How Geri Halliwell’s fingerprints are all over Madonna’s biggest hit of the last 20 years
Madonna is preparing to embark on the U.S. leg of her Celebration Tour after wrapping up in Europe earlier this month. The Queen of Pop is performing some of her biggest hits from the last four decades, and fans have been gobbling it up.The whole thing recently got us thinking about one of Madge’s biggest hits of the last 20 years and, in particular, the song’s accompanying music video, which seemed to draw inspiration from an unexpected pop artist.
And, no, we’re not talking about ABBA.Let’s dive in…In November 2004, Geri Halliwell (a.k.a. Ginger Spice) released “Ride It” as the lead single off her her third solo album Passion.
Though the song didn’t make much of an impact in the U.S., it peaked at #4 in the U.K. and reached #3 on the Spanish and Scottish charts.The disco-infused dance track is filled with campy sexual innuendos, as Halliwell compares her lover to a DJ spinning records and croons about how much she wants to “ride” him, er… the beat?“You’re a DJ, I’m a song/Take me out and turn me on/Let yourself go,I’ll be ridin’ it/Chicas bumpin’ to the beat/From the side and underneath/Yeah, my body’s where this party’s at/I’ll be ridin’ it.”To promote the single, Halliwell released an equally campy music video directed by Luca Tommassini.
In one part, she dresses up like a police girl and spanks a shirtless male model with a truncheon before flashing her bra. In another, she twirls around in a pink nightie and shows off her matching pink underpants.
