Doll Domination – The Mini Collection

In September 2009, lead singer Nicole Scherzinger confirmed that the group were exploring ways to continue promoting Doll Domination during an interview Billboard magazine's Gary Graff. He called Doll Domination a commercial disappointment, noting that it had sold 400,000 copies in the United States, at the same time as confirming that a re-release was on the way called Doll Domination 2.0.[1] In comparison, the group's first album PCD (2006) had sold nearly three million copies in the United States at the time of writing.[2] During the interview with Graff, Scherzinger explained that "it's a new life, a new push for Doll Domination. In this industry these days, that's what we're trying to do, always put new music out there and get people to pay attention. So this is a way for people to get new songs of ours and for people who haven't picked up the album so far to get another spin of our music."[1]

Beginning in April 2009, several reissues of the Doll Domination followed including Doll Domination – The Mini Collection a six-track extended play (EP),[3] the Doll Domination – Re-edition in Germany,[4] Doll Domination 2.0 primarily in Australia,[5] and Doll Domination 3.0 within Europe.[6] A second EP was also released in Germany called Doll Domination – Re-edition EP which is similar to The Mini Collection but adds two further songs: including the Doll Domination single "Bottle Pop" (featuring Snoop Dogg), and the "We Love to Entertain You" mix of "Takin' Over the World". It also uses the original Doll Domination cover art.[7] All of the releases vary in length but share in common the inclusion of the group's then most recent single "Jai Ho! (You Are My Destiny)", new song "Painted Windows" and "Hush Hush; Hush Hush", a remix of the song "Hush Hush" which was taken from the original release of Doll Domination.

The Mini Collection was released while the group were on their Doll Domination Tour (pictured above) and during their support act slot on Britney Spears' Circus Tour.

Doll Domination – The Mini Collection is a six-song extended play that is 26 minutes and 3 seconds long, featuring a mixture of newly recorded/released songs and previous singles from the group's 2008 album, Doll Domination. It was released on April 24, 2009, and includes the group's then most recent single "Jai Ho! (You Are My Destiny)", a new song "Painted Windows" and "Hush Hush; Hush Hush", a remix of the group's original song "Hush Hush" included on Doll Domination. The remainder of the EP comprises of previously released singles, "When I Grow Up", "Whatcha Think About That" and "I Hate This Part".[3]

The EP was preceded by the release of a brand new song, "Jai Ho! (You Are My Destiny)" which is an English language remake of the original Hindi song "Jai Ho" which is taken from the soundtrack to the film Slumdog Millionaire (2008). Speaking about how the song came about, one of the song's writers, Evan Kidd Bogart said that "they [ Fair and Iovine ] wanted to get a bunch of different versions to see who could nail a version for the Pussycat Dolls." Once all interpretations were complete, "they [Fair and Iovine] took parts of The Writing Camp version, parts of Ester Dean's version, and parts of another version, and they put them together, and then Nicole [Scherzinger] and Ron [Fair] filled in the blanks that they thought were missing". Bogart additionally stated that it was "a very unique and awkward way of writing a song".[8] Scherzinger, Fair, Dean, Bogart, Erika Nuri, David Quiñones, Candace Thorbourne, Nailah Thorbourne and Nyanda Thorbourne are credited for writing the track, while its production was handled by Fair and Scherzinger.[9] The song was recorded in London, while Scherzinger and Rahman corresponded via webcam.[10] Scherzinger's version replaces the original tune's Hindi words with English lyrics, including the chorus, "You are the reason that I breathe/ You are the reason that I still believe/ You are my destiny/ Jai ho."[11] Stephanie Nolen of The Globe and Mail the lyrics as "racier than the original Hindi words by Indian poet Gulzar."[12]

