advertisement
Music News

Max Martin Salutes 25 Years of Britney Spears’ ‘…Baby One Time’: ‘It Changed the Landscape of Pop Music’

The Swedish producer called the track, and Spears' delivery of it, "pure pop heaven."

Britney Spears and Max Martin attend Pre-GRAMMY Gala and Salute to Industry Icons Honoring Debra Lee at The Beverly Hilton on Feb. 11, 2017 in Los Angeles.

Britney Spears and Max Martin attend Pre-GRAMMY Gala and Salute to Industry Icons Honoring Debra Lee at The Beverly Hilton on Feb. 11, 2017 in Los Angeles.

Lester Cohen/WireImage

As Britney Spears gears up for the release of her debut memoir The Woman in Me, her breakthrough hit, “…Baby One More Time,” just hit a major milestone. The track turned 25 on Monday (Oct. 23) and was celebrated on Instagram by its producer, Max Martin, who shared how it changed the trajectory of both his and Spears’ career, as well as pop music as a whole.

“On October 23, 1998, @britneyspears released her debut single ‘…Baby One More Time’ in the U.S.A, the pop classic that became No 1 in every country where it was released, and that launched Britney’s career as an international pop icon,” Martin wrote, captioning a series of images from Spears’ debut era.


advertisement

He continued, “After exactly 25 years to the day, so much has been said about this masterpiece of a song — the artists who could have recorded it, its controversial lyrics, its iconic music video, the record-breaking sales figures, how much it has changed the landscape of pop music and defined a new era, and so on. So this time, I wanted to celebrate ‘…Baby One More Time’ for what it is, that is a pure piece of art and 3:30 minutes of sonic bliss.”

As evidenced by the song’s two weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100, the Swedish record producer added that “‘Baby’ is one of these songs that you just can’t ignore, whether you are a pop music lover or not,” and proceeded to give an eight-part review of the song as if he listened to it for the first time. In his review, the hitmaker gushed over the song’s sad undertones and delighted over its little moments, like Spears’ vocal runs at 0:27 (“Go oh oh-oOoOh”), and said it was “a reminder so much fun is around the corner even if the lyrics seem sad at first listen.” Of the then-budding star’s “cooing,” Martin called Spears’ inflections “pure pop heaven.”

advertisement

“…Baby One More Time,” as Martin noted, singlehandedly launched Spears’ career as a pop star. Propelled in part by the success of its single of the same name, the …Baby One More Time album enjoyed six weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 and spent nearly two years (103 weeks) on the chart.

See Martin reflect on “…Baby One More Time” and give his review of the track below.

This article was originally posted by Billboard U.S.

advertisement
Major Music Streaming Companies Push Back Against Canadian Content Payments: Inside Canada's 'Streaming Tax' Battle
Photo by Lee Campbell on Unsplash
Streaming

Inside Canada's 'Streaming Tax' Battle

Spotify, Apple, Amazon and others are challenging the CRTC's mandated fee payments to Canadian content funds like FACTOR and the Indigenous Music Office, both in courts and in the court of public opinion. Here's what's at stake.

Some of the biggest streaming services in music are banding together to fight against a major piece of Canadian arts legislation – in court and in the court of public opinion.

Spotify, Apple, Amazon and others are taking action against the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC)’s 2024 decision that major foreign-owned streamers with Canadian revenues over $25 million will have to pay 5% of those revenues into Canadian content funds – what the streamers have termed a “Streaming Tax.”

keep readingShow less
advertisement