This Day in Pop: Britney Spears' '...Baby One More Time' album is released in 1999 (January 12)

[PokemonSpears]

 

 

On January 12, 1999, Britney Spears released her debut album …Baby One More Time. Recorded from 1997 to 1998, the album which is credited as the revival of post-millennium teen pop, counted with the production of Max Martin, Eric Foster White, Per Magnusson,  Jörgen Elofsson, David Kreuger, Kristian Lundin and Rami Yacoub. These producers were also the songwriters of most of the tracks, with additional collaborators such as Andreas Carlsson and Mikey Bassie, the latter of which co-wrote Soda Pop where he also made some vocal appearances, though he wasn’t credited as a featured artist. That wasn’t the case for Don Philip, who does appear credited in the only true duet of the album, I Will Still Love You.

 

 The All Seeing I were commissioned to produce a cover of Sonny & Cher’s 1967 song The Beat Goes On, wrote by Sonny Bono. Another cover was I’ll Never Stop Loving You, originally released by J’Son in 1996, and it was included in some of the international versions, as well as a B-side of (You Drive Me) Crazy single. The only song co-wrote by Britney herself was I’m So Curious, the B-side of Sometimes single, which only appeared in a bonus disc of the Korean edition of the album.

After Jive Records signed her in 1997, she was appointed to work with Eric Foster White with whom she recorded 13 songs, including the unreleased tracks Luv the Hurt Away, Let Me Take You There, Nothing Less Than Real and Wishing on a Falling Star. Another song that came from those session was You Got It All, a cover from The Jets which would be included on her second studio album, Oops!... I Did It Again (2000).

After recording this material, Jive ordered a full album, and in 1998 she was sent to Sweden to work with Max Martin, Rami Yacoub and Denniz Pop (who would pass away a few months later). Max Martin would show Britney and her team a song that was originally intended for TLC but they rejected, “Hit Me Baby One More Time”. Britney and the label thought they had found a smash hit there, though it was precisely the word “Hit” in the title that made some of the executives at Jive a bit concerned due to the violent connotation it could have given a misinterpretation of the phrase. The song was retitled as …Baby One More Time, and it became Britney’s debut single, and would also become the title of the album.

 

According to Britney in an interview for Billboard:

Quote

"I had been in the studio for about six months listening and recording material, but I hadn't really heard a hit yet. When I started working with Max Martin in Sweden, he played the demo for 'Baby One More Time' for me, and I knew from the start it one was [sic] of those songs you want to hear again and again. It just felt really right. I went into the studio and did my own thing with it, trying to give it a little more attitude than the demo. In 10 days, I never even saw Sweden. We were so busy."

 

 

The album is mostly Teen Pop with a bit of Dance influences. It includes mid-tempos, ballads and some up-tempos too, and the lyrics focus mostly on teenage love, infatuation and heartbreaks. In an interview for Rolling Stone, Britney revealed the album wasn’t quite the genre she had envisioned:

Quote

She had vaguely imagined herself singing “Sheryl Crow music, but younger — more adult contemporary,” she says. Spears, however, is happy that she went along with Jive’s choice of high-gloss producers and writers. “It made more sense to go pop, because I can dance to it — it’s more me.”

 

After the album was finished in June, she started to promote the album with her L’Oreal Hair Zone Mall Tour where she performed six of the tracks. She would also become the opening act of the second leg of NSYNC in Concert tour later in the year.

It wasn’t until June 1999 that she embarked on her very own tour …Baby One More Time Tour, followed by the (You Drive Me) Crazy Tour (also known as Crazy 2k Tour) in 2000, which would also serve as a prelude to her second record and upcoming world tour.

 

Five singles were released in total to promote the record: …Baby One More Time, Sometimes, (You Drive Me) Crazy, Born to Make You Happy and From the Bottom of My Broken Heart.

 

 

…Baby One More Time is Britney’s best-selling album to date, and one of the best-selling albums of all time with more than 25 million copies sold worldwide. It debuted at #1 on the US Billboard 200 with first-week sales of 121,000 copies, though the fifth week would be the best selling one, with 229,000 copies sold. The same week the album topped the Billboard 200, the single …Baby One More Time also reached the #1 on the Billboard Hot 100. Britney Spears became the first new female artist to have a #1 single on the BBH100 and #1 album on the BB200 charts at the same time, also the first new female artist to achieve this with her very first single and first album, and the first new artist in general to go to the number one spot the same week that the album debuted at number one.