"When I Grow Up" is an uptempo electropop song[13] built around "bouncy synth lines" and a "thudding" bassline and heavily using of sirens, handclaps and pitch-shifted vocals.[14] According to the New York Times Jon Parales, Scherzinger adopts similar vocal stylings to Britney Spears her her "breathiness against the song's sirens, shouts and pumping beat".[15] Ironically, the song was originally written for with Spears in mind but was rejected by Spears' label RCA Records at the time of creating Spears' fifth studio album Blackout (2007).[16] Scherzinger then recorded the song for her own debut album before deciding it was a better fit for the Pussycat Dolls.[17] When the song was given to Scherzinger, and eventually the Pussycat Dolls, it was reworked and recorded by Paul Foley, Mike "Handz" Donaldson and Roberto "Tito" Vazquez at 2nd Floor Studios in Orlando and Chalice Studios in Los Angeles, and was mixed by Spike Stent and Rodney "Darkchild" Jerkins at Chalice Studios in Los Angeles. The Yardbirds' drummer Jim McCarty and bassist Paul Samwell-Smith both received co-writing credits for the song, for its sample of "He's Always There" (1966).[9] It was described by the Los Angeles Times as the album's ideological centrepiece. In writing for the paper, August Brown, Mikael Wood and Randy Lewis said "Built off a filling-loosening house beat and the Dolls’ smug cackling, it’s so shameless in its celebration of the monoculture of moneyed youth that it transcends taste. It's more of a '95 Theses' as penned by Kim Kardashian and nailed to Viacom's front door with the shards of a broken BlackBerry – we demand to be on TV; to drive nice cars; to have groupies."[18] These themes were picked up by Yahoo! Music's Jaime Gill, who called "When I Grow Up" a "dark, dissonant club banger".[19]

Fellow singer Katy Perry and her 2008 song "I Kissed a Girl" were referenced in the lyrics for "Whatcha Think About That".

A R&B and electropop midtempo, "Whatcha Think About That" sees the group "laying down the law to a deadbeat boyfriend" atop a melody of chants and vocal harmonies and bhangra-ish guitar.[20][15][21] A reviewer for Newsday noted that the group sounded "sleek and empowered" on the song.[22] "Whatcha Think About That" features guest verses Missy Elliott and a sample of "Je M'appelle Jane" written by Mickael Furnon and performed by Jane Birkin.[9] Noah from the website Idolator wrote that the song is a reminiscent of Whitney Houston's song "I'm Your Baby Tonight" (1990).[23] Elliott references Katy Perry and her 2008 song "I Kissed a Girl" during one of her verses with the lyric, "Up in that club it's just me and my girls, play like Katy Perry kissing on girls."[21]

Meanwhile "Painted Windows" reunited the group with Rodney Jerkins who produced "When I Grow Up" and "Elevator" for Doll Domination,[9] and was described by Digital Spy's Nick Levine as "stomping and scuzzy in equal measure".[3] A reviewer for Rap-Up teased that Melody Thornton could actually be heard singing on "Painted Windows", a nod to the fact that Scherzinger is credited for lead vocals and Thornton for additional lead vocals in the album booklet.[24][9]

Slant Magazine referred to "I Hate This Part" as an international hit, commenting that the "songwriting is strong enough to forgive whatever similarities the song has to Kylie Minogue's 'All I See' (2008) and Jordin Sparks's 'One Step at a Time' (2008)."[25] Yahoo! News referred to the song as an "understated ballad".[19] "I Hate This Part" was written by Wayne Hector, Lucas, Jonas Jeberg and Mich Hansen and produced by the latter two along with Ron Fair and Scherzinger who also served as the song's vocal producer. The song was recorded at the Cutfather Studios in Copenhagen, Denmark and at The Boiler Room in Santa Monica, California by Mike "Angry" Eleopoulos, Tal Herzber and Jeberg with the assistance from Johnathan Merritt. It was later mixed by Peter Mokran and Eric Weaver at Conway Studios in Hollywood, California. All instrumentation and programming was carried out by Jeberg.[9] While recording the song, Scherzinger was inspired by English rock singer Sting and American rock singer Steve Perry.[26] "I Hate This Part" is a pop ballad with influences of R&B and dance music.[27] Instrumentation consists of a mournful piano, faux strings and syncopated rhythms.[28] Like "When I Grow Up", "I Hate This Part" was also originally intended for Scherzinger's solo debut album Her Name Is Nicole which was shelved.[29]

