{Note: The Madonna Timeline is an ongoing feature, where I put the iPod on shuffle and write a little anecdote on whatever was going on in my life when that Madonna song was released and/or came to prominence in my mind.}
Back in 2003, some saw the teaming up of these two pop icons as the passing of the Pop Goddess baton from Madonna to Britney Spears, but I knew only one of them would/could last, and with a new album on the more immediate horizon, that looks to be Madonna. Nothing against Britney, or the music, just a reflection on longevity, and Brit’s got a long way to go before she surpasses Madonna on that front.
Here was their first and thus far only collaboration, the lead single from Britney’s fourth album ‘In the Zone’ – and a strange little blip on Madonna’s musical timeline.
Hey Britney, you say you wanna lose control
Come over here I got something to show ya
Sexy lady, I’d rather see you bare your soul
If you think you’re so hot
Better show me what you got
Like almost all of Madonna’s collaborations with other superstar artists, this one suffers slightly from overwhelming expectations and an oddly-muted production. For all their effort, and all the hype of being released in the white-hot aftermath of their infamous and incendiary MTV Video Awards performance smooch, it falls just a little flat. While Britney gets top billing, this is just as much a duet as Madonna’s ‘4 Minutes’ splash with Justin Timberlake (which make be her strongest collaboration with another renowned celebrity/singer).
The video keeps them tantalizingly apart until the very end – a lengthy tease that is emblematic of the song as a whole. All tease, little action, and not much lasting resonance. Madonna’s greatest strength will always and forever be as a solo artist.
Song #179 – ‘Me Against the Music’ ~ Fall 2003
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