Songfacts®:

• Britney Spears hitmaker Jim Beanz is the song's writer and he came up with the unusual title after Cheryl expressed a desire to refrain from using swear words. The singer explained to Pop Justice: "I was trying to say, 'sexy than.' The song is actually called "Sexy [as in sexier] Than A Motherf---er". But we obviously censored the track. I told him to call it 'The Sexy Song' but it's his song so I respected that."
• Cole's decision to censor the original title was because of her young fan base. "It was completely up to me whether I wanted to leave them on and I'm old enough and ugly enough to say 'f---ing hell' if I want to," she told Pop Justice. "But I have a lot of younger fans too. I thought it would be nice for them to hear the songs without the swear words. Some parents freak out when you put a 'censored' label on a CD. Some of them are 12, 13! They've been waiting over a year for an album and I didn't want to push them out. Adults get the message, I think."
• Speaking with Digital Spy, Jim Beanz explained that he created the song especially for Cole. "I definitely had performance-based songs for her," he said. "I had tracks which I felt were really tailored to who I felt she was as a person and the artist she wanted to put out there to the public. I've always tried to make songs that fit an artist; that they can perform in shows and that the public will gravitate towards.
  
  I gave her 'Sexy Den a Mutha,'" he continued, "because I wanted it to be a statement. It's almost a female-empowerment version of 'Sexy and I Know It' by LMFAO."