"Break the Ice" is a song by American singer Britney Spears from her fifth studio album, Blackout (2007). It was released as the third and final single from the album on March 3, 2008, by Jive Records. The song was written by Nate "Danja" Hills, Jim Beanz, Keri Hilson and Marcella Araica, while production was handled by Danja and vocal production was handled by Beanz. "Radar" was originally planned to be released as the third single, but "Break the Ice" was released after it was chosen by a poll on Spears's official website. Musically, "Break the Ice" is an electro-R&B song with influences of crunk. The song opens with a choir and features synthesizers. Its lyrics deal with an attraction between two people. "Break the Ice" received critical acclaim, with reviewers praising its lyrics, production, Spears' vocal performance and deemed it a strong electronic song from the record.
"Break the Ice" was a moderate success, reaching the top ten in Canada and Finland, and charting within the top 40 in Australia, New Zealand and many other European countries. In the United States, the single reached number 43 on the Billboard Hot 100, while peaking at number one on the Dance Club Songs chart. An accompanying music video, directed by Robert Hales, was released on March 12, 2008. The anime-influenced animation video was based on the superheroine character of Spears's "Toxic" video, and portrays her destroying a highly secured laboratory with several clones, including one of herself. A remix of "Break the Ice" was used as a video interlude during The Circus Starring Britney Spears (2009) and was performed for the first time during her residency show at Planet Hollywood Las Vegas, Britney: Piece of Me (2013–17).
Background
"Break the Ice" was written by Nate "Danja" Hills, Marcella "Ms. Lago" Araica, Keri Hilson, James Washington and produced by Danja. Spears started working with Danja in July 2006. He explained that the creative process was not difficult at first since he was "left to do pretty much whatever I wanted to", and "if she felt it, she was gonna ride with it. If she didn't, you’d see it in her face." Spears began recording the track in Las Vegas in August 2006, while she was seven months pregnant with her second child, Jayden James. Recording continued at Spears' house in Los Angeles, California, three weeks after she gave birth. Hilson commented that "She gave 150 percent. [...] I don’t know any other mother that would do that." "Radar" was originally planned to be released as the third single from Blackout, according to Ezekiel Lewis of The Clutch. "Break the Ice" was chosen as a single by a poll on Spears' official Jive Records website. On February 11, 2008, it was announced that the song had won, receiving 39% of the total votes.
Composition
"Break the Ice" is an electro-R&B song with influences of crunk. According to Leah Greenblatt of Entertainment Weekly, "Break the Ice" sounds similar to "Say It Right" by Nelly Furtado. It opens with Spears singing the lines "It's been a while / I know I shouldn't have kept you waiting / But I'm here now", which serve as an apology for being gone so long from the music industry as well as away from her love interest in the song. After the first line, Spears sings over a choir. According to Chuck Arnold of People, Spears delivers her "trademark breathy vocals". In the first verse, synthesizers kick in and run until the end of the second chorus. After it, Spears stops the song and sings "I like this part / It feels kind of good", mimicking Janet Jackson in "Nasty" (1986). The music changes, as described by Tom Ewing of Pitchfork Media, to "[something that] sounds like spacehoppers [are] bouncing in slow motion round a padded cell". The song is constructed in the common verse-chorus form. Lyrically, the song is about two people, in which one of them asks the other to get to know each other and break the ice.
Critical reception
Eric R. Danton of The Hartford Courant deemed it as a "crunk-style thumper", while calling it one of the "killer tracks" off the album along with "Radar" and "Hot as Ice". Nick Levine of Digital Spy called it "a booming slice of multi-layered electro R&B" and said that it, along with "Radar", is "as avant-garde as pop gets in 2007". A reviewer from Popjustice said "[it] is a really brilliant track", Stephen Thomas Erlewine of Allmusic said some of the songs of Blackout, "really show off the skills of the producers", exemplifying "Gimme More", "Radar", "Break the Ice", "Heaven on Earth" and "Hot as Ice". He also referred to the song as a "stuttering electro-clip".