Katy Perry says "Passenger" on Britney Jean is her favorite song that she gave away

[princessmimi]

The song is good however it would've been better if Britney actually sang it.

I do however prefer Katy's version over Britney's.

[Adan695]

One of the most beautiful intros to a song. Wish Britney would re-record it 

[Sia]

Unpopular opinion but it's one off my faves actually. I love the message and it's an interesting and well written song. I do prefer Katy's version though. Like many other tracks on BJ, the vocal production is horrendous.

[Puppy]

1 hour ago, SlayOut said:

 

Me during quarantine

I honestly thought she was singing about being free and single and not needing a man to live her life. I was like you go girl 

[YannFrance]

But that song sucks. Katy you could have kept it for yourself, really.

[Blackout2006]

I cannot stand this hate for Slayssenger z

[Blackout2006]

i think yall need earbuds  

 

[10pm24]

With all the people saying “just one red carpet joke”, do I have to remind y’all that she also belittled Britney’s artistry and made other comments throughout the years.  I believe we even had a thread about it but guess y’all are going with Britney’s “no memory baby” way of secret to happiness  

[Exaholic]

On 7/15/2020 at 5:19 PM, ILikeChillinWithYou said:

Wow so they just basically erased her from the song 

No vocals, no writing credits. Nothing.

[Alexa James]

On 7/15/2020 at 11:55 AM, PokemonSpears said:

Britney showed in several instances that she liked the song when she talked about it during interviews and during I am Britney Jean when she said she wanted to include it on the setlist. So yeah, it's too conspiracy.

And for those doubting Britney's writing credits, those small changes on the lyrics between Katy's version and Britney's, are enough to give someone the credit, even if she didn't write the whole song, which was never claimed.

Britney’s (and Myah’s) version is almost identical to the demo tracks recorded by Katy Perry and Sia. The lyrics are all the same. Perhaps, Britney wrote lyrics during the early stages of the album’s production but they were scrapped and the Sia/Perry version was used. 
 

Its strange that she would select this song because she has always been a passenger throughout her life and has never really had control over anything. Britney has been controlled by her family and the men that she has been involved with-Justin Timberlake is notorious for being a control freak. She hasn’t had any agency over her career with the exception of the In the Zone and Blackout eras. Her conservatorship has complete control over her finances and many aspects of her personal life. 

It’s hard to imagine Britney being able to write lyrics for Passenger because she cannot relate to the subject matter and the theme of surrendering control through unconditional trust and love. Sadly, she has never been “in good hands.”

It seems that she did attempt to record the whole song but most likely could not hit the high notes in the chorus. Therefore, they ended up using Myah Marie and blended her voice with autotune. 

 

 

[PokemonSpears]

12 minutes ago, Alexa James said:

Britney’s (and Myah’s) version is almost identical to the demo tracks recorded by Katy Perry and Sia. The lyrics are all the same. Perhaps, Britney wrote lyrics during the early stages of the album’s production but they were scrapped and the Sia/Perry version was used. 
 

Its strange that she would select this song because she has always been a passenger throughout her life and has never really had control over anything. Britney has been controlled by her family and the men that she has been involved with-Justin Timberlake is notorious for being a control freak. She hasn’t had any agency over her career with the exception of the In the Zone and Blackout eras. Her conservatorship has complete control over her finances and many aspects of her personal life. 

It’s hard to imagine Britney being able to write lyrics for Passenger because she cannot relate to the subject matter and the theme of surrendering control through unconditional trust and love. Sadly, she has never been “in good hands.”

It seems that she did attempt to record the whole song but most likely could not hit the high notes in the chorus. Therefore, they ended up using Myah Marie and blended her voice with autotune. 

 

 

almost identical, almost being the key. As small as the changes are, they're enough to credit someone. People get credited even if it's just because they were present in the room when a song was written, so changing a few words or syllables is enough to earn a credit.

You deciding Britney can't relate to the lyrics because that's your perception, isn't enough to rule out the possibility that Britney really liked the song and really felt some connection to some of her past relationships. The song isn't about conservatorships or careers.

