Britney Spears\u2019 20 best songs ranked Flickr: Rhys AdamsBritney Spears sculpted pop music in immeasurable ways. Her perfectly-princess image packaged the Louisana native as the modern era\u2019s answer to Madonna. Given her legacy, what are her best songs? The indisputable queen of pop, Britney Spears got her start when she was 17 years old, unleashing the quintessential \u201990s banger \u201c\u2026Baby One More Time.\u201d It set in motion one of the most impressive and vital pop careers of all time. Her influence is still being felt, particularly with such newcomers as Tate McRae. Spanning more than two decades, the singer\u2019s career has guided much of what we\u2019ve heard on pop radio in the last 20+ years. From her 1999 debut LP \u2026Baby One More Time to other essentials like 2001\u2019s Britney and In the Zone (2003), Spears moved the needle with not only delicious pop hooks but flashy live performances. She was and is electric onstage; she has that IT factor few others possess. Spears knew how to deliver those cotton candy choruses with abandon, worming their way into our collective consciences. Here are the star\u2019s Top 20 best songs. 20. \u201cClumsy\u201d Guitars rumble right out of the gate. Static pounds from the bass line, leaving Spears to tangle herself in the playful melody. From Glory, the singer has never had so much fun on record. She\u2019s a veteran artist with nothing else to prove, and it shows. She allows the song it carry itself. Even down to the way she lilts into her head voice is unfussy. It comes so naturally to her, you don\u2019t need much else. 19. \u201cTill the World Ends\u201d \u201cSicker than the remix,\u201d this Femme Fatale cut pumps its \u201cooo\u201ds and \u201cahhh\u201ds with a high-voltage intensity. As the world seemingly crumbles down around her, Spears decides dancing will be the best and only way to ring in the apocalypse. \u201cGet me on the floor \/ DJ what you waiting for?\u201d she asks, the beat sticky and hot. It\u2019s a perfectly rave-worthy banger. 18. \u201cMan on the Moon\u201d Britney Spears orbits around star-strewn production, twinkling with percussion and other instruments. Spears\u2019 voice is appropriately light and airy, as she spirals through her emotions in her quest for love. \u201cI can\u2019t compete with the stars in the sky \/ I am invisible,\u201d she laments. As the song fades, she leaves an imprint on the heart. 17. \u201cSometimes\u201d Britney Spears steps out in faith, hoping a relationship will work out. She begs a new beau to move slowly, enough so they both can get their bearings. \u201cBaby, all I need is time,\u201d she sings. The production glistens, so it seems appropriate then that Spears\u2019 vocals are equally dazzling. While there\u2019s a rich smoothness to the song, her voice dishes up every single second of emotional currency. 16. \u201cOverprotected\u201d With her fame growing in intensity in the early 2000s, the then-pop princess attempts to make sense of herself, what\u2019s right, and where she fits into the ever-elusive state of pop music. As a cherished commodity, Spears had grown used to being examined under a microscope, her every move overanalyzed. This was her statement to the public, a plea to let her live her life on her terms. 15. \u201cWomanizer\u201d Glittering production takes root, leaving Spears to play around inside a metallic, otherworldly soundscape. \u201cI know what you are,\u201d she coos. Her voice contains a gritty quality, as she sweeps from her lower register into her head voice. Along the way, she claws her way through the message about empowerment that sets toxic masculinity ablaze. That\u2019s just her way: setting the world on fire. 14. \u201cDon\u2019t Let Me Be the Last to Know\u201d \u201cI been waiting so long it hurts,\u201d cries Spears. In her most pained vocal performance (and that\u2019s a good thing), the singer reaches into her upper register to squeeze out every ounce of emotion from her chest. \u201cI need to hear you say you love me all the way!\u201d she pleads. Her relationship resides firmly in the grey area, leaving the singer heartsick and worrisome. 13. \u201cI\u2019m a Slave 4 U\u201d \u201cDancing\u2019s what I love,\u201d whispers Spears. \u201cI\u2019m a Slave 4 U\u201d represented an artist sculpting their identity. While ear candy remained very much in her back pocket, she experimented in a way that demonstrated she had far more to offer than meets the eye. Even more importantly, she blossomed into a strong and capable woman on the verge of sexual liberation. 12. \u201cGimme More\u201d The tabloids wanted more Britney, and she gave it to \u2019em. With \u201cGimme More,\u201d her comeback single, Spears owned up to her past, while also acknowledging the media\u2019s role in her downfall. \u201cIt\u2019s Britney, b*tch!\u201d she intros. Despite a troubling performance at the 2007 VMAs, she didn\u2019t let the music suffer. In fact, she hit her stride with Blackout, which remains her catalog-best release. \u201cGimme More\u201d remains one of many crown jewels in her gilded crown. 11. \u201cBorn to Make You Happy\u201d Spears plucks on the heartstrings with his tattered and torn ballad. Her lyrics drip from an emotional faucet, allowing her to pull in a career-best vocal performance. \u201cI don\u2019t know how to live without your love,\u201d background vocals echo the forlorn sentiment in a call-and-response structure. From its windswept opening \u201call my love\u201d whisper to the spine-tingling key change, it\u2019s got all the makings of a classic. 