills, Bills" also reached number one on the Hot
R&B/Hip-Hop Singles & Tracks for nine consecutive
weeks, making it one of the longest running number one singles
ever on this chart and the most weeks at the summit in 1999. It
was also the ninth best-selling single of the year in the
U.S.
In the UK "Bills, Bills, Bills" peaked at number six and
went onto sell over 165,000 copies.
Despite the success of the single, some listeners questioned
the theme, interpreting the demand that the man pay the woman's
bills and the accompanying threat of leaving him if he didn't
as male bashing. Additionally, the man in the song is subjected
to insults, accusing him of being a
"triflin', good for nothing type of brother."Destiny's
Child countered that their lyrics were meant to be empowering
for women.
Certain lyrics within the song reveal that the targets of
its criticism are men who do not repay debts, not all men in
general. These include lines such as
"Now you've been maxing out my card,"
"And then you use my cell phone / And when the bill comes,
all of a sudden you be acting dumb,"and
"And now you ask to use my car / Drive it all day and don't
fill up the tank."These same complaints are referred to in
the refrain, when the women ask,
"Can you pay my bills? / Can you pay my telephone bills? /
Do you pay my automo' bills?"
Sporty Thievz, the same group that wrote "No Pigeons" as
response to TLC's "No Scrubs", wrote a response to "Bills,
Bills, Bills" entitled "No Billz (Why, Why, Why)." Sporty
Thievz were also featured on the main remix of Bills, Bills,
Bills produced by the Trackmasters, along with a female rapper
called Jazz.
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