"London Bridge" is a song co-written and performed by pop
singer Fergie for her debut album,
The Dutchess. It contains a sample taken from "Down To
The Night Club" by Tower Of Power. It was released as the lead
single from the album on July 18, 2006, and was Fergie's first
single as a solo artist. As of April 2009, "London Bridge" has
sold over 2,000,000 copies in the United States.
The song was produced by Polow da Don, with lyrics by Sean
Garrett and Fergie. Fergie describes the song as being "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 is a
club track that lightly touches on personal lyrics about fame
and celebrity. This song also begins with tornado or air raid
sirens blaring after "Oh Shit!" or "Oh Snap!"
Fergie collaborated with her fellow member of the Black Eyed
Peas, will.i.am, on the clip's concept to make it more
distinctive. She describes the concept as follows: "We're doing
this androgynous-type thing where my girls and I 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. (sic) " Will.i.am, Taboo,
and Apl.de.ap all made cameos in the video.
For the video, which was filmed at the Woolwich Barracks in
Woolwich, South London, 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 is seen intermittently sailing down the River Thames
just in front of Tower Bridge, which isn't the same as London
Bridge, despite the song title.
Fergie based one of her outfits for the video on her
family's crest and tartan, with some changes as 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
having the same surname (Ferguson) and nickname, as the Duchess
of York (Sarah Ferguson).
As of November 7, 2009 the music video for "London Bridge"
has been viewed 2,217,623 times on the popular video-sharing
website YouTube.
Rolling Stonecalled the song a "total ripoff of
Hollaback Girl", Gwen Stefani's number one single of 2005.
Another reviewer described the song as being "Hollaback Girl"
"slathered in puerile sexual raunch".
There is a remix featuring 50 Cent called "London
London".