Britney Spears’ Most Overrated Song
Critical reception toward Britney Spears‘ songs has only warmed over time. One of the “Oops!… I Did It Again” singer‘s songs is often considered a classic of 2000s pop. The tune is actually pretty bad. Here’s a look at Spears’ most overrated hit.
1 Britney Spears song came at the beginning of a huge trend
2008 was the year dance music started taking over the pop charts. Spears jumped on that trend early with her song “Womanizer.” It’s easy to mock the track for its repetitive hook, but that’s not the real problem with it.
The major flaw of “Womanizer” is its ugly, stomping beat. It’s an attack on the eardrums. It’s also a major letdown from an artist who previously produced great hooks on songs like “Toxic,” “(You Drive Me) Crazy,” and “Lucky.” While “Womanizer” came at the forefront of the dance music trend, it didn’t influence the sound of many subsequent dance hits, which tended to be more melodic and fun.
Rolling Stone said ‘Womanizer’ sounds like Godzilla waking up
Although “Womanizer” was far from Spears’ best work, it now has a reputation for being one of her best songs. In 2022, Rolling Stone put “Womanizer” at No. 14 on their ranking of every song Spears ever released. That’s higher than “Hold It Against Me” or “Circus.”
Writer Rob Sheffield had a lot to say about the track. “Eddie Van Halen liked to say he wanted his band to sound ‘like Godzilla waking up,’ and that’s how ‘Womanizer’ sounds,” he wrote. “This hyper-loud synth-pop eruption is also a merciless attack on the masculine mystique, a topic Britney knows well. ‘Womanizer’ is one of her most famous comeback hits, but she’s been counted out so many times that she’s racked up more comeback hits than anyone. With Britney, it’s the non-comeback hits that are rarities.”
Perhaps “Womanizer” gets more love than it deserves because of its excellent music video. The clip portrays Spears as a woman who takes on different disguises to prove that her boyfriend is unfaithful. It’s playful and fun, featuring a famous sequence where Spears is naked in a sauna. Spears looks like she’s enjoying herself in the clip, which is more than you can say about most of her subsequent music videos.
The song was part of a juggernaut album
“Womanizer” became Spears’ first single to top the Billboard Hot 100 since “…Baby One More Time,” which came out 10 years earlier. “Womanizer” was No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 for a single week, staying on the chart for 23 weeks in total. It remains one of her biggest hits.
The tune appeared on the record Circus. That album reached the pinnacle of the Billboard 200 for a week, staying on the chart for 42 weeks. The record produced two other top 20 singles: “Circus,” which peaked at No. 3, and the obscene “If U Seek Amy,” which peaked at No. 19. Many felt that Spears’ career was over after her disastrous performance of “Gimme More” at the 2007 MTV Video Music Awards, but the release of Circus the following year proved all the naysayers wrong.
“Womanizer” isn’t a very good song but at least it saved Spears’ career.
