Raianne Shtaieh

Mrs. Morean

English comp II

September 26, 2021

Same song different artist

LaBelle's version of "Lady Marmalade" in 1974 and Christina Aguilera's version of

"Lady Marmalade" in 2001, are different in many ways, the vocals are different, the themes of

the music videos are completely different, Labelle's version of the song had soul, however in

Christina's Aguilera's version was a hip hop. The original music video is an old fashion version

and the singing is much different than Christina Aguilera's version, in that video, it was a

"Trashy" sleazy version of the song. The song first became popular when it was recorded in 1974

by the American R&B group LaBelle and held number one on the billboard hot 100 charts for

almost a week. This song had multiple hits when it first came out, but also many covers over the

years since it came out. But one popular cover was in 2001 by Christina Aguilera, Lil Kim, Mya,

and P!NK.

Labelle’s video was a dark kind of theme, with a band in the backroom and three black

women including LaBelle were singing in front of a white audience. Everyone is smiling and

dancing to the beat of the music. Labelle was wearing a bright blue jumpsuit with big feathery

arms. One was wearing a black cover over her head with sparkles and big feathering almost like
a cape on the side. The third one was wearing a brown bikini-looking top with a brown skirt. The

three ladies are having a fun time singing and dancing.

The 2001 version of marmalade was made for the Moulin Rouge! And it was number one

on the billboard for 5 weeks, which was more the original song. But the lyrics were changed

significantly, in the 2001 version they added a whole lot of words. The outfits wear all like

corsets and shorts, even like bikini type of outfit with a black top hat. There was definitely a lot

of skin showing from all the girls. The setting was a stage with a heart kind of thing, a dressing

room, and a bedroom. The vocals were different since everyone has a different voice so they hit a

lot of high notes. One of the singers, Lil Kim, made it sound more like a hip hop than a pop song

since her part of the song was kind of rap.

But these two songs have similarities and differences but more differences than

similarities. They both hit number one for a couple of weeks, everyone loved the songs and the

artists. The song was famous for its sexually suggestive french chorus of “Voulez-Vous Coucher

Avec Moi?” which means “Do you want to go to bed with me?”. The lead singer Patti LaBelle

didn’t know what the french line was about so she had no idea what the song was since it was

written by Bob Crewe. No one told her about the meaning behind the french line so she was

clueless when she sang it until she knew the truth.

 Work cited

LaBelle, “Lady Marmalade, 1974, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t4LWIP7SAjY

Christina Aguilera, Lil Kim, Mya, Pink, “Lady Marmalade”, 2001,

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RQa7SvVCdZk