Britney is the third studio album by American singer Britney Spears. It was released on October 31, 2001, by Jive Records. Looking to transition from the teen pop styles of her first two studio albums ...Baby One More Time (1999) and Oops!... I Did It Again (2000), Spears began to embrace a significantly more mature sound with Britney. The record incorporates genres of pop and R&B with influences of EDM and occasionally dips into disco, hip hop, rock, and electronica. Its lyrical themes address the subjects such as coming of age, adulthood, control, and sexuality. Contributions to its production came from a variety of collaborators, including Max Martin and Rami Yacoub. Spears herself assumed a more prominent role in the album's development, co-writing six of its tracks.
Britney received generally mixed reviews from music critics, who complimented Spears' musical progression but criticized her increasingly provocative image. Regardless, the album was a global commercial success and debuted atop the US Billboard 200 with first-week sales of 746,000 copies, making Spears the first female artist to have her first three studio albums debut atop the chart, a record she would later break with her fourth studio album In the Zone (2003). The album received a nomination for Best Pop Vocal Album at the 45th Annual Grammy Awards (2003). With worldwide sales of over 10 million copies, Britney is one of the best-selling albums of the 21st century.
Britney produced six singles. "I'm a Slave 4 U" reached the top ten in 20 countries but peaked only at number 27 on the US Billboard Hot 100, becoming Spears's first lead single not to peak within the top ten. "Overprotected" also achieved international commercial success but peaked only at number 86 the US Billboard Hot 100. "I'm Not a Girl, Not Yet a Woman", "I Love Rock 'n' Roll" and "Boys" reached the top ten in several countries but all failed to enter the US Billboard Hot 100, while "Anticipating" was released exclusively in France instead of "I Love Rock 'n' Roll". To further promote the album, Spears embarked on her fourth concert tour, titled Dream Within a Dream Tour, from November 2001 until July 2002.
Recording and production
For her second studio album Oops!... I Did It Again, which was released in May 2000 to global commercial success, Spears collaborated with producers such as Rodney Jerkins, Rami Yacoub, and Max Martin; all of them returned for Britney. Spears additionally worked with a variety of collaborators, including her then-boyfriend Justin Timberlake. She commented that she initially felt "awkward" and "nervous" working with Timberlake, saying that she was accustomed to the process being "like work". For the first time, Spears worked with hip hop producers the Neptunes. She claimed to have been inspired by "a lot of hip-hop and R&B while I was on my last tour. I was inspired by Jay-Z and the Neptunes. I told Jive I really wanted to work with [the Neptunes]. I wanted to make [Britney] nastier and funkier." Spears was additionally set to record songs with Missy Elliott and Timbaland, which never came to fruition due to scheduling conflicts.
While recording Britney, Spears wanted an "older generation to pick up on it", adding that she "had to change it up and pray people think that's cool". She stated that she chose to self-title the album because the majority of its content described herself. Spears recorded 23 tracks for the album, several of which she co-wrote with the assistance of Brian Kierulf and Josh Schwartz. She added that personally writing the album and developing its concept made the project "that much more special", elaborating of her intentions to "get better and grow" as a songwriter. During the sessions, Spears also worked with electronic musician BT, whose tracks were excluded from the standard edition track listing. She stated: "I was really disappointed we weren't able to use the tracks BT had done. He's a genius in whatever he does, but the type of music he ended up doing didn't fit me and what I was going for. I think they will be on some of the stuff [released] overseas." However, his contribution "Before the Goodbye" was included on international editions of the album.