For those late-'80s/'90s babies out there, the early-aughts post-Spice Girls, Ashlee-Simpson-as-viable-pop-star era of girl groups were some of the best top-40 pop days of our lives. They offered the soundtracks for those awkward hallway-passing periods at school, locking ourselves in our bedrooms at home or waiting for the school bus with a Kool-Aid Jammer in-hand. We've compiled a list of our top five favorite forgotten girl groups of the early 2000s, and our picks for their best song (although most were one-hit wonders anyway). We'd kill for a "Where Are They Now?" feature on every one of these ladies.
1. B*Witched - "C'est La Vie"
The music video for "C'est La Vie" is monumental. We're living for these girls in matching denim jackets, frolicking in a flowery field that's reminiscent of the Teletubbies set, and lassoing a nerdy white boy like it's whatever. Topped off with a traditional Irish dance, there's absolutely nothing sexy about this video, but it's still so amazing.
2. Play - "Us Against the World"
These girls would've probably been the bitchiest group of besties to face in the lunchroom, but their ninja-fighting skills are undeniable. Created by four futuristic Spy Kids-looking pods, Play were presented as some weird Powerpuff Girls experiment with the coolest bedroom ever and the greatest early 2000's sense of style. They played with those robotic dogs we all begged our parents for, and sported chunky colored highlights. If you've never danced on top of a school bus filled with a sport's team of pre-teen boys, you really haven't lived.
3. 3LW - "No More (Baby I'ma Do Right)"
Years before Kiely Williams and Adrienne Bailon were Cheetah Girls, they were part of the R&B trio 3LW alongside Fame star Naturi Naughton. "You promised me Kate Spade, but that was last year, boy, in the eighth grade," raps Williams, delivering quite possibly the most-2000 lyric of all time. The most major part of the video is when a graffiti artist spray paints the trio on a sidewalk, and the portraits all come alive to perform a choreographed number -- very "hip-hop," very "urban."
4. Dream - "He Loves U Not"
While most girl groups in the early 2000's were innocent and childlike, Dream was a bit more sexy and aggressive, which was likely a product of being signed to P. Diddy's Bad Boy Records. The blatantly TLC-biting video for their hit single, "He Loves U Not," shows the bad-girl quartet joy-riding through the California desert, dancing provocatively in front of towering flames and doing splits in coordinated pink Charlotte Russe looks.
5. No Secrets - "That's What Girls Do"
This was the anthem for every girls-only slumber party, where a pack of lanky pre-teens convened to watch Lizzie McGuire re-runs in a someone's basement, wearing Limited Too silk pajama sets. "You ask me why I need 32 pairs of shoes to wear," sings the quintet in front of a backyard pool, which later turns into a late-night pool party scene complete with a horrified neighbor grandma, boxes of pizza (a party essential) and, duh, lots of boys to harass. Keep an eye out for the video's cheap graphics, which look like the screensavers for old Windows desktop computers.
1. B*Witched - "C'est La Vie"
The music video for "C'est La Vie" is monumental. We're living for these girls in matching denim jackets, frolicking in a flowery field that's reminiscent of the Teletubbies set, and lassoing a nerdy white boy like it's whatever. Topped off with a traditional Irish dance, there's absolutely nothing sexy about this video, but it's still so amazing.
2. Play - "Us Against the World"
These girls would've probably been the bitchiest group of besties to face in the lunchroom, but their ninja-fighting skills are undeniable. Created by four futuristic Spy Kids-looking pods, Play were presented as some weird Powerpuff Girls experiment with the coolest bedroom ever and the greatest early 2000's sense of style. They played with those robotic dogs we all begged our parents for, and sported chunky colored highlights. If you've never danced on top of a school bus filled with a sport's team of pre-teen boys, you really haven't lived.
3. 3LW - "No More (Baby I'ma Do Right)"
Years before Kiely Williams and Adrienne Bailon were Cheetah Girls, they were part of the R&B trio 3LW alongside Fame star Naturi Naughton. "You promised me Kate Spade, but that was last year, boy, in the eighth grade," raps Williams, delivering quite possibly the most-2000 lyric of all time. The most major part of the video is when a graffiti artist spray paints the trio on a sidewalk, and the portraits all come alive to perform a choreographed number -- very "hip-hop," very "urban."
4. Dream - "He Loves U Not"
While most girl groups in the early 2000's were innocent and childlike, Dream was a bit more sexy and aggressive, which was likely a product of being signed to P. Diddy's Bad Boy Records. The blatantly TLC-biting video for their hit single, "He Loves U Not," shows the bad-girl quartet joy-riding through the California desert, dancing provocatively in front of towering flames and doing splits in coordinated pink Charlotte Russe looks.
5. No Secrets - "That's What Girls Do"
This was the anthem for every girls-only slumber party, where a pack of lanky pre-teens convened to watch Lizzie McGuire re-runs in a someone's basement, wearing Limited Too silk pajama sets. "You ask me why I need 32 pairs of shoes to wear," sings the quintet in front of a backyard pool, which later turns into a late-night pool party scene complete with a horrified neighbor grandma, boxes of pizza (a party essential) and, duh, lots of boys to harass. Keep an eye out for the video's cheap graphics, which look like the screensavers for old Windows desktop computers.