For a song she supposedly had no participation or knowledge about according to "fans", she seems to answer pretty quickly and confidently when asked about it:

 

I don't doubt the song was originally crafted months before, when Katy was recording Prism, in fact, that must've been the case for almost every song she recorded, since she wasn't in the studio with the songwriters making the songs. will.i.am explained many times the process of recording, they had these talks for months, and then he was in charge to get songs from all kinds of producers and songwriters and pick the ones that he thought would fit whatever direction he decided the album had to have, according to these famous talks with Britney. She would then work on these, even if it meant just changing a few words. I suppose at some point she had a session with Sia, when they made Perfume and BMS, and I guess this is where she got to hear the other songs, such as Passenger, or Chandelier:

 

[MeAgainstTheMusic_]

Passenger is a great song which could have been made better by Britney actually singing the full thing. 

Like most songs on BJ - they weren’t awful they just had bad production and Myah singing on them...

[NotBuyingIt]

2 hours ago, Alexa James said:

Britney’s (and Myah’s) version is almost identical to the demo tracks recorded by Katy Perry and Sia. The lyrics are all the same. Perhaps, Britney wrote lyrics during the early stages of the album’s production but they were scrapped and the Sia/Perry version was used. 
 

Its strange that she would select this song because she has always been a passenger throughout her life and has never really had control over anything. Britney has been controlled by her family and the men that she has been involved with-Justin Timberlake is notorious for being a control freak. She hasn’t had any agency over her career with the exception of the In the Zone and Blackout eras. Her conservatorship has complete control over her finances and many aspects of her personal life. 

It’s hard to imagine Britney being able to write lyrics for Passenger because she cannot relate to the subject matter and the theme of surrendering control through unconditional trust and love. Sadly, she has never been “in good hands.”

It seems that she did attempt to record the whole song but most likely could not hit the high notes in the chorus. Therefore, they ended up using Myah Marie and blended her voice with autotune. 

 

 

I agree with you, but one note: Britney is an enigma. She once said in the mid to late 2000s that she's always been "the guy" in every relationship. She also proposed to Kevin first, admitted on Ellen she gets mad when guys don't text or call her back within an hour, etc.

It's like how she said during Piece of Me in 2016 that she's a "Southern girl" who "keeps it real," but she's also shy as **** and the truth is that she can't keep it 100% real due to the restraints she's under.

It's such a puzzle. But I'm not disagreeing with you - I just think her situation is SO strange.

[Alexa James]

On 5/28/2021 at 9:19 PM, MeAgainstTheMusic_ said:

Passenger is a great song which could have been made better by Britney actually singing the full thing. 

Like most songs on BJ - they weren’t awful they just had bad production and Myah singing on them...

From what it appears, Sia’s songs are very difficult to sing. She tends to sing both high and low notes in the same song. Not many artists can simultaneously do both (e.g. Rihanna). If you listen to Perry’s version, she actually sings the song in a lower register and does not attempt to reach the higher notes (my co-pilot yeah that’s right now I can  enjoy the riiiiiide). She sings those in the same range. The stems of Britney singing that part leaked online shortly before the release of BJ. She does not attempt to reach that note and retains her naturally deep voice in the raw vocals. Therefore, it appears that Spears did actually perform all the vocals in the beginning. Her version was most likely similar to Katy Perry’s.

However, it seems like the producers wanted the final version of the track to resemble Sia’s demo. Obviously, songs tend to sound better when the original songwriter performs them. Britney could not hit those high notes in a way that resembled Sia so they had Myah record the chorus and bridge and autotune it to be higher like Sia. People were saying that Myah should not have gone off like that with those high notes but I’m guessing she was told to resemble Sia.

I agree. It would have been a better song if Britney recorded it with her natural voice like she did with Perfume. I think artists should be able to take a song from someone else and make it their own rather than trying to mimic the songwriter. 
 

 

 

[Alexa James]

On 5/28/2021 at 8:43 PM, PokemonSpears said:

almost identical, almost being the key. As small as the changes are, they're enough to credit someone. People get credited even if it's just because they were present in the room when a song was written, so changing a few words or syllables is enough to earn a credit.

You deciding Britney can't relate to the lyrics because that's your perception, isn't enough to rule out the possibility that Britney really liked the song and really felt some connection to some of her past relationships. The song isn't about conservatorships or careers.

