šµ MY LOWER BACK šµ IS KILLING ME šµ(and I)šµ I MUST CONFESS SO ARE MY KNEES šµ(ow, my knees)šµ
...Baby One More Time is the debut studio album by American pop singer Britney Spears. It was released on January 12, 1999, through Jive Records. It is Spears' most successful album with sales of over 25 million copies worldwide, making it one of the best-selling albums of all time, as well as the best-selling debut album by a female artist. ...Baby One More Time has been cited as a hallmark for pop music and is praised for the revival of the teen pop genre. The album received two nominations at the 42nd Annual Grammy Awards, for Best New Artist and Best Female Pop Vocal Performance. Spears had been a child performer on The All-New Mickey Mouse Club during 1993ā1994, and was looking to expand her career as a teen singer. After being turned away by several record companies, Spears signed with Jive for a multi-album deal in 1997. Spears traveled to Sweden to collaborate with producers Max Martin and Rami Yacoub, who had been writing songs with producer Denniz Pop and others. Their collaboration created a pop, dance-pop, and teen pop record, with Spears later saying that she felt excited when she heard it and knew it was going to be a hit record. The album was completed in June 1998. At the time of its release, ...Baby One More Time garnered mixed reviews from music critics, with many praising its commercial appeal but deeming it silly and premature. Retrospectively, it has been hailed for its major impact on pop culture, citing it as one of the most influential pop records of all time. The album was a massive global success, topping the charts in five countries and reaching the top ten in 17 territories. Spears became the fifth artist under the age of 18 to top the Billboard 200. It received worldwide certifications, including a 14Ć platinum certification from the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), for shipments of over 14 million copies in the US. According to Nielsen SoundScan, the album has sold 10.7 million copies, with additional 1.6 million sold at BMG Music Clubs.
šµ MY LOWER BACK šµ IS KILLING ME šµ(and I)šµ I MUST CONFESS SO ARE MY KNEES šµ(ow, my knees)šµ
It's Britney, Bitch!
Ugh. I'm almost the exact same age as Britney. I remember being icked by her treatment by the media, and how she was presented as a teen. I can't get over that when listening. I guess this is a great example of 90s pop, but most of the songs remind me of the end credits of bad romance movies. I actually said "wtf" at Soda Pop, and cracked up at "Email My Heart" Why is this my longest review?
danny_devito_nope.gif Fave track - well, I was gonna say "The Beat Goes On" but it has a damn advert baked into the end of it. I'd give this one star but I don't want to dilute the purity of my contempt for Kid Rock š
Are you kidding me? I'm 46 years old. I canĀ“t go in my car listening to this.
Iconic Princess of Pop, truly the sound of a generation. As far as I am concerned, it earns a 5 based solely on the importance in music.
2.5 - This record shoots its wad early, within the first three tracks. After that, songs churn out on a conveyor belt, each vaguely similar in their glossy sheen but with slightly varied deformities. I like how one critic sums it all up: "a collection of either competent pop songs underwhelmingly executed or underwhelmingly written pop songs competently executed." This is the music you hear as you accompany your tween daughter to purchase her first thong.
It's a very good example of bubble gum pop so I understand why it's on the list, but it's really hard to listen to as a grown adult.
What is this doing in this list? I donāt mind a decent pop album, but this cheesy nonsense!
