The Commissioner
The Commissioner
Christina Aguilera, Pink, Mya, Lil' Kim & Missy Elliott - "Lady Marmalade"
This is a Music Video Podcast - or should I say a Podcast about Music Video. One of the biggest songs of 2001had one of the most epic videos. Check out how it was made and all the fascinating behind-the-scenes drama that went into creating this iconic Music Video.
You can see the video here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RQa7SvVCdZk
And you can watch the Making The Video here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8vaD_cF4t3w
Enjoy!
Explore home recording and music creation with Rich and Justin on 'Face Your Ears'!
Listen on: Apple Podcasts Spotify
Hello and welcome to the commissioner. My name is Randy SSON. This episode is lady Marlo, featuring Christine Aguilera, pink, Maya, little Kim and Missy Elliot. Um, okay, so this, I guess the year was, it was 2001. Um, um, so I actually got, um, this was a music video for the feature film, Mullan Rouge, uh, directed by BOS Larman and it was, um, starring you and McGregor and Nicole Kidman. Um, amongst many others John leg Azama, I'm pretty sure was in that movie as well. Um, and I remember, um, the first time I heard the VI the song, it was, uh, probably right around Christmas, new year's right in the first of day, we didn't shoot the video until March, but I, the, they had been making the song in recording the song for a while. And, um, the, it was obviously when I was a kid, the label be version was a big hit. Um, so I knew the song. And then, you know, Christina and pink Maya, Lil Kim, Missy were all big stars. So everyone knew the single was, you know, it was something, it was even when the first time you heard it, it just felt like something, you know? Um, but it, the only person that was signed to Interscope was Maya. So Christina was on, I think RCA pink was on Arista. Lil Kim was on Atlantic Misty was on Electra. Um, but I was gonna be commissioning the video. So, and all the other commissioners, everyone, you know, I think it was pretty well known in the industry of music videos that, you know, if your artist was on a soundtrack on a different label, then that person would do the video. Um, there were a few exceptions with people who didn't like to work with other people, but most artists were pretty, pretty open to it. Um, there wasn't a lot of that stuff going on most of the time it was, you know, it was hard to get artists on different labels. So, um, but this one worked out really well. And, um, I immediately had this thought of a director who, you know, because of all the different personalities and the different management teams and the different, um, you know, all the people involved, I thought of a director who could handle the big personalities. And, um, so I took this director to a screening early on, on the Fox lot. Um, and it was pretty, it was, you know, they had assembled the movie, but it still had blue screen and stuff, but you could still tell it was this incredible movie and the music and the way they told the story and the way they remade songs. And it was pretty spectacular. It was a, you know, uh, it was one of those things even, and Boz had come to the screening afterwards and was making, oh, this isn't ready, that isn't ready. And, and I understand, like there were some big holes in the movie where you could see they were still working on effects and this is 2001. So it was a much more, um, antiquated computer generated Matt world, even though there was computers obviously, and things working, it was just, you know, almost 20 years ago. So things have rapidly, uh, increase in post production and everything has just become a much more, um, de regur in how they do it in the level that they do it. So what he was doing and how he was doing it while at the time was cutting edge was still, you know, in today's world a much different, uh, animal. So, um, we saw the movie and, um, it was still a few, few months away. This was probably January. And then finally, as it was getting close, the movie was getting close. The soundtrack was getting close. The song was done. Um, we, I had a conference call with the studio and Christina's manager and, um, Pink's manager. And I think Missy, I don't think Lil Kim and May's management was on this particular call. They were involved in a lot of stuff, but this particular call, um, but they were, but they had spoken with them for some reason they couldn't get on the call, but I remember everyone decided that they wanted a different director than I had thought. Um, and I was okay with it. I thought, you know what? I think it's the great call as well. So everyone decided that