This week in 1999, the world was just learning about Britney Spears
I don’t want to make a sweeping generalization here, but I’m gonna go ahead and say that every ’90s kid remembers where they were when they first saw Britney’s “. . . Baby One More Time” video. I just so happened to be on the floor of my family room untangling my Nintendo controllers in front of the TV when I first witnessed her catwalking down that high school hallway.
Midriff and plaid skirts aside, I distinctly remember thinking how cool it was that she had lockers and how she was allowed to decorate her hair with pink fluffy things (my Catholic school didn’t permit such err . . . distracting hair accessories). Wardrobe policies aside, most of us were scratching our heads and asking the age-old question, who the heck is this Britney Spears? Thankfully, it didn’t take long to find the answer.
On the last week of January, 1999, when she was a mere 17 years old, Britney flew up the charts to number one on the Billboard Hot 100. That was the week that she managed to knock Brandy’s slow jam, “Have You Ever” to number two, followed by Deborah Cox’s power anthem, “Nobody’s Supposed To Be Here” down to number three. So basically, on this week in 1999 Britney Spears was becoming a household name. Kinda hard to remember a time when she wasn’t one, isn’t it?
Aside from its massive radio play, “. . . Baby One More Time” garnered even more attention thanks to its now-legendary music video. With TRL running stronger than ever (hooray for the Carson Daly era), the video instantly earned three MTV Video Music Award nominations for “Best Pop Video,” “Best Choreography” and “Best Female Video”. FUN FACT: On TRL’s final episode in November of 2008, “. . . Baby One More Time” clocked in at number one in their countdown as the most iconic music video of all time. It was the very last video to ever be played on the show. How’s that for legendary?
Sixteen years later, the song is still headbanger (and a karaoke favorite). So let’s take it back and reminisce on this milestone with a strong re-watching of “. . . Baby One More Time.” As if we had a choice!
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