"…Baby One More Time" is a song by American pop singer Britney Spears from her debut ...Baby One More Time pn Jive Records. It was released on October 13, 1998 in the United States and in the first quarter of 1999 internationally as the album's lead single. The song was written by Max Martin and was originally intented for TLC but after they rejected it, Spears and Martin decided to record the track. The song’s lyrics refer to breaking up with someone and regretting the decision.

The song was well received by music critics, most calling it the highlight of the album and was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance. The track also achieved commercial success and remains Spears' most successful single, topping the charts in Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the United States and every European country it charted. In the United Kingdom, it became the highest selling single of the year and one of the highest selling singles of all time. The music video featured Spears dressed as a Catholic school girl and helped to establish her status as a pop icon. “…Baby One More Time” is often included in greatest song listings and has been covered by many artists worldwide.

Background

After being signed by Jive Records, Spears started working with a number of producers. In early 1998, she flew to Cheiron Studios in Sweden to work with Max Martin, Denniz PoP and Rami, among others. Martin had originally written a song titled "Hit Me Baby One More Time" for R&B group TLC; however, when the song was submitted to them they rejected it because they had already completed their third studio album, FanMail. Martin showed Spears and her management the track. Spears later claimed that she felt excited when she heard it and knew it was going to be a hit record. Of the recording sessions she said, "I didn’t do well at all the first day in the studio, I was just too nervous. So I went out that night and had some fun. The next day I was completely relaxed and nailed it. You gotta be relaxed singing ‘… Baby One More Time’". Executives at Jive Records were concerned that the line "Hit Me" would condone domestic violence. The title was later revised to its current title.

Musically, "…Baby One More Time" is a pop song set in common time and has a metronome of 93 beats per minute. The song begins with three piano notes, an opening that has been compared to many other songs, such as "We Will Rock You", "Start Me Up" and the theme song of the film Jaws due to the fact the track “makes its presence known in exactly one second”. According to Blender, musically the song is composed by “wah-wah guitar lines and EKG-machine bass-slaps”.

Lyrically, the song speaks about lost love. Spears has said that it’s “[a song] every girl can relate to. She regrets it. She wants him back." The track is also easily recognizable for its opening line “Oh baby baby”, a phrase coined by Spears that is also used in future recordings such as "Oops!... I Did It Again" and "If U Seek Amy". The song’s lyrics caused controversy in the United States because the line “Hit me baby one more time” seem to have an S&M connotations.

Reception

Critical response

Amanda Murray of Sputnikmusic called it "undoubtedly the high point of this album. It is well-composed, tightly arranged, and even with Spears' vocal limitations it goes straight for the proverbial pop jugular". She also said that the song was a highlight in the pop music genre and added, "There is little doubt that '...Baby One More Time' will be long remembered as one of the cornerstones of pop music in general, and it is a strong front-runner as the prototype for the late 90s pop resurgence". Beth Johnson of Entertainment Weekly called it a "candy-pop-with-a-funky-edge smash". Stephen Thomas Erlewine of Allmusic said the track was "ingenious", while Rolling Stone's Barry Walters compared it to early hits of Samantha Fox claiming that the song "effectively [transforms] this ex-Mouseketeer born in a tiny Louisiana town into a growling jailbait dynamo". Brian Raftery of Blender called it a "a perfectly fine, slickly conceived pop tune. [..] At the time, teen-pop was still a boys’ club, but while the guys were crooning about crushes, Spears was already planning the sleep-over party".

"...Baby One More Time" earned Spears her first nomination for a Grammy Award for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance. It also won other numerous awards, including a Teen Choice Award for Single of the Year and an MTV Europe Music Award for Best Song.

Chart performance

The song was officially sent to the American radio stations on October 23, 1998. On November 21, 1998, "...Baby One More Time" debuted at number-seventeen on the Billboard Hot 100 and topped the chart two and a half months later for two consecutive weeks, replacing R&B-singer Brandy's "Have You Ever?". Simultaneously, it climbed to number-one on the Canadian Singles Chart. The song reached the top spot of the Hot 100 Singles Sales and stayed there for a solid four-week reign. This eventually propelled the single to a platinum certification by the Recording Industry Association of America. Though not as strong as its sales tallies, "...Baby One More Time" also experienced considerable airplay becoming her first top ten hit on the Hot 100 Airplay peaking at number-eight. The single also became an all-around hit on Top 40 radio, going top ten on both the Top 40 Tracks and Rhythmic Top 40, and to number-one for five weeks on the Mainstream Top 40. "...Baby One More Time" spent thirty-two weeks on the Hot 100 and ended up at number-five on Billboard magazine's year-end chart.

