Britney Spears’ 5 Most Iconic Ballads
Britney Spears is most famous for her dance tunes, but she’s also put out quite a few ballads over the years. The “…Baby One More Time” star could release a compilation album of slower songs if she wanted to. If she ever did that, here are five of the songs that would definitely make it onto the record.
5. ‘Perfume’
Spears started her album cycle for the record Britney Jean with a dance banger called “Work B****.” That number was big, stupid, and obnoxious in the best possible way. It’ll get you and your friends on the dancefloor for a night of silly fun.
She followed that up with “Perfume,” a ballad written by Sia. This bold move showed that the “Womanizer” singer has more range than casual fans might assume. “Perfume” includes a weird love triangle and some of Spears’ better vocals from this era.
4. ‘I’m Not a Girl, Not Yet a Woman’
Every teenager has felt stuck between the innocence of childhood and the burdens and freedom of adulthood. Few teen pop stars focus on this, even though it’s the most essential aspect of being a teenager. Spears showed off some depth with “I’m Not a Girl, Not Yet a Woman.” one of the rare pop songs to capture this transitional phase.
Interestingly, country superstar Shania Twain wrote this tune. Between this and “Man! I Feel Like a Woman!,” she sure has a lot of feelings about womanhood! While “I’m Not a Girl, Not Yet a Woman” didn’t even hit the Billboard Hot 100, it proved famous enough to inspire the name of Spears’ memoir, The Woman in Me.
3. ‘Criminal’
Spears’ album Femme Fatale is wall-to-wall synths. While it’s good (for the most part), it can also feel like a tiring night out in Ibiza. “Criminal” slows things down for the album’s final track, an oddball move that’s surprisingly touching.
The track puts Spears in a Bonnie and Clyde-type scenario where she’s in love with a dangerous criminal. She pleads to her mother to accept the relationship before deciding that she doesn’t really care about what anyone else thinks about her love life. While the song is about a heterosexual love affair, its lyrics can easily resonate with LGBTQ fans.
2. ‘Born to Make You Happy’
After singing that she lived for her boyfriend in “…Baby One More Time,” Spears took things even further by singing she was born to make him happy. The tune is submissive, to say the least. “Born to Make You Happy” could be seen as painfully old-fashioned or ahead of the curve, as Lana Del Rey would write similar songs in the 2010s.
Either way, “Born to Make You Happy” has a lovely melody. The tune was written by Andreas Carlsson, who later wrote “I Want It That Way” for the Backstreet Boys. “Born to Make You Happy” could be seen as a predecessor to that classic.
1. ‘Everytime’
Justin Timberlake’s “Cry Me a River” impressed critics and pop fans alike with its brutal takedown of Spears. The “Toxic” singer could have responded with another blow, but she took the high road with a warbling, sentimental ballad in which she expressed regret over the way her relationship with Timberlake panned out. For that reason, “Everytime” is poignant and disarming.
“Everytime” is also one of the few songs Spears wrote for herself. It makes you wonder what her discography would be like if she wrote more of her own music. If it was anything like “Everytime,” she’d be an equally beloved but very different artist.