 

 

In its first two months of being released in the US, it had already sold 1.8 million copies. Before a year had passed, the album was certified diamond by the RIAA, making Britney the youngest artist to receive this award. She also became the best-selling female artist of 1999 and the second overall, only behind the Backstreet Boys’ Millennium.

…Baby One More Time spent a total of 103 weeks on the Billboard 200 chart, and to this day it’s been certified 14x diamond for over 14 million copies sold in the United States. The album was Top 5 in almost every country it charted, with its lowest position being on the Finnish Albums chart at #11. 

 

The album won Female Album Artist of the Year at the Billboard Music Awards 1999, Choice Album at the Teenage Choice Awards and it entered the Guinness World Records in 2000 for Best Selling Album in the US by a Female Artist and in 2003 as the Best-Selling Album by a Teenage Solo Artist. In 2016 it was ranked   41^st on the Billboard Top 200 Albums of All Time.

On December 25, 2007, the album was released digitally in the United States and in 2017 it was released on vinyl for the first time through Urban Outfitters.

 

[PokemonSpears]

 

 

 

[Stannedforever]

Flawless, legendary album is flawless, but I kinda wish they used this photoshoot on all releases instead of just the international version 

Spoiler

[InZone]

And the world was never the same. 

[S0ggyBiscuit]

Flop fan confession: I never listened to this or b3 and b4 in its entirety!

 

 

Btw who blocked her from #1 in the UK?

[Blackout2006]

And thus, a pop princess was born

I own the picture disc of this album on vinyl and it feels so great, owning such a classic in my vinyl collection

Spoiler

Spoiler

But not gonna lie, i would anyday switch the BOMT picture disc for the OIDIA and Britney vinyl

 

 

[Blackout2006]

1 hour ago, PokemonSpears said:

25 million copies sold worldwide.

30.6 million

[Stefani]

9 minutes ago, S0ggyBiscuit said:

Flop fan confession: I never listened to this or b3 and b4 in its entirety!

 

OT: Epic and iconic. This album single-handedly changed my sexual orientation.

 

[Stannedforever]

14 minutes ago, S0ggyBiscuit said:

Btw who blocked her from #1 in the UK?

It was "The Man Who" by Travis 

Edited January 12, 2021 by Stannedforever
corrected the answer

[rennen]

48 minutes ago, S0ggyBiscuit said:

Flop fan confession: I never listened to this or b3 and b4 in its entirety!

 

 

Btw who blocked her from #1 in the UK?

I've never listened to BOMT in its entirety either. But not listening to Britney and ITZ? There's no excuse. 

 

38 minutes ago, Stannedforever said:

It was "The Man Who" by Travis 

I bought this album instead of BOMT. Or rather I had my parents buy it. 

[Greek_Fan]

When i first heard the song "..Baby" i was an instant fan of an unknown by then girl. I still remember the exact time of me listening to it on MTV Europe. The next day I bought the album and till now i am a proud and eternal fan of the one only BRITNEY SPEARS!

Thank you Britney for all the songs and moments all these past 22 years... I will always love and support you!

[JackSProductions]

Happy 22nd birthday ...Baby One More Time. One of the most important albums to me ever!! 

[ColdAsFire88]

I was in the 4th grade when BOMT came out and I remember waking up and seeing the video on MTV before I’d go to school. I’d always think is that how highschool is gonna be? 

Obviously I was an instant fan. I remember BOMT lasting a long time (i think 8-10 months) before sometimes came out and then everyone said she got **** implants...I didn’t know fake b00bs existed until then.

I was super stoked once Crazy came out as a single and I was obsessed with the video (still am) and I went to go see the movie You Drive Me Crazy w/Melissa Joan Hart (Sabrina The Teenage Witch). I was anticipating to see Britney in the film but was let down 

I was surprised that Christmas with tickets to go see Britney in the spring of 2000 (Crazy 2K) we were one of the last shows on the tour (Charleston WV) and she performed/premiered  Oops (it hadn’t been released yet) and I wanted the cassette SO BAD but it wasn’t an official single yet  

From that moment on I declared Britney Spears my Queen 

[RadicalOptimism]

6 hours ago, S0ggyBiscuit said:

Flop fan confession: I never listened to this or b3 and b4 in its entirety!