No thanks. I know and like the first track ("like" is a relative term here), but everything else feels so painfully pop-manufactured and dated to the era. Skipped most of the tracks, just not feeling this at all. One good laugh for the track titled "Email My Heart." I've noticed that most of my "one stars" on here are more of 1.5 stars, or like a 3 out of 10. But to be sure, anything in the 1-3 range is bad. This is a stinker. Favorite tracks: Baby One More Time. Album art: Goofy font for her name, and the portrait is just weird. I mean c'mon, this is a former Mickey Mouse club child performer, album is released right after she turns 17, and they went with this kind of pic/aesthetic? Christgau called her a "girl next door version of Madonna," I'm not in a position to say he's wrong but is that not a concerning label to attach to a minor? Something just don't feel right. Hindsight's 20/20 but I can't help but feel like launching a girl into pop stardom in this way contributed, at least in part, to the troubled life she's lived. 1.5/5
Ugh oh man this is a hard rate for me. Britney Spears is one of the greatest and most important pop stars of all time- she ushered in the bubblegum / cute blonde sexy schoolgirl / chorus hooks that are literally infectious tonal shift in music and you can't deny the effect that this has had on the majority of music beyond this release. Max Martin is one of the greatest pop songwriters and producers of all time. Really, to me he is possibly as skilled at writing as the Beatles and I don't know if I consider anyone else to be in that area. Reasons why I don't want to give it a 5: It's a team of super producers/minds who created this music in what is essentially a lab. Like scientists mixing chemicals to find a cure for an end-of-the-world virus, this album similarly was genius producers finely crafting a cure for an end-of-the-90s virus (called "The Grunge"). I'm trying to be objective and bias-less in these, but it's hard! And it's really hard for me to not envision Britney Spears leaving her mandatory 6 hour gym dance practice and daily appointment with her nutritionist and going straight to the studio where all the music is ready for her and the lyrics are in their 501st iteration and all they need is her to step up to the microphone and sing. And I hate this image! It's so... manufactured and so far removed from a more natural songwriting environment, like a group of people sitting in a room with instruments and each of them working through a bad breakup by writing a song together. It's funny to me, when this album popped up I literally said "oooh shit" to myself, because this is such a monstrously popular album, but one that I don't really ever think to put on and listen to. After that innate reaction I took a moment to think and realized that it's really just like all the other albums on this list; it's simply a record full of music tracks. Yes, I have like 50 events from my youth where I associate songs from this album very strongly to- and I'm sure there are many other people my age who have the same. It's just funny how once anything gets so ubiquitous and famous it kind of changes, right? Like the name "Britney Spears" isn't two names- Britney and Spears put together, it's one phrase- "Britney Spears". I think what I'm trying to say is that this album has this quasi Gestalt effect where the sum is greater than it's parts, and it's easy to forget that the parts are really just chords and melodies put together, and the album is just songs bundled up and put in a specific order. A younger me would have given this a 4 and felt that was generous, but alas- I am not that same young, stubborn, opinionated music head anymore. I am wiser. I can see this album pop up on this list and say "oh shit, this album ushered in one of the biggest paradigm shifts ever in the industry". I can say "these songs slap, and ultimately that's what music is about- songs that are simply great to listen to. No matter how you get there, you can't deny a slap." It's a 5 for me. The songs are great, and It's just too important of an album to the landscape of popular music.
I wasn't a Britney girl I have to say and listening to this I've remembered why - literally every song is about a boy and some romance thing! I was not interested in this at all. I respect Britney Spears and of course appreciate she was THE pop icon of the time, but this simply isn't for me. Was a slog getting through that
If someone came to my room while I was listening to this album, I'd just switch to porn because that would be easier to explain. Bad music! The Goblin King awakens from his slumber!
You know I'm a sucker for a good Britney album. Love it
In the early 2000s one of my best friends at school had a 'shoe box of shame' within which lurked albums that he was too embarrassed to store on his CD shelf, lest anyone see them. Owning this record as a schoolboy was bad enough, but as an adult it would be even more questionable (particularly if you happened to buy a version with the North American album cover). The big hit singles could, at a stretch, almost be considered ok(ish) late 90s manufactured pop music, but in retrospect even these aren't great. Go beyond the singles and this is really awful. Overall this album has aged about as gracefully as it's creator. Unlike Britney, however, the record doesn't deserve any sympathy. Rating: 1.5/5 Playlist track: ...Baby One More Time Date listened: 24/01/23
I could not stop laughing through the first 15-20 minutes of this album. I think the song āE-mail my heartā finally broke me. Bad in an enjoyable way, and good in some ways that count. The producers are clearly having tons of fun with their assignment. Itās not jaded, apathetic, soulless popā¦ itās often very silly, but you can have fun with it. So dated, too! Every one of Britney Spearsā songs have the same quality of her album covers: you can tell immediately what year it was made in, because there could be no other.
