Was "Im a Slave 4U" the wrong B3 Lead?

[notbritneyspears]

While I love that song and the video.

I just thought it didn't represent B3 at all. Aside from that song, every thing else on the album felt mostly wholesome. 

Her new image alienated half of her fans and hurt her pure album sales.

What should've been the first single?

[lunario]

I think “Over” could be the first single. 

[Crabo Lavender Turmeric]

It was an iconic moment and not a career mistake.

 

If we play this game though:

 

Some people hate Cinderella (Brit herself did not want it on the album) but I think it would've been a good transition to the Britney sound - still has the same teen pop song structure but more modern + with attitude. 

Had Britney gone ''naughty'' little by little, Britney (the LP) might've sold like 75% of what Oops did instead of 50%... with a single chronology like this

1. Cinderella

2. Overprotected (Darkchild Remix for North America; album version internationally)

3. Not a girl 

4. I love Rock N Roll

5. Slave 4 U

6. Boys 

[rik]

20 minutes ago, lunario said:

I think “Over” could be the first single. 

U guys really wanted her to continue making teen pop omg. I think if she didn’t stop teen pop after 2002, it would’ve been mildly embarrassing given everything her peers were starting to put out as a result of Slave 4 U’s influence. Even if people don’t know it, Slave 4 U introduced her to a different audience, an older one not made up of 10 year old girls and gays 

 

[aoki.loid]

 

i think it was the perfect lead single 🤭

[lunario]

1 hour ago, Rik vs Exhale said:

U guys really wanted her to continue making teen pop omg. I think if she didn’t stop teen pop after 2002, it would’ve been mildly embarrassing given everything her peers were starting to put out as a result of Slave 4 U’s influence. Even if people don’t know it, Slave 4 U introduced her to a different audience, an older one not made up of 10 year old girls and gays 

 

I'm talking about "chart success". If she cast Over it would not be boycotted. Logico, that today we know which was the most timeless single...

[rik]

1 minute ago, lunario said:

I'm talking about "chart success". If she cast Over it would not be boycotted. Logico, that today we know which was the most timeless single...

we do know…… It was anticipating 

 

[IRunAway]

I think it was the best choice.  And I think sonically it at least matches Boys and maybe WILTBM.  I would have done a lot differently with that album.  There’s a reason it’s my least favorite next to BJ.  I didn’t love Slave when it came out but it has aged wonderfully.  At the time, Overprotected was my favorite sonically.  But the OG video was messy.

[princessmimi]

I think it was perfect for what Britney wanted to do,

which was to:
KILL the BOMT/OOPS bubblegum teen virgin image.

It succeeded however I do feel like if she was gonna go with the whole s.e.x.pot image and persona with that album, she should've done it all the way instead of halfazzing it and making songs that sound like outtakes from her first 2 albums.

NOT hating on the Britney album btw, just being honest

[HisNameisChase]

The album is so forgettable tbh

Anticipating SHOULD have been a single tho

[Spicechinodiva]

You keep saying chart success,  clear channel basically black listed for using a different concert promoter,  jive should have issued cd singles to ensure hot 100 success,,but relying on radio, was where the blame is on them. 

 

If I knew that my acts was gonna get banned cos of business decisions, you bet I'll be printing a limited edition set of singles to at least give it some success,  her hot 100 track changed once iTunes came into play in the United States. 

[Spicechinodiva]

41 minutes ago, princessmimi said:

I think it was perfect for what Britney wanted to do,

which was to:
KILL the BOMT/OOPS bubblegum teen virgin image.

It succeeded however I do feel like if she was gonna go with the whole s.e.x.pot image and persona with that album, she should've done it all the way instead of halfazzing it and making songs that sound like outtakes from her first 2 albums.

NOT hating on the Britney album btw, just being honest

Not her fault,  crossroads happened so it was gonna be like this,  since jive refused to do a soundtrack to lose sales for the Britney album. 

[IsraeliMatt]

48 minutes ago, Spicechinodiva said:

Not her fault,  crossroads happened so it was gonna be like this,  since jive refused to do a soundtrack to lose sales for the Britney album. 

