The Pussycat Dolls confirm reunion: 'We're celebrating where we're at as women'

Girl group The Pussycat Dolls have announced they will reunite as a trio for a new single and world tour.

Nicole Scherzinger, Ashley Roberts and Kimberly Wyatt have released a new track, Club Song, and will kick off off a string of live shows in June.

It comes six years after a planned previous reunion was derailed by the Covid pandemic and a legal dispute, and follows Scherzinger’s recent award-winning turn in Sunset Boulevard in the West End and on Broadway.

Wyatt told BBC News reuniting was "an incredible thing to be able to do after 20 years", while Scherzinger said "the timing of everything was just perfect".

The 53-date PCD Forever tour will begin in North America before moving to its European leg in September, including nine dates in the UK and Ireland.

The dolls will play shows in Birmingham, Nottingham, Leeds, Liverpool, Dublin, Glasgow, Newcastle and Manchester, before the tour concludes with a date at London's O2 Arena on 13 October.

The group, famous for such hits as Buttons, Don't Cha and I Don't Need A Man, shot to fame in 2005 with their debut album PCD.

There were six members in the original line-up, but Jessica Sutta, Carmit Bachar and Melody Thornton are not part of this reunion.

"The Pussycat Dolls have always been known for an ever-changing line-up," Wyatt said.

"It just so happens that right now we're in a space where we feel united and in a place where we're ready to push forward. And this is the line-up now, for 2026, but you never know with the Pussycat Dolls what might come next."

Scherzinger said: "After 20 years, you're like, 'Where is everybody?' But for us, it aligned.

"People are in different places in their lives, some of the other people have different commitments and priorities, but this worked out for us."

Roberts explained it was Scherzinger who first "reached out" to the other Dolls about reuniting.

"We had some conversations, and we were just like, 'We're on the same page, we're excited about embracing where we're at now as women and celebrating that'," she said.

"I'm just really excited to get back on stage and swing these hips around in some latex, hun!"

Scherzinger is returning to the group that launched her to fame after impressing theatre audiences as Norma Desmond in Jamie Lloyd’s stage adaptation of Sunset Boulevard.

Her wide vocal range and commanding stage presence were praised by critics and won Scherzinger an Olivier and a Tony Award. But by the time her run had finished, she was ready to return to the Dolls.

"It was a dream come true to do the stage," the singer reflected. "And, listen, for the last three years I've been hiding out in these little intimate theatres, y'all. And it was fulfilling in so many ways.

"But as an artist, you can't be bound to one thing, you want to do it all, and it's just so great to be able to come back, and I did miss the girls."

She added: "I'm very proud of our group, our legacy, our music. So I was like, well, I just did the West End and Broadway, now it's time for a world tour. Dolls unite!"

A previous reunion announced in 2019 was abandoned due to Covid and a legal dispute between Scherzinger and the group's founder Robin Antin.

The pair were reported to have fallen out over creative control of the PCD brand and the way profits from the reunion would be distributed.

Scherzinger and Antin reached a confidential settlement late last year, leaving the path clear for the latest reunion.

As well as the new single and tour, both Pussycat Dolls albums - PCD and Doll Domination - will be reissued with previously unreleased tracks.

Scherzinger said the group are "always working on music" and did not rule out the idea of a new album, but noted there is a different model for releasing music today compared with when the Dolls were at their height.

"It’s such a different temperature now in the music world," she noted.

"We spent so much time on these albums, and we'd get four, five, six hits off one album. Now, it's a singles-driven world, and you can record a song and put it out there."

The Pussycat Dolls were founded by Antin in 1995 as an all-female burlesque dance troupe. They later rebranded as a mainstream pop girl band, with Scherzinger, a former Popstars contestant, recruited to handle lead vocals.

The group had successful albums and several chart smashes such as Beep, Stickwitu, Jai Ho! and When I Grow Up before eventually disbanding in 2010.

Even as a pop act, The Pussycat Dolls maintained much of the ethos of the original dance group, with sexually charged dance routines and racy outfits to accompany their string of hits.

Wyatt hinted the group’s image has somewhat evolved since then, adding: "We'll never forget where we came from, but we're also ready to be progressive as well.”

Two decades after they shot to fame, Scherzinger said the group’s message has found a new resonance as they and their fans have matured.

"It's a beautiful time for women, you see now more than ever women in their 30s and 40s who are just so happy being single, and feeling like they don't need a man - like our song!" she laughed.

"They're getting that confidence, that self-assurance, they're getting that wholeness from themselves, and that's ultimately what's the most empowering."

Roberts and Wyatt both live and work in the UK, where the Dolls were particularly successful in the charts - one of the reasons for the large number of British dates on the tour.

Wyatt credits their British success to the country's love for girl groups. "We have to give the flowers to the girl bands that came before us - the Spice Girls blazed a trail," she said.

"I think the UK really gets behind their girl bands - All Saints, Sugababes, Girls Aloud, The Saturdays. There's a landscape for women being powerful and doing what they love to do, and there's a UK audience that gets it."

She added that it "feels epic" to be back with the Dolls, adding that the trio hope to attract new audiences as well as original fans.

"We have all lived a lot of life, had a lot of experiences, we're grown women, and to bring those experiences together and create this unified troupe of three - the power of three, pushing forward - we're excited to get out there and give the fans what they want," she said.

"We'll really go out there with purpose, with meaning, and to teach the kids what they've been missing out on. Who are The Pussycat Dolls? We're about to show them!"