It sounds like they took some built-in phone ringtones and wrote super generic lyrics that reference "you," "love," and "heart" as many times as possible.
I was trying to find a way to rate this higher than a 1. It has two singles that topped the charts, so it can't be THAT bad, can it. Yes, yes it can. It's terribly dated, way overproduced, bland, AND infuriating at the same time. It's really not good, and I'm glad it was removed from future versions of the book.
I am a 28 year old male and know many of these songs just by virtue of having ridden in my motherās car.
Here is one of those albums I've been hoping was on this list, or at least, an album that has some incredible songs that I was obsessed with as a kid but never actually had the CD or listened all the way through. So I'm glad it's on this list so I can finally dive in. Obviously the first three tracks are pop classics, and while none of the other tracks reach those same heights, it can't be denied what this album did for music at the time. So many other artists in this genre wouldn't exist without this, even if a lot of the songs have similar themes of a woman needing a man to be complete. Those themes don't hold up as well in our current day, but as a time capsule, this album is great. Iād normally give an album like this a 3 but due to the prestige I gotta give it a 4.
This is so fun and magical I love it. Iāve never described an album as being magical before, so I really felt something with this one. The album cover is atrocious, but I wonāt hold that against Britney. She was just a girl. Sheās got a great voice that has an infectious energy to it. The writing isnāt the most groundbreaking and the production, while sounding crystal clear, really is a one trick pony on this album. The songs can blend together and get repetitive, which makes things super boring, but thereās some range here and there. For example, āSoda Popā sounds distinct from the rest of the project, which isnāt necessarily a good thing though. Jankiest song on the album. Best tracks āā¦Baby One More Timeā (obviously), āI Will Still Love You (with Don Phillips)ā, and āThe Beat Goes Onā. Canāt dispute the impact of this album and no arguing that I had fun listening. 4/5
What Iāve just listened to is one of the most insanely idiotic things I have ever heard. At no point in this rambling, incoherent album was there a musical idea even close to anything that could be considered an interesting tune. Everyone who pressed play is now dumber for having listened to it. I award this album 1 star, and may God have mercy on ā1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Dieā editor Robert Dimeryās soul.
DIVA!
Cāmon now
Oh boy, right in the childhood, nostalgia through the roof! I meant to give it a 4 because I never liked the second part of the album as much as I did the first but it's gotta be a 5 for the feelings it evoked... good times
BANGERS!
Un trĆØs bon album pop. Pour quelquāun qui nāaime pas beaucoup le pop, jāai adorĆ© les performances de vocaux de Britney, et les beats trĆØs pop culture, malgrĆ© que certains soit peu inspirĆ©. Il y a aussi des trĆØs bon featuring.
Iām shocked. While not my thing in many, many ways, this album is actually quite good. Iād heard the singles released from this beforeā¦..I mean what American hasnāt? And used those to prejudge the album. Not aa incorrect assessment for style and taste, but this album most certainly doesnāt suck.
Oh yes, this smells like the 90's. Good memories.
Definitely see how this album really had a public. Britney Spears into fame. Typical pop music. Very catchy. Worth at least one listen.
some songs I hadn't heard before, she actually has a great voice
As much as it's not my kind of music this is an iconic album. The entire thing in one go was a bit much, but truth be told I never had a listen to the whole thing! Saved tracks: ...Baby One More Time, (You Drive Me) Crazy, E-Mail My Heart, The Beat Goes On, I Will Be There
Am I a certified Girl Boss now? #FreeBritney
Rating a little higher than it deserves because the first three tracks are so iconic. The rest.... is fine. I was surprised by how strong her vocals are on this compared to her later work.
A classic.
Teen pop was good all this time?!? The answer may shock you
I have to admit, when I saw this pop up, I was happy to have a happy little throwback album to listen to for the day. Baby One More Time and You Drive Me Crazy are both bops, Sometimes was sort of blah, but Soda Pop is the song that broke me. I had tried skipping to the next song, but it didnāt erase Soda Pop from my brain. I had to abandon the experiment partway through when I saw there was still 12 tracks ahead of me.