they wanted to use Paul Hunter. Um, and so, you know, I, I didn't see a problem with Paul. I've worked with Paul and find him to be an amazing director. So I was happy to work with him on this one. And, you know, um, he's pretty calm and good with artists and I, who knew you. I mean, I I'll tell you stories as we go on, but who knew what this was gonna be? It could have been an easy peasy, not easy. You know, I think this one fell somewhere in between. There were some intense moments, but overall it was just, you know, a lot, it was just a lot of work, but it wasn't a, like a nightmare video shoot. Um, so I, um, um, I got with Paul Hunter and we went and screened the movie and, um, it was in a much better place. Like they had done a lot of work and a lot of the comping was in there and, and it was still a great movie. And you could just tell it was this work of art, but, um, Paul and I kind of sat outside afterwards and he looked at me, it was this funny, like he looked at me with this kind of grin and almost like who who's gonna say it first, you know? And, um, uh, he, he was like, I don't, that was, he goes, that movie was incredible. I think that was cool. He was like, I don't think we can use any of the footage though in the music video. And I was thinking, I'm like, what? Like, you know, it was gonna be a very expensive video and Fox who was, the studio was putting up half the money, which was north of$750,000 on their end. It was a, you know, it ended up being a 1.6 million video. So each side put in, you know,$800,000. So, you know, for Fox to come up with$800,000 and, and not have their movie in the video was kind of a kind of a thing, but it wasn't like a no way. It was just kind of, I, I did agree with him though. I saw, you know, how incredible the movie was, but it was also with Nicole Kidman and you and McGregor and John Zamo. And at the time, um, it was, you know, it kind of like what it is today. Although today there's a little more duality and blurred lines kind of stuff where things don't really, it's not his thing, but it just felt like O on MTV, in particular where this video was going to play. And at a time where there wasn't YouTube and there wasn't access to video on your phones and all that stuff, basically you watched MTV and you saw a video and that's how you consumed music videos. Um, there weren't a lot of people of that age, you know, Nicole Kim in youre at the time were maybe in their early thirties, I don't know, were they 20 years ago, maybe late twenties or early thirties, but they weren't kids, you know? Um, and so we were trying to figure out a way to make it, so the dev, it seemed like anyways, that, you know, Christina pink, Lil Kim Maya, Missy Elliot, were in the movie, um, even though we weren't gonna use any film footage. So, um, I remember talking to, um, I think it was Jeff Bywater and Robert Craft were the two executives over at Fox, um, and explaining to them our thought process. And I, you know, Paul was like, you know, basically he left it to me to deal with this. Um, but not in a bad way. He was, you know, onto coming up with the creative and doing the thing. And I mean, I ultimately, I think he would've done anything right. He loved the song and loved the video, but his preference was not to do film footage. And, um, so, you know, I think because the song was so big and, and the studio was in kind of a, um, this was one of those movies that, you know, like you just didn't know, you just like, it was out of the box. It was so unique and such a cool thing. Um, they went for it. They said, you know what, let's see what it looks like. They, they weren't like, no, no problem. They just were like, this is an incredible piece of art. And, and it was, and it is still to this day, an amazing piece of art, the film itself, um, the video is an amazing piece of art as well. It's just, but it is a music video, you know, it's straight, straight music video. Um, I think Thomas KLOS was the DP on this one. I'm pretty sure he was, I don't know. I have to look that up. Um, but anyways, Boz was obviously not happy about it. He was somewhat insulted. Um, and he took it personally, which, you know, was, it was never meant to be that way at all. It had done his, he made this beautiful work of art movie that was a standalone piece of art. Um, and the video was just supposed to be a video, you know, to help solve, to get people, to go see that piece of art, um, which ultimately it did. And it was, and the single was huge and the video was huge and it did do that, but, um, we did agree he had these, um, curtains that he had, you know, used in the film, um, that we agreed to fly in from Australia