The Pussycat Dolls are back and already causing a gay panic
Kimberly Wyatt, Jessica Sutta, Nicole Scherzinger, Ashley Roberts, Carmit Bachar have reunited as the Pussycat Dolls. (Live Nation)
The Pussycat Dolls are coming back for a 2020 reunion tour, sending a generation of gays who grew up memorising the routine to ‘Buttons’ into a veritable panic.
Nicole Scherzinger, Ashley Roberts, Kimberly Wyatt, Jessica Sutta and Carmit Bachar confirmed pop music’s worst kept secret: that they will be reuniting minus original member Melody Thornton.
The Dolls will perform together for the first time in a decade on this Saturday’s X Factor: Celebrity final, before hitting the road for a nine-date jaunt in April 2020.
Bachar, who quit the band in 2008, told Good Morning Britain‘s Richard Arnold that the band had been somewhat apprehensive to work together again.
“I think all of us were excited and nervous, not knowing what it would be like but knowing it would only take a moment to sink back in, and it did,” she explained.
“Now we get to do it in a more mature, fun and snazzy kinda way,” Roberts added.
In a separate interview with the BBC, Wyatt said that the reunion had been “a few years in the making”.
“I think ultimately there’s some unfinished business with the Pussycat Dolls,” she explained.
Addressing Thornton’s absence, Roberts said that “the door is always open.”
“Mel’s got a lot of projects going on in life,” she told the BBC.
“She was included in all of this, she’s our sister… but it just wasn’t the right timing for her right now. We wish her well.”
As the news broke, Twitter was, naturally, a mess.
GAY PANIC
— Princesa Bronze (@babydyIan) November 28, 2019
Many were overwhelmed at the prospect of seeing their favourite Pussycat Dolls songs being performed again.
THE PUSSYCAT DOLLS BETTER PERFORM ALL THEIR SONGS FROM DONT CHA TO HUSH HUSH!!!!! MY 12 YEAR OLD GAY ASS IS SHAKING NOW
— hads (@hisnameishadi) November 27, 2019
One of the reason why I’m gay is because of Pussycat Dolls. I remember dancing Hush Hush as a school performance. What a good time to be a gay! https://t.co/dO9BCio18c
— Migo (@thekagandahan) November 28, 2019
Though some were simply that Thornton had opted out of the tour.
omg wait ms melody thornton isn’t participating??? https://t.co/h0vkJm7yfL pic.twitter.com/43Jp5GeDVU
— kdesf (@WHITNEYH0UST0N) November 28, 2019
If @MelodyThornton is not in this pcd reunion then they can keep it ? it’s not the same without her idc how she feels about not having too many parts. THE GAYS WANT MELODY IN THE GROUP! Let’s keep it all the cute ? #PCDREUNION pic.twitter.com/fluQLfFbOG
— GÜSTÄVØ‼️ (@Gxxtavo) November 28, 2019
In honour of the Pussycat Dolls reunion, a moment for the time Melody Thornton went rogue doing adlibs and Nicole Scherzinger was visibly raging pic.twitter.com/VXoIyQuPDZ
— Joey (@JoeyEile) November 28, 2019
The Pussycat Dolls remain one of the best-selling girl groups of all time, despite having only released two albums together.
The group went on hiatus in September 2009 following the release of their second effort, Doll Domination, amid rumours of a divide between Scherzinger and her bandmates over the sharing of vocals.
Infamously, their last two singles were billed as “the Pussycat Dolls featuring Nicole Scherzinger”.
In January 2020, Wyatt and Roberts announced their departure from the group, and four months later a new line-up was announced without Thornton, and with four new members joining Scherzinger.
However by the end of the year Scherzinger had also quit.
Despite repeated attempts by manager Robin Antin to reboot the group with an entirely new lineup, the Pussycat Dolls remained dormant until today’s announcement.
