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The untold story of how Britney wrote "Everytime" with her background singer


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That is a sad story.  Unfortunately, this is such a common story for almost any songwriter. Brian Wilson of the Beach Boys was sued by fellow band member Mike Love to have his name added as a writer to several of their hits that were previously only credited to Brian.  The band Badfinger who wrote "Without You" (Mariah did a very famous version of this song) had a very tragic storyline that is traced back to conflict over the writing credits of their very successful and lucrative song. Lauryn Hill was sued by some of the musicians who worked on Miseducation of Lauryn Hill claiming that they made uncredited contributions.

The odd thing about this story is that most of the stories I can think of involve the writing credits themselves, but Artani's name has been attached to the song since it was first released on In the Zone (in the liner notes, it's credited to Britney and Artani under her given name Stamatelatos).  So whatever the disagreements were in the leadup, the ultimate decision was made to put her name on the song.

I know we'll never know (and the odds of Britney addressing this are next to none), but I am curious what the writing process was like with the two of them.  I've always known she co-wrote this with one of her backup singers, but most of the evidence we've seen is that Britney really led the charge here.  The original handwritten lyrics (in Britney's writing) were recently auctioned off: https://www.gottahaverockandroll.com/britney_spears_handwritten__everytime__lyrics-lot26813.aspx

And this short clip from her ABC In the Zone special would indicate that she came up with the prominent piano riff and melody.  And we know from her TRL interview with Quddus (linked above) that she regularly composed these piano riffs, so it seems unlikely that someone else wrote the Everytime melody and she just mastered it on the piano for future interviews...  But again - we'll probably never know all the details on how this went down.

 

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Ew I don't like this girl now...

we don't have to believe every "behind the scenes" story from every mother f*ucker that comes outta the woodwork. She could be fibbing a little bit to get her share of the attention. 

I believe that Britney composed the melody for this song, they co-wrote the lyrics and maybe arranged it together. 

she seems a little passive aggressive like I could talk s*hit about Britney but I won't...but then still manages to talk a little s*hit about her.

Not very classy....

:tina_judging_side_eye_glance_staring_looking_red:

 

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11 hours ago, zxcvb said:

I think this is the clip you're referring to:

(1:50)

 

Agreed.

Britney Spears composed 'Everytime' on the piano on her own folks. PERIOD.

There is zero evidence Annet Artarni can write one or more melody on a musical instrument on her own, unlike Britney Spears.

Moreover, the only other noteworthy song that Annet Artarni "wrote", the K-Pop hit Nothing Lasts Forever", she couldn't even write on her own, so we have no idea what she contributed. 

The burden of proof is still on Annet Artarni.

Hmm you are right.. I think Artarni have couple of lines there and maybe she just evoke Britney’s emotion in writing that songs, and technically she didn’t write anything there. But at least it’s long gone and they both get what they wants. 
 

The key takeaway here is just how sketchy people in Britney’s life even from year 1. 

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18 hours ago, RedBloodedWoman said:

 One of my friends who worked with B around the same time “Everytime” was written told me she sung & played the song for her on the piano way before it ever came out. 

Just to add to this point, one of Britney's collaborators, Michelle Bell, added in BuzzFeed article about her Original Doll album: 'Bell recalled the first time Spears played "Everytime" for her on the piano during their 2002 sessions. ("She definitely can play the piano, no one really knows that.") Bell told her she loved it, but Spears was hesitant about singing it for her A&R, the record label employee who would decide which songs would make the album.'

https://www.buzzfeed.com/hunterschwarz/britney-spears-original-doll-secret-history-lost-album

5 hours ago, arama said:

Guys, Britney isn't perfect. I don't know why you're all so quick to disbelieve Annette.

3 hours ago, BritneyIsMyPlanet said:

There always has to be some fan like you who is obsessed. Britney is not angel and no one is. We all have our moments so her being rude to someone is not shocking. Also this girl was so respectful in this interview. Idk where you are getting weird vibes or whatever. They called her to ask about Britney and she respectfully said what she knew. There is no need to lie about anything and even few negative things she said, she said them in such a respectful way. 

I think the issue is Artani's credibility.  She says she's been writing songs on the piano since she was a kid yet between Artani and Spears, there is only evidence Spears can write more than one melody and/or riff on a musical instrument.

