These artists released racy singles that were the anthems to our childhood (Pictures: Getty/Rex)
Picture the scene – the year is 1999, you’ve grabbed your finest flame shirt and/or butterfly clips for the school disco, and you’ve perfected your dance moves to Sisqo’s Thong Song.
Now, 25 years later, you realise why the teachers were absolutely mortified.
Some – no, a lot – of the most iconic songs of the 90s and 00s have x-rated meanings that weren’t all that hidden, we were just maybe too naive to realise.
From a number one Spice Girls track to Kelis’ beverage-based anthem and a song from Lil Jon that is even dirtier than some may realise, our favourite tracks have totally different meanings 20 years on.
Sorry in advance, the childhood memories you have of these 10 hit songs may be ruined as you read on.
Spice Girls – 2 Become 1
An iconic song that we all perfected our dance routines too, Spice Girls released 2 Become 1 in 1996, topping the UK Charts for three weeks.
But behind its soft, romantic melody were raunchy lyrics describing the union of two people – as well as the importance of contraception.
How could we possibly miss the meaning of ‘Come a little bit closer baby/Get it on, get it on/’Cause tonight is the night when two become one’?
Sisqo – Thong Song
This one seems pretty self-explanatory – why, in 1999, were we cranking up the radio on the way to school to sing about thongs?
As well as lyrics about the uncomfortable underwear, Sisqo puzzled listeners for a long time over the words ‘she has dumps like a truck’, eventually revealing the meaning – and no, it was nothing to do with poo.
‘That would mean I was some kind of faecal freak,’ he told Huffington Post. ‘What I was really referring to was – a dump truck when it backs up, it’s like, “beep, beep beep.” So, “she had dumps like a dump truck” is, like, when girls do a booty dance move and they look back at their butt. She’s like a dump truck back-back-backing it up.’
Aqua – Barbie Girl
Aqua’s iconic hit Barbie Girl has seen a surge in popularity following the release of Margot Robbie’s smash hit Barbie film.
But when you really analyse the lyrics, those innocent singalongs with your dolls seem a lot less, well, innocent.
Especially when vocalist Lene Grawford Nystrøm sings: ‘I’m a blond bimbo girl in a fantasy world/ Dress me up, make it tight, I’m your dolly/Kiss me here, touch me there, hanky panky.’ Or even: ‘Make me walk, make me talk, do whatever you please/I can act like a star, I can beg on my knees.’
Boyz II Men – I’ll Make Love To You
Again, this Boyz II Men hit is pretty self-explanatory – though surprisingly, despite its title, one of the less explicit songs on the list.
As the title of the 1994 single suggests, the song is indeed about making love, and the romantic ballad even won a Grammy Award as well as a Record of the Year nomination.
The song’s chorus has prompted many a sing-along, detailing the throes of passion with the epic chorus: ‘I’ll make love to you/Like you want me to/And I’ll hold you tight/Baby, all through the night/I’ll make love to you/When you want me to/And I will not let go/’Til you tell me to.’
Britney Spears – If U Seek Amy
We all know I’m A Slave 4 U is raunchy, but this Britney Spears song went a little under the radar with its X-rated hidden message.
After being sexualised her entire career, the pop icon took matters into her own hands with If U Seek Amy, released in 2008.
Fans lost their minds when they realised that the title was subtly spelt the phrase ‘F*** me’ in the song about Spears’ sex appeal in the public eye.
Lil Jon and the East Side Boyz – Get Low
When you think about Get Low, the lyric that is sure to come to mind is: ‘To the window/to the wall/’Til the sweat drop down my balls (my balls)’. Pure poetry.
But this is the tip of the iceberg when you really listen to the whole song.
Lil Jon continues: ‘She getting crunk in the club, I mean she work it/And then I like to see the female twerking/Taking her clothes off, f***n’ naked/ATL hoe, don’t disrespect it/A-pop yo’ p***y like this.’
Salt’N’Pepa – Let’s Talk About Sex
Salt’N’Pepa talked quite a lot about sex in their 1991 Grammy-nominated single.
Let’s Talk About Sex covered everything from safe sex, the positive and negative sides of sex to the censorship of sex in American mainstream media at the time of its release.
In 1994 the group even reworked the lyrics under the title Let’s Talk About Aids to address the stigma around the disease, singing: ‘I got some news for you so listen, please/It’s not a black, white, or gay disease.’ Iconic.
Kelis – Milkshake
Did you think Kelis’ Milkshake was actually about the dairy-based beverage? Think again.
When the music icon said her milkshake brings all the boys to the yard when she released this track in 2003, there was actually an entirely different, x-rated meaning behind it.
Many fans have speculated the song is a reference to oral sex, but Kelis herself has remained elusive about the subject, telling Delish: ‘It means a lot of things. I think that’s why the song has lasted so long, because, like any other art, you can turn the metaphor into whatever you want.’
Christina Aguilera – Genie in a Bottle
Dirrty by Christina Aguilera is often discussed when it comes to risque songs we innocently sang as children, but Genie In A Bottle is also a racy contender.
The pop songstresses said the song is about ‘self-respect’ and packed the number one single with plenty of sexually charged lyrics that follow the everyday story of a woman’s relationship with a man.
She sings: ‘I feel like I’ve been locked up tight/For a century of lonely nights/Waiting for someone to release me/You’re lickin’ your lips/And blowing kisses my way,/But that don’t mean I’m gonna give it away.’ She probably made the right decision turning down a man just standing there licking his lips.
Mousse T featuring Hot ‘n Juicy – Horny
This really was an utterly wild song that I’m sure every one of us belted out the chorus to at the most inappropriate of times.
Mousse T and Hot ‘n Juicy teamed up in 1998 to release number one single Horny, which graced the charts for a whopping 17 weeks.
What more do we need to say about this song? Discos for decades have heard the lyrics ‘I’m horny/horny, horny, horny’ chanted at maximum volume.
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