What. Fresh. Hell. Even for 1999 pop. An aside. If in any doubt about the motives of Ms Spears backers: the music on this album is on a par with the music of S Club Seven. Which is to say, aimed at twelve year olds and made by a notional big sister or brother. It's impossible to unthinkable "(Baby Hit Me) One More Time" (although the Travis cover does help. But it'll be interesting to do the Lady Gaga test on this song and video.
This is a cultural moment to be aware of, not an album to listen to. If teenagers made this music themselves for other teenagers it'd be unlistenable but fine. For grown adults to decide it's fine to send a teenager through the grinder to sell records and soft drinks is chilling. music: hated. (āā _ā )
It would be cool to find some modern defense of this, but it's just way too artificial to find any interest in. Spears has a good voice and the hits are catchy (but in an annoying way). The worst era of pop?
I dint listen to the whole thing but five stars defintiely
surprised how many of these songs I wasn't familiar with. loved it tho
Whoever doesnāt give this 5 stars is lying
...Baby One More Time
Modern pop classic
It has been a long time since Iāve listened to this album. Since the early 2000s I have just cherry picked hits off it. Itās a terrific album and Iām glad to see it getting recognized for its cultural significance. Pretty amazing coming from a teenager. This deserves its spot on this list!
Not an album that I would have thought that I needed to listen to, but glad I did. Excellent pop music from a teenager!
Mother is MOTHERING
Iām a little less than four months older than her and this album kicked off a lifelong love affair with her.
Pop masterpiece. Max Martin at his finest, and Spears vocal performance here is perfect. Shame what became of this pop legend.
Better than the 900 brit pop albums on this list
still a banger
Perfect pop album. Britney was a star at a young age because she knew how to hit every cord and check all the boxes on bubblegum pop.
Okay, let's go over this for a moment... I was nine when this album came out. My barely-younger sister absolutely LOVED this album. When I saw this pop up, the ONLY thing I thought of was how annoying this album was, except I learned that I was conflating it with how annoying my sister was. WHAT. AN. ALBUM. There's a reason she became a household name. This album had people talking, and her follow-up (Oops I did it again) solidified Britney's place in pop culture. My god, to think about how she recoreded this album when she was (checks notes) 16-17 years old! MY GOD WHAT A PERFORMANCE. The vocals are sooooo goood. Like, sometimes as good or better than what you would expect from Mariah, or Janet, or even Whitney. Perfectly timed tremelos and vibrato along with the vocal overdubs will remind you of 90's production techniques, while also reminding you of how versatile and accurate Britney's voice really is. I hate loving this album. I feel like a corporate shill when I think of this as a business-created album from JIVE records. I've never felt so guilty loving an album, especially the covers. But, it's still the 8th highest selling female album of all time FOR A REASON. The duality has me loving and hating myself for this at the same time... Added to library.
cool
This album is a mess. But probably by design to get a single out of it matter what. I'd this a decent album? No. Is this an album id listen to again besides the first 2 songs? Also no, but man does it hit a zeitgeist. Plus I'm only giving this a 5 because I know that there are assholes just giving this a 1 because it's brithey and I have to void one out
It's Britney bitch
Rating: 8/10 Best songs: Baby one more time, Crazy, Sometimes, Born to make you happy, Autumn goodbye
Listen, I was a 12 year old girl when this album came out. Let's not pretend I wasn't into this. I never owned this CD but I am familiar with a third of the tracks. I think there are too many schmaltzy filler songs, but otherwise, there are some great songs here. Gonna forward this review to myheart@britneyspears.com because she asked me to.
It's classic, it's cheesy, it's 90s fabulous - singing into your hairbrush whilst trying on your mums make-up questioning your sexuality... wait, what?!
Awww come on people!? It's Britney? This was massive. She was massive. The video was massive. For sheer impact on our Western culture this is right up there and whether you loved it or loathed it we've all heard it. As someone else said the album is top heavy probably because the producers didn't think people would get to listen all the way through? And to think this has a string of awards and record sales stats attached to it. Bless.
