Britney Spears’ debut album, …Baby One More Time, spawned many hits, including the iconic title track. Despite the album’s success – which went on to become one of the best-selling albums of all time with more than 25 million copies sold worldwide – there was one song off the record that the superstar actually wasn’t a big fan of.
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“Sometimes” was written by Swedish songwriter Jörgen Elofsson and released into the world in April 1999 as the second single off the album. The charming bop finds Spears singing about a suitor who she informs is going to have to be patient in order to win her affection. Sometimes I run/Sometimes I hide/Sometimes I’m scared of you/But all I really want is to hold you tight/Treat you right, be with you day and night/Baby, all I need is time, she relays in the chorus.
The song was originally more adult-oriented until Spears’ A&R representative at the time, Steve Lunt, called Elofsson and told him to make the lyrics more G-rated for the young singer. “This isn’t really suitable for a 15-year-old…you gotta change this up, this is a sweet girl and a sweet song,” Lunt explained on the podcast, The Original Doll with James Rodriguez. “We weren’t pushing sex for Britney, that was not our plan, despite all of the conspiracy theories. We were pushing cute, that was our thing.”
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After getting a more teeny-bop makeover, the song appealed to Spears’ young fanbase, the catchy tune backed by an equally sweet video that depicts her dancing on an oceanfront boardwalk and contemplatively strolling along the beach. Though “Sometimes” was a hit with fans, it turns out that the singer wasn’t that crazy about it. She alluded to this during her Onyx Hotel Tour in 2004, five years after the song’s release.
“Thank you guys so much for coming out,” Spears told the crowd at the end of her show in Miami, Florida, that was taped for the Showtime special, Britney Spears Live from Miami. “No seriously, thanks so much man, thank you.”
When a dancer comes to tell her it’s time to get off stage, she responds, “What? We gotta go? I haven’t sang ‘Sometimes’ yet,” she quipped while reciting the lyrics as she ran off stage. “I never liked that song anyway. Peace!”
“Sometimes” charted around the world, reaching No. 11 on the Billboard Adult Contemporary chart and No. 21 on the Hot 100.
Photo by Gabe Ginsberg/FilmMagic, Courtesy of Getty Images