that you see at the beginning. And we had to hang them and use them when Missy says, ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the moon LA Rouge. Those are from the actual movie. Those are things, you know, like, so that was one of the things like, he was like, okay, fine. But we have to have like props from the film in the video. And so we obviously agreed to that. So the prep for the video was kind of a big deal. Um, there was a making of the video, so that was a lot of logistics dealing with MTV. Um, E so I think we've talked about this before, just in the, the process of making a video, but in particular with, with artists, um, and definitely with glam artists, male or female, there's always a hair there's makeup. Um, and then depending on the artist, if there's dancing, there's a choreographer, there's a stylist, right? So we made, We had it. So each artist would have their own hair makeup person, but we would have one choreographer cuz they all had to have one move. Right? So Tina Landon was the one choreographer and Trish Summerville was the costume designer for everybody. Um, just so that the look would be consistent. There was a little bit of pushback from some of the artists cuz obviously pink wants her person and Maya wants their person and, and you know, like there's nothing wrong with wanting your person, but in the end, everyone agreed that Trish would do it. And um, she did a great job, obviously, you know, if you look at it, you see each artist really shines through, um, in their personality and what they wear. Um, and so yeah, I mean obviously they had their own entourage and assistance and everything and trailers and different stuff like that. But um, there was basically like four sets of hair, four or five sets of hair, five sets of makeup, one stylist, one choreographer. Um, and then, uh, that's how we got ready to shoot. So the shoot took place over two days. It was March 17th and 18th, 2001, um, in downtown Los Angeles at the Los Angeles theater. As I said before, making the video was there. Um, this was, you know, LA downtown LA now is a, a pretty vibrant place and there's a lot going on there. It wasn't that way. In 2001, it was just starting to get somewhat populated again. Um, the, the theaters were the first thing to kind of get redone, um, and the Los Angeles theater, while it wasn't in great shape, it was still in pretty good working condition. Um, and so we were, it had a big parking lot. So we were able to like house all production out there and utilize the, the facility itself for some in-house production and the grip trucks and all the, you know, put all that stuff kind of on site and on the streets. Um, we started day one. Um, the first scenes that we shot were the Maya scenes. We kind of, we tried to shoot it somewhat sequentially, although there was a lot of stuff that had to get done on the stage with the girls, um, where even though, and it does crescendo in the video with all four of them on the stage. And so we, we did do that at the end of the second day, but we did need to like get stuff done in silhouettes for the first day and then try and get some stuff on the, the stage, um, all four girls by the end of the first day. So we started with pink, I mean with Maya, um, and did her scene, um, which was great. She was, you know, on it. And then we moved on to, um, I think it was pink in the BIR. Um, and then, uh, so, and everyone had to get there and get through their hair and makeup and go through styling and do the thing. And so it was, you know, Maya was, was good. It took a while. It took a minute, but we got it. Pink was a little bit longer. Christina took a long time. It took a long, long time in day one for her. Um, as I recall, it was like, ah, I don't know, it was 10 hours probably, you know, which is a long time on a production. We didn't need her at the time, but it was still there. Wasn't a point where she finished and came out. Um, there was kind of a big deal and, you know, the making the video people were really, um, kind of, oh, we gotta get Christina, you know, we, you know, we really want Christina and, and again, I, I don't commission videos for Christina Aguilera. Um, so I had very little control over, you know, how long it took her to get done or whether or not she would come out. Um, so, you know, I went to her team and talked about it and you know, they like, like any good management team. They were like, she'll come out when she's ready to come out. And um, so eventually like we got like a 15 minute warning, she was gonna come out, you know, it took, we were kind of sitting around waiting. We had shot stuff on the stage, but each person had to do