When I saw this album, I thought easy 4 or 5. Yup, I give it a solid 4 for some of the best pop songs in modern history. It's easy to hate this & pass it off a bubble gum pop, because it is, but this album & its singles never stopped being played at gay clubs, drag shows, and at parties. Britney isn't a strong vocalist, in fact she has a lot of support from her backup singers on this album, but damn those tunes are catchy. I will always love Britney & she deserves pop music accolades.
Oh man. What a nostalgia hit. The song āā¦Baby One More Timeā has all the sounds from pop of this era ā those big Max Martin drums, the processed funk licks, the gratuitous vocals runs. Of course, Iāll never be able to separate it from childhood memories. I was in the 4th grade when this album came out and like everyone else, these singles (and their music videos) rocked my world. The music on this album was assembled by producers who understand how to elicit Pavlovian responses from listeners ā dance! cry! smile! Every chord is chosen for maximum impact, every sound is polished for maximum shine. But even though the music is synthetic, the feels are real! Why is that? I think itās the songwriting. Itās formulaic but very effective. A record label can market the hell out of a song but it doesnāt become an all-out phenomenon without something real at its core. āā¦Baby One More Timeā and ā(You Drive Me) Crazyā are mega hits that will make any millennial lose their mind when you play them. But the album cuts are solid too. They push a lot of the same buttons and do so almost just as well. From a consumerās perspective, this is a good product ā if you bought the CD for the singles, you wouldnāt be mad about the rest. And if you were at the right age, you probably fell in love with all of it.
90s pop. But compared to what passes as pop today, this is high art. The first three notes of ...Baby One More Time contain more musical talent than anyhing in the pop charts today. Yes, it's a bit cheesy at times, especially the ballads, for which I'll deduct half a point. But really .... it's Britney. I mean, come on. 3.5/5
Y'all, it is perfectly okay to let loose and indulge in some dumb junk food every so often.
If you could distill pop music and crystallize it into its purest form, you would get this album.
I love the title track and the cover of Sonny and Cherās The Beat Goes On and I appreciate this album's cultural significance but the rest of the tunes on this record don't quite do it for me the way some of Spears' later records do. I hope we get to hear more from her.
Whatever else a person can say about this album, it's a pretty impressive debut from a teenager with plenty of deserved commercial appeal and a instantly recognizable voice and singing style. The title song is still a classic. I was surprised but happy to see such a bubblegum pop album in this list. It definitely sets a standard for the genre.
Surprised myself how much o enjoyed this might relisten
The epitome of 90s pop The way the world treats child stars is truly appalling, glad she is finally free 3.5/5 rounded up
A pop classic. Wish I hadn't been such a stereotypical "boy" when I was younger because I could have been enjoying this for many more years! Some of the slower tracks in the middle get a bit samey/boring. There's a proclivity in these songs to lean on the R&B which I don't think is Britney's strength necessarily. But the first 4-5 and last 2-3 tracks are so good that really it's a good time all around. Can't believe she recorded this at 18!
I don't understand... Britney Spears.. but shes kinda cute
Tough one. Popcultural impact 5/5 Overall music 2/5 Would round up the 3.5.
Starts out way better than I expected but does start to drag towards the end. Sheās just not a strong enough singer for the ballads, but the uptempo songs are a lot of fun. Should get a 3.5 but what the hell.
Straight bitch behaviour, yo. Britney Spears gushes all over my face and boy, do I like it? Holy shit, her dripping cunt is steaming and the smell is something I'll never forget. Smokin'
I haven't listened to this is full in decades. This really brings me back to my childhood and my sisters playing this all the time. At the time I thought I was "too cool" for this, but secretly loved it. My only complaint is that this album is a bit too long. 3.75/5
An iconic album
As my wife said āIf you could wear out a CD then this CD would have worn out in my discmanā What a landmark pop album! As a 90ās boy I was NOT into Britney Spears (until her Rolling Stones covers obviously) but returning to this album as a MAN I can honestly say itās a great pop album. Not only are the singles catchy as hell, the album cuts like āDeep in my heartā, āThinkin About Youā and āSoda Popā are great too. This album completely changed pop music and itās easy to see why. Itās Britney bitch! āEmail my heartā is a junka though
I never thought I would've enjoyed Britney Spears' debut album as much as I did. Its clear to see how she impacted the world of pop music and what followed. 12 year old me begrudgingly liked it and 36 year old me frickin loves it. The only knock against it is that its top heavy. You get the strongest hits right away, but the rest of it is still pretty good and has maybe one or two misses. Its Britney bitch.
