Songoftheday 10/23/21 -You tell me you're in love with me, like you can't take your pretty eyes away from me...

 

 

"Sometimes" - Britney Spears

from the album ...Baby One More Time (1998)

Billboard Hot 100 peak: #21 (two weeks)

Weeks in the Top-40: 12

 

Today's song comes from Britney Spears, whose debut single "...Baby One More Time" went all the way to #1 on the American pop chart in the beginning of 1999.  The second release from the record would also been helmed by the Swedish team of Cheiron studios, who racked up successes with the Backstreet Boys and NSYNC. "Sometimes", written by Jörgen Elofsson, who produced the track with Per Magnusson and David Kreuger, was a midtempo generational update of the Supremes' "You Can't Hurry Love", with Britney explaining to her boyfriend that she needs to take it slow because she's got major trust issues. With a soft-pop backdrop not unlike the Backstreets' "Quit Playing Games (With My Heart)", Britney for once forgoes the flat chirping delivery for her most natural sounding vocals yet. The music video almost has her stalking the guy of her dreams, instead of already being together in the lyrics, while she gets to show off more of her dance prowess on the piers...

 

 "Sometimes" became Britney's second top-40 hit on Billboard magazine's Hot 100 pop chart, just missing the top-20 in July of 1999 (it was hampered by not being released as a retail single for sales points sake). The song was her biggest success on Billboard's Adult Contemporary (or "easy listening") radio chart at #11, while peaking at #29 on their older-skewing Adult Top-40 format list. Internationally, the single did much better, going to #1 in the Netherlands, New Zealand, and Belgium, while making the top ten in Australia (#2), the UK (#3), Sweden (#4), Finland (#4), Ireland (#5), Germany (#6), Italy (#6), Austria (#6), Canada (#7), Switzerland (#7), Denmark (#7). and Hungary (#8). Britney and the album will be back to the series.

(7/10)

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Here's Britney performing the song on the Rosie O'Donnell Show to promote the album...

Next up, back to her roots at Disney World in 1999...

And finally, in concert in Hawaii in 2000...

Up tomorrow: A boyband hit gets a country makeover from a veteran "stately" band.