individual stuff on the main stage that we would later on shoot all four of the girls together. Um, so, um, you know, while you're waiting around and waiting around and waiting around, you know, people do things so pink had like, had done most of her stuff for the day. Right. And I think at, at one point she fi she wrapped, but you know, it was a cool video and MTV was there and it was this big thing. And, you know, it was for this big movie and so no one wanted to go home. Um, and then Christina kind of came out of the trailer. Um, and she, I mean, it was pretty shocking. It was amazing, but it was kind of shocking. It definitely was not the typical genie in a bottle, Christina Aguilera type thing. Like she had this frizzy hair, it was almost like twisted sister kind of thing where she, um, uh, had like her hair was teased out and her makeup was really extreme. Um, and so, so it was a thing, right. And everyone was, you know, it wasn't there wasn't, it wasn't like anyone needed approval and no one had seen pictures of it before, but it was took a minute for everyone to get adjusted to it. Um, and so finally we get Christina to get, you know, on stage and we're doing some stuff and, um, you know, it takes a, it takes a minute like first couple takes it's, you're warming up and you're doing, and you're fix figuring it out and this needs to be louder. And you're the dance move you met? You know, like I like anything, like no one comes on and does things perfectly. And so pink had been sitting next to Paul and she had a, you know, a couple drinks in her and I think it was like the third or fourth take. And, you know, Paul was, you know, okay, that was great. Like, let this time, why don't you try and do it with this and maybe lean a little bit more and, and pink started yelling out some, um, comments. And I, I, I just thought it was funny and she was kind of playing up for the cameras for MTV, um, cuz they were there filming. Um, and uh, you know, I didn't honestly think anything of it, but it did not play well with Christina in her camp. Um, so I like we did it for a little bit more and pink was doing it and kind of, you know, um, playing to the camera and doing fun things with making the video and pretending to be the director. Um, and then, you know, we, we had about, I don't know, 45 minutes left to that, you know, for in our day. And we had a bunch of stuff to shoot with Christina and um, we shot this one. Good, pretty good performance, you know, and we're starting, we were finally starting to get somewhere where it was like, okay, now we got a thing and everything's gonna be fine. And like there's a vibe and we got the techno cream going in the right, making the right moves and she's hitting the mark and then the lights are working and the posy is, and um, we, you know, we finished the thing we hit cut and Christina just literally walked off stage, walked outta the arena. And then, and that, that was it. Like I was, and I'm like, oh, what happened? You know, maybe she had to, maybe she had to use the restroom<laugh> um, but that wasn't the case. She was just had had it with the pink thing<laugh> and just was like, I will not be taking to, you know, didn't say anything to me. Um, she just laughed and then her team came well, somebody from her management team came up and said, cuz Irving a as officer manager and he had gone, the Eagles were actually playing. I think it was the hell freezes over tour. They were playing the staple center that night. So he was there earlier. He, they had a team people that did, you know, did her day to day thing. Um, and he left. And so somebody from her team came up and said, she's not, she's not coming back like today. And she may not come back tomorrow. She's not happy with the way this old production's going. And she does not like to be told by another artist what to do. And so then I was like, oh, okay. Um, nobody said anything. I'm so sorry. I will, I will definitely make sure that doesn't happen again. And they, they were pretty, I don't wanna say smog, but you know, they were definitely not happy. And they were letting me know that like there may not be a video tomorrow. So just, and then my, um, this is 2001. So there was, you know, back in the day before the smartphones, there were, you had a cell phone, which is the thing, but then we, there was that Motorola two way pager. That was kind of the, the thing everyone used in the business. And so I got a text from Irving that basically said, um, good luck with your shoot tomorrow. We won't be coming back. And I'm like, oh no, it was just a misunderstanding. And you know, not, he didn't respond. He was basically just saying, you.