Is it good? No. Does it stand the test of time? No. Is it fun? Mostly! I didn't grow up listening to Britney, I was too young. This album came out when I was just 1 year old. Listening to this album today I tried to adopt the mindset of a 13 year old girl in 1999. It's a fun album, but it's not empowering at all, no good values to be found here for teenagers girls. Teaches women to live for love and for men. I guess Britney was never positioned to be a good role model for women...but she was, all the same, and I think that says a lot about the late 90s and early 2000s what kind of role models women had. I don't know. I'm reading into this too much. It's girly bubbly teen pop. I really liked "Soda Pop", it's a great vibe change and a really fun track. Overall it's a decent album, definitely iconic.
Listening to this was like being transported back in time - I feel like I havenāt heard most of these tracks in 20 years. All in all, it was a good time.
Fun songs to sing along to.
it's britney bitch
Very good pop album, lots of bangers I didn't know she had
Really enjoyed this - she is the GOAT noughties pop star
This was always going to be a good time
Nostalgia!
My big complaint with a lot of 90s pop albums is that the big hits are all front loaded, which is the case for this album. Still, the back half is solid. And the big hits are total monsters.
There's nothing like a debut from an artist you've heard alot about but never got the chance to dive too deep into their music. I love coming to my own terms of why someone is considered a "legend". If this was my foreground into starting the path to understanding then I'm going to be in for a wild ride. This was a great listen. I may not have heard this before but it truly felt like a breath of fresh air jumping in. You could tell Britney was coming to terms with her own artistry and there was the balance of her mainstream "catchy pop" sound and her personal "meaningful" sound. It was a constant back and forth. I will say that though the singles are iconic well within her own right, her deeper cuts were able to stand on their own. I'm a big fan of her conveying her personal experience with love and connections with the people in her life. There seems to be a hint of her coming to terms with everything that seems to be changing around her. It's both devastating and intriguing how far she would go after this point. I will say that it equally makes me excited to jump into more of her discography on here whether listed in the future through this list or on my own personal time.
Cute
It's impossible to separate this album sung by a 17 year old from everything that happened since, but this is how you become Pop Royalty. Captures some of the R&B and even punk tones of the era in certain songs, as well as went on to shape pop music around the world in a complex way. I was 3 when this came out, but doing the research and trying to be objective this time: this shit slaps. Soda Pop was an unexpected gem. Worthy of its' accolades and a defining moment in music and cultural history as we shifted into the early 2000's
Take the singles out and this is the weakest of weak tea. The singles are in there though, so this is an easy 4*s. More 90's pop and RnB please
i didnāt expect to dislike this album but i didnāt expect to like it as much as i did. a couple really good songs and very solid throughout. probably a low 4
Obviously the first two songs were mega hits so that out of the way, I thought it was an interestingly listen. Not sure if there was an album that incapsulates the late 90s pop scene as well as this album does. Are all songs very good? Well... no... and "Soda Pop" is quite something, but overall I thought it was solid. 7/10.
A very good pop album. Interesting to hear the producers take the elements of the boy band craze (at the time) and use it effectively with a female solo artist. More singalongs than I remember. A good album to switch things up on a road trip.
Lyder mĆ„ske meget ens.. men hey det er fedt pop! SĆ„ god energi, og et frisk pust efter sĆ„ meget kedeligt seriĆøst musik
Really enjoyed this. The Beat Goes On was my favourite track on the album.
Some critics call this "silly and immature". That's my genre! The first three songs are just great. She's the Debbie Gibson of the 2000s. Of course, I don't think Deborah went psycho. But who knows?
classic britney takes me back to a simpler time. great tracks throughout the album, dont stop at the singles. deep cuts are equally stellar
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