1 Week at #1 [29/01/2000]Britney Spears may well end up as the pop singer who truly defines the 00s, despite her signature hit having been released in 1999. This single was her fourth and final release from the '...Baby One More Time' album and her second UK #1. It's quite unusual for a fourth single from a big-selling pop release to out-chart the singles which preceded it (Sometimes and (You Drive Me) Crazy having peaked at #3 and #5 respectively in 1999). The still-slow January release schedules probably helped this to sneak in a week at #1, but to my mind it's also one of her best early singles.
What really strikes when listening to the early Britney records is how much harder she appears to be trying. She was never much of a singer, and even here she relies heavily on the meaty production and the prominent backing vocals which threaten to drown her out on the chorus. But she sounds reasonably invested in the hallmark-sentiment of the lyric (which surely caused much irritation to pop-culture conscious feminists) and she hasn't yet developed that strange hiccoughing drawl which seems to have replaced the effort of actual singing on her subsequent records.
I like the song a lot. It's fairly typical of the shiny Swedish-produced pop sound of the turn of the century, and by no means the classic that ...Baby One More Time is. But in the canon of Britney's 'lesser' singles it stands out as an immaculately produced little gem. It's one of those songs that would be all but forgotten in her repetoire if it hadn't been a chart topper, so I'm glad it had it's moment.
What really strikes when listening to the early Britney records is how much harder she appears to be trying. She was never much of a singer, and even here she relies heavily on the meaty production and the prominent backing vocals which threaten to drown her out on the chorus. But she sounds reasonably invested in the hallmark-sentiment of the lyric (which surely caused much irritation to pop-culture conscious feminists) and she hasn't yet developed that strange hiccoughing drawl which seems to have replaced the effort of actual singing on her subsequent records.
I like the song a lot. It's fairly typical of the shiny Swedish-produced pop sound of the turn of the century, and by no means the classic that ...Baby One More Time is. But in the canon of Britney's 'lesser' singles it stands out as an immaculately produced little gem. It's one of those songs that would be all but forgotten in her repetoire if it hadn't been a chart topper, so I'm glad it had it's moment.
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