I'm a Slave 4 U
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| “I'm a Slave 4 U” | |||||
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| Single by Britney Spears from the album Britney |
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| B-side | "Intimidated" | ||||
| Released |  September 10, 2001 October 8, 2001 |
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| Format |  CD single 12" single |
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| Recorded | 2001 | ||||
| Genre | R&B, dance pop | ||||
| Length | 3:24 | ||||
| Label | Jive | ||||
| Writer(s) | Pharrell Williams, Chad Hugo, Justin Timberlake | ||||
| Producer | The Neptunes | ||||
| Certification | Silver (France) Gold (Australia, Norway, Sweden) |
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| Britney Spears singles chronology | |||||
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| Britney Spears British/Australian/European singles chronology | |||||
| "Don't Let Me Be The Last To Know" (2001) |
"I'm a Slave 4 U" (2001) |
"Overprotected" (2002) |
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"I'm a Slave 4 U" is the first single from pop singer Britney Spears released from the album Britney during the third quarter of 2001.
It is often considered a developmental milestone in Spears' career because of the single's steamy music video, somewhat raunchy lyrics and slight urban origins. The single is probably most well-known for the aforementioned video, which more fully redefined the then 19-year-old's controversial public image from the virginal "girl next door" (a lolita arousing men, but without her own sexuality) to a highly sexualised woman (arguably still a highly controversial public image, especially since the term "slave" again implies that her sexuality is "owned" by others).
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[edit] Song information
"I'm a Slave 4 U" parts ways with Spears' previous singles in a number of ways. Firstly, it was written and produced by The Neptunes. The song was originally intended for Janet Jackson, who found the song to be too sultry for her vocals and unfit for her album, so The Neptunes offered it to Spears. Many therefore believe it symbolized a change in Britney's genre of music. Spears declares her independence in the song whilst also saying how she cannot control herself around a person as she proclaims "I'm a slave for you." Still, it was considered as one of Britney's signature songs due to the fact that it was a transitional single in her career.
"I'm a Slave 4 U" was later modified as a medley with another Spears song called "Boys (The Co-Ed Remix)" and a dance break mix within "I'm A Slave 4 U" with vocals from Busta Rhymes' song "Light Your Ass On Fire." This unreleased medley was used widely in her special performances during the promotion of her succeeding album although she used the album version for the Onyx Hotel Tour. Another medley was also produced using the "Light Your Ass on Fire" remix and the song "...Baby One More Time for Spears' performance at the 2003 NFL Kickoff.
"I'm a Slave 4 U" is also featured on the video game Boogie, along with another hit single by Spears, Oops!...I Did It Again.
[edit] Music video
Directed by Francis Lawrence in Universal City, California; the music video for "I'm a Slave 4 U" is arguably Spears's most risque ever.[original research?] Though the video debuted at #1, it became her first project ever not to retire on MTV's TRL because the video for her next single, "I'm Not a Girl, Not Yet a Woman," premiered on the countdown before "Slave" had enough days to allow itself to retire (with TRL, an artist may only have one video on the countdown at a time, meaning "Slave" was knocked off in favor of the newer video). To make up for the early removal of the video from the countdown, it won an honorary retirement in 2005, beating five other near-retired videos. The video was nominated for three MTV Video Music Awards in 2002, including Best Female Video, Best Dance Video and Best Choreography.
Much of the video was choreographed by acclaimed dancer/choreographer Wade Robson. The video was also chosen as the Most Fashionable Video of 2001 on MTV Philippines. It is shot at a sauna found within a run-down, futuristic city. We first find Spears out on a balcony, tempting viewers with her eyes and hands. She makes her way inside the building, while wearing her thong outside her jeans and sweating profusely, and begins a dance segment that continues in different cuts throughout the video. The next cuts show Britney staring into a mirror in a dirty bathroom as she shakes her behind, and in front of a wall of bright lights.
Towards the second half of the video, Spears makes her way into a different room of the sauna and puts her hands up to one of the walls. Here, she begins dancing suggestively for the people behind her saying "I want to do what you want me to". This tempts the group of people to raise Britney up and pass her around, as if she were "crowd surfing."
Acclaimed choreographer and dancer Brian Friedman appears in the video as dancer/character.
The ending of the video finds Spears sitting in the corner of the main room, sweating as hard as ever. Several people begin to crowd around her, and one even starts to lick the sweat off her face. Next, someone opens a lighter towards the ceiling sprinklers, but it doesn't let out any water. But then outside, rain begins to pour down from the sky, and the people are seen running out onto the balcony to get a taste right before the video ends.