The Mini Collection closes with "Hush Hush; Hush Hush", a house music remix of the Doll Domination song "Hush Hush". The new remix incorporates elements of Gloria Gaynor's 1978 disco song "I Will Survive".[3] It was debuted and performed during the Doll Domination Tour, during the section where each member performed solo.[30] Freddie Perren and Dino Fekaris received co-writing credits for the song, for the interpolation of "I Will Survive", which includes quotation of the original string arrangement by David Blumberg. "Hush Hush; Hush Hush" was produced by Fair, Dave Audé and Quiz & Larossi while Scherzinger handled vocal production and arrangement with Fair.[9]

"Jai Ho! (You Are My Destiny)" premiered on DesiHits and was issued as a digital download on February 23, 2009,[31] a day after Rahman won Best Original Song for "Jai Ho" and Best Original Score for the soundtrack of Slumdog Millionaire at the 81st Academy Awards.[32] An accompanying music video was released on March 13 which was directed by Thomas Kloss and filmed at the Wiener Linien tram musem in Vienna, Austria. In the clip, The group recreate the last scene from Slumdog Millionaire.[33] Upon its release, the song topped several charts around the world including in Australia,[34] Finland,[35] Ireland,[36] Israel,[37] and Romania,[38] as well as reaching number 15 on the Billboard Hot 100, in the group's native country of the United States.[39] In the United Kingdom, "Jai Ho! (You Are My Destiny)" peaked at number three and as of 2017, had sold 605,000 copies in the country as well as amassing 5.3 million streams to become the group's second biggest selling single in the territory behind their debut single "Don't Cha" (2005).[40] The single was included as part of their set list for their supporting slot on Britney Spears's The Circus Starring Britney Spears tour and as one of the encore songs on the set list the group's own Doll Domination Tour.[41][42]

The EP's second single was "Hush Hush; Hush Hush", a remix of the Doll Domination album track "Hush Hush". The single was scheduled to be released on April 28 with the pre-order's cover art having Scherzinger's name credited as a featured artist,[43] just like their previous single, "Jai Ho! (You Are My Destiny)". It led to dissatisfaction with other members and media reports speculated that Scherzinger's exit from the group was imminent.[44] The official music video premiered on May 22, 2009 and was directed by Rich Lee.[45] Despite the controversy, "Hush Hush; Hush Hush" peaked in the top ten of several national record charts, including number four in Belgium (Wallonia) and Slovakia,[46][47] number five in Finland and France,[48] number six in Belgium (Flanders),[49] and number ten in Australia.[50]

Deepak P.A. won a Grammy for his work on the original "Jai Ho!".

Collaborators for "Painted Windows"

Rodney Jerkins reunited with the group to on "Painted Windows".

Crystal Johnson (above) co-wrote the song along with Kalenna Harper (below).

Danish producer Jonas Jeberg worked on "I Hate This Part".

Norwegian singer-songwriter Ina Wroldsen co-wrote "Hush Hush; Hush Hush".

Adapted from Doll Domination album liner notes for individual songs and Doll Domination – The Mini Collection album sleeve for overall, business and arts credits.[9][62]

In the United Kingdom, The Mini Collection debuted at number 9 on the UK Albums Chart with first-week sales of 13,676 according to Music Week; in the same article, it was noted that the full album Doll Domination had dropped out of the UK charts six weeks prior to the release of The Mini Collection, having sold 205,881 copies at the time of writing. This is less than a sixth of what the group's debut album PCD (2006) had sold in the UK, 1,246,769 copies at the time of writing.[63] As of June 2009, The Mini Collection had sold over 70,000 copies[64] and was certified silver by the British Phonographic Industry (BPI).[65] In March 2020, the release was certified Gold, denoting 100,000 sales in the UK.[66]

Certifications

Region	Certification	Certified units/sales
United Kingdom (BPI)[66]	Gold	100,000
*sales figures based on certification alone ^shipments figures based on certification alone