It's been a while since I've written a Don't Judge a Song by its Cover.
I cover a lot of rock, and usually nothing that has you thinking pop music. I'm kind into the hipster indie stuff. Despite being a rural kid, am a fan of "mad beats" and I do like electronica like music. Maybe I haven't gotten into the club stuff, and today I'm going to be talking about more of modern R&B I suppose. It's from 2005, but I'm not sure there has been much evolution in pop music over the past decade. I'm just going to be talking about Don't Cha, it has quite a history. It's production actually is what initially cuaght my interest.
It would seem that the song takes it's main hook from Seattle based rapper Sir Mix-a-lot's Swass. Where he says, "Don't cha think your boyfriend was swas like me!" What does "swass" means? Swass definition: An adjective that is used to discribe Sir Mix-a-lot. Hmmm, well how about that.

Music industry is a weird thing, this song was written by Cee-Lo Green. He's known for singing Crazy, which is a song that I have a high opinion of. Alright, he's talented. But he's not going to be performing a song that's from the perspective of a woman trying to seduce a taken man. That is where little known singer Tori Alamaze comes in, she got first dibs on this song before the Pussycat Dolls got sloppy seconds. And they would cover this song the same year that Alamaze released her single with the song on it. Also because Alamaze music didn't move off the shelves fast enough, she got dropped from the label and quickly forgotten.

Tori Alamaze version:

Wow, the sound quality quality is not so great here. That may just be due to the fact that it's youtube and youtube tends to fuck with recording quality. But it's also possible that it actually was poorly produced. But it basicly starts in with that clap/snare and Tori Alamaze begins singing, her voice is powerful enough and the song has it's slow tempo. The chords are simple, they have them ring sustian and fade. musically much more attention was given to the rhythm. It's a very percussive song, the melody is completely up to the singer. There's this triangle bit that is a little bit annoying, it's obviously pitch shifted. But it's not a huge concern and I like the concept, it just doesn't quite work. The song is so simple and stripped to the bones musically, this gives more focus on the singer. And that's not a bad thing. I like back up singers echo repeating. I guess anything to fill in the blank space. I guess a little rapping(?) bit around the end. On the one hand that helps add a slight bit of variation to the composition. But all they do is take away all musical. Then there is no melody or change in key. It's just Tori Alamaze speaking slowly. It just takes a song that is slow, it's comfortably slow but then draws in into this crawl. But Tori is a good singer, so when she's singing it does manage to carry the song well enough. 

Pussycat Dolls version:

It starts in with similar percussion, and some rapper. It's Busta Rhymes,  I don't know much about rap music. In the Youtube video I see in the side a complete recording of his Anarchy album, so I assume he was involved in that somehow. That's the extension of my research today.
Now I know what you're thinking, could the Pussycat Dolls possibly be some how related to Monarch mindcontrol, specifically the sex-kitten mindslave branch of those conspiracy theories. Yeah, probably. With a name like Pussycat DOLLS, it's just... yeah Monarch isn't exactly known for its subtly.
Moving on though, to less interesting things. Other than Busta Rhymes what does this cover bring that it's failed predecessor didn't have. It brought a bit more, more melodic emphasis. Personally I really love the horns in the chorus, "bah bah bah bah-bah bah!" I just like silly little things like that, kind of reminds me of the original Tears for Fears Mad World, it kind of sounds like a slowed down version of the electro-trumpets in eighties Mad World actually, I dig it. there's more musical punctuation in the Pussycat version of Don't Cha, which gives more distinction throughout the song.
But what about the singer, Pussycat Dolls lead singer is Nicole Scherzinger. I don't think her performance is significantly different from Alamaze. They're both competent singers. I want there to be subtle differences in the way they express themselves, but I'm not picking up on anything significant.
Busta Rhymes has two verses in this one. And I am neither impressed no distressed by his presence too much. It's better than what Tori Alamaze did with her little rap bit. Even though both put the melodic and actual musical key on puase Busta's just quicker, has more energy and that makes up for the muted music. But lyrically he's just saying things I've heard in most other pop rap songs that are about relationships.

Which do I prefer?

Is there a better song here, or one that I prefer? Eh, this isn't exactly my vain of music. I kind of understand why the cover version did better. It's slightly more interesting, there's more going on here. The instrumentation helps define the song a bit more. In a way the previous versions sounds like a rough draft. Despite his, and perhaps because of it... I actually like the first version better. The song should be vocal focal. And I don't feel like Scherzinger surpassed Alamaze vocally.