"Scandalous" is a song by British R&B and UK garagegirl groupMis-Teeq. The song, which is written in the key of C minor, was written by band members Su-Elise Nash, Alesha Dixon, and Sabrina Washington along with frequent collaborators Rustan Hallgeir, Tor Erik Hermansen, and Mikkel Eriksen for their second studio album, Eye Candy, with production handled by the latter two. First released in 2003, the up-tempo R&B song became a hit throughout Europe and Oceania, reaching the top ten in Australia, Denmark, Ireland, New Zealand, United Kingdom and the United States. "Scandalous" has sold 195,000 copies in the UK, becoming the group's biggest-selling single. In 2004, "Scandalous" was chosen as Mis-Teeq's second single in the United States, where it reached number 2 on the Billboard Dance Singles, number 5 on the Billboard Hot Singles and number 11 on the Mainstream Top 40. It was also featured as the theme of the film Catwoman, starring Halle Berry, in addition to appearing on Grand Theft Auto 5 and the Armani Code perfume commercials.
Music video
The music video was directed by Jake Nava. It starts at night, where a lone man is seen running through an urban, inner city area, and disabling CCTV cameras, with a vicious dog on a leash barking at him. The man then runs into an unused warehouse, the location of a secret nightclub where Mis-Teeq are seen. Street dance and breakdancing is predominately seen throughout the rest of the video. The audio for the music video starts out as the radio version for most of the song, before transitioning to the Jazzwad remix from the middle of the bridge onwards. "Scandalous" was nominated for two MOBO Awards, one of them being in the 'Best video' category.
Appearances in the media
Due to the song's popularity, it has been featured in many advertisements and promotions. The song, along with Mis-Teeq were featured in Coca-Colatelevision commercials in 2003, coinciding around its release schedule, resulting in extra publicity. The song was then featured in promotions for the 2004 film Catwoman. Originally, the film's theme song was to be Britney Spears' "Outrageous", but Spears broke her knee on the set of the music video and the idea was scrapped. This resulted in "Scandalous" becoming the theme song. In 2007, an operatic version was recorded and used in promotional adverts for the BBC period drama Cranford, an adaptation of Elizabeth Gaskell's book of the same name. "Scandalous" was then covered and used in an 'Armani Code' perfume commercial by Giorgio Armani in 2008. The song was featured in the 2013 video game Grand Theft Auto V. In The Story of Tracy Beaker series four episode "Best of Enemies", the song can be heard in a scene depicting Chantal trying on Crash's mum's ring.