 

 

Btw who blocked her from #1 in the UK?

 

5 hours ago, MM0219 said:

I've never listened to BOMT in its entirety either. But not listening to Britney and ITZ? There's no excuse. 

 

I bought this album instead of BOMT. Or rather I had my parents buy it. 

[Jordan Miller]

Thank you for putting this together @PokemonSpears. Truly a HERSTORIC day  I remember buying this album at Border's at just 10 years old  What a journey

[limezd]

9 hours ago, PokemonSpears said:

 

 

On January 12, 1999, Britney Spears released her debut album …Baby One More Time. Recorded from 1997 to 1998, the album which is credited as the revival of post-millennium teen pop, counted with the production of Max Martin, Eric Foster White, Per Magnusson,  Jörgen Elofsson, David Kreuger, Kristian Lundin and Rami Yacoub. These producers were also the songwriters of most of the tracks, with additional collaborators such as Andreas Carlsson and Mikey Bassie, the latter of which co-wrote Soda Pop where he also made some vocal appearances, though he wasn’t credited as a featured artist. That wasn’t the case for Don Philip, who does appear credited in the only true duet of the album, I Will Still Love You.

 

 The All Seeing I were commissioned to produce a cover of Sonny & Cher’s 1967 song The Beat Goes On, wrote by Sonny Bono. Another cover was I’ll Never Stop Loving You, originally released by J’Son in 1996, and it was included in some of the international versions, as well as a B-side of (You Drive Me) Crazy single. The only song co-wrote by Britney herself was I’m So Curious, the B-side of Sometimes single, which only appeared in a bonus disc of the Korean edition of the album.

After Jive Records signed her in 1997, she was appointed to work with Eric Foster White with whom she recorded 13 songs, including the unreleased tracks Luv the Hurt Away, Let Me Take You There, Nothing Less Than Real and Wishing on a Falling Star. Another song that came from those session was You Got It All, a cover from The Jets which would be included on her second studio album, Oops!... I Did It Again (2000).

After recording this material, Jive ordered a full album, and in 1998 she was sent to Sweden to work with Max Martin, Rami Yacoub and Denniz Pop (who would pass away a few months later). Max Martin would show Britney and her team a song that was originally intended for TLC but they rejected, “Hit Me Baby One More Time”. Britney and the label thought they had found a smash hit there, though it was precisely the word “Hit” in the title that made some of the executives at Jive a bit concerned due to the violent connotation it could have given a misinterpretation of the phrase. The song was retitled as …Baby One More Time, and it became Britney’s debut single, and would also become the title of the album.

 

According to Britney in an interview for Billboard:

 

 

The album is mostly Teen Pop with a bit of Dance influences. It includes mid-tempos, ballads and some up-tempos too, and the lyrics focus mostly on teenage love, infatuation and heartbreaks. In an interview for Rolling Stone, Britney revealed the album wasn’t quite the genre she had envisioned:

 

After the album was finished in June, she started to promote the album with her L’Oreal Hair Zone Mall Tour where she performed six of the tracks. She would also become the opening act of the second leg of NSYNC in Concert tour later in the year.

It wasn’t until June 1999 that she embarked on her very own tour …Baby One More Time Tour, followed by the (You Drive Me) Crazy Tour (also known as Crazy 2k Tour) in 2000, which would also serve as a prelude to her second record and upcoming world tour.

 

Five singles were released in total to promote the record: …Baby One More Time, Sometimes, (You Drive Me) Crazy, Born to Make You Happy and From the Bottom of My Broken Heart.

 

 

…Baby One More Time is Britney’s best-selling album to date, and one of the best-selling albums of all time with more than 25 million copies sold worldwide. It debuted at #1 on the US Billboard 200 with first-week sales of 121,000 copies, though the fifth week would be the best selling one, with 229,000 copies sold. The same week the album topped the Billboard 200, the single …Baby One More Time also reached the #1 on the Billboard Hot 100. Britney Spears became the first new female artist to have a #1 single on the BBH100 and #1 album on the BB200 charts at the same time, also the first new female artist to achieve this with her very first single and first album, and the first new artist in general to go to the number one spot the same week that the album debuted at number one.

