Britney Spears Album : Baby One More Time
Debbie Gibson never recorded anything as sexy as Britney Spears’s white-funk smoker “…Baby One More Time.” Unfortunately, neither does the 17-year-old Spears’s debut album contain anything else that remotely approaches that instant hit single. A few of the disc’s cuts are pleasantly catchy, but too much of its space is given over to icky ballads (”E-Mail My Heart”?) and other unconvincing moves such as the dancehall-lite “Soda Pop.”
Britney Spears is a cultural pop phenomenon. Her singing may be in question a lot of the time, but her music stands at the top of pop cheese perfection regardless of how mediocre-ly she sings it. Her offerings first hit the charts in 1998 with her Grammy-nominated debut single “…Baby One More Time,” and her first album of the same name was released at the start of 1999. …Baby One More Time showcases a brilliant piece of bubblegum pop of the era; songs like the aforementioned “…Baby One More Time,” “Crazy,” “Sometimes,” “Born To Make You Happy” and “From the Bottom of My Broken Heart” are all great songs, and as such they made into brilliant singles.
“From the Bottom of My Broken Heart” shows her vocal talents off, and it’s one of the rare few that do, along with “Soda Pop,” a cheesy but decently performed track about, well, relatively nothing. Sure, Spears’ debut has its downfalls as most of the remaining songs are just filler, but it’s production is high and it’s well done. Nonetheless, if you despise teen pop then this isn’t for you, obviously, but if you can stomach the cheesiness then you might find yourself singing along to the ridiculous-ness of the tunes.
- Audio CD (January 12, 1999)
- Original Release Date: January 12, 1999
- Number of Discs: 1
- Format: Enhanced
- Label: Jive
- ASIN: B00000G1IL
1. Baby One More Time
2. (You Drive Me) Crazy
3. Sometimes
4. Soda Pop
5. Born To Make You Happy
6. From the Bottom of My Broken Heart
7. I Will Be There
8. I Will Still Love You - Don Philip
9. Thinkin’ About You
10. E-Mail My Heart
11. The Beat Goes On
Review 2:
Britney Spears is a pop music icon and this record is the one that made her so. Sure, she doesn’t have the best singing voice in the business, but that places her in a category all too big right now; rap isn’t even sung and hip-hop’s biggest stars don’t sound like Mariah Carey either. In 1998 one single, the Grammy-nominated smash “…Baby One More Time,” made one Louisianan-born girl an international success. Her debut album possesses some great material, such as the aforementioned “…Baby One More Time,” “Crazy,” “Sometimes,” “Born To Make You Happy” and the often forgotten “From the Bottom of My Broken Heart,” but sadly the remaining tracks are mostly well-crafted fodder.
Of course, Spears has always been more of a singles artist than an album one (save for the incredible delight Oops!…I Did It Again was), and that’s sad. Vocally Britney never sounded better than on here, and she saves some typically blah songs like “Soda Pop” by giving a great performance. Regardless of its major flaws in consistency, the incredible success this record brought Britney Spears, and including its five superb pop tunes, make it a 4/5-star record.
Review 3:
This has got to be one of the best-selling albums ever. Actually, it is. It’s the best-selling teen album there is, and it even has an alter front cover (which is one of the pictures inside the fold-up booklet). I have the Australian edition, which has five bonus tracks (”Deep In My Heart”, which is an international track, “I’ll Never Stop Loving You”, “Autumn Goodbye”, and two radio remixes of “…Baby One More Time”. Yeah Britney, do it one more time! We love you!
1. …Baby One More Time - See my review on Greatest Hits My Prerogative
2. (You Drive Me) Crazy - Cute tune. It’s about one who falls in love so deeply with someone else that (s)he is driven crazy. The Stop Remix is in the Greatest Hits album. 10/10
3. Sometimes - See Track 1
4. Soda Pop - Catchy, teenage tune. Does it really talk about soda or about dancing?? I love this song. 10/10
5. Born to Make You Happy - See Track 1
6. From the Bottom of My Broken Heart - Why wasn’t this Top 20 hit on the greatest hits album? It’s a very beautiful ballad with a very beautiful message. 10/10
7. I Will Be There - How touching the message is. The tune’s also a la Soda Pop. 10/10
8. I Will Still Love You - Britney’s only duet with a male (or is it?). I like this song; it makes me feel romantic. 10/10
9. Deep In My Heart - An International song. It sounds better on “Oops!…I Did It Again”, Britney’s next album, though. 10/10
10. Thinkin’ About You - Sounds like a Brandy song put with a Kitchie Nadal song. LOL 10/10
11. E-Mail My Heart - The piano in the intro is beautiful, but it sounds as if it was used in classical music. I like the title! 10/10
12. The Beat Goes On - And the beat goes on…. I’m sure Britney recorded it as a tribute to the late Sonny Bono (the original version’s singer) who died a year before the album could be released. It sounds very bubblgum-hiphop, but it’s one of my personal favorites. 10/10
13. I’ll Never Stop Loving You - Chinese intro! The song sounds, however, un-Britney, who is better in dance-like pop. It’s very good, yes, but I think that another female like Mariah should be on the track too. 10/10
14. Autumn Goodbye - This is more like it! It sounds very cute, and yes, very autumnish. Britney sounds a bit like B*Witched here, though. 10/10
15. …Baby One More Time (Davidson Ospina Radio Remix) - 10/10
16. …Baby One More Time (Boy Wunder Radio Remix) - 10/10