Blogocentric Formulations

Pony

** Image ID #2070351 Unavailable **

Song: "Pony"
Artist: Ginuwine
Album: Magic Mike Soundtrack


Figured I should end the Soundtrackers do Soundtracks segment of the challenge on a high note (or low note, depending on your opinion of this song and the movie it's from). Mostly I'm just trying to continue my ongoing goal of getting lizco252 to do a spit-take when she reads my entries. I feel like I almost had it with the Bieber and Warrant entries for Guilty Pleasures week, but alas I fell short. If Warrant's "Cherry Pie" is the perfect female stripper song, let's see how she handles a male stripper song!

Ginuwine (born Elgin Baylor Lumpkin... I think I can guess why he chose a stage name ) was one of the most successful R&B artists during the late 90s and early 00s. He put out a number of hits (including this one), as well as contributed material to the soundtracks of movies like Men In Black, Dr. Dolittle, and Romeo Must Die, among others. Like many artists from the time period, though, his success declined until a certain cult hit movie about male stripping brought it back into the public consciousness. It's re-introduction has been popular enough that Ginuwine "Stan Bush'ed" the track and did an update in 2015 with British house music duo Tough Love.

One of the reasons I wanted to include this song (other than to see if I can still shock our fearless leader), is because there's a great version on Lip Sync Battle. While the spinoff show isn't as great as when originator Jimmy Fallon does the bit on The Tonight Show, the higher production value and willingness to give artists some room to use props and plan out their performance does result in some memorable moments. Like this one, where Channing Tatum does a kind of scary version of "Run the World (Girls)" and his wife/competitor Jenna Dewan Tatum recreates his scenes from Magic Mike and Magic Mike XXL. It's worth a watch:

While Channing Tatum's mortified, "I can't believe this is happening" looks are classic, LL Cool J is the real standout in terms of reaction shots here, going from, "Hell yeah, let's see where this is going!" to "I'm not sure I should be watching this" to "Are the network censors going to come out and stop this?" Between this and some other articles about one (or both) of their antics... like this classic example   of Channing's style of email correspondence... they just seem like a really fun couple who knows how to laugh at themselves and not take life too seriously.

Below is a link to the actual Ginuwine song for Soundtrackers administrative purposes. Soundtrackers on Soundtracks Week is officially complete! Onto The Precious Few!