A new Britney Spears song featuring Iggy Azalea, Pretty Girls, premiered on Sunday — and who nabbed the world’s first listen? Not radio, not even online, but a handful of Uber cab riders.
A limited number of Britney-branded SUVs decorated in black and yellow bee print drove around Los Angeles at the request of fans, who could book the cars for up to 30 minutes to hear the song.
Spears said on Twitter she wanted to “do something a little different” for the Pretty Girls premiere, telling fans: “I hope you like the song!”
A leaked copy of the track appeared online on Saturday, featuring stripped-down 80s beats under Spears’s bubblegum vocals and rap breakdowns by Azalea, who also sings on the chorus. Both singers took to Twitter asking fans to hold off from sharing the leaked version until the official release on Sunday.
The party song, which includes the lyrics “all around the world pretty girls wipe the floor with all the boys”, was co-written by London-based production trio Invisible Men and Azalea, who wrote her own parts. The single cover art has a retro space theme, with an illustrated Spears riding a rocket and Azalea daubed in silver body paint.
Photos from their music video, shot in April and co-directed by Azalea, show the pair sitting atop a convertible car wearing leopard print and distressed denim. Azalea, pictured with bouffant, crimped hair, said the video paid tribute to Geena Davis, whom she called “the ultimate 80s pin-up hot, cool type of girl”.
In an interview with USA Today, Azalea said Spears was a fan of her previous music videos, which heavily referenced pop culture, such as Fancy (an homage to Clueless) and Black Widow, which nods to Quentin Tarantino’s film Kill Bill.
The duo are not the first to release music on a phone app. Madonna debuted the video for Living for Love on Snapchat and her latest album, Rebel Heart, on gay dating app Grindr, while Jason Derulo released his Want To Want Me video on Tinder.
Spears and Azalea will team up for the first live television performance of Pretty Girls at the 2015 Billboard music awards on May 17.