10. \u201cCriminal\u201d Featuring prominent flute, \u201cCriminal\u201d (from 2011\u2019s Femme Fatale) finds Spears admitting to being in love with a self-described criminal. \u201cHe\u2019s a bad boy with a tainted heart \/ And even I know this ain\u2019t smart,\u201d she confesses. Her irrational love feeds a part of herself she just can\u2019t deny. It\u2019s a so-bad, it\u2019s so-good sort of love. 9. \u201cSlumber Party\u201d 2016\u2019s Glory was Spears\u2019 return to form. High-fructose doses of pop hooks dressed up with fringe-laced production and some of the singer\u2019s best vocals characterize much of the record. That\u2019s most evident with \u201cSlumber Party,\u201d a trippy, alluring, and heat-seeking number about intimacy and hooking up. Spears\u2019 voice seduces with its wax-melting quality, as she entices a lover over to her bedsheets. \u201cWe use our bodies to make our own videos,\u201d she sings. 8. \u201cLucky\u201d Much like \u201cPiece of Me\u201d (also on this list), \u201cLucky\u201d peeled back the curtain on fame and its toll on its central superstar. Despite Spears playing narrator and regaling a tale about a girl named Lucky, you can\u2019t help but consider the weight of the lyrics that are ripped from the singer\u2019s own life. \u201cLost in an image, in a dream \/ But there\u2019s no one there to wake her up,\u201d she sings. The price of fame cost her everything (both the character and Spears herself), and that reality lies throbbing at the center of this essential. 7. \u201c\u2026Baby One More Time\u201d You can\u2019t have a Best Of list without Spears\u2019 monumental debut single. With its music video set in high school, it showcased the problems of adolescence. As Spears daydreams of the school day being over, she muses on love and wonders if she\u2019s good enough, all set to a giddy backbeat that supercharges the senses. 6. \u201c(You Drive Me) Crazy\u201d (The Stop! Remix) If you grew up in the \u201990s, you know Britney Spears appeared on Sabrina the Teenage Witch alongside Melissa Joan Hart. \u201c(You Drive Me) Crazy\u201d was featured prominently in an episode, courtesy of the Stop! Remix. In the accompanying video, Hart also made an appearance, making it an official crossover endeavor. It\u2019s guaranteed to get the body groovin\u2019. 5. \u201cI\u2019m Not a Girl, Not Yet a Woman\u201d As Spears explored grungier music, as she did with \u201cI\u2019m a Slave 4 U,\u201d she kept the cards close to the vest with the sweeping ballad \u201cI\u2019m Not a Girl, Not Yet a Woman\u201d from Britney. It perfectly captured her transition from childhood to adulthood, especially as someone who grew up in the spotlight. Fame put added pressure on her shoulders, and despite all the flashing lights and extravagant costumes, she was just a person trying to navigate the world underneath the cracking veneer. 4. \u201cOops!\u2026 I Did It Again\u201d With her second album, Oops!\u2026 I Did it Again, Spears demonstrated she was no flash-in-the-pan. She did it again (pun intended) in delivering a body of work that cohesively summed up a particular moment in time. At the turn of the millennium, songs like the titular cut embodied what made pop music so great. Featuring a slinky melody and sensory-buzzing production, \u201cOops!\u2026 I Did It Again\u201d took listeners across the universe in more ways than one. 3. \u201cToxic\u201d Spears exhibited an intoxicating, slithering power with \u201cToxic.\u201d From In the Zone, this grimy and altogether infectious number planted its flag firmly in our eardrums. \u201cA guy like you should wear a warning,\u201d she sings, barely above a whisper. Her vocals seduce and entice, luring you into a dangerous dungeon of deliciousness. 2. \u201cPiece of Me\u201d 2007\u2019s Blackout remains Britney Spears\u2019 magnum opus. With its crunchy production and the singer\u2019s filtered, hypnotic voice, \u201cPiece of Me\u201d saw Spears reclaiming the narrative from paparazzi and the tabloids. \u201cYou want a piece of me!\u201d rings the refrain. She wasn\u2019t afraid to call out the media\u2019s portrayal of her life. Coming after the infamous head-shaving incident, \u201cPiece of Me\u201d made quite the statement. 1. \u201cEverytime\u201d Spears could deliver a wallop of a ballad when she wanted to. With this In the Zone tearjerker, Spears let all her vulnerability and pain pour forth from her soul as though from a fountain. \u201cEverytime I see you in my dreams, I see your face\/ It\u2019s haunting me,\u201d she sings. Haunting strings accentuate Spears\u2019 equally delicate vocal performance. It\u2019s so powerful, a lesser ranking would be unacceptable.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Britney Spears\u2019 20 best songs ranked Flickr: Rhys AdamsBritney Spears sculpted pop music in immeasurable ways. Her perfectly-princess image packaged the Louisana native as the modern era\u2019s answer to Madonna. Given her legacy, what are her best songs? The indisputable queen of pop, Britney Spears got her start when she was 17 years old, unleashing […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-45220","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45220","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=45220"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45220\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=45220"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=45220"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=45220"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}