In Spears' 2004 release Greatest Hits: My Prerogative (DVD) it contains two alternate versions of the video. One features an acapella version of the song and another features Spears and her back-up dancers from the video dancing from beginning to end. The original video contains cuts from this alternate version.
[edit] Chart performance
"I'm a Slave 4 U" proved to be a success internationally. It reached #27 on the Billboard Hot 100. The track also became a top twenty hit on the Hot 100 Airplay, but just barely made into the top fifty of the Hot 100 Singles Sales. The low sales points are due mostly because of the song's 12" single release in place of that of a true CD single, but in reality, had the song been released in the CD single format, it would've made only a sparse difference in its chart peak being that the physical singles market had been in decline since the turn of the millennium.
"Slave" became her first Dance hit, reaching #4 on the Hot Dance Music/Club Play chart. "Slave" was Spears' first and only song to appear on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart, peaking at number seventy-three.
Internationally, the single was more successful, becoming a top ten hit in nearly every country that it charted in. In the United Kingdom "I'm a Slave 4 U" was a success, peaking within the top five and selling a total of 149,000 copies.[1] The single gained 2,926,000 points worldwide in 2001 only, but it continued charting for the first 7 weeks of 2002.[2] It's also Britney's most famous song in Brazil, peaking the chart at number #1 for 5 weeks.
[edit] Certifications
| Country | Certification | Sales |
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| Australia[3] | Gold | 35,000 |
| France[4] | Silver | 100,000+ |
| Norway | Gold | 10,000 |
| Sweden | Gold | 20,000 |
| United Kingdom | - | 149,000 |
| Chart (2001)[5] | Peak position |
|---|---|
| Australian ARIA Singles Chart | 3 |
| Austrian Singles Chart | 9 |
| Belgian Singles Chart | 1 |
| Brazilian Hot 100 | 1 |
| Canadian Singles Chart | 5 |
| Danish Singles Chart | 4 |
| Dutch Singles Chart | 5 |
| Finnish Singles Chart | 1 |
| French Singles Chart | 4 |
| German Singles Chart | 3 |
| Irish Singles Chart | 3 |
| Italian FIMI Singles Chart | 3 |
| New Zealand RIANZ Singles Chart | 13 |
| Norwegian Singles Chart | 3 |
| Swedish Singles Chart | 5 |
| Swiss Singles Chart | 5 |
| 'Tokyo Hot 100' | 1 |
| UK Singles Chart | 4 |
| U.S. Billboard Hot 100[6] | 27 |
| U.S. Billboard Hot Dance Club Play[6] | 4 |
| U.S. Billboard Top 40 Mainstream[6] | 15 |
| United World Chart | 5 |
[edit] Formats and track listings
These are the formats and track listings of major single releases of "I'm a Slave 4 U".
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UK CD Single
UK Promo CD
Europe/Australia CD Single
U.S. Promo CD
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U.S. 12" Vinyl
U.S. Promo Remix CD
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[edit] Official Mixes/Versions
- Album Version — 3:23
- Instrumental — 3:23
- A Cappella — 3:23
- Dave Audé Slave Driver Mix — 5:51
- Dave Audé Slave Driver Extended Mix — 7:05 (Only available on "B in the Mix: The Remixes" Deluxe Edition)
- Miguel Migs Petal Pusher Dub — 5:46
- Miguel Migs Petal Pusher Vocal — 5:30
- Miguel Migs Petal Pusher Vocal [Edit] — 3:33
- Miguel Migs Petal Pusher Vocal [Video Edit] — 4:12
- Thunderpuss Club Mix — 8:45
- Thunderpuss Dark Mix — 7:13
- Thunderpuss Dark Dub — 7:13
- Thunderpuss Mixshow Edit — 6:15
- Thunderpuss Radio Mix — 3:21
- Thunderpuss Tribe-A-Pella — 5:15
- The Light Remix — 8:25
- "I'm A Slave 4 U" is the second track on the U.S. version of Now That's What I Call Music! 9 it also serves as the debut single to the popular compilation series from the album "Britney"
[edit] References
- ^ Britney Spears — I'm a Slave 4 U (UK) UKBritney.tv Retrieved on May 25, 2007
- ^ Index
- ^ Australia Certification
- ^ France Certification
- ^ "I'm a Slave 4 U" chart positions around the world:
- Editors from Mariah-charts.com Chart Data: Britney Spears — I'm a Slave 4 U Retrieved on June, 2004.
- ^ a b c Editors from All Music Guide Billboard singles Billboard magazine
[edit] External links
| Preceded by "Distância" by Os Travessos |
Hot100Brasil number-one singles June 15, 2002 - July 13, 2002 |
Succeeded by "Love Never Fails" by Sandy & Junior |
