By the late ‘90s, there was one thing in music that sold and sold very well – boy bands. We were in a pretty male-dominated pop scene because of them. Boy bands were everywhere and hell, I wasn’t and will never complain about a group of men synchronized dancing to bops – but we were in serious need of the girl power the Spice Girls taught us not too long before. Thankfully, record labels were hard at work molding the next it-girl. Only they didn’t just create an “it” girl. They created a force that would go on to have a whirlwind of a career, but long before the infamous shaved head and headline-inducing “Gimme More” performance, Britney Spears was the personification of bubblegum pop with her debut …Baby One More Time.
Jive knew what they were doing when they crafted this album alongside the heaviest of hitters in pop, songwriting phenom, Max Martin. Name a Tiger Beat centerfold and he’s likely penned at least one song in their career. With Britney, he was behind none other than “…Baby One More Time,” “(You Drive Me) Crazy,” and “I Will Be There.” I know, what’s that last one?
Anyway, let’s focus on the other two and “Sometimes.” The first three singles from this album because all three of these songs ooze pop perfection. The thing about a great pop song is that it should be recognizable within seconds and all three of these songs are; the beat before Britney releases that initial “Oh, baby, baby,” the rattle that kicks off a crazy ride, and that innocent sunny day captured in song on “Sometimes.” It’s all too great and what solidified Britney from the jump.
Of course, there were two other singles this record spawned and they are probably the only other two I find myself going back to all these years later. “Born to Make You Happy” is what I like to refer to as the forgotten middle child of these singles because while great, it’s not a song I feel permeated the zeitgeist as hard as the others. Then there’s “From the Bottom of My Broken Heart,” a song that will forever soothe the souls of 12-year-old girls whose crushes have never looked in their direction. What I will always fully appreciate though is how hard Britney tries to sing from the actual bottom of her shattered heart at around the four-minute mark in that song. Vocals, not her strongest suit but do vocals necessarily make everlasting pop music? Mariah and Christina could make you say yes, but Madonna makes you think…otherwise.
Like Madonna, Britney is a performer first and foremost. From the intricate dancing done during her debut to the videos she posts dancing in her home, a spotlight is always searching to focus on Britney Spears. That’s why the vocals don’t matter as much because like with Madonna, I just wanna have fun with pop music and Britney Spears gives you fun on this record with the tracks that made their way to being singles, but there were moments on …Baby One More Time that fell flat for me then and still today. One of the biggest flats being “Soda Pop.”
If you ever went to school with a white female whose family could afford a Caribbean vacation and she came back with lobster skin and a little beaded braid in her hair – that person is “Soda Pop.” It’s Britney trying her best to be one with the people of the islands and y’all, this wasn’t like Ariel singing alongside Sebastian in The Little Mermaid, this was just a mess. The rest of the record is just okay, nothing too standout from the rest. A good foundation though for what would come, my personal favorite and a record I place in my top 10 of all time. We’ll get to that another day though…
In the end, Britney Spears’ …Baby One More Time is far from perfect. “Soda Pop” and “Email My Heart” could have been left by the side of the road alongside some other songs from this album that mirror a tween’s diary, but it’s the power of Britney Spears’ performance when she debuted and those singles that you know were picked for a damn good reason made this album iconic in the first place.
Britney Spears …Baby One More Time
Label: Jive
Released: January 12, 1999
Genre: Tiger Beat Pop
Reasons to Sing-Along: The Best Selling Album by a Teenage Solo Artist according to the Guinness Book of World Records, and the reason many millennials can’t say “crazy” without shouting it, “CRAZY!”
Vagina Sing-Alongs 
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