I never knew why that movie didn't have a proper soundtrack until now. Thanks. 

[princessmimi]

56 minutes ago, Spicechinodiva said:

Not her fault,  crossroads happened so it was gonna be like this,  since jive refused to do a soundtrack to lose sales for the Britney album. 

Oh wow idk that

[BritneyWithGlasses]

I dont think s4u is the problem, the problem was the mix of the crossroads soundtrack with the album

it made the album sound inconsistent and weird. The crst sound like a step up from oops but a major step down from britney lp

i think she was also over saturated, like 3 albums + soundtrack in 3 years was truly to much, at least in 2001 standards 

Britney should’ve been pushed to early 02 with the tour in late 02, but the album came after the tour started

also the singles were incoherent af 

sxy s4u

sweet op

sxy boys

sweet nagnyaw

sxy ilrnr

sweet anticipating 

 

[jamesedward94]

Hmmm. Interesting topic. That album was all over the place. I think behind the scenes her label was probably unsure about many things. She had two eras of near perfect bubblegum pop singles and both albums had sold over 10 million copies worldwide. She was untouchable. She wanted to show she was more mature which is understandable. The singles, for me, were just not as perfect and memorable as her first two albums and were slightly more bland and forgettable overall. We all love certain songs on this album but when you put them next to Baby and Oops and Stronger and Lucky, none hit quite as hard to me. The ***ual songs were such a jarring contrast from her previous releases and the regular pop songs were nowhere as great as ones on her first two albums. 

 

It was for sure like two albums in one with no clear sound throughout. Slave was great but definitely alienated a majority of her market. For me, Anticipating is the highlight. It’s bubblegum but slightly more sophisticated. Overprotected and Cinderella are great as well. 
 

This album reminds me a lot of Ariana Grande’s album Sweetener. She had several songs produced by Pharrell and then several by Max Martin and the whole thing felt a little weird to listen to without a distinct sound or direction. Half are her signature pop style and half are experimental. Nothing wrong with that but just different. 
 

 

[jamesedward94]

39 minutes ago, BritneyWithGlasses said:

I dont think s4u is the problem, the problem was the mix of the crossroads soundtrack with the album

it made the album sound inconsistent and weird. The crst sound like a step up from oops but a major step down from britney lp

i think she was also over saturated, like 3 albums + soundtrack in 3 years was truly to much, at least in 2001 standards 

Britney should’ve been pushed to early 02 with the tour in late 02, but the album came after the tour started

also the singles were incoherent af 

sxy s4u

sweet op

sxy boys

sweet nagnyaw

sxy ilrnr

sweet anticipating 

 

It’s hard to even pick a direction! Like, what do you do? I know her label had to be scrambling. Do you lean into the new more mature image or do you still focus on the straight-forward pop stuff? Nothing is as memorable as Slave even tho my favorite is Anticipating. The album is just very underwhelming to me. In The Zone got it absolutely perfect with more mature pop songs that were still highly marketable to much of her audience and had radio songs. Toxic is the perfect example of maturing the music but still being memorable and commercial.  

[Bo da toe]

Before the Goodbye should’ve been the first single 

[Bo da toe]

1 hour ago, BritneyWithGlasses said:

I dont think s4u is the problem, the problem was the mix of the crossroads soundtrack with the album

it made the album sound inconsistent and weird. The crst sound like a step up from oops but a major step down from britney lp

i think she was also over saturated, like 3 albums + soundtrack in 3 years was truly to much, at least in 2001 standards 

Britney should’ve been pushed to early 02 with the tour in late 02, but the album came after the tour started

also the singles were incoherent af 

sxy s4u

sweet op

sxy boys

sweet nagnyaw

sxy ilrnr

sweet anticipating 

 

Yes! I’ve always thought this is how it should’ve went!

[everybodygoesdown]

Slave is the lead single of ALL lead singles and it was the best lead single and greatest lead single and it should be the Britney lead single and I can't believe you even contemplate time travelling and changing that