The track reached the top spot in every European country it charted. It topped the Eurochart Hot 100 Singles for ten consecutive weeks. Notably, "...Baby One More Time" spent two consecutive weeks at number-one on the French Singles Chart and was certified platinum by the Syndicat National de l'Édition Phonographique after selling over 500,000 units in the country. Additionally, the song topped the German Singles Chart for six consecutive weeks and sold over 750,000 copies, resulting in a three-times gold certification by the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry In the United Kingdom, according to her label Jive Records said that the single "…Baby One More Time" has sold more than 250,000 copies in a mere three days. Spears broke a first-week sales record for a female act at the time when "...Baby One More Time" sold a total of 460,000 copies in the United Kingdom. The single went on to sell over 1.45 million units, making it the highest-selling single of the year and the 25th best-selling of all-time in Britain. Eventually, the British Phonographic Industry certified it two-times platinum on March 26, 1999. Additionally, Spears joined a selected group of seven female acts with million-selling singles, which includes singers Kylie Minogue, Whitney Houston, Cher, Céline Dion, among others.

"...Baby One More Time" debuted at number-twenty on the Australian Singles Chart, a month later reached number-one and stayed there for nine consecutive weeks. The song eventually became the second highest-selling single of the year, only behind Lou Bega's "Mambo#5", and was certified three-times platinum by the Australian Recording Industry Association for selling over 210,000 copies. In New Zealand, the single spent four non-consecutive weeks at the top of the charts and after shipping over 15,000 units to retailers the Recording Industry Association of New Zealand certified it platinum.

Music video

The music video was filmed on August 7 and August 8, 1998, in Los Angeles, California and was directed by Nigel Dick. After being chosen, Dick received criticism from her colleagues about wanting to work with Spears. He responded saying, "It's a great song. I don't know anything about Britney. I never watched the "Mickey Mouse Club". She seems like a great kid and she's very enthusiastic, but I just love the song. It's just a great song".

The video's original setup was in high contrast to what eventually became the final product. The plan was to have the video in a cartoon-like environment, in a likely attempt to attract the audience of younger children. However, Spears was unhappy with this. She argued that she wanted her video to reflect the lives of her fans and wanted to set the video in a school. Spears pitched this idea to Dick, and further explained she wanted the video to have dance scenes. The original setting was scrapped and replaced with Spears concept.

Dick’s original idea for the wardrobe was jeans and a t-shirt, but during the wardrobe fitting Spears decided to change it for a schoolgirl outfit. Dick said that "Every piece of wardrobe in the video came from Kmart, and I was told at the time not one piece of clothing in the video cost more than $17. On that level, it's real. That probably, in retrospect, is a part of its charm." The knotted shirt design was Spears' idea, she recollects saying, "The outfits looked kind of dorky, so I was like, 'Let's tie up our shirts and be cute'". About the experience of shooting her first music video, Spears said, "It was a wonderful experience. All these people there, working for you. I had my own trailer. It was an amazing experience". The music video was shot at Venice High School, the same school used to film the movie Grease.

The video begins with Spears in a particularly boring class at a Catholic school. Her assistant Felicia Culotta played the role of Spears's teacher. When the bell rings, Spears runs out into the hall and begins a choreographed dance. After this, Spears is outside, now adorned in an athletic outfit. Along with a couple of other students, she performs a number of gymnastic moves before heading back inside. She is then sitting on the bleachers in the gymnasium watching a basketball game. Her love interest is revealed sitting close to her, played by her real-life cousin Chad. After this short segment, Spears begins her final dance routine and the video ends shortly afterwards, revealing that the whole thing had actually just been Spears's daydream.

Reception and influence

The music video for “…Baby One More Time” helped propel Spears into superstardom.The schoolgirl outfit is considered to be one of Spears' iconic looks and is on display at the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada.The ensemble caused controversy among parents associations for showing the midriff of a sixteen year old. Spears faced the criticism saying, "Me showing my belly? I'm from the South; you're stupid if you don't wear a sports bra [when you] go to dance class, you're going to be sweating your butt off."

In 1999, "...Baby One More Time" earned Spears her first three MTV Video Music Award nominations in the categories of Best Pop Video, Best New Artist and Best Female Video. In a list compiled by VH1 in 2001, it was listed at number ninety in the best videos of all time. The video was the first of fourteen of her videos to retire on MTV 's television series TRL. On its final episode, a three hour special aired on November 16, 2009, “…Baby One More Time” was number one in their final countdown as the most iconic music videos of all time and was the last video to be played on the show. On MTV Latin America the video came in at number seven of "The Most MTV-like Videos" and at number three on "The Top 100 Pop Videos" only after Madonna's "Like a Virgin" and Michael Jackson's "Billie Jean".