For a song she supposedly had no participation or knowledge about according to "fans", she seems to answer pretty quickly and confidently when asked about it:

 

I don't doubt the song was originally crafted months before, when Katy was recording Prism, in fact, that must've been the case for almost every song she recorded, since she wasn't in the studio with the songwriters making the songs. will.i.am explained many times the process of recording, they had these talks for months, and then he was in charge to get songs from all kinds of producers and songwriters and pick the ones that he thought would fit whatever direction he decided the album had to have, according to these famous talks with Britney. She would then work on these, even if it meant just changing a few words. I suppose at some point she had a session with Sia, when they made Perfume and BMS, and I guess this is where she got to hear the other songs, such as Passenger, or Chandelier:

 

Well...the lyrics in both versions are identical. You can tell that there are subtle differences but it’s hard to decipher  without a deep dive. I believe that Spears probably added lyrics that were scrapped in the final version. Since she was so involved, she received songwriting credit. Although being billed first before Sia and Katy Perry is a bit odd. 
 

As for the subject matter, Britney doesn’t seem to relate to it at all. If you listen to Perry’s version, you can sense the emotional connection that she has to the lyrics and theme of surrendering control. You can tell that control has been a significant issue for Perry and that giving that up had been a barrier towards establishing healthy relationships with men. I don’t sense that in Spears version. I believe that she would have liked to have more control over her relationship but the type of men that she gravitates towards have been control freaks. She might not truly understand what it’s like to take the lead and NOT be a passenger. If anything, she could have selected a song about being the passenger and that it is OK to be in the driver’s seat. There are many songs that touch on that theme and she could have totally collaborated with some writers and created one that captures her reality.
 

I personally don’t believe that Passenger is a good fit for Spears because of her personal life and total lack of control that she has had. It would have been empowering for her to create a song that captures her strength despite being a passenger and her desire to take back control. 

[Alexa James]

On 5/28/2021 at 10:17 PM, NotBuyingIt said:

I agree with you, but one note: Britney is an enigma. She once said in the mid to late 2000s that she's always been "the guy" in every relationship. She also proposed to Kevin first, admitted on Ellen she gets mad when guys don't text or call her back within an hour, etc.

It's like how she said during Piece of Me in 2016 that she's a "Southern girl" who "keeps it real," but she's also shy as **** and the truth is that she can't keep it 100% real due to the restraints she's under.

It's such a puzzle. But I'm not disagreeing with you - I just think her situation is SO strange.

Well, Britney is very anxious in her relationships. Songs like Perfume are great examples of the insecurities that she experiences in intimate relationships and the fear of losing a man. I think people like her tend to draw in independent and possibly controlling men, who enjoy their freedom. Such men will never let anyone else take the wheels and people like Britney are always confined to the passenger seat.

[studlygeorge]

This is such a weird song. It has all of the pieces of a song I would like but when I hear the finished product.....yikes. I feel the same way about Katy’s demo. It just sounds so clunky and strange. I love the intro, I absolutely adore the lyrics, and I think the melodies are interesting and cool but they just don’t sound good in the final product. 
 

supposedly Britney wanted to do this song for Domination but as a re-recorded version. She apparently loved the song and even wanted it in POM (I’m pretty sure she requested it in IABJ and stated multiple times she liked it). Idk. Maybe if I heard it re-recorded it would work better. But it just sounds so clunky and weird. I can’t even vibe with Katy’s version or Sia’s. The vocals in Britney’s sound so rough. I like the part acoustic version where it’s Britney’s interpretation of the high note (it’s more of this pretty falsetto note that she does), but the rest of the song still sounds so weird. 

[DuranDuran]

1 hour ago, studlygeorge said:

She apparently loved the song and even wanted it in POM (I’m pretty sure she requested it in IABJ and stated multiple times she liked it).

If my memory serves me correctly, it was about "Alien", not "Passenger".

Britney liked "Alien", and wanted it to be in POM, but her team kinda gaslighted her about it.

Edit:

I think my memory didn't serve me correctly this time. My two different recollections mixed into one.

[studlygeorge]

10 hours ago, DuranDuran said:

If my memory serves me correctly, it was about "Alien", not "Passenger".

Britney liked "Alien", and wanted it to be in POM, but her team kinda gaslighted her about it.

Edit:

I think my memory didn't serve me correctly this time. My two different recollections mixed into one.

It was during the filming for the I Wanna Go backdrops when she asked Larry if Alien could be single #3. But when they were picking out the set list Britney couldn’t remember the name of Passenger but she wanted to add it. She goes “oh shoot...brain fart....” and Larry how’s “Passenger?” And she says “yes!” And he laughs and says “idk why but when you said fart I knew which song you were talking about” 

[DearBritney00]

Truly the worst on Britney Jean.