It’s Britney, bitch.
…Baby One More Time, by Britney Spears (her 1st of six #1s)
2 weeks, from 21st February – 7th March 1999
Sorry, couldn’t resist. That iconic intro is still eight years off. But let’s be real, the three note piano motif (the official term, apparently) that introduced the world to Britney Spears, and that underpins one of the all-time great pop songs, is even more iconic.
Yes, ‘all-time great’. Up there in the pop pantheon with ‘Cathy’s Clown’, ‘She Loves You’, ‘Dancing Queen’, ‘It’s a Sin’… You name a pop classic from any era, and ‘…Baby One More Time’ is up there holding its own alongside them. It has all the indefinable qualities – the ability to hook you instantly, the ability to remain catchy but never cloying, the ability to still somehow sound fresh after twenty-five years – which all classics need.
But, I hear you argue, is this not too bubblegum to be an all-time classic? Don’t Britney’s vocal, shall we say, limitations not detract? To the first charge I say no, for this has as much underlying melancholy as the best ABBA songs. What other teenybop songs involve lines about fatal loneliness? And to the second I say that sixteen-year-old Britney’s vocal stylings are perfect for a song about teenage lust and longing. Plus, she managed to influence the way an entire generation pronounced the word ‘baby’ (Bayba? Baybay? Byebuh?)
To reach truly magical heights though, a song needs a moment where everything just clicks. That moment of transcendence arrives in the middle eight, as the chorus lines are chopped up and loaded with emphasis: I must confess, That my loneliness, Is killing me now…
Of course, this was a massive smash across the world, and now stands as one of the best-selling singles ever. It’s most recent placing in the Rolling Stone Top 500 of all time was #205. It’s also been voted the greatest debut single of all time, and the UK’s 7th favourite number one. Britney aside, it also properly introduced the world to Max Martin, one of the most successful chart-topping writers and producers of all time. At last count I make this his first of twenty appearances in the credits of a chart-topping single in the UK.
‘…Baby One More Time’ also won awards for its video, in which Britney flaunts almost every school uniform rule in the book. It got criticism too, for sexualising both school uniforms and the teenage singer in them, as well as the suggestion that it was glamorising sexual violence. Martin has since argued that the ‘hit me’ in the lyrics refers to ‘hitting someone up on the phone’ (as the kids put it in 1999), and that any confusion stems from the fact that English isn’t his first language.
But frankly, who cares? A song this good doesn’t deserve to be caught up in tawdry speculation about its slightly risqué video. Having said that, while this might technically be the best of Britney Spears many singles, it is not my favourite. Britney has five more number ones to get through, and two of those songs can rival this for classic status.
The UK Number Ones Blog 
I couldn’t agree more. I remember watching this every time it came on a late-night video channel back in the day and feeling slightly guilty that I liked it so much. I’m over that! The underlying melancholy, both musical and lyrical, is certainly part of the appeal. And Britney’s raspy voice. Perfection, really.
Wow. 1999. I remember when this came out. The music was good but, baby-doll voice was annoying. Then, the industry tried to pit her against Christina, which didn’t work. They even had Christina singing in the same baby-doll voice.
This is a masterpiece of pop. Oh baby baby, this is how you do a straight up pop song. God, compared to the British teen pop, the Americans have the Brits conquered on that. It’s due to the Max Martin production, but this song and the songs by Backstreet Boys and N’Sync are just so forceful and vigorous, so assertive and insistent and commanding. They don’t ask, they command you pay attention. So far, 1999 has been a really solid year for chart-toppers. And looking at the list, there’s some bangers yet to come (including my favourite of the year, which is another Max Martin production).
I actually just wrote my post on the other Max Martin song to come, and mentioned exactly that: how big, confident, shiny and glossy – how darn American – the US pop stars sounded compared to Billie Piper, Boyzone and the like. It reminds me of the ’50s, when Elvis and the other rock n roll stars were from another planet compared to the British stars of the time, who still seemed to be stuck in the ’40s.
No offence to the Brits, but this is why no British pop act successfully crossed over to the US during the Bush administration. British pop only crosses over when British pop is good and when American pop is stagnant. Neither requisite was fulfilled. The Backstreet Boys, Christina Aguilera, Britney Spears, N’Sync, not amazing artists, but they’re the Beatles and the Rolling Stones compared to Westlife and Boyzone and their ilk.
Apart from the Spice Girls, who crossed over and who, it could be claimed, first brought this modern pop sound that Britney, BSBs, NSync and so on developed so succesfully
” It got criticism too” hell everything does. No I’m not a fan of her music but she was one of the cutest singers ever at this time. It IS different than the parade of dance songs at the time…that I will give it. It had more of a conventional pop song structure. Now though…I just feel sorry for her.
It’s held up really well, one of the best pop songs of its era. I was probably too snobby to admit that when it first came out.
Max Martin arrives with a massive bang. I bought this while it was 99p first week on sale (hence the huge numbers first-week sale) and a pop classic, no question. The video always made me a bit uneasy, even in the 90’s, but it’s what in the grooves that count (not that you could buy it on vinyl) so to speak, and it’s a perfect female vocal pop creation – the equivalent of 2024’s Good Luck Babe or maybe even Espresso. Pop with legs for the future…