...Baby One More Time

Lore & Background

Britney Spears began pursuing a music career in June 1997, when she was in talks to join the female pop group Innosense. Her mother submitted a tape of Spears singing over a Whitney Houston karaoke song to entertainment lawyer Larry Rudolph, who then pitched her to record labels. After three labels rejected her, Jive Records signed her, and she worked with producer Eric Foster White before recording with Max Martin in Sweden. The song "...Baby One More Time" was originally written by Max Martin with TLC in mind; it was also considered for the Backstreet Boys but never formally pitched to them. Spears recorded her vocals in May 1998 at Cheiron Studios.

Reader's Guide

"...Baby One More Time" is a teen pop and dance-pop song about longing for the return of an ex-boyfriend. Its music video, directed by Nigel Dick, features Spears as a student in a high school setting. The song was nominated for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance at the 42nd Annual Grammy Awards and has been included in lists by Blender, Rolling Stone, and VH1. In 2020, Rolling Stone named it the greatest debut single of all time, and in 2021 it ranked at number 205 on Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Songs of All Time. The song has been noted for redefining the sound of late 1990s music and was the final song played on the BBC music programme Top of the Pops in the 1990s.

Did You Know?

• The song was originally titled "Hit Me Baby One More Time" but was revised due to concerns about domestic violence connotations.
• Spears recorded her vocals after staying up late listening to Soft Cell's "Tainted Love" to achieve a 'rusty' vocal quality.
• The song was the UK's best-selling single of 1999.