The Cat's Meow: Give the Dolls Their Due

"To be honest, at the beginning we didn't know what we were looking for or what our sound was going to be," Scherzinger says. "What hit it off is when we found 'Don't Cha' and realized we had a spark, an essence, something different, something raw that represented the Pussycat Dolls. And we just took off from there."

Written and produced by Cee-Lo Green of Goodie Mob and featuring a reprise of the hook from Sir Mix-a-Lot's 1988 hit "Swass" and an introductory rap from Busta Rhymes, the album climbed to the top of Billboard's Hot 100 last summer, not long after its hot-hot-hot video started airing. "Don't Cha" has both fans and haters, the latter put off by its predatory man-eater verses, even though the chorus is "Fight the feeling/Leave it alone/'Cause if it ain't love/It just ain't enough to leave a happy home."

"It gets both crowds," Scherzinger says. "People loved the beat of the song, and it's a lot of fun and flirtatious. When they got to see the video, they saw these are real girls having fun, not taking themselves too seriously. It actually turned out to be a huge summer female anthem."

She adds that "occasionally we get the skeptical people, but we go, 'Give us a chance.' We came out with [sentimental love song] 'Stickwitu' as our second single, and that was a really strong move for us, as opposed to coming out with 'Beep' for our second single." Produced by will. I. am., "Beep" makes hilarious use of the pretend censors' "beep," and, like "Stickwitu," it hit No. 1.

The Pussycat Dolls are opening for the Black Eyed Peas, even as their own brand is rapidly expanding. A year ago, well before "Don't Cha" became a hit, Antin and company opened a Pussycat Dolls Lounge at Caesar's Palace in Las Vegas, inaugurated by "Desperate Housewives' " Eva Longoria, and more are in the planning stage. They had a makeup line with Stila, and are now in talks with cosmetic companies MAC and Estée Lauder. Also ready to launch are a line of Pussycat Dolls dolls (aimed at 6- to 9-year-olds), perfume and a fashion line heavy on lingerie. (You can already get sweat suits, hoodies and tank tops.) There's also talk of a reality television show.

"It's crazy," Scherzinger admits. "We're just getting started and it's amazing."

The Dolls recently finished shooting the video for their next single, "Buttons," with Snoop Dog, and, according to Scherzinger, "there's a couple more singles we want to squeeze out of this album."

Pre-Dolls, Scherzinger was being groomed for a solo career (her cover of UB40's "Breakfast in Bed" appears on the 2004 soundtrack for "50 First Dates"), and there are rumors she may not be long for the group. But, Scherzinger insists, "we're a pretty tight family, the Pussycat Dolls, and we don't usually talk about solo careers. All of us have our dreams and aspirations that eventually we want to go off and do, but we'll always be able to come back to our home base of the Pussycat Dolls. It's kind of taken off so much right now we're staying focused on that."

The Pussycat Dolls Opening for the Black Eyed Peas Saturday at Merriweather Post Pavilion Sounds like: Sexy choreography meets R&B and pop with an urban twist.