Speaker 2:Um,
Speaker 1:Yeah. So I called Craig Logan And he, he totally got it. He was not, you know, trying to do anything other than like, Hey, listen, she, pink was in a really good mood and she meant nothing by it. And I am so sorry and she is, feels terrible and this is not, you know, so, um, I said, listen, I get it. Any help you can do in helping, you know, talk to Irving and, and Christina's team to let them know that that wasn't the case, you know, would be appreciated. And so, um, they did and, and you know, they didn't Irving and people said, we'll see, you know, like let it sit for tonight. We'll see. Tomorrow the MTV people had left already when this all went down and they were like, you know, oh, I heard something I heard, we're not having a video tomorrow. I'm like, I don't know what you're talking about, but you did miss some fun things and you should have been here. And then they were like, yeah, we probably couldn't use it anyway. So, but anyways, we show up the next day. Um, and you know, everyone's a little panicked, you know, um, we knew we had, uh, we had, we had planned to origin, like, you know, um, only have Missy there for one day, cuz she really is just in the beginning of the video. Right. She says ladies and gentle, well, welcome to the Mulan Rouge. She produced the track, but she's not really on the track. Um, so we had just planned to have Missy there for, you know, five hours cuz, and she was really busy, so it worked out fine. So, you know, we all show up for day two. Everyone's kind of whatever. I, um, I think I remember, you know, making sure that we got some flowers and then, um, pink had actually had flowers sent as well to everybody apologizing and saying so sorry, I was outta hand last night, which was a super classy move, you know? Um, and then, um, Missy showed up and we got her on the MTV thing and you know, just kind of every, you know, for me putting, putting a brave face forward. Um, um, and then eventually I got a call like, I don't know, probably 15, 20 minutes before Christina showed up that, that she would in fact be there, that she was gonna try, she was gonna come today. You know, she was late, but she was gonna come and that there can't be any more of that kind of, you know? And I was, I, you know, totally said, of course not, sorry, I, again, you know, like, didn't know, had you told me there was an issue I would've taken care of it earlier. And so there was kind of like a, a uh, uh, everyone understood what was gonna go on. And there was a little bit of a thing and um, and you know, whatever she wanted, you know, she had a, she had a pretty, she had a pretty big entourage, so, um, she wanted, I don't some video games and stuff. So we were like, yes, yes, yes, of course. Just come, please come, come, come, come, come. And so, um, she did and she was much faster because I think they had made a lot of creative decisions on day one. So, um, we got her out and filming and we got everyone on stage and they were all nice to one another. And then we did the, and then everyone showed up, like Irving showed up and Jimmy showed up and Jim Polis who at the time was the chairman of Fox studio showed up. And then we did the whole fall, four of them doing the dance routine and the confetti. And so it, it, it all actually went really, really well once we got everyone there and working. Um, and, um, and then we, um,<affirmative>, um, we wrapped, we wrapped on time, as I recall, as I recall, we wrapped on time. Um, and everything went was, was, was in the end. Everything was good. Everyone like Christina did a great, if you see them making the video, you'll see. She was, she was a much more in a much better mood on day two. Um, and, um, everyone was in a pretty good place. Um, so, and you, you would never know any of this, if you watched them making the video, it just looks like everyone showed up and it was perfect, you know, which is kind of what they do. And I, I respect them for that. You know, it's probably, that's why they make podcasts now, so we can tell you the real story. Um, but yeah, everything was, uh, every, we did, like I said, it was late night, but we did wrap on time as I, Yeah. So we got to the tele city, um, there, as I recall, there was a little bit of talk again about like, Hey, are you sure you don't wanna put film footage in this? And Paul was obviously very adamant about it and I backed him up completely. And we said, no, cuz the footage looked amazing. Um, and then as I recall, um, we got a cut, it took a couple days extra. It took a while. Um, but when we got the cut, I remember putting it in. I was nervous obviously, but I, you know, usually I, you know, would get a cut and something of this size, it would be like, make my changes and then show it. Um, but it was, it was pretty close. There was there like they did a great job with the edit. Um, I, I don't know the editor, maybe you'd have to talk to Paul, but um, I don't remember Dustin Robertson did it maybe, I don't know whatever it was. It was a really good first cut. Um, and