Nicole Scherzinger admits she fought hard to join Broadway Bares charity performance

Nicole Scherzinger has shared that she had to fight for the chance to perform a Pussycat Dolls track at the Broadway Bares charity event in June.

On June 22, the Pussycat Dolls star surprised fans with a live rendition at the annual Broadway Bares benefit, which raises money to support people living with HIV and AIDS.

“I actually fought to be on Broadway Bares,” she revealed to Bustle in a recent interview. “When I found out what it was, I was like, ‘Are you kidding me? You have a Pussycat Doll on Broadway!’ And they were like, ‘OK, we’ll give you a little skit, that’s usually what our celebrity guests do.’ And I said, ‘No, no, no, no, I’m performing, and I’m performing Buttons.’”

That evening, the singer took the stage to deliver a performance of Buttons, the Pussycat Dolls’ hit single from their 2005 debut album.

“I wanted to give back to the community and show up and show out, and I wanted to remind everyone, ‘Don’t forget, you’ve got the queen Pussycat Doll here, OK? Don’t forget!’ This is what I do in my sleep, and I love it,” she explained.

The Poison singer also looked back on her experience performing at this year’s Tony Awards at Radio City Music Hall on June 8.

“I’m tearing up as I think about it. Radio City was so big,” she said emotionally. “Walking out onto that huge stage and seeing that huge audience and all those balconies – and being able to sing As If We Never Said Goodbye, one of the greatest songs ever written, my love letter to the theatre – I told myself, ‘It’s OK, Nicole. It doesn’t matter what happens now. You’ve won. You made it.’”

That night, Nicole earned her first Tony Award for her role in Sunset Boulevard on Broadway.

Reflecting on the moment her name was called, she said, “When Oprah announced my name, it was like an out-of-body experience. It was the culmination of so much that I had to fight for and fight myself for – my own demons – to step into that place.”