Oops!… I Did It Again: 20 Years Later

I remember like it was yesterday, on Tuesday, May 16, 2000 my dad, my brother, and myself all went to Walmart that afternoon after school let out – I was in eighth grade at the time – and I bought two things in their electronics department: the PC game, Rollercoaster Tycoon and Britney Spears sophomore album, Oops!… I Did It Again. Funny how now I can buy both these things on my phone without ever leaving my bed, much less my house, but twenty years ago, this is what we had to do to get the things we needed.

Believe me, I didn’t misuse that last word, I understand the difference between a want and a need. I wanted to get McDonald’s that afternoon after we left Walmart, but there was no way in Hell my dad was letting that happen – he’s not a clean eater like I am – but I NEEDED Britney’s new album.

I had been salivating over it since late March when the Oops!… I Did It Again single first dropped and the anticipation that built up over the course of what was nearly two months had reached a fever pitch in my heart and soul. I couldn’t even wait till we got back to my dad’s car. I remember tearing that plastic off from around that cd case as fast as I could as we walked across that parking lot – don’t worry, I put all the pieces I ripped away back inside my little Walmart bag, I’m not a litterer – I NEEDED though to have that cd available for play the second we got inside the vehicle!

I’m sure my classic rock obsessed dad sat there listening to these fresh tunes from pop’s reigning princess and thought, what in the crap is this!?! but I was all smiles as we rode the fifteen minutes back home. Suffice it to say, that album and I have been inseparable ever since. Admittedly, Britney has gone on to create sonically superior albums, but no doubt about it, Oops!… I Did It Again will always be my favorite of hers. In fact, and some me later chide me for this reveal, but this was actually the first album of Britney’s that I owned. I didn’t get …Baby One More Time till about six months later! Not that I wasn’t a fan during that career-launching era, I’ve always loved Britney, I just wasn’t the obsessive super fan that Oops! made me be.

I want to take this opportunity now to travel down memory lane with each and everyone of you and relive all the wit and wonder of the twelve tracks on the US standard edition. I know there are several more songs from this era with the McDonald’s EP and B-sides on CD singles and such, but these are the songs that I was first exposed to on that Tuesday back in May of 2000 and for me, these twelve will always make up Oops!… I Did It Again.

Oops!… I Did It Again – This is the song that had me enlisting to be a proud soldier in the Britney Army. I’ve probably seen the now iconic Mars set music video too many times to count, but in 2000, I would vote for it EVERY SINGLE DAY on MTV’s TRL (Total Request Live) and rush home to see where it landed on the countdown. Making sure Britney is #1 has always been a priority of mine and this is where it all began. I would later use the Titanic-inspired bridge on May 12, 2016 when I proposed to my beautiful wife, Melissa (to see her beauty, just peep my Lil’ Cutesville post) after riding Splash Mountain in Disneyland park. I want this song blasted over the loudspeaker at my funeral for I feel like I never truly started living till it entered my orbit.

Stronger – HANDS DOWN my favorite song off the album and my second favorite in her entire career! I’ve listened to it so many times that you could probably measure its listens in weeks. Everything about it is perfect and phenomenal. From the fog horn opening to the …Baby One More Time throwback lyrics to the chorus, “My loneliness ain’t killing me no more” this song is a certifiable JAM! Not to mention the music video is on a whole different level. This was the first dancing video for Britney where she was not accompanied by backup dancers and her chair choreography is the stuff of legend. She wasn’t the first to use a chair, but she certainly was the best to use one. As you’ll have seen in my Soul Brother Top 25 blog, this song ranked as my fourth favorite of all time and after just one listen, it’s not hard to see why.

Don’t Go Knockin’ On My Door – Another certifiable banger. When that first chorus sets in at 38 seconds you can really feel the heat Britney’s bringing! I always felt like this song had single potential, but that was clearly never going to be the case with the addition of the first conversation piece between Britney and her friend on the remaining half minute of the track. I love these little sound bites sprinkled throughout the album that just have Britney and her friends conversing about typical teenage girl things like boys, movies, and themselves. It’s very 2000’s, but that’s what makes me love it even more.

(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction – Britney’s had a handful of covers throughout her career, but this one of the Rolling Stones classic is definitely my favorite. This Darkchild produced track stands out ever-so-slightly amongst all the Max Martin productions in such a way that is both noticeable and nonchalant. As the song progresses, you can hear the bass is getting bigger, it’s getting bigger and I love that about this song! I definitely think Britney could’ve released covers as singles in the same way Mariah has for all her career and achieved similar chart success and everything about this jam showcases just that.

