If you want your song played on the radio, then you better go along with whatever the radio people will say that you need to do." And then, predictably, these radio people just thought they could get away with whatever.
They were like, "If you think that Britney and Christina haven't done everything that we're asking you to do to get to the top, well, then, you're wrong. There were a lot of ultimatums about what I would have to do in front of the camera, what I would have to do behind the scenes. It just wasn't something I was comfortable with and they just weren't willing to take no for an answer. It kind of just came down to me turning him down and saying, "I'm not willing to do what it is you're asking of me." There was a lot of pushing, a lot of pressure to be sexual. In particular, one executive that was just being really inappropriate with me. We got to pull together." But I think there were some kind of ultimatums that were laid down by my record label. Then they looked at the downloads and they were like, "Oh my gosh, 'Another Dumb Blonde' has been downloaded over a million times, but you've only gone gold." There was talk about doing a second album, but then when Legally Blonde came out and it was such a smash and "Perfect Day" was such a smash, there was no follow-up album to back it up. And the record industry was kind of in turmoil because they didn't understand why my record sales weren't at a certain level. In conjunction with that, Napster (opens in new tab) had just come out so there was a lot of downloading and not a lot of buying. And it got to the point where I was just really sort of dreading any interactions that I was having with certain people at my record label. But then there was also this dark side that was really difficult to be dealing with. It was such a bummer because here I was, just having such a great time and really seeing all of my dreams come true. There's everything you can imagine and more happening behind the scenes, in terms of unwelcome pressure and unwanted advances and all of that. The uglier side of the pre-#MeToo before there were reckonings coming down for these people. H: There was definitely some things that were difficult in the music industry. You had this hit song and kind of went off the grid. A lot of people are wondering what you've been up to for the last 20 years. MC: You alluded to two albums you were supposed to make not coming to fruition. H: It's so funny to me because I'm like, "You guys, you do not know the struggle trying to keep our underwear from showing, always getting our flared long jeans in puddles." This was a different time in history, but hey, it's so fun to see it all coming back! MC: Can we talk about the fashion for a sec? The low-rise jeans! Me and my band members were just having a blast. It was a beautiful day and the park is gorgeous. You know that scene where me and my band are out there kind of jamming in a big park and I'm flipping my hair all around? That was so much fun. Just act like you're singing in the shower or something." The minute the camera came on, she was obviously amazing and super professional. I don't know how you do this all the time." I'm like, "You'll get the hang of it. She was all nervous because she's like, "I've never had to lip sync a song before. I had seen a lot of the movies that she was in, so I was totally star struck.
Then Reese was coming in to shoot some scenes.
They had a whole set so that it kind of looked like my bedroom, like I'm getting ready and I'm going to go out and have a perfect day. H: That was honestly one of my favorite memories of my whole pop career.
WATCH A PERFECT DAY ONLINE MOVIE
MC: Both versions (opens in new tab) of the music video incorporate scenes from the movie that you reenact. Whoever hears it, that's great, but it's just going to kind of bolster things and get excitement ready for your next album," which hadn't been written or produced or sung or anything. So the whole idea was, "We'll put this single on the soundtrack and then we'll get to work recording your follow-up album. Reese Witherspoon wasn't a bankable star and she's headlining this movie, that's got a female lead in it-that was just not done. Let's put it on this movie." It was always referred to as, "Oh, this little movie called Legally Blonde." No one had any idea what it was going to become. I was who they were really promoting at the time, so they had this song "Perfect Day" and they were like, "Hey, well this is going to be the new single off of her follow-up album.
Basically, Interscope/Geffen Records bought the rights to do the Legally Blonde soundtrack. Or they bought the rights to it or something like that. The company that produced the movie was under the same umbrella as my record company. "Perfect Day" was intended to be the lead single from my second album.
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