And the only other noteworthy song she "wrote", the K-pop hit "Nothing Lasts Forever", she couldn't even write on her own, bringing into question what her contributions even were at all.

As far as 'Everytime' is concerned, Britney Spears composed the song on her own and Annet Artani added 'something'.

 

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1 hour ago, zxcvb said:

Just to add to this point, one of Britney's collaborators, Michelle Bell, added in BuzzFeed article about her Original Doll album: 'Bell recalled the first time Spears played "Everytime" for her on the piano during their 2002 sessions. ("She definitely can play the piano, no one really knows that.") Bell told her she loved it, but Spears was hesitant about singing it for her A&R, the record label employee who would decide which songs would make the album.'

https://www.buzzfeed.com/hunterschwarz/britney-spears-original-doll-secret-history-lost-album

I think the issue is Artani's credibility.  She says she's been writing songs on the piano since she was a kid yet between Artani and Spears, there is only evidence Spears can write more than one melody and/or riff on a musical instrument.

And the only other noteworthy song she "wrote", the K-pop hit "Nothing Lasts Forever", she couldn't even write on her own, bringing into question what her contributions even were at all.

As far as 'Everytime' is concerned, Britney Spears composed the song on her own and Annet Artani added 'something'.

 

 

I don't get it. I'm not interested in doing a back-and-forth on this but I don't think Annette only composing one other song compromises her credibility in the slightest. In fact, the fact that Britney (or her label) tried to blackwall her songwriting credit but COULDN'T speaks for itself. Britney was the biggest star in the music at the time and had the backing of a major record label. Annette was an backing singer with none of the same infrastructure around her and yet they still couldn't get her songwriting credit deleted.

It shouldn't be such a big deal. Britney isn't perfect, she will have not-so-great moments too. She was very young at the time and DID have a bit of an ego in 2002/2003. Who could blame her? The fact that she didn't turn into a huge narcissist is evidence of how innately kind she is. Annette still speaks highly of Britney and their time together despite how their friendship ended. That speaks for itself. In fact, I'm wondering if Annette came forward with this story now because in some way she hopes Britney will see it, now that she's no longer as shielded by the conservatorship anymore, to let her know 'Hey, I'm here for you, no hard feelings, I wish I could be there to support you, but by the way I'd like some closure on what happened'. Who knows? Britney has more important things to worry about atm.

 

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6 hours ago, BritneyIsMyPlanet said:

There always has to be some fan like you who is obsessed. Britney is not angel and no one is. We all have our moments so her being rude to someone is not shocking. Also this girl was so respectful in this interview. Idk where you are getting weird vibes or whatever. They called her to ask about Britney and she respectfully said what she knew. There is no need to lie about anything and even few negative things she said, she said them in such a respectful way. Also what is creepy about crying about your close friendship and relation to someone after you’ve been dumped by them? Lmao get over yourself. We’re all humans, even Britney. 

Imagine calling another user (on a ******* Britney Spears fansite)“obsessed” when your username is literally “BritneyIsMyPlanet“...get off of Annet’s **** & the **** outta my mentions. We don’t know **** about Annet, but we DO know that Britney has never cared about taking credit for something she never wrote... several writers can vouch for that. You also obviously don’t know much about Britney, because she wrote & composed “Someday” BY HERSELF ON THE PIANO & even played piano on the final mix of track... she plays on “Like I’m Fallin” too, stop trying to **** on Brit & her artistic abilities. Ignored.

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1 hour ago, arama said:

 

I don't get it. I'm not interested in doing a back-and-forth on this but I don't think Annette only composing one other song compromises her credibility in the slightest. In fact, the fact that Britney (or her label) tried to blackwall her songwriting credit but COULDN'T speaks for itself. Britney was the biggest star in the music at the time and had the backing of a major record label. Annette was an backing singer with none of the same infrastructure around her and yet they still couldn't get her songwriting credit deleted.

The fact that youtube has been widely consumed for the last 15 years and (other social media for at least a decade) and there is still no evidence Annet Artani can write more than one riff or melody on a musical instrument on her own (unlike Britney Spears) speaks for itself.

She couldn't write the K-pop hit "Nothing Lasts Forever" on her own and it doesn't look like she has a solo writing credit on any of the singles she's ever released either.