so, you know, we made copy, sent it out to everyone. Um, people had some vanity changes from the artist, but for the most part, the, the, where things were stayed, where they were maybe this type of shot or the close up or far away stayed where there was one little issue, um, where Christina does the ad lib during Lil Kim's verse. And you know, they were, they didn't wa like Kim's camp. I, they called didn't want that in there. Um, but Christina's camp really did. Um, and if you watch the video, you can see that Christina did win out on that one that can Lil Kim, they weren't mad. I think they were just more like, how come she's encroaching on this section, but when you watch the video now, 18, 19 years later, you see why, because it's like, she says that line and it's the first time you really see her in a close up of a performance. Um, so it, you know, it wasn't, it wasn't strictly vanity. It was for a conceptual introduction of the artist into the video performance part of it. Um, but yeah, I remember, you know, like we did some things, we did some beauty work, um, and then delivered the video. Um, and it was one of that was, this was another one of those videos that it just, it just clicked. It worked, the song worked, the video worked, it helped sell soundtracks. It helped sell tickets to the movie. The movie did well for a movie that in today's world, I don't know. I don't know what it would do. I'm not saying it wouldn't do well. It just wouldn't be a no brainer. Um, you know, because it's not the straight, although it is a movie content, you know, like right now, rocket man's a big hit and Bohemian Rhapsody was just a big hit last year with a star was born being something so that, you know, Mo movies with music. But this is more of like a specific musical based on time. And I'm not saying you couldn't do it, but it was it, uh, I don't know, whatever it is, it did work, you know, um, the video, like I said, went into heavy rotation on MTV. It, it was, um, it won two VMAs, right? It won video of the year, um, in 2001 and best video. Um, and then, um, I think it also won best video from a film. It was nominated for like six. It was like nominated for best dance, best pop, best choreography, best art direction. Um, it didn't win all those, but I, I think it won. Yeah, it won definitely video of the year and best video from a film. So I know it won two. I saw recently that ed Sherin was wanting to remake the video with Bruno Mars and Justin Bieber, um, which I think would be an amazing idea. Um, I would love to see that I'm not sure that it works or that it is a thing, but just because I work so hard on this video and, um, you know, I love the song. I think the song's a great song, so it would be fun to see. Um, but yeah, this was, this was one of those videos that at the time, um, you knew it was special. And now looking back on it some 18, 19 years later, it wa it was special and it was a moment in time and we did do some pretty, pretty amazing things. Um, I, I won't tell you that cinematically, it was like groundbreaking because I, I will, I, I wouldn't kill myself and it wasn't supposed to be, you know, like the film itself was the video was, you know, had a real purpose and that was to showcase the girls and the song and the, the sexuality and sensuality of the Mulan Rouge, because ultimately it is about a prostitute and a John and a story. And, um, so there is sensuality and sexuality and lustfulness and everything, and trying to do that in a, you know, some at the time somewhat, you know, modern, um, twist wi but, but it also having the, you know, the Muong Rouge era vibe so that there was the BIR and the co theier, um, you know, like just trying to get, get all that. And so it was definitely a, a art piece, a beauty piece with that needed to have, um, you know, some rhythm and, and movement. And Paul did an amazing job at that, you know, not, and that, I'm not saying it in a bad way. It was, it wasn't supposed to be an art piece or, you know, some sort of Kubrick ode to like cinema it, it was beautifully shot and beautifully choreographer, choreo, choreographed. Yeah. Beautifully shot, be beautifully choreographed, incredibly edited, you know, like all the, like a plus for everything. Um, and that's why it holds a test of time. Go watch the video. You should watch it. It's in the link. Um, or if not, just, um, go onto YouTube and check it out. It really is. Um, it really is something and something I'm proud of. So that brings us to the end of episode, three lady Marlo, featuring Christina Aguilera, pink Maya, Lil Kim, miss Elliot. Hope you enjoyed it. Um, I, uh, enjoyed taking a ride down the, uh, memory old memory lane. Um, just listening back to some of the stuff I recorded. I guess the word is corset. You know, I couldn't figure out what I was saying, but it was corset is what I wanted to say. That's it? My name is Randy Sason. This is the commissioner. Thank you for listening. Um, as always, I'll leave you with this turning up. The volume is like zooming in, but with sound.