Unpretty

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"Unpretty"
Single by TLC
from the album FanMail
Released August 10, 1999 (1999-08-10)
Format CD single, 12" single, cassette single
Recorded 1998–1999;
D.A.R.P. Studios
Bosstown Recording Studios
(Atlanta, Georgia)
Genre Pop, R&B, Alternative rock
Length 4:38
Label LaFace, Arista
Writer(s) Dallas Austin, Tionne Watkins
Producer(s) Dallas Austin
Certification Gold (RIAA)
TLC singles chronology

"No Scrubs"
(1999)
Unpretty
(1999)
"Dear Lie"
(1999)
Music video
"Unpretty" on YouTube

"Unpretty" is a song by American recording group TLC. It was produced by Dallas Austin and co-written by Austin and TLC member Tionne "T-Boz" Watkins for the band's third studio album, FanMail (1999). Built on a poem of the same name written by Watkins, which dealt with a woman's struggle with her self-image and unrealistic concepts of beauty, widely portrayed in the media, long time contributor Austin helped Watkins adapt the poem into an empowering song for their female fan base to overcome feelings of physical inadequacy.

"Unpretty" was the second single released from FanMail. It became the group's fourth US number one single on the Billboard Hot 100, spending three weeks atop the chart, and the second consecutive number one single in from the album, following "No Scrubs". A critical success, the song was nominated for Song of the Year and Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal at the 42nd Annual Grammy Awards. A remixed version of the song, sampling Dennis Edwards & Siedah Garrett's "Don't Look Any Further", was produced by JayDee of 1208Ent. and "Mad" Mike Lewin.

Music video

Paul Hunter directed the music video for "Unpretty", which was filmed on August 29, 1999 and cost over $1.6 million to make. The clip ties together vignettes of several different stories relating to the song's lyrics. The main set of vignettes features a young woman, portrayed by band member Chilli, whose boyfriend convinces her to get breast implants to augment her modest bust. However, after she sees another patient in the hospital (played by actress Jade Valerie) getting her implants painfully removed, the woman flees the hospital in fear, and is later shown fighting with her boyfriend.

Another prominent set of vignettes features Lopes as an inner-city woman who witnesses a gang fight and a murder. Several of Lopes' scenes are set to her verse from "I'm Good at Being Bad", another track on FanMail, instead of "Unpretty" (Lopes appears in the "Unpretty" performance shots reciting the song lyrics in sign language).

Other vignettes feature a full-figured teenager (played by actress Tamika Katon-Donegal)[1] worried about fitting the "ideal" image of the petite supermodel and struggling with a bulimia as a result. Near the end of the video, however, she tears down the unrealistic images of models that she has tacked on her wall and changes into a bathing suit, a sign that she may be starting to embrace her own natural body shape. One last set of vignettes features Watkins as a high school student who is harassed by two white males because she is black.

The video currently available on the group's YouTube account however is an edit which removes all of Watkins and Lopes' solo scenes, and storyline from the video.

Impact

"Unpretty" was later covered by La Musique Populaire for their 2004 boxed set A Century of Song. In 2011, the song was covered by the hit television series Glee featuring Dianna Agron and Lea Michele (as Quinn Fabray and Rachel Berry, respectively) in a mashup with the song "I Feel Pretty" from West Side Story in the episode "Born This Way".

In 2005, a cover version appears in video game Donkey Konga 2 for the Nintendo Gamecube despite the fact group member T-Boz is a gamer all the licensed tracks are covers.

In 2011, Entertainment Weekly's Chart Flashback retrospective gave the song the highest grade of A, stating "Way before Gaga, Katy, et al. made self-esteem anthems de rigueur, T-Boz, Left Eye, and Chilli offered their own excellent call to arms for girls emotionally shipwrecked by mean boys and beauty myths."[2]

Track lisitings

  • US CD Single (Green Cover)
  1. Unpretty (Album Version) - 4:38
  2. Unpretty ("Don't Look Any Further" Remix) - 4:25
  • UK CD 1 of 2 (Green Cover)
  1. Unpretty (Radio Version) - 4:08
  2. No Scrubs (Radio Version) - 4:06
  3. Diggin' On You (Radio Version) - 4:14
  • UK CD 2 of 2 (Blue Cover)
  1. Unpretty (Radio Version) - 4:08
  2. Unpretty (M. J. Cole Remix) [Vox Up] - 4:48
  3. Unpretty ("Don't Look Any Further" Remix) - 4:25

  • International Remix EP (Blue Cover)
  1. Unpretty (Radio Version) - 4:01
  2. Unpretty ("Don't Look Any Further" Remix) - 4:26
  3. Unpretty ("Don't Look Any Further" Remix w/ Rap) - 4:27
  4. Unpretty (Pumpin' Dolls Radio Mix) - 4:03
  5. Unpretty ("Don't Look Any Further" Remix) [Big Boyz Dub Mix] - 5:00
  6. Unpretty (Pumpin' Dolls Club Mix) - 8:59
  • German CD Single (Green Cover)
  1. Unpretty (Radio Version) - 4:09
  2. Unpretty (Album Version) - 4:38
  3. Unpretty (M. J. Cole Remix) [Vox Up] - 4:48
  4. Unpretty (M. J. Cole Remix) [Budd Dub] - 5:35
  5. Unpretty (Instrumental) - 4:41

Charts

Weekly charts

Chart (1999) Peak
position
Australia (ARIA)[ 1] 3
Austria (Ö3 Austria Top 40)[ 1] 24
Belgium (Ultratop 50 Flanders)[ 1] 13
Belgium (Ultratop 50 Wallonia)[ 1] 30
Finland (Suomen virallinen lista)[ 1] 12
France (SNEP)[ 1] 32
Germany (Media Control AG)[ 1] 16
Netherlands (Dutch Top 40)[ 1] 8
New Zealand (Recorded Music NZ)[ 1] 3
Norway (VG-lista)[ 1] 10
Sweden (Sverigetopplistan)[ 1] 8
Switzerland (Schweizer Hitparade)[ 1] 9
UK Singles (Official Charts Company)[ 1] 6
US Billboard Hot 100[ 1] 1
US Mainstream Top 40 (Billboard)[ 1] 3
US Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs (Billboard)[ 1] 4

Year-end charts

Chart (1999) Position
Australia (ARIA)[3] 37
US Billboard Hot 100[4] 20
UK Singles (Official Charts Company) 44

Decade-end charts

Chart (1990-1999) Position
US Billboard Hot 100[5] 76

References

External links

Preceded by
"Bailamos" by Enrique Iglesias
Billboard Hot 100 number-one single
September 18, 1999 – October 2, 1999
Succeeded by
"Heartbreaker" by Mariah Carey featuring Jay-Z
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