So I'm not sure there if there is a back-and-forth on this or if there is even two sides to the story at all.

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10 hours ago, filmandstage13 said:

That is a sad story.  Unfortunately, this is such a common story for almost any songwriter. Brian Wilson of the Beach Boys was sued by fellow band member Mike Love to have his name added as a writer to several of their hits that were previously only credited to Brian.  The band Badfinger who wrote "Without You" (Mariah did a very famous version of this song) had a very tragic storyline that is traced back to conflict over the writing credits of their very successful and lucrative song. Lauryn Hill was sued by some of the musicians who worked on Miseducation of Lauryn Hill claiming that they made uncredited contributions.

The odd thing about this story is that most of the stories I can think of involve the writing credits themselves, but Artani's name has been attached to the song since it was first released on In the Zone (in the liner notes, it's credited to Britney and Artani under her given name Stamatelatos).  So whatever the disagreements were in the leadup, the ultimate decision was made to put her name on the song.

I know we'll never know (and the odds of Britney addressing this are next to none), but I am curious what the writing process was like with the two of them.  I've always known she co-wrote this with one of her backup singers, but most of the evidence we've seen is that Britney really led the charge here.  The original handwritten lyrics (in Britney's writing) were recently auctioned off: https://www.gottahaverockandroll.com/britney_spears_handwritten__everytime__lyrics-lot26813.aspx

And this short clip from her ABC In the Zone special would indicate that she came up with the prominent piano riff and melody.  And we know from her TRL interview with Quddus (linked above) that she regularly composed these piano riffs, so it seems unlikely that someone else wrote the Everytime melody and she just mastered it on the piano for future interviews...  But again - we'll probably never know all the details on how this went down.

 

Those lyrics weren't from when Britney and Annet wrote the song - it was part of a charity auction. She also wrote the lyrics to other songs like Baby and Slave.

https://www.liveauctioneers.com/item/71274934_britney-spears-handwritten-lyrics-to-baby-one-more

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2 hours ago, arama said:

 

I don't get it. I'm not interested in doing a back-and-forth on this but I don't think Annette only composing one other song compromises her credibility in the slightest. In fact, the fact that Britney (or her label) tried to blackwall her songwriting credit but COULDN'T speaks for itself. Britney was the biggest star in the music at the time and had the backing of a major record label. Annette was an backing singer with none of the same infrastructure around her and yet they still couldn't get her songwriting credit deleted.

It shouldn't be such a big deal. Britney isn't perfect, she will have not-so-great moments too. She was very young at the time and DID have a bit of an ego in 2002/2003. Who could blame her? The fact that she didn't turn into a huge narcissist is evidence of how innately kind she is. Annette still speaks highly of Britney and their time together despite how their friendship ended. That speaks for itself. In fact, I'm wondering if Annette came forward with this story now because in some way she hopes Britney will see it, now that she's no longer as shielded by the conservatorship anymore, to let her know 'Hey, I'm here for you, no hard feelings, I wish I could be there to support you, but by the way I'd like some closure on what happened'. Who knows? Britney has more important things to worry about atm.

 

I agree. Britney's label didn't have to credit Anett if she didn't truly contribute in a meaningful way. The label was far more powerful.

Britney can compose nice piano riffs and she's shown that in various clips from 2003. It doesn't mean she completely wrote Everytime by herself. Honestly, the fact that Britney says she simply sat down at her piano - implying she was alone - and doesn't know how the song came to her but it just did is sketchy. We know at the very least she wasn't completely by herself while this song was in the process of being composed. At some point, her backup singer turned live-in BFFL jumped in - to the point of earning credit, despite everyone being against it. Their relationship was destroyed and they were never friends again, but she got that credit.

How much did Anett write? I have no idea. But even if Anett isn't completely right, I still don't think Britney's version is completely right either.

I love Britney and don't judge her for this at all. She's not perfect. Neither am I! This is the girl who quickly married Kevin even after she found out about pregnant Shar, yelled at a literal child (the Zoey 101 girl) when she was an adult, etc. And you know what? If I were a public figure, you'd hear about a few $h 1tty moments from me, too. We're all just human.

It's okay to screw up but move on as a good person.

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