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"Red Dress" is a song by British girl group Sugababes from their fourth studio album, Taller in More Ways (2005). The group's members wrote the song in collaboration with its producers, the British songwriting and production team Xenomania, based on the perception that women must expose their body to be noticed. "Red Dress" was released in the United Kingdom on 6 March 2006 as the album's third single, and is the first to feature vocals by Amelle Berrabah, following the departure of Mutya Buena in December 2005. The Sugababes performed a cover of the Arctic Monkeys' song "I Bet You Look Good on the Dancefloor" as the single's B-side.
The song is an uptempo pop record that contains a sample from "Landslide", a Northern soul recording by Tony Clarke. It received positive reviews from critics, who commended its composition and Xenomania's contribution in particular. "Red Dress" peaked at number four on the UK Singles Chart, number seven on the Netherlands' Dutch Top 40 chart, and inside the top twenty on the singles charts of Ireland, New Zealand and Norway. The song's music video was directed by Tim Royes in January 2006 and features the group's members in red dresses. The Sugababes performed the single as part of the set lists for their Taller in More Ways, Overloaded: The Singles Collection and Change tours, and at the Liverpool Summer Pops and Oxegen Festival music festivals.
For the single release, the song was re-recorded to feature vocals from Berrabah. The 'single version' also features some re-recorded vocals from Buchanan and Range.
"Red Dress" was written by the Sugababes—Keisha Buchanan, Mutya Buena and Heidi Range—in collaboration with Brian Higgins, Miranda Cooper, Tim Powell, Nick Coler, Shawn Lee, Lisa Cowling, and Bob Bradley, for the group's fourth studio album Taller in More Ways (2005). According to Range, the song was inspired by the perception that women must expose their body to be noticed. It was produced by Higgins and Xenomania, who also produced the album track "Ace Reject". "Red Dress" was mixed by Jeremy Wheatley and Powell with assistance from Richard Edgeler, and programmed by Powell and Higgins. The accompanying keyboards for the track were provided by Powell, Higgins, Tim Larcombe and Jon Shave. The bass was provided by Bradley, while the guitars were provided by Coler and Lee. "Red Dress" was recorded by Dario Dendi at Eden Studios, London, with assistance from Chris Poulter and Zoe Smith.
"Red Dress" is an uptempo pop song with elements of funk. Its instrumentation consists of keyboards, bass and guitars. The song's main riff is sampled from "Landslide", a Northern soul recording by Tony Clarke. "Red Dress" features two choruses, as well as verses that are reminiscent of "Rapture" by American pop band Blondie. Talia Kraines of BBC noted that the song has a "foot-tapping" vibe to it. "Red Dress" features a girl power theme, and is lyrically about a woman who uses her sexuality to gain power over men. The Sugababes repeatedly sing the line "Cause I'm cooler than the red dress" during the beginning of the song and in the first chorus. Ross Hoffman of AllMusic noted that "Red Dress" is evocative of Xenomania's "frisky" productions for British girl group Girls Aloud.
"Red Dress" debuted at number four on the UK Singles Chart in the issue dated 18 March 2006 with 18,210 copies sold. It was the highest-ranked debut for that week. Taller in More Ways subsequently became the first album by the Sugababes to produce three UK top-five hits. "Red Dress" spent ten weeks on the chart and has sold 100,000 copies in the country, ranking as the group's fourteenth best-selling single in the UK. The song debuted and peaked at number twelve on the Irish Singles Chart. "Red Dress" appeared on the Dutch Top 40 chart at number nine, and peaked at number seven the following week for two non-consecutive weeks. It was the chart's 66th best-performing single of 2006. The single reached the top twenty on the charts in Denmark and Norway, and the top forty on the charts in Belgium (Flanders), Germany, Hungary, and Switzerland. It reached number 41 on the Austrian Singles Chart, and number 61 on the Czech Singles Chart. The song's performance throughout Europe allowed it to chart on the European Hot 100 Singles chart, where it peaked at number fourteen. "Red Dress" debuted and peaked at number 22 on the Australian Singles Chart, where it charted for twelve weeks. The single peaked at number sixteen on the New Zealand Singles Chart and was the group's third consecutive top-twenty hit in the country. A writer from the Coventry Evening Telegraph noted that the line-up change did not affect the song's commercial performance.
