The conversation around — and revelations in — Britney Spears’s new memoir, The Woman in Me, have served as yet another reminder that for as much time as the world has spent talking about Spears, not enough was spent listening to her. That reality applies to nearly every facet of her relationship with the public, and was the impetus for the limited series Listening 2 Britney produced by our podcast Switched on Pop last spring.
Over the course of four episodes, hosts Charlie Harding and Nate Sloan stripped away the many layers of baggage and bad-faith narratives that have plagued Spears’s career and centered what Spears should be best known for: her remarkable, innovative music. As we all take a Woman in Me–guided tour back through Spears’s life and career, Listening 2 Britney is an audio companion worth revisiting, as well. You can find summaries of (and links to) the four episodes in the series below.
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Haters Misunderstood What Made Britney’s ‘Baby Voice’ Great
The first whisper of her vocal fry, some percussive pronunciations, a little timbral play: In autumn of 1998, “… Baby One More Time†introduced the world to the voice of Britney Spears. Pop music was never the same again. But despite all of Spears’s success, her techniques were often derided by critics based on what was perceived to be a manufactured “baby voice†— scrutiny that, combined with her place in the public eye, tended to overshadow her musical craft and vocal creativity.
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When Britney Needed a New Sound, the Neptunes Delivered
In 2001, the sound of pop music was changing, so Spears changed with it on her self-titled album, Britney. The new sound signaled that she had moved beyond Swedish-produced pop polish for an entirely new sonic identity, just as she had left behind the ingenue character of her first two albums. Working on “I’m a Slave 4 U†with Pharrell Williams and Chad Hugo, Spears evolved her sound to sit alongside the R&B of her chart peers.
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The Writers of Britney’s ‘Toxic’ Worried It Was Too ‘Weird’ to Be a Hit
For many fans, hearing “Toxic†for the first time in 2003 was an epiphany. The song’s producers, Bloodshy & Avant, combined an array of sounds that should not go together — a 1981 Bollywood love song, electric surf guitar, and funky synthesized bass — into an unforgettable mélange. Now, 20 years after its release, “Toxic†is still rippling through the culture. At the time of its release, however, the team wondered if listeners would go along for the ride.
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The Vocal Turbulence of Britney’s ‘Gimme More’
It had been four years since Spears last dropped a new album when Blackout arrived in 2007. The record’s uptempo lead single, “Gimme More,†was built around a driving riff and off-kilter drums produced by Floyd Nathaniel Hills, who works as Danja, and in some ways the track echoed the dance-pop sound of “I’m a Slave 4 U.†The song also emphatically announced that Britney was very much back, starting with its soon-to-be-iconic lyric: “It’s Britney, bitch.â€