Wesley Yang in his essay “Inside the Box” in n+1, compared the music video to Britny Fox’s “Girlschool” because it featured “a classroom full of Catholic schoolgirls gyrating to the beat in defiance of a stern teacher. [..] But that was a sexist video by a horrible hair metal band that exploited women. Britney Spears was something else—an inflection point in the culture".

The music video is also referenced in the music video of her 2009 single, "If U Seek Amy". After she comes out of the house dressed as a housewife, her daughter is dressed with a similar schoolgirl outfit while wearing pink ribbons in her hair.

Cover versions

"…Baby One More Time" has been covered on numerous occasions. One of the earliest live covers of the song was by Scottish band Travis, recorded during one of their concerts at "The Bay Tavern" in Robin Hood's Bay, North Yorkshire, England. The song was later included in the release of their 1999 single, "Turn". Lead singer Francis Healey said, "We did it for a laugh the first time. [..] And as we played it, the irony slipped from my smile. It’s a very well-crafted song. It [has] that magic thing."The Guardian said this cover showed a new and more "dark" side of the band, commenting "slowed down to a mournful crawl, it was amazing how ominous the couplet "This loneliness is killing me / Hit me, baby, one more time" sounded". PopWreckoning.com called it "perhaps the most well done cover of Britney’s catalyst to eternal fame". Spears heard their version while shopping in a mall and said, "It was so weird. I liked it though, I thought it was cool. It was a very different vibe from what I did". On July 2005, The Dresden Dolls performed a cover during their summer concerts while opening for Panic! at the Disco. On July 18, 2006, frontman Brendon Urie joined the band to perform the song in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. PopWreckoning.com said the cover was "a strange twist to this pop ditty. It’s obviously darker and actually tortured as opposed to Britney’s school girl despair". On November 29, 2008, the same day Spears performed "Womanizer" on The X Factor, contestants JLS perfomed a cover of the song that was deemed "lame" by judge Simon Cowell. On July 13, 2009, Tori Amos covered the song live during her Sinful Attraction Tour at the Paramount Theatre in Oakland, California. On October 15, 2009, Kris Allen covered the song for the first time at a concert in Seton High School in Cincinnati, Ohio. His rendition received positive reviews.

Swedish humorist heavy metal band Black Ingvars covered the song for their 2000 album Kids Superhits.The same year, British death metal cover band Ten Masked Men included a rendition of the song on their Return of the Ten Masked Men album. A cover by Dweezil Zappa was released in the soundtrack of the 2000 film Ready to Rumble. In 2003, the song was covered by American pop punk band Bowling for Soup for the soundtrack of the remake film Freaky Friday and commented that their version was "really, really, dark and really rock, [..] not the kind of 'pop'-py stuff that we usually do." In 2005, power pop band Fountains of Wayne covered the song for their compilation album Out-of-State Plates. Robert Christgau of The Village Voice highlighted their rendition saying the song is "as redolent and fetching as any of [Fountains of Wayne]'s peaks". Japanese pop singer Shiori Takei covered the song of her 2005 album The Note of My Nineteen Years. In 2006, a lounge music style cover of the song by Trombo Combo was included on their covers album Trombo Combo: Swedish Sound Deluxe. A hi-NRG-eurodance cover by Jayne Montgomery was released through Almighty Records.

In the 2009 compilation Punk Goes Pop 2, a cover of the song by metalcore band August Burns Red was included along with a cover of ”Toxic” by A Static Lullaby. Both received generally negative reviews. Music duo Doll Factory included a cover of the song as a bonus track on later printings of their album Weightless. Singer-songwriter Christopher Dallman released an EP titled Sad Britney that includes a cover of the song along with covers of "Toxic", "Gimme More" and "Radar".

The song has also been covered by Brainshake, Intwine, Kevorkian, P.T. Grimm and the Dead Puppies, Jenny Owen Youngs, Neil Sahgal and Annie Bethancourt, among others.

In popular culture

Frequently listed in best songs listings, “…Baby One More Time” was listed at number twenty five in the greatest pop songs since 1963, in a list compiled by Rolling Stone and MTV in 2000. Blender listed it at number nine in The 500 Greatest Songs Since You Were Born. The song was also listed as the seventh best song of the nineties by VH1 and in a listing compiled in 2003, ranked at number twenty eight in 100 Best Songs of the Past 25 Years.

