Songfacts®:

• Seven years after "Baby Got Back" and "Rump Shaker," the world was ready for another Booty song; something that can play in the clubs and unapologetically celebrate women who show off their fine posteriors, in this case by wearing a thong.
  
  Sisqó (real name: Mark Andrews) was a member of the '90s R&B group Dru Hill, known more for their smooth sounds than their club beats. Working with the songwriting/production duo The Funktwons (Tim Kelley and Bob Robinson), Sisqó created this jam that combined his soulful vocals and distinctive look with a pumping beat. With lots of airplay on MTV, the song picked up speed as the network promoted it on their spring break coverage, and it remained popular through the summer of 2000. Sisqó was on the A-list for a few months, showing up in a Pepsi commercial and parties at the Playboy mansion. His follow-up single "Incomplete" charted at #25, but he faded fast, releasing another solo album that tanked in 2001 and falling into obscurity and depression. In 2003, he faced gun charges for shooting at a car, but he emerged a few years later as a reality TV star, showing up on Gone Country and the UK version of Celebrity Big Brother.
• The lyrics, "She was livin' la vida loca" were from Ricky Martin's hit "Livin' La Vida Loca," and the writers of that song got credits on "Thong Song" as a result.
• A new version of the song with female rapper Foxy Brown was made for the movie Nutty Professor II: The Klumps.
• YouTube has made it possible to see the well-produced, booty-shaking video on demand, which gave the song a lift in the late '00s. The clip was directed by Joseph Kahn, the mastermind behind videos like Korn's "A.D.I.D.A.S.," Brandy & Monica's "The Boy Is Mine," and Destiny's Child's "Say My Name."
  
  It also got a boost when it was performed on the TV show Glee in 2010.
• Sisqó added vocals to an EDM version of "Thong Song" by the Norwegian production team JCY in 2017.