Don’t Let Me Be The Last To Know – Written by Shania Twain and produced by her then husband, Mutt Lange, this song to me is unlike any other off the record. The song definitely has that classic country-pop vibe that Shania does so well and Britney proves here that she can manage it just as effortlessly. Britney has stated time and time again that this is one of her favorite songs from her entire career and it helps me appreciate the song a little bit more. I’ll be honest though, I always thought releasing it as the fourth and final single was a bit of a misstep given the incredible strength of some of the other songs, but the video treatment we got is arguably one of Britney’s absolute sexiest, so I can’t really complain much.

What U See (Is What U Get) – 3:37 seconds of pure teen pop perfection. The uptempo beat and the lyrics of self declaration and acceptance blend together to deliver the ideal combination of power pop. The song itself slaps so hard, but after it ends and we get the answering machine message from the probable boyfriend of Britney’s who she saw a movie with the night before about a girl who had “all that fame and all that money, but she still wasn’t happy” and how he thinks that’d make a really cool song, we’re given the best ever introduction to what would become another of Britney’s many instant classics.

Lucky – I remember making my brother, mom, and grandpa wait till MTV’s Making The Video for Lucky was over before we could leave and go to lunch during one of its many repeated showings. I’d already seen that episode, but it didn’t matter! I was going to sit there and watch it again dammit! This has always been on of my favorite Britney Spears songs, but listening to it now doesn’t quite feel the same as it did some twenty years ago. I can’t help but feel a tinge of sadness with all that we know about Britney’s life. For me, this song is very prophetic in that sense and while I still absolutely love it, it carries a heavy emotional connotation despite it being expertly masked in that bubble gum pop Max Martin production its wrapped up so perfectly in.

One Kiss From You – Such a jam! It’s upbeat, fun, and flirty. The kind of song that you cannot help but move your head and body to the beat of as it just takes over you with it frothy melody. If Britney wasn’t releasing an album a year between 99′ and 01′ and her label released as many hits off this record as Gwen Stefani did with Love.Angel.Music.Baby. this would definitely have made a mark at pop radio.

Where Are You Now – This syrupy sweet ballad showcases some of the best vocals Britney has ever given us, especially around the 3:13 mark. She belts that note out in such ferocity that it might leave one checking their listening device to see if their playlist somehow switched to Céline Dion! I’ll readily admit, this song grew on me over time. I absolutely love it now, but back twenty years ago, this was sometimes skipped. I still maintain that at 4:39 it does run a little long. I still love it, but it could’ve been a home run if they’d trimmed it down to about 4:00 rather than the triple hitter it still most certainly is.

Can’t Make You Love Me – THIS SHOULD HAVE BEEN THE FOURTH SINGLE! This is without a doubt my fourth favorite song on the album! It sounds very much of the time, but in 2000/01, that would’ve worked to its advantage and Britney would’ve had another MASSIVE hit on her hands. Oh well, like Céline would say, Coulda, Woulda, Shoulda. Seriously though, this song rocks! It’s impossible to listen to it without maxing out your volume ESPECIALLY in that final chorus when the beat drops at 2:36 and hits harder than ever. It just makes me wanna throw my hands up and jam all the while singing every single lyric from the top of my lungs!

When Your Eyes Say It – We can see here that Britney walked, so Kesha could one day run. Britney introduces the world to talk singing in this track and music has never the same since. It’s been said that this was to be the fourth single and that Britney even shot a video for it – RCA! WHY ISN’T IT BEING RELEASED WITH ALL THE 20TH ANNIVERSARY PROMO GOING ON!?! The Briney Army would easily shoot that video to #1 most trending on YouTube! I’ll admit it here again, this was another often skipped track for me back in the day, but like with Where Are You Now, I always jam to it now! The conversation between Britney and her friend at the end always makes me smile at its overwhelming innocence. Those sound bites were adorable and I’m so thankful Britney had them all over this record.

Dear Diary – This was always my least favorite song on the album and that hasn’t changed. I can appreciate the fact that it gave Britney her first writing credit, but it’s just so very slow to me, but damn do her vocals make me smile. As I listen to it now, and I always do when playing the album all the way through, I love how perfectly it ends the album. Where as the album begins on a club-thumping and teasing note, it ends with a soft and loving one. Making you eager to put the whole record on repeat and listen to it all over again, thereby giving you the opportunity to say, think, and feel that Oops!… YOU Did It Again!

Well, there we have it, my thoughts sprinkled with a few memories of my all-time favorite Britney Spears album. I’m certain that anyone reading this has thoughts, feelings, and memories of their own tied to Britney’s iconic masterpiece and I’d LOVE to read them, so please, leave me a comment below! As always, THANK YOU for reading! I’ll be back next week with another all new post, so until then, have THE BEST week ever!