In April 2005, the British TV network ITV aired a short series called Hit Me Baby One More Time hosted by Vernon Kay. The show pitted one-hit wonders who generally had their moments of fame in the 1980s against each other to play their own hits and a currently popular cover song. The favorites were chosen by audience voting. The American version of the show also aired on NBC later in the year, and it was also hosted by Kay. In 2008, the South Korean girl group, Jewelry, had a hit song titled One More Time, which contains the lyrics "Baby One More Time".

An excerpt was used in 20th Century Fox's CGI-animated comedy film Robots, but was not included on the soundtrack album. The song was featured in Britney Spears' video game Britney Dance Beats. A cover of the song was used for the video game Karaoke Revolution Volume 2. The song was covered in the game Karaoke Revolution Presents: American Idol Encore as downloadable content. The song was also used as part of the plot for an episode of the Canadian television drama series Being Erica.

Formats and track listings

These are the formats and track listings of major single releases of "…Baby One More Time".

Australian CD Single (1835)

1. "…Baby One More Time" — 3:30
2. "…Baby One More Time" [Instrumental] — 3:30
3. "Autumn Goodbye" 3:41
4. "…Baby One More Time" [Davidson Ospina Club Mix] — 5:40
5. Enhanced with "…Baby One More Time" Video

Europe 2-Track CD (0581692)

1. "…Baby One More Time" — 3:30
2. "…Baby One More Time" [Instrumental] — 3:30

UK CD #1/Maxi-Single (52169)

1. "…Baby One More Time" — 3:30
2. "…Baby One More Time" [Sharp Platinum Vocal Remix] — 8:11
3. "…Baby One More Time" [Davidson Ospina Club Mix] — 5:40

UK Limited Edition CD #2 (52275)

1. "…Baby One More Time" — 3:30
2. "…Baby One More Time" [Instrumental] — 3:30
3. "Autumn Goodbye" — 3:41

French CD Single / The Singles Collection Box Single

1. "…Baby One More Time" — 3:30
2. "Autumn Goodbye" — 3:41

U.S. CD Single (42545)

1. "…Baby One More Time" — 3:30
2. "Autumn Goodbye" — 3:41
3. Enhanced with "…Baby One More Time" Video

U.S. 12" Vinyl (42535)

• Side A:

1. "…Baby One More Time" [Davidson Ospina Club Mix] — 5:40
2. "…Baby One More Time" [Davidson Ospina Chronicles Dub] — 6:30
3. "…Baby One More Time — 3:30

• Side B:

1. "…Baby One More Time" [Sharp Platinum Vocal Remix] — 8:11
2. "…Baby One More Time" [Sharp Trade Dub] — 6:50

Charts

Weekly charts

Chart (1998/1999)	Peak Position
Canadian Singles Chart	1
U.S. Billboard Hot 100	1
U.S. Billboard Top 40 Mainstream	1
Australian ARIA Singles Chart	1
Austrian Singles Chart	1
Belgian Flemish Singles Chart	1
Belgian Walloon Singles Chart	1
Dutch Singles Chart	1
European Hot 100 Singles	1
Finnish Singles Chart	1
French SNEP Singles Chart	1
German Singles Chart	1
Irish Singles Chart	1
New Zealand Singles Chart	1
Norwegian Singles Chart	1
Swedish Singles Chart	1
Swiss Singles Chart	1
UK Singles Chart	1
Austrian Singles Chart	1

Annual charts

Country	Position
Australia	2
Austria	3
Belgium	1
Europe	3
Germany	3
Switzerland	3
United Kingdom	1
United States	5

All-time charts

Country	Position
United Kingdom	25
The Netherlands	91

Certifications

Country	Certifier	Certification	Sales or shipments
Australia	ARIA	3× Platinum	210,000
Austria	IFPI	Platinum	300,000
France	SNEP	Platinum	500,000
Germany	IFPI	3× Gold	750,000
Netherlands	NVPI	Platinum	60,000
New Zealand	RIANZ	Platinum	15,000
Norway	IFPI	2× Platinum	20,000
Sweden	IFPI	Platinum	600,000
Switzerland	IFPI	Platinum	500,000
United Kingdom	BPI	2× Platinum	1,450,000
United States	RIAA	Platinum	1,000,000

Release history

Country	Record label	Release format	Catalog no.	Release date
United States	Jive Records	Radio		October 23, 1998
United States	Jive Records	CD Single	42545	November 3, 1998
United States	Jive Records	Cassette Single	42545	November 3, 1998
United States	Jive Records	12" Vinyl	42535	November 3, 1998
United Kingdom	Jive Records	CD Single	52169	February 15, 1999
United Kingdom	BMG International	CD Single Limited Edition	52275	February 15, 1999

References

External links

• Britney Spears — official website
• Britney Spears — official website at Jive Records