When we think of Britney Spears, the first two words that come to mind are hot mess. Britney’s reputation took a turn for the worst after her ’07 meltdown. For ’90s kids, it was traumatizing; watching our pop icon fall and slip into the cracks of fame and drugs was painful.
However, Britney planted her feet and got right back up. The media, like always, focused on Britney’s rock bottom moments rather than her peaks. Today, we celebrate the 16th year since her hit, “…Baby One More time” revolutionized ’90s pop culture. She pushed the musical era in a new direction; while The Backstreet Boys along with The Spice Girls took the back burner, Britney, at 16 years old, released her first song and became an international sensation.
“…Baby One More Time” was the number one Billboard hit for 32 weeks. A month after Britney released the song, the music video came out. Several critics deemed the music video provocative and inappropriate. They believed the music video sexualized the 16- year-old.
However, others argue that the song embodied the tension between the teenagers’ “irrational exuberance” versus the conservative parents. Yes, costumes in the music video were revealing. Yes, the lyrics that start “Hit me baby one more time…” were quite risqué. And yes, she was only 16. Nevertheless, Britney only marketed on the fact that the 90s was considered a rebellious and rowdy era. She stands a legendary symbol of the good old days.
Today we celebrate not only 16-year-old Britney’s achievements and Britney 2.0’s achievements, but today is a day of reflection. Today we use “…Baby One More Time” to get one last glimpse and one last reminder of what the 90s were like. While on the surface the day might be just remind us of another “old” song to remember, it really is a day of retrospection in the pop music industry.