The Archies' signature tune now belongs to the Pussycats on Riverdale.
Riverdale as a sinister small town where everyone is hiding dark secrets? Sure.
Archie is having it off with Miss Grundy, neither of them taking the message of "Don't Stand To Close To Me" to heart? Why not.
Jughead not constantly eating burgers and fighting with Archie? Scandalous, but intriguing.
"Sugar Sugar" is a song performed by Josie and the Pussycats instead of The Archies? NOT ON MY WATCH.
At least that is the argument that will likely be reverberating through the (surprisingly intense) Archie fan community upon release of a new clip from tomorrow's night second episode of Riverdale in which the Pussycats breathe some new life into the 1969 bubblegum classic. Take a look:
"Candy Girl (Sugar Sugar)," is a 2009 reworking of the Archies jam from Inner Circle, performed here by Josie and company. The use of this reinvention of the original version -- which, it should again be noted, was the number one single of the entirety of 1969, which I imagine was quite the bitter bill for hippies to swallow -- is a ballsy musical example of how Riverdale, in the parlance of our times, gives no fucks when it comes to playing hard and fast with established Archie continuity.
The press release offers more, er, delicious insights. Sorry:
In addition to the lead vocals by Ashleigh Murray, the new “Candy Girl (Sugar Sugar)” cover features backing vocals by guest stars Asha Bromfield (Melody) and Hayley Law (Valerie), who play the Pussycats, as well as series star Madelaine Petsch (Cheryl Blossom).
Executive producer Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa said: “The hit song ‘Sugar, Sugar’ has always been a huge part of Archie’s history, so we knew we had to include it in Riverdale in some way. Since Archie’s just starting his musical journey when we meet him, we thought it would be a fun reinvention to have Josie and the Pussycats perform an updated version of ‘Sugar, Sugar’ — with an assist from Riverdale High’s cheerleaders and resident mean girl Cheryl Blossom.”
Series star Ashleigh Murray said: “As if stepping into the shoes of a fiery icon like Josie wasn’t enough, I was gifted the opportunity to reimagine and rock out on the classic ‘Sugar, Sugar.’ And boy, was it sweet.”
In a way it's kind of a shame that this clip was released in advance, because in the context of the episode the song comes out of nowhere and is a crowd-pleasing moment for longtime Archie buffs such as myself. (Purists may oppose this, but then again, purists don't like anything new or innovative. GET OFF THEIR LAWN). It should be noted that the footage featured here is much longer that that included in the episode sent to reviewers, not that this is a complaint at all because, well, just listen to this wonderment.
It was inevitable that this song would appear on the series at some point, so this news isn't entirely shocking. But seeing how turnabout is fair play, one has to wonder if at some point budding songsmith Archie will demo his new song "Three Small Words" to Kevin, Betty and Veronica over lunch. Man, I absolutely hope so.
For more on the suprising history of "Sugar, Sugar" check back here at Den of Geek tomorrow night for our Riverdalerecap. And be thankful that in this miserable period of history we have a gulity pleasure like this series to escape into for awhile.