 

 

In its first two months of being released in the US, it had already sold 1.8 million copies. Before a year had passed, the album was certified diamond by the RIAA, making Britney the youngest artist to receive this award. She also became the best-selling female artist of 1999 and the second overall, only behind the Backstreet Boys’ Millennium.

…Baby One More Time spent a total of 103 weeks on the Billboard 200 chart, and to this day it’s been certified 14x diamond for over 14 million copies sold in the United States. The album was Top 5 in almost every country it charted, with its lowest position being on the Finnish Albums chart at #11. 

 

The album won Female Album Artist of the Year at the Billboard Music Awards 1999, Choice Album at the Teenage Choice Awards and it entered the Guinness World Records in 2000 for Best Selling Album in the US by a Female Artist and in 2003 as the Best-Selling Album by a Teenage Solo Artist. In 2016 it was ranked   41^st on the Billboard Top 200 Albums of All Time.

On December 25, 2007, the album was released digitally in the United States and in 2017 it was released on vinyl for the first time through Urban Outfitters.

 

Iconic album. Few things I had on my mind. I’m not really familiar with the release dates for Britney’s albums, but I’m surprised this album and most of her other albums were not released during Super Tuesdays. Her sales would have been even more massive. 
 

the cover for the album is very ***ual in my opinion with a shot of the camera looking down on an innocent looking teenage girl while she’s on her knees infront of you, looking up at you. She’s assumed the position and ready to get to work. That always bothered me. 

[joe sp]

The legend was born

[Jordan Miller]

[PokemonSpears]

Remembering when Eric Foster White regretted writing E-Mail My Heart

Quote

Slate: How did you wind up writing songs?

Eric Foster White: No pure songwriter remembers the answer to that one ;) All the ones who did it for the $ do.

 

What was the original idea behind “E-Mail My Heart”?

As a concept, the song was meant to be an update to a succession of songs (“Please Mr. Postman,” “Dial My Heart”) that tied popular forms of communication with a love interest. Anything “not done before” is almost automatically a hit candidate. Of course, most of them are not hits. And now we are drowning in hundreds of songs about texting and social media.

 

Do you remember how long it took you to write?

About an hour at the piano, once the concept was there. Lyric outline on a bike ride.

 

How did the song wind up on Britney Spears’ album?

I was the “anchor producer” on her debut album. I developed her signature vocal sound. I wrote and produced what became about half of the album while she was still signed to a development deal at Jive.

 

Did anyone then have a sense of what a success Britney would eventually become?

Yes. She had a very strong drive and a lot of charisma. She worked harder in the studio than any other artist I had worked with prior.

 

What was your opinion of Britney and that era of bubblegum pop at the time? What do you think now?

Pop music for young audiences always comes back around. Always, no matter what. Britney/Backstreet was five to six years after the total dominance of grunge. Today’s dominant music is rap, and a lot of it is mind-blowingly great. It will look different next cycle, but pop will swing back around. There will always be another teen idol, but Britney was very special. There will probably not be another Britney.

 

Do you remember anything else about “E-Mail My Heart” from the time?

We did a comic parody of it, privately, to spite one of her handlers. It never saw the light of day, never will ;) Not sure I can even find it.

 

What was the reaction to the song like when it first came out?

As an album track and not a single, it didn’t really “come out.” I hoped no one would notice it, haha.

 

You mentioned that this isn’t one of the songs you’re particularly proud of—

I had a No. 1–selling single on the album, “From the Bottom of My Broken Heart,” which was also a ballad but a far better song and production.

 

If you could change anything about “E-Mail My Heart,” what would it be?

Not write it?

 

Did you ever hear it performed live or encounter it on the radio?

Thankfully, no.

 

Do you still earn any royalties from the song?

The gift that keeps on giving.

 

If you were writing a song about technology today, what would you focus on?

Everyone else has beat me to it.

 

What are your favorites of the songs you’ve written?

Best question. Every songwriter has a file of songs that never found their way to the public. Sometimes their personal favorite is in there. My favorite is somewhere in that file.

 

[Midnight]

Iconic pop album, can't wait for the release of the funko pop album cover this year.

Fave songs are "I Will Be There" and "Born To Make You Happy".

I always preferred the blue cd best